bookhou at home

2012-03-02T02:17:00.008-05:00

is it already march? - is it already friday? time is going by too quickly.... please slow down.

I appreciate all your lovely comments on my last post, you're all awesome! It's been really great having help in the studio - I need to get that part of my life sorted, my mom will be returning to france after the spring craft show. she wishes she could stay and help more, but she has a life in france and I can tell that she misses it there and does want to get back to her own routine. I had a chance to work out some new ideas, one being this new tote bag and the other making a bunch of oblong pouches in the waxed canvas, I had made some for the b&m shop and they flew out the door, I lined it with twill so they are sturdy little things. I will try to have the lines tote in the shop next week, I will also restock the triangle tote.

p.s. I started a tumblr - a collection of work that inspire, as well highlighting some of our own work. I hope you like it.

enjoy your weekend friends, I hope it's filled with afternoon brunches and long walks window shopping. xxa

2012-03-01T02:48:00.010-05:00

after 10 years of growing our business, you would think that I would have confidence that the career of being a maker is working - but I'm only human and there are times you have self-doubt, and when it's busy you have to go with the flow and I tell myself that I work really hard because in the end it's for my kids and my family and I'm providing a life for them. I never regret the things that I have and it is hard to find the balance of family and work, especially when your workplace is below your home, it's hard to escape. j and I try to have constant routines like always having dinner together at the table and discussing all that has happened to each of us, even if p doesn't have much to tell. I often say to john that if there was ever a choice between work and family and there was a decision to be made, of course the family would come first - but I'm think for me to be a complete person I need to be a who I am, j always says I'm happiest working and making. so the constant struggle to balance both will be a constant challenge, but one that I will work at. when piper joined the family it was hard for lliam at first and he would often ask when she would be leaving and one time he even packed a bag with diapers and her clothes and put it by the door as a hint that she needed to go, but he's grown to adore and love her and they have a special bond and friendship that will be like no other and it warms my heart to see such love.

I hope you are all having a lovely week thus far, I think anybody who does textile work should have a mom who's a seamstress, boy I've been lucky this past few weeks, my mom is so fast, I'm doing my best to keep-up!

2012-02-29T02:58:00.006-05:00

I am so excited to finally be able to show you my new tea towel designs!

I still have a few more - but for now here is my new bird/flowers and leaves tea towels, I can't begin to tell you how much I love them ~ they are both available in the etsy and shop bookhou online stores.

2012-02-28T02:31:00.005-05:00

I've been working on new prints - will show you some new tea towel designs tomorrow, I have such a huge database of prints, these ones are examples of ones I did, they were used in my older work and are always fun to revisit - I have enough work in my sketchbooks to keep me busy for 2-3 decades. I was inspired by a post heather wrote on her blog about pink and one of my new tea towels has some pink sprinkled on it. if you follow me on instagram or fb you would of seen a peek.

2012-02-27T00:03:00.001-05:00

hello friends,

I hope you had a lovely weekend, we had some snow and it lasted for about 15mins and it warmed up, I just don't understand this weather. I got so much done on the weekend, but still not caught up - I am getting my mom to help me sew the work for the spring craft show and on sunday I worked on my drawings and j will get them printed in a large format for me after he helps his sister move. I can't wait to show you these new images. lliam and piper is really enjoying using this small toy sewing machine, it was purchased by my brother at the annual textile museum yard sale and on our way home I asked for it for piper. he reluctantly gave it to me, it's in mint condition and still has the box - I think the kids like how it works and actually sews. you might notice that p is wearing nail polish - a new thing that she enjoys, kol kid sells non-toxic water based ones, that comes off in the bath.

happy monday! xxa

2012-02-24T00:01:00.003-05:00

last night we visited mjolk to see Japanese ceramicist Masanobu Ando's beautiful wares. we picked up a few things, I will show you next week, I had to use restrain from buying everything. john and juli always do a nice job with their opening receptions, Ando also had visitors partake in a traditional tea ceremony.

I am going to try my best to clear off a lot of ongoing production work - to do new tea towel designs, the images are drawn, I have to go to the printers to print my drawings on a large format and will hopefully shoot the screens by sunday.

have a restful weekend friends, xxa

2012-02-23T02:26:00.005-05:00

when lliam was born he inspired j and I to create work for little ones, j's kids chairs are so popular and I dream of the day when I can make more quilts. I hope your weeks been good so far, my goal this weekend is to get my new tea towel designs shot on my screens.

2012-02-22T00:01:00.000-05:00

remnants from my valentine bouquet - I often have a dream that I would go to bed and wake up and a little elf would sew for me while I slept and when I awoke the piles I had the night before would be gone. you know like the rumpelstiltskin fairy tale.

my mom is an early riser and when I wake up in the morning she has done so much sewing, she is the closest thing to an elf I have. it doens't hurt that she makes the yummiest crepes.

2012-02-21T02:17:00.004-05:00

lately we are all dominated by the internet for just about everything, but a long time ago before blogging or the web, j and I would look at books and draw in our sketchbooks - that was how we would figure out our ideas or compile resource materials to be viewed later. one of my favourite things to do is to look through old sketchbooks, I found this little book j made over 10 years ago, it was an inspiration book for his paintings, the photos are aerial views of crops and landscapes, I am in the midst of finalizing my images for the silk scarves and realize these images have the same quality. amazing how things reoccur or resurface.

p.s. in the etsy shop I have gift certificates - a great gift idea for the bookhou fan

2012-02-20T03:15:00.006-05:00

hi friends,

I hope your weekend was wonderful.

popping in quickly to mention a few things just listed in the bookhou shop. I completely forgot it was a long weekend, one of the downfalls of working from home is that the days blur together and you don't have a weekend - anyways j and I are taking the kids out for brunch and to see the movie tin tin. I hope p will be okay, last time we took them to the movies she covered her ears for the first 15 mins and the rest of the movie j and p were hanging out in a nearby park. she's a bit older now and I think it will be okay. j has a friend who owns the kingsway and humber theatres in bloor west village, so we're lucky that we get to go to see movies for free.

so new in the shop - more ceramic pieces and a different look for the rain tote bag. I hope you like them and have a great day today, see you back here tomorrow. xxa

2012-02-17T02:46:00.006-05:00

lately - I've been enjoying sharing my day with you via instagram on fb. the photographs on instagram are addictive, because it's immediate and the photos have a wonderful charm to them. for this past week I tried to have photos of some new pieces - the light is not co-operating, so I think I will wait till monday to have an update, lots going on this weekend - my mom arrives from lyon france later this afternoon and tomorrow we celebrate john's birthday♥.

please keep a look out on the weekend for an instagram giveaway and come back monday for a little product update.

have a wonderful weekend friends! xxa

2012-02-16T02:46:00.003-05:00

sometimes you need to do something mindless, like make pins to take your mind off all the work you really should be doing. I have these mental lists that flow in my head all day, like - okay do this pile before dinner, print this pile before bathing the kids, cut this fabric before packaging orders, sew these handles before bed. I feel like these little mini goals helps me get through the day and to accomplish all that needs to get done. before the end of the week, I will have new bags to show you - plus I will be listing a few more ceramic pieces, I will be doing another big batch in a month, so there will be more.

where did the time go? - this year marks 10 years j and I have been running bookhou - wow. in a few short months lliam will be six, where did the time go? thoughts about life sometimes gets forgotten in your daily routine, life doesn't need to be complicated, it's quite simple actually - it's also really short.

give someone a big squeeze and remind them what's really important.

2012-02-15T11:35:00.004-05:00

I got a beautiful bouquet of flowers from j and the kids yesterday, made by crownflora studio. it's so nice to see such colour and beauty during these winter months, I hope you had a lovely valentines yesterday.

2012-02-14T03:04:00.003-05:00

our studio is the kind of environment that has things going on, and it is a fun place to spend your day, sometimes it's really busy and sometimes there's a calm buzz, and there is never a shortage of ideas. j and I enjoy our tea breaks together where we chat about our ideas and our goals and what to do next. It's wonderful to have a partner that you admire and one that you can share your goals, ideas and dreams with. I know that whatever happens on our journey, as long as he's there to share it with me, I know I will always be in a good place.

the photos above are my samples for new silk scarves with the drop cloth image prints, the scarves will be square in shape and I am contemplating doing a hand sewn roll hem, hmmm....it will be more work, but it will look so much better.

j and I have spent time in the wee hours of the morning cutting stickers, will show you on instagram tomorrow - lliam made drawings and we scanned them and j helped him choose colours to fill in the images and we printed them on sticker sheets, for valentines day we like to help lliam with handmade goods for his classmates, last year he made the most wonderful pins. after our cutting lliam will help with packaging them in glassine envelopes and put the names of his classmates on them, yeah this is what you get when your parents our makers.

2012-02-13T11:51:00.006-05:00

piper loves playdoh - sometimes she's tries to eat it- when I use to teach art to kids I did a flour mixture and food colouring concoction , the kids and I made a batch and forgot about it and the mixture got mouldy and it was super gross.

2012-02-13T02:39:00.010-05:00

hello friends,

I hope you had a lovely weekend - I had a great night out with j - I felt like it's a different world without the kids, of course the evening is filled with conversations about them and planning where to take them on the next outing, as much as we liked our alone time with each other, we couldn't help but miss the kids.

thanks everyone for your kind words on the giveaway, I will have to make a pair of the porcupine napkins for myself, they are so sweet. Cynthia Higgins - congratulations! you are the random winner chosen - please email me your shipping address.

my mom will be arriving friday, as I type this I am planning in my head all the yummy things she will make me and later in the week I will organize all my piles of fabric ready for her sewing help.

happy monday! xxa

2012-02-10T00:01:00.002-05:00

as a way to find balance in our lives- j and I are going out on a date tonight (it's a rare occasion to go out without the kids) so needless to say we are kinda of excited. I hope we can make it a regular occurrence.

giveaway alert! - I made a pair of napkins in a pale blue linen (the most lovely linen) with a small porcupine image printed on the corner. please leave a comment by sunday feb.12th at 10pm EST and a winner will be announced monday. do you have anything special planned for the weekend?

have a lovely weekend friends! xxa

2012-02-09T02:27:00.002-05:00

a few ceramic pieces for sale - please have a look.

2012-02-08T02:04:00.009-05:00

as you might know I am a big fan of diy - so I hope this one is not to late for the upcoming valentines day. I came up with this idea 20 years ago when I use to make greeting cards and I didn't do shapes like hearts, I made square shapes and would do water colour paintings in the window, I will have to hunt those down and photograph for you to see. I can't believe I did all that work and would sell the cards for $4, anyways this fun diy will give you an embossed look on your paper and you can add things to the surface by drawing or painting or what suits you best.

embossed heart stationery what you will need

exacto knife
folding bone
card stock for the heart template
cutting mat (optional)
various papers

first start by cutting out the shape of the image (heart) with the exacto knife, it's a good idea to use a good thickness of card stock, the thickness will determine how deep your image sticks out. I didn't have a thick piece of card stock so I just glued two thinner pieces together you can hold the template on the good side of your paper, by holding up to the light, it will help you with your registration, I found it was easier to do this next step on the window. once you've positioned it to where you want it - take the folding bone and rub in the area of the cut out- if you don't have a folding bone, you can use a dull pointy tool, like your knitting needles - that should work. I hope you enjoyed this tutorial, try drawing on the image afterwards or water colour painting the surface, a note on paper the softer it is the better it works, although it did work quite well on the manilla tags.

p.s. thank you for the positive responses to the new bookhou shop, I will have more work in there tomorrow. today was a busy day and I couldn't get to the computer.

have a great day! xxa

2012-02-07T02:38:00.006-05:00

the bookhou shop is now open - have a look around, this is just a soft opening and as the weeks go by I will add more items, the ceramics will be added tomorrow - I put up one item just to give you an idea of what I will be selling. check out also new pillows and the return of the cloud flat tote!

I hope you like this new as much as we do - it's the result of a lot of long nights and moments of frustration. it will definitely be a different shopping experience for you. when we first started our business about 10 years ago, we sold goods from our website, maybe some of you shopped on there? when it was on our website I did all my own layout (it was so much work!) and proved to be difficult to maintain, so that was when I made the move over to the etsy shop, but with etsy I wasn't able to present the pieces the way I originally wanted - now I can and I am so happy. please let me know what you think. I would love to hear from you.

thanks so much for visiting, xxa

2012-02-06T01:39:00.008-05:00

hello friends!

I hope you had a lovely weekend, it was so sunny and warm and it's a wonder that it's february. for some reason the kids have been hyping up valentines day like it's christmas. so we will be preparing for this "big" day with little handmade presents for each other and some sweet treats. I think the confusion that valentines day is like christmas is that lliam heard about saint valentine at school and associated that with saint nicholas and started to assume that saints brought presents. a kids logic is quite interesting and it made total sense, so anyways I'm going a long with it. j and I have started a regiment of sleeping a bit more, partly because there was a few days I kind of sat by my sewing machine with my head down and j telling me to take a nap - so I did and woke feeling worst and groggy. more sleep does help with a more productive day, a person can only survive on five hours of sleep for so long. I am almost done the new online shop and at this point I'm just fussing with fonts and font sizes moving things around, that I have to just stop and load it up with goods, I am going to try to launch it tomorrow with a few new goodies and throughout the week more will be added - I miss having a giveaway on the blog, so I am going to have a valentines day giveaway here on friday, so I hope you will return to check out the new shop and the giveaway later in the week.

so the images above, j's folding lamp made with a linen shade (I guess years around linen had to have an effect) and a shot of a shelf j made me for my ceramics (there will be a few ceramic pieces for sale in the new shop-but it will be added later in the week)

I hope you have a gentle monday to ease you into your week

xxa

2012-02-03T02:49:00.005-05:00

lately...

so, I've been getting a lot of request for the small bag in the triangle print, so it's now available in the shop!
other image is one of my pieces that is part of my cloud series I did awhile back, notice the crazy hand stitching, oh how I would love to sit hours doing that - the tinier the better. I will be working on more soon, can't wait.
been using my new light table (to shoot my silk screens) - it has a vacuum and it's pretty darn amazing, and I waited 10 years to get one, well the price was a huge hindrance, but hey, the screens are such a big part of the work, they deserve a little love.
realizing that adding an extra hour of sleep helps with my productivity.
a long cold brisk walk with your family after dinner does wonders
staying focus on the wonders you are capable of creating is so much healthier, than focusing on the failure
so happy to be done with hours of html coding, my brain is still suffering after effects...but the end result is a beautiful online shop, I can't wait to unveil soon eep!

have a creative weekend friends! xxa

2012-02-02T03:09:00.004-05:00

I never do colour stories, but I can see how much fun it can be to combine colours and prints to inspire you for your collection.

loving the tones of greys and blues

2012-02-01T02:33:00.000-05:00

I got a beautiful calendar in the mail yesterday from carta, inc - this is such a wonderful way to follow time. I love all the things angela makes....I wish I saw her booth at the nyigf in person. if you're in brookline, MA you must pay her a visit at her lovely shop.

thanks angela, such a beautiful gesture.

2012-01-31T23:56:00.008-05:00

hello there,

I didn't have the energy to do a post yesterday - but I know you understand. I was buried in html coding - I tend to not give up till I get it done, but it was so late - I mean early in the morning and john urged me to go to bed and have fresh eyes in the morning - so when I got up the things that I tried for hours to figure out I did in five minutes, yes it helps to have fresh eyes. I am building a new webshop - this one will not be replacing the etsy store, but more expanding the line and also carrying curated items as well as carrying the favourites, I will give you more info when it's ready. I am done with the structure of the shop, so now the fun part filling it up.

I was really delighted the other day to have the gallery that represents my art work call me for some more work. I am going to try my best to make more of my embroidered collages. my process is usually creating small elements bit by bit and will assemble them and add any additional elements. above are some samples, I truly enjoy making eyelets, something about making them that is so satisfying, I am also really excited for an upcoming trip. I will definitely be bringing my embroidery, such a portable craft.

I am so excited!

I'm positive the trip will be incredibly inspiring -I will tell you more closer to the date.

xxa

2012-01-30T03:27:00.004-05:00

hello friends!

I hope you had a lovely weekend - ours was jammed packed with visitors, chatting, eating, and greeting new friends. I feel like a vacation is in order - or maybe a long soak in the tub. as you can imagine life doesn't slow down here. we are getting ready for the spring craft show and I am trying to build stock for online - speaking of online - I will have some news soon about something I'm working on - can't share yet- it's still in the early stages. the heart sets are back! I hope you like them. I know it's a bit heart overload, but hey it's that time of the year. today I will be happy to quietly work in the studio in my pj's. I did so much talking in the shop over the weekend, my throat is a bit sore.

thank you to all that came by - it was wonderful to have your support! xxa

2012-01-27T11:07:00.003-05:00

DO DESIGN

2012-01-27T03:32:00.003-05:00

as the weekend fast approaches and getting caught up with work, I am still trying to figure out the simple tote, this one I did years ago and I think this works, but still mulling. I am so happy I get to make things every day, thanks to all of you who have bought things from us and for visiting the blog and fb, the support from all of you is greatly appreciated. come visit if you're in the neighbourhood, when you come visit, there are other venues that are also having their opening reception. so much to do and visit this weekend. I hope I get to go to some of them. don't forget to visit fb for our weekly giveaways.

have a wonderful and creative weekend friends! xxa

2012-01-26T02:27:00.009-05:00

the past few days has been quite a juggling act, but things are falling into place - I kept saying to myself, don't sweat the small stuff. we have the shop filled and stocked and the new ceramics is out, john's new table is out and we are ready to go. so if you're in toronto come visit the DO DESIGN event along dundas west, we will have our opening reception on saturday from 4-7pm we will have tea and cupcakes - I hope you can join us. I am only showing you a peek of some of the plates, but there are tumblers and vases in the show, I showed a sneak peek on fb, thanks for all the wonderful words and the positive response, I will have them in the online shop soon. yesterday my dad left and before he left, he took me aside and said

"you and john work really hard, don't forget to enjoy yourself - life is too short" - thanks dad, we will try our best!

2012-01-25T03:25:00.004-05:00

I added a few more flat pouch designs and - I got a custom order to do the sprout print in dark grey rather than the indigo blue and I quite like it (thanks robin) - it's been mild out - last night we had a nice walk through kensington market to eat dinner in china town - a farewell dinner for my dad who leaves today....we'll all miss him dearly.

2012-01-24T02:34:00.006-05:00

working late at night is when we both get the most done...no distractions from little ones.

I re listed the triangle tote bag - now with a waxed canvas bottom and I made the black portion around an inch taller, so you see more of the black (my camera is so good under low lighting, the bag photo was taking when the sun was going down, really) no photoshop tweaking.

2012-01-23T02:27:00.008-05:00

hello friends!

I hope you had a great weekend - I got so much done and feel almost caught up - I am so excited to see how the ceramic work turned out - I must say that was the one thing that strayed me away from working with clay - that unpredictability of not knowing what will come out (fingers crossed). the kids had such a full weekend of going out and socializing, the kids had fun for the both of us. we spent the weekend cleaning and trying to make more work to fill the shelves in the brick and mortar shop. I made some waxed canvas pouches with fabric remnant, a lot of the small wallets and pouches are made from remnants, it's hard to throw anything away.

I also added the animal onesies to the etsy shop, when you buy one they will come in a small drawstring bag with the corresponding animal on it - super adorable. I will be spending my monday crossing more things off my list.

have a lovely monday! xxa

2012-01-20T02:52:00.007-05:00

you know you're really tired when you see little stars and drink coffee when you're not a coffee drinker. I'm more of a tea drinker, but had to drink a few cups of coffee to get rid of the haziness in my head. I stayed up real late to finish my decal printing and applying them on the ceramics. I have to get them fired before early next week when the d o design event starts - there will be a handful of shops that will have an opening reception on saturday jan. 28th from 3-8pm - I hope you can make it - last year's event - filled the shop to the rim with people - it was insane! this year it's going to be more low key - we decided to keep the store in tact and just do a display in the window, last year we had cleared out the shop and it was not a good move for us - lots of visitors who come to the IDS show came to visit us and had no bookhou shop to peruse. I'm off now to get rest since I'm writing this post early in the morning.

some random things this week

recently piper won't nap, if she doesn't nap she is grumpy , but if she does nap she won't go to bed till 11pm - I use to put this little girl in her crib and walked away, she never cried for me and when I returned she would be fast asleep.
I called my mom telling her how busy I am and how her sewing skills would be so helpful to me...the next day she called to tell me she booked a ticket to toronto...moms are the best.
lliam goes to bed now while reading in bed.... super sweet!
I have the best husband, because when I get swamped he puts his projects aside to help me even though that puts him behind schedule.
I really should get audio books, any suggestions?
I hope this weekend I have enough time to finish my new bags - tweaking the large triangle tote bag.

I hope you have a lovely weekend - have lots of fun for me - I am also doing a giveaway over on my fb page - part of my weekly instagram giveaways.

bye for now xxa

2012-01-19T03:35:00.003-05:00

I find a lot of inspiration in my kids own artwork - I guess children's art is less self-concious and more raw, I remember in art school I was really taken by outsider art. lliam did this house drawing really quick on the smallest piece of paper around 2 in. in diameter and I think when it's blown up it has such a wonderful quality. I am definitely going to be silkscreening this image on a few items. I think in a way I'm showing you peeks of things I'm working on to remind myself that I need to get on it. but there so much more producing in store for me - these new pieces will come to fruition soon......I hope.

2012-01-18T03:27:00.003-05:00

trying more digital designs - when the strike offs are ready I will post about it here. the bird design is going to be wrapping paper (the b&w on the right is just a close up) and the drop cloth image is going to be a silk scarf. did you notice the comment section is different - making it so that you can respond to a comment - I like the dialogue it allows. I'm really excited of the potential of this new work....okay off to sew.

2012-01-17T02:02:00.004-05:00

one of the things I love about our place is the natural light that pours in - especially in the morning with the southern exposure. I also think how fun it is being a kid and having no inhibitions of how clothes look on you. the kids can wear about anything and look super cute. I wish I could get away with lots of pattern, I have such a simple palette. funny since there is so much colour and pattern around me. john and I had so much work to be done yesterday and we planned on pulling an all nighter, we spent our quiet evening chatting about the glory days when we would pull all nighters - when he was in architecture school the pressure was pretty intense, they tend to have a lot of exacto knife cuts during the late evenings and he said every evening there was at least one student running to the emergency.

luckily for us we managed to get what we wanted done - done! phew. we are such a great team.

2012-01-16T02:09:00.007-05:00

hello friends,

I hope you had a great weekend, needless to say - I've been swamped, there has been a lot of bookhou love the past few weeks and I am cutting, printing and sewing like a mad woman. even though I get help with cutting, ironing and sewing - a good majority of the work is done by me. I mix my own ink colours and do all the printing and spend long hours in front of piles and piles of fabric happily sewing, I often get asked how I do it, well one thing is that I'm fast - I know how much time every item takes and I do things in stages and steps, most of the time things are all cut and printed and partially sewn (like zippers are put on the day bags) and when it's ordered I sew the rest of it and attach the straps. john is a big help with packaging orders, but most of the time it's me that wraps your packages and signs the notes included. I want you to know that you are helping to support a small family run business and there is lots of love that goes into the things you buy! thank you for all your purchases - we appreciate it very much! to show our appreciation I will be doing regular giveaways on fb - I hope you will visit often so you get a chance to enter.

this past weekend I did a giveaway for new pouches (shown above) - when I first started making textile goods, these pouches were a real staple and I was asked by regular customers to bring them back. I use my pouches on a regular basis - it helps me organize the contents in my bag. piper even has her own in my bag to carry all her little treasures.

enjoy your monday! - and I know I was asking about the snow, and as much as I love snow, those balmy winter days are truly missed. xxa

2012-01-13T02:26:00.006-05:00

I hope you had a nice week - I am behind on making the new images - but I will work through the piles. I will be busy next week working on the ceramic work - will show you more pictures when they are ready - we are busy getting things together for design week - we will have a big opening reception, more on that later. I am working out ideas for a simple tote, maybe with leather handles or not, not sure yet - and I'm a bit unsure of the shape. looking at this cloud bag that I did awhile back - I really like the curved bottom and thick linen handle, with my crazy schedule I really should try to make quicker decisions. I think I want to bring this design back.

I love these photos I took of piper this week, such a big girl now.

enjoy your weekend - this past week has been filled with rain - where are you snow?

xxa

2012-01-12T02:36:00.006-05:00

new storage boxes now in the shop - more photos here. lately I am really enjoying using instagram to chronicle my daily life - it is very immediate - no downloading and resizing images - they are as is. if you want to see peeks of my daily activities come follow me on fb I really enjoy taking photos, I was chatting with my dad about that today (he's leaving in a week and a half) and he commented on how far I have come since my first camera (which I still have) a pentax k1000. I remember when he took me to the store to buy it - I think I was 13 and it was such a big purchase at the time and I kept reassuring my dad that it would be put to good use. I don't think my love of photography will ever fade.

2012-01-11T02:32:00.002-05:00

just added to the etsy shop - the small bag in the sprig design.

I hope you love this one as much as I do.

2012-01-10T02:12:00.001-05:00

p birthday highlights - love the wrapping lliam did on the presents, thanks to my sis and dad for making the cake, yum.

2012-01-10T01:43:00.005-05:00

it's always sad when you find a fabric you absolutely love and it's all gone and you can't get it anymore - I came across these photos of this woven wool fabric I once had and was reminded of how beautiful it was. I had made scarves from them and they had quickly sold. I was playing around with fabric scraps and made this one off bag for myself.

2012-01-09T00:01:00.002-05:00

hello everyone,

I hope you had a nice weekend - we enjoyed celebrating piper's 3rd birthday (thank you for all the b-day wishes) - I feel like time is racing by and as much as I enjoy all the phases they go through - it's still hard. I spent my weekend working hard to catch up with all my work and unfortunately my wholesale catalogue is delayed - I decided to get all the new work in this catalogue and do it all the way I want it to be rather than rush through it. both kids love to draw and make things, lately piper will hang little drawings or pictures around the house and studio - I love the pattern and colour combinations in these two and the lines day bag has been restocked in the etsy shop.

enjoy your start to the week! xxa

2012-01-08T03:26:00.002-05:00

happy birthday sweet p

much love

2012-01-06T01:38:00.006-05:00

hi everyone,

I hope you had a nice week filled with creative activity - I have a busy weekend up ahead - lots of orders to finish and ship out and my little girl's birthday party to plan for, I feel bad for piper, her birthday is close to the holidays and I wish I had more time to do more fanfare, but I think she'll be happy with what we have planned. I feel like time is going by so fast - I was looking at photos of the kids when they were much younger and my heart just ached. I really wish there was a pause button. I'm leaving you today with a new bag that is very limited, only three available, made from a beautiful green wool I bought from mood fabrics in NYC (if you never been, you must visit - it's quite a treat) and a heavy weight waxed canvas bottom.

thanks again for all your feedback this week both here - on your blogs, on FB and the emails - all of you are truly the kindest.

enjoy your weekend! much love xxa

2012-01-05T02:27:00.004-05:00

thank you friends, for all your wonderful comments and the positive response - I was a bit nervous when asked to take part - thinking - what would people think of my home.....but glad that it went well. some pics from behind the scenes. I hope your weeks going well. my intern christina is coming in for two more days and her time will be up - she is the lovely model that I use in my pics - I hope she will be up for a few more shots.

2012-01-03T23:06:00.005-05:00

it's finally out!!! we are in covet garden magazine - I was looking it over tonight and my heart skipped a beat a few hundred times - the entire magazine captured so much of who we are as designers and a family - I hope you will enjoy this peek into our lives and don't forget there is a giveaway for our windows/lines large pouch through the magazine. a BIG thank you to jessica, lynda, rhonda and ashley, and the wonderful team over at covet garden......okay I'm off now to look at this another hundred times :)

2012-01-03T02:03:00.005-05:00

my oblong pouches has a new look with little leather pulls and some new prints

I also included shots of pens inside ,a very f.a.q. hope you like them.

2012-01-02T00:00:00.004-05:00

hello friends,

a lot of you are still on long weekend break, and I've been hard at work on getting new items in the etsy shop - by next week I will also have new tea towel designs. I am currently experimenting with doing my own waxed canvas, it's a bit more labour intensive and the only reason I am experimenting is because the waxed canvas I am using cannot be screen printed on. the material is water repellant. I have done a lot of wax work during my art school days, both casting and also waxing fabric to give my sculptures more structure, I also like the translucent quality it would give the forms. I never thought those days would return with design products. it will be awhile till I show you printed canvas that is coated with wax, trying to come up with the right formula. this new bag has a lovely durability and touch ability - I love this bag!

p.s. your orders won't be shipped till tuesday, the post office is closed today - I will be spending my day riveting and ironing.

I'm so excited for this new year! happy monday xxa

2011-12-30T01:44:00.006-05:00

it's been busy in the studio and also at home - the kids have been busy playing and checking out all their new toys - it keeps them busy for hours. we are lucky that the kids are low maintenance (for the most part) and like to hangout with each other. which frees up time for me to work on my many projects and there are piles of activity everywhere. even though I feel like everything is moving a mile a minute - around me is pretty quiet. we finally got snow and the streets have a nice calmness at night. after the snowfall we were going to go check out the park, but decided to stay in - it was too cold outside. a few months ago my iron broke down and I decided to get this rowenta steam iron (and it is the BEST iron) - also a few months ago I got a shipment of new fabric - rolls of waxed canvas. I had wanted to play with it when I got it, but the craft show madness took over. next week I will have new bags to show you. here's a little peek. I can't believe that it's the end of the year - this has been a full year of working on the business full-time - no teaching jobs to balance our income, and it has proven to be a good decision. I can't wait to see what the new year brings our little family.

I hope you enjoy ringing in the new year - thanks again for all your support! xxa

2011-12-28T01:25:00.003-05:00

I think that I'm the easiest person to buy a gift for, I love just about anything, and I'm also a practical girl, for instance one year my in-laws bought me a power washer (used for stripping my screens) for my birthday - I was over the moon. I got a lot of wonderful gifts this year, these are a few favourites. presents from the sister-in-laws, vintage thimbles used by the sewers in john's family (all so gorgeous, and what's not to love about thimbles) my other sister-in-law went to the craft show and decided that renaud's work would be our favourite - great guess! - not sure if you remember my post on his little ceramic bowl with the paw - this bowl is the same technique, and a box of vintage casted dark chocolates from margie - margie lives 15 minutes away from my in-laws and a visit was definitely a must.

on another note - yesterday was an exciting day for our little piper - she used the toilet for the first time. when we tried to potty train lliam it was such an ordeal - we had tried so hard and did every technique/trick in the book and he just wouldn't go for it, one day without us coaxing or trying he just walked to the bathroom. so with piper we didn't even begin with the tricks, just asked her all the time would you like to use the potty? she had a tell tale sign when she was about to go, she would wiggle and dance a bit. so last night she did her little wiggle and john said would you like to use the potty? and she said yes. so fingers crossed that we are on the right path.

2011-12-27T00:16:00.003-05:00

there is so much joy for small kids during christmas - leading up to the big day and on the big day. they are little enough to still believe in the mysticism that is santa claus - and yes if you wrap a present and sign it santa they believe it is from santa and wishes do come true....sigh, I wish everything could be so straightforward and simple, I guess that's the joy of childhood. as you can see the first photo of lliam is blurry, he was so excited and couldn't stay still and taking a group photo of the kids isn't easy - the little one had to be bribed with chocolate. piper enjoyed all her presents, especially the sushi kit. in the photo she is making me a special maki roll. tonight we will have a rerun of the weekend with my family.

2011-12-26T10:16:00.002-05:00

a quick hello - I hope you all had a nice break - I sure enjoyed the 10hrs of sleep - I feel like I was recharged. the image above is when I had ornaments, by friday the branch was pretty bare, I have a couple of big wholesale orders to do this week - yes - I know the busyness has already begun and there was no lull, I wanted to pop in to tell you the winner of the tumbler giveaway - congrats to ariadne! please email me your shipping address.

have a great day! xxa

2011-12-23T02:58:00.004-05:00

hello friends,

you survived the week and the weekend will be here soon - a weekend filled with lots of love and happiness. we will be taking a mini break and the brick and mortar shop will be open by appointment only - and we will resume regular business hours starting jan. 4th. the online shop will remain open. we were hoping to take a few weeks off, but to be completely honest, there's too much to do - the realities of owning a small business - we will savour the time we do have off. I will announce the winner for the tumbler giveaway on monday - I am also doing a giveaway on fb. we want to wish all of you the warmest holiday greetings to you and your lovely family and friends.

john and I have so much to be thankful for and appreciate your continued support and friendship.

much love to you all, xxa

2011-12-22T00:03:00.000-05:00

when I take photos for the e-mag and because I use a digital camera - it's hard not to take hundreds of photos - I'm getting better now that I try to not take as many photos - the reason is if you take so many photos you have to spend so much time trying to decide on the ones you want to use. I really like these photos even though they didn't get used. I like the photo of nick - you get a sense of how hot his studio is - if you've never been in a glass hot shop - the heat is pretty intense. when I was in my first year in art school, I would hangout in the glass studio and tried my hand at blowing glass, but it was short lived because I just couldn't handle the heat.

2011-12-21T00:09:00.000-05:00

even when you're working you see some small element that inspires you - I think I'm going to get this digitally printed so it keeps with the collage feel. thanks for all your kind comments on the new issue of bah.

2011-12-19T04:34:00.005-05:00

hello there,

did you have a nice weekend? - I feel like my weekends fly by, we were so busy in the shop this weekend, I guess since the holidays are upon us and plenty of shopping on our street. I wanted you to start your week with the launch of b.a.h. mag issue 05 - I know what your thinking - she's nuts - yes - with all that's going on around me I managed to pull it off, it's definitely a labour of love. thank you so much to my wonderful contributors who took time aside from their busy lives to be a part of this issue. I hope you love this issue as much as I do. I wanted to tell you that I will be doing a giveaway - leave me a comment (you will have till friday at 10pm EST) and on the weekend there will be another giveaway on fb, wowzers I feel generous. so for this giveaway the prize is the lovely tumbler on the cover. bonne chance!

enjoy your day friends! thanks for visiting

xxa

2011-12-16T02:51:00.003-05:00

hello there

I hope your week was productive and creative - I am working on a lot of different projects and after the update of these pouches and tissue covers, I will close the online shop for a week - today is my big push to get the majority of the orders out - yikes - it will be busy - our b&m is going to be open till friday the 23rd, it's been busy lately in the shop - thanks for coming by and saying hi and picking up some last minute gifts and definitely for supporting handmade. I will have these pouches along with the tissue covers available today in the etsy shop starting at 2pm EST.

if I don't chat with you or see you soon, have a lovely weekend! - these parts the temps are dropping - a good time to cosy up inside. xxa

2011-12-15T00:01:00.006-05:00

a friend of john's saw my drop cloth pouches and he said they remind him of gerhard richter's paintings.

pouches and tissue holders on sale friday (tomorrow) at 2pm EST.

2011-12-14T01:23:00.003-05:00

wow, thanks for all the wonderful comments about the drop cloth pouches - I keep picking one up and saying to myself - umm I want to keep this one, ahh and this one - oh it's going to be hard to part with them - I will have them for sale along with the tissue holders on friday in the afternoon. I will do a post to confirm - so check back soon. I was quite sick during this past craft show and I didn't get to buy much from the show. on one of the days that was open till 11pm I came to help out john regardless of how I felt - I didn't think it was fair that he would be there from 10-11 without a break - so on that day we bought two of renaud's bowls from atelier des cent ans - by far my favourite work at the show and he was so lovely and kind - if you visit the show, you need to visit him and his booth. make sure to check out his website with the beautiful product shots - the bowl pictured is small and fits in the palm of my hand - the paw image was done by carving into the clay and oxides rubbed in the carved areas before it's glazed. his pieces are beautifully thrown.

2011-12-13T01:05:00.006-05:00

here's a peek at the drop cloth pouches - they are each one of a kind and truly unique - I will sell them in a few days - I will give you a heads up on when I will post them in the etsy shop - I hope you like them as much as I do - they are like little paintings.

here is some of my loot from city of craft - ceramic fox bud vase by janet macpherson I like her sense of humour in her work. the cat painting by greasy chicken face and screen printed card by petra c - I wish I had more time to look around, such an easy place to spend money.

2011-12-12T01:17:00.005-05:00

hello there,

I hope you had a nice weekend, a BIG thank you to all of you who bought from the sale - I can't believe how fast it went - you're all the best! in our household we are all over colds and such and it was nice to have a nice sick-free weekend. I had a nice surprise visit from margie and she dropped off a paper whites plant before she left for her trip and did some shopping in the store- thanks margie! always great seeing you and I love the knitted hat you wore (made the night before)

believe it or not yesterday I took a day off - firstly I was doing volunteer work at the city of craft show (will show you what I bought tomorrow) and afterwards I went with the kids, cousins and aunts to the christmas market at the distillery (craziness there) I thought for a moment that every single person in toronto was at this market, the kids had fun stuffing their faces with treats and going on rides. afterwards we had pizza at my sister-in-law's condo that is in the distillery district.

when we got the brick and mortar shop lliam was around piper's age and at first he would ask us why people he didn't know was in our house. he eventually understood, but they still see the shop as a room in the house and I do apologize if you come in the shop and find toys or strange tableaux they have set-up in the shop, which are usually popular with other kids that visit - or if you come in the shop and find piper laying on the furniture.

enjoy your start to the week - it's getting chilly here and I think on friday

there was a bit of snow that lasted all of 15 mins.

xxa

2011-12-09T01:20:00.007-05:00

yep - it's going to be a good sale, if you're in town come visit city of craft - a wonderful craft show of handmade goods, I will be there on sunday at the second venue minding the door, come by and say "hi".

have a great weekend friends, rest is very near for me - one more week. xxa

2011-12-08T00:24:00.009-05:00

I am getting ready for my sale - I love sales - I will have sets, alphabet seconds, new pouch sets and also the regular stock will be marked down - it will happen for one day only. I hope you will join me - day and time will be announced via our email list - so get on the list to get in on the sale - I only send 1-2 newsletters a month, so don't feel like you will be sent tons of emails. I came across these photos from vintage items I use to sell. I started our etsy shop as a means to only sell sale items and vintage finds, and soon after I found etsy to be growing and I started to sell more of our handmade goods - another reason I don't have more vintage items is that I found shipping fragile and big items a bit of a challenge. I will open the online shop till the middle of next week and it will be closed till after the holidays - I will give you the dates when I have a better idea, also it will reopen restocked with new items. the little wooden house you see in the last picture is coming back, only for sale at our brick and mortar shop - I think it might be to heavy to ship. we were done with the production run, but we have had so many requests to bring them back - that we decided to do a short run.

out of the blue today lliam said to me - while I was fretting over some work I was doing - "hey mommy don't sweat the small stuff" a quote he often hears john say to me and not sure if he knows what it means, but it was in good context - so nice to be surrounded by level headed people.

enjoy your day - please send over any sunshine if you are experiencing too much. xxa

2011-12-07T01:01:00.004-05:00

so the poor sun has been hiding and it was hard to take photos for the sale in a few days - I will have to do my photoshop magic, I am also in the thick of doing the bah mag this is a peek of one of the projects. I am hoping to also have some of these tissue holders during the sale - I love that each is one of a kind and all the patch work is so much fun to do. I love patching and quilting, I wish I had more time to do it, and a nice way to use up little bits of linen remnants. so I will try to photograph the tissue holders today - I'm sure they'll be a big hit. I think I saw snow falling last night - so pretty.

2011-12-06T02:00:00.005-05:00

the canoe ornaments are in the shop - lisa's craftsmanship is astounding - we are in the process of moving things around in the shop and studio - I like where it's going. I am in the midst of having a double door put in where my window is now - I think it will really open up my cutting and printing area.

piper looks more and more like a little girl and the toddlerness is almost gone. she will be three soon and she is so pleased that she has enough hair to do pigtails.

2011-12-05T00:05:00.010-05:00

hello there,

I hope you had a nice weekend - we ended the craft show yesterday and unfortunately I missed most of it because I was sick, but john held the fort nicely. we had a great show - thank you to all of you that helped us to make it successful - we appreciate your support.

I have a lot of errands to do and at the end of the day I was invited by fellow vendors to get a mani-pedi, I don't get them often, and it would be a nice treat. I don't normally wear nail polish so maybe just a buff. I am going to take a week off during the holidays - it will be a good time to stew ideas. I am already stewing and I wanted to show you some drawings. I may or may not use them, but I thought you would like to see the process. I am very excited to show you new work, in the coming weeks I will show you bits and pieces. I feel so behind on gifts this year - we try our best to give handmade, I find it's getting harder to give handmade gifts to the kids, there's toys they want that we can't make, like lego.

I hope you have a great start to your week!

much love friends, xxa

2011-12-01T23:55:00.007-05:00

the craft show is ending this weekend - I must say it has been a whirlwind, our featured seller on etsy plus the craft show in vancouver did me in - in terms of inventory and plus all the wholesale. you would think after this many years I would get it right - I was spending my days at home sewing and getting it to the booth and they would quickly sell and I would make more again. It was helpful this year to have studio assistants, but it was too late in the season so no matter how hard we worked it was not enough.

so you know how I never get sick and if I do - it's every 15 years, well that terrible thing that piper was battling was passed on to me, I am so grateful I don't get sick often, because it down right sucks. I am on the mend with the help of antibiotics and an inhaler. I physically feel fine, but my hacking and coughing wasn't good for the booth, so john's been minding the booth. sorry if I missed any of you who visited. I have to do a talk at the craft show tomorrow to a group of high school students, talking about running a business and my craft journey, I did it last year and it was a lot of fun and I was happy they asked me back.

the image above is a pouch I made from remnant leather, I don't make a lot of leather goods, but there's something tactile about it that I really like, if I do make more I will have to get a walking foot machine, because my current industrial just rips into it, luckily those details are on the inside part. I am planning a really big sale in the shop mid week, I will send you a newsletter (if you're on the list) on the exact date and start time - it will only be for one day or till it's sold. there will be a lot of great things at great prices - for you or a last minute gift - I have to also mention - I can't guarantee holiday shipping, it's so hard to predict with the postal service, so if it gets to you great! if not I'm sorry.

enjoy your weekend friends, three more days of the show and I can rest.xxa

2011-11-30T01:39:00.004-05:00

so I will sometimes tease john and say "we should have another baby" - we both know the answer is a no - we're definitely done, we are at such a good place with balancing work and life that another person added to our family would be too much for us....but when you come across photos like these.

you can't help but say awwww....m a y b e

2011-11-29T00:01:00.003-05:00

photos courtesy of lil fish studios

I'm very excited to have lisa's birch canoes in the shop for the ornament show. you should check out this tutorial on her apple and pear ornaments - the PDF is here on her etsy shop.

2011-11-28T02:07:00.009-05:00

hi everyone

I hope you had a lovely weekend - it was mild here - yeah the weather's playing tricks again - today it rained and rained and rained. I felt like I was back in vancouver. john and I have been playing tag team with booth sitting at the craft show - I usually go to the show around 5pm to give him a break and during the days and late evenings I am happily making more work - I figure I can sleep when it's over next week. one of the exciting things about post show is that I clean up the studio and think about the next step and what to do next. I love looking at older bookhou work - these flap wallets were made 5 years ago when I used more colour base cloths. part of the reason I switched to neutral base cloths is that it's easier to replace. mills are constantly in flux and you will find you love a certain fabric and it will be discontinued. what I think about these wallets - coloured basecloths are lovely and some of these patterns should make a return. more on what I do next soon. thanks to those of you who came to the show and for stopping by and saying "hi" and letting me know you read the blog.

have a great monday! xxa

2011-11-25T00:03:00.005-05:00

thanks to all of you who came by our both yesterday - it was a very successful day and I am almost sold out of my new ceramics. john had gone to booth sit so that I can get more sewing done and when I went to the show in the afternoon there was hardly anything left. my jaw dropped - I didn't realize how well received they would be - I will definitely make more and offer them in etsy too. I have a great idea to ship them to protect them during transit. unlike textiles, ceramics requires way more organization, you can't go home the night before and whip up some new pieces - I can't wait to make more. the first image is a tumbler that I did a shoot with for the next issue of b.a.h. mag and the second shot was just before they were fired.

around the house is littered with toys and laundry folded and unfolded - we embrace the chaos during these times and don't fret over unfinished chores, more important things must be done, the kids love it, I havn't once told them this week to clean up after themselves. I look forward to seeing more of you this next week and thanks so much for your continued support - we all appreciate it. and on that note.

a happy thanksgiving to all my american friends. have a great weekend! xxa

2011-11-23T02:58:00.008-05:00

things are pulling together and I am excited to see it all together in my booth for the ooak show. the set-up continues today - I made a last minute change that delayed the set-up. so later today I will go to the show and check the lighting and also to do the merchandising. I will have to also do some ironing too. the great thing about the show is that they allow the vendors to use the daycare facility that is on site and I have seen the same ladies for the past 5 years and they are wonderful with the kids - it's a big space with lots of toys and my kids always enter with a glazed look on their faces. it's great to have for last minute work to the booth without making babysitting arrangements. the images above is a sneak peek at some of the new items available - as you can see there is a small photo of the new ceramics - I will have more photos later and they will have their debut at the show - each are one of a kind, so come by and check it out. the show opens tomorrow and I will be at booth O-7 and here's a link for a coupon for the admission ticket. I hope to see you there!

2011-11-22T03:02:00.005-05:00

thanks for all your well wishes for piper - it was nice to have her back to her old self - yesterday she was drawing and happy again and giving hugs and kisses, when she's not well she doesn't want anyone near her and if you kissed and hug her, she would grunt at you. the car is all packed and john and my dad are off early today to go set-up the craft show - I will be at the studio still printing and sewing and hopefully get a chance later in the day to put the products out. when I'm in production mode - I always have the urge to come up with a new design and I'm looking at older bags as a reference for the new designs that I will work on after the show - I did hope to have them for the show, but I want to take my time and not rush it. I got my new fabric recently and it's going to dictate what the new work will be like, I also have new drawings for some new screen prints for tea towels and smaller bags - I am looking forward to seeing how it all works out. there might also be a return of some old bag designs you see above, but reworked. if you're in toronto I hope you pencil in a visit to the ooak show.

p.s. the next issue of b.a.h. mag will be out sometime in early december - so excited! I can already tell this issue is going to be beautiful - I am working on it now (I know I'm crazy - with my heavy production load) - the other thing that I will be working on after the craft show is re-designing the website. the changes in the air feels nice.

2011-11-21T11:05:00.003-05:00

happy monday friends,

It's been busy in the bookhou workshop - lots of people helping out in the studio trying our best to get it all done. we had to take lil' p to sick kids emergency yesterday - she was not on the mend and when that happens it doesn't hurt to get a professional opinion. she is now on antibiotics and is a bit more like her sweet self. john said that sick kids hospital was a great place to be - they were organized and did their best to keep the kids entertained during such a long wait. this past week I've been doing a lot of printing and there is so much lovely imagery from the layers of printing. my dad mentioned in passing that I should cut up my drop cloth and making little pouches or something.

enjoy your day friends - it's getting chilly here, but no snow in these parts yet. xxa

2011-11-20T19:33:00.005-05:00

photos courtesy of margie oomen

it's always a pleasure to see margie - today she dropped off her ornaments - margie puts so much care and attention to the items she makes - I love the fabric pine cone made with indigo - I think I will have to keep it for myself. I also love the digital printed and embroidered thimble ones - they are a lot bigger than they look in the pictures. also tonight john and I are busy cutting all the decals for the ceramics that we printed yesterday. they should be completed by tomorrow for their firing - just in time for the ooak show.

p.s. on a side note - I get a lot of margie's readers too and when I was in vancouver - I had lots of people approach me and asked about margie and asked how she is in person - in case you were wondering too - I can assure you that margie is every bit wonderful and more in person, and her home and surroundings is very inspiring. I am truly blessed to have her as a friend as well as other great friends I met via the internet.

2011-11-18T02:37:00.006-05:00

it's been nice to get back into the studio and making - when I was in vancouver I was on a production break and don't get me wrong breaks are good and always rejuvenating, but I belong in the studio. I have had both my parents in the studio working with me and it's been great, my dad is up to helping with anything and mom helps me with the sewing - she also makes us all our meals. the studio is a well oiled machine. I have a new print version of the large pouch - a product that was very popular at the circle craft show. I had printed this version before I left, but there wasn't enough time to sew them, so they will be available online and at the upcoming ooak show - friday is always my day to give myself that extra push to complete all my online orders, on the weekend I will be organizing the stock and my show display. when I was in vancouver I was stressing about everything that had to be done and my approach now is - what ever gets done - gets done - life is too short to fret. I am excited about the show and being able to meet all of you in person. this week we are not accomplishing everything that needs to get done because piper has a terrible cold and last evening when I was helping her get dressed for bed and I was looking at her and the little person she is. I was thinking how it's easy to get caught up in all the work that has to be done, when really the most important thing is this little person who warms my soul.

I hope you have a wonderful weekend - the air is crisp and cool and winter is approaching - so excited for the snow to come!

xxa

2011-11-17T02:53:00.002-05:00

more wonderful knits by nicole in the shop

2011-11-17T00:02:00.001-05:00

new market totes - circles in indigo and flock in rust on lovely linen with a cotton lining.

2011-11-16T02:14:00.005-05:00

here's a picture of some of the lovely items I left vancouver with - the lovely bud vase was a gift from heather - it's was great chatting with her and seeing her again (thanks again heather) - the little hip pouch kept my mints and change on hand a gift from my old landlord back in the day who is also a maker (thanks irek) nautilos bags are well made and functional canvas bags. the handmade little broomlet and dust pan a gift for john from the broom company on granville island. the hand turned pen a trade from my neighbour manfred and the sketchbook from paper ya. do you notice a peak at some new designs I'm working on. my new wholesale catalogue comes out in january so I am preparing for that. my sweet little piper is a bit under the weather and I caught her taking a much needed rest.

2011-11-15T01:08:00.008-05:00

it's good to be back - thank you vancouver friends for making my trip a great success. It was a short trip and here are a few photo highlights - the first thing you notice when going to vancouver is the beautiful mountains. I saw the mountains on my last day - there was too much fog and the peaks were not visible. on my one day off I ventured to granville island to visit two of my favourite shops - paper ya and maiwa. granville island has a lot of little shops and a lovely food market called the public market. during this day trip I wished I packed my rubber boots and a warmer sweater, my day was cut short because I am a wimp with wet and cold days.

it was a nice experience at the show and everyone I met was super friendly - I hope to return soon. I arrived in toronto early monday morning at 6am (red eye flights suck) and I am already head deep into printing (thanks to john, kristin and my dad for cutting, cutting and cutting while I was away). my mom arrived this afternoon with baguettes and croissants in tow (my mom is convinced that france has the best bread). I am also working on some new pieces and will have more to tell you later.

I missed you all xxa

I was in love with this tree house in judi's backyard

inside paper ya

loved the places I ate at - ramen noodles at motomachi shokudo (thanks elaine - super yummy) - had a fun time at hapa izakaya in kitsalano - we ended the meal with creme brulee. and lastly guu in gastown - you must try the mushroom and rice with cheese - YUM.

2011-11-10T02:06:00.004-05:00

while I'm in vancouver I am staying with my friend judi, who's studio is in a shipping container - read about it here on apartment therapy. Thanks to all the lovely folks who visited me at the show.

2011-11-08T19:06:00.002-05:00

a little eye candy while I'm away - work by anita bruce

2011-11-06T20:08:00.003-05:00

hello vancouver friends - I hope you can visit me at the circle craft show

a special thanks to the ontario arts council

xxa

2011-11-04T02:26:00.009-04:00

my dad is back in canada for a visit - he'll be staying till after the holidays. I had a fun time hanging out with him and chatting about work, life etc - what's great about my dad is that he's so into what I do and is really supportive. I was printing and he was cutting - yeah I know he's pretty awesome. he thinks it's great that I have my work shipped to so many different countries and he was reading the etsy comments and said I have the nicest customers - yes - I do. it was nice to share with him my daily routine - he did mention my studio is a bit hectic and doesn't know how I stay on top of all the things that need to be done. upon my return from vancouver my mom will be visiting from france - she will be down to help me with the upcoming craft show - I have a great support system - I am truly a lucky girl.

left bookhou, middle virginia johnson, right amanda mccavou r

john and I snuck out for a few hours to go to the auction for the chair - when we left the event the chair was close to fetching $1000 - it's such a nice feeling to know that we were a part of this charity event - going to a great cause. if you're ever in toronto - the textile museum is a must visit, besides our shop of course.

there was interesting interpretations - especially the one where the chair was grind down to pulp and made into paper

amanda's scribbles displayed in the front bar of the hotel where the auction was held.

I enjoyed hanging out with amanda - lovely lady.

enjoy your weekend friends - the posts next week will be a bit light - unless I can figure how to post on my ipad. I will check in on FB.

many thanks to all of you for your amazing support

xxa+j+ll+p

2011-11-02T02:41:00.005-04:00

such long days here - john's been under the weather so I've been going solo on studio production. so I'm more tired than usual - yesterday while I was taking a break from my large pile of sewing I made myself a large oblong pouch (10in. wide) from some linen I dipped in the indigo and dyed in pomegranate. I really like the grey of the linen - the colour is originally an oatmeal colour, seeing the quality of the dyeing on the linen makes me want to do more dyed pieces in linen, I like the texture - so more dyed bags in linen is on my list of things to do - there will be more indigo dyeing today - I ran out of drying space so I had to do it in two sessions. I really like how the dipped market totes turned out - they will be coming to vancouver with me, I hope I can squeeze more work in before I leave monday. I find the daily administration work and organization can take up so much of your time and before you know it the day is over.

a place that puts a smile on my face

2011-11-01T01:37:00.008-04:00

I was hiding all the candy the kids brought home yesterday - so that I can monitor how much they consume - the problem is - who's going to hide it from me, arghh I have sugar overload - the candy is tiny and so it's easy to justify consuming more than one.

our current featured artist is Yolande Clark - she makes the most beautiful wood fired ceramics. Yolande is from New Brunswick and the clay is dugged up from an area near her studio and this body of work is a result of two years of experimenting and making. each piece is truly a work of art. so come by and have a look - I think they look beautiful in our window and john did a nice job with the low table.

2011-10-31T00:46:00.007-04:00

I hope you had a restful weekend - I did some natural dyeing over the weekend - making my indigo dipped market totes - once they are rinsed and cleaned I will be dyeing the bag in a grey dye bath. a few months ago - I got a present from margie in the form of a small indigo vat - yeah that was a pretty cool gift. the vat is working like a charm (thanks margie) I was hesitant to use it because it didn't look like the right colour in the jar (yellowy) - I kept it warm, stirred it every other day and wrapped it in a sweater and the occasional warm bath if the jar felt too cold (crazy - I know) picky little guy - the kids kept referring to it as mommy's jar baby. all these dipped indigo bags are being made for the circle craft show next week - wow I can't believe a week from today I head out to vancouver - last time I was there was 20 years ago- one of my lovely interns (elaine) is from out west and she is preparing a list of places I should visit. having a very tight schedule I hope to be able to check out a few places. also since I will be gone for a week - I decided it would be wise to close the online shop while I'm away - I have only a week before the OOAK show when I get back and I didn't want to delay orders being shipped out - sorry for any inconvenience.

enjoy your monday - happy trick or treating! xxa

2011-10-30T01:56:00.005-04:00

okay - so there isn't big piles of leaves to jump into yet - how about a pile of newsprint? john unwrapping the work of our next featured artist (more on that later) and the kids helping. so - it's been busy around here if you havn't notice - I feel a bit guilty about piper's store bought costume, but as you can see in her photo - she doesn't care - I didn't think being a fairy could make a little girl so happy - thanks to aunt anna for hunting down a costume so last minute.

I hope your weekend's been good so far

2011-10-28T01:26:00.012-04:00

this past weekend the kids had a chance to watch the zombie walk - I wasn't sure if the little ones would be afraid, but they all thought it was funny and piper kept saying "they have a boo boo" - the people who participated were really in character with the limping, moaning and the make-up, this walk happens each year one week before halloween - the kids are super excited for monday to come along - you would think it was christmas. this weekend I will be playing catch up and will also be working on showing you new pieces to show you next week - I am thinking of making more pieces with the circle print - I don't think I used it enough - I love how the screen printed image sits on the linen - I've been making like crazy and I felt it today in my back after I printed about 200 calendar wall art. in other news I am working on something really big - like really big for bookhou and I can't wait to tell you about it - sorry for all the suspense. I had to say something - I'm too excited.

have a lovely weekend! - we have to bundle up here in toronto - temperatures are quickly dropping.

xxa

2011-10-27T00:01:00.001-04:00

loop scarves are back - I made changes to the size - the first ones I made were a bit wider and longer so these are narrower and shorter in length - these one are made from a pale grey 100% linen - I made ones with the rain pattern and the popular triangle pattern is back - I will also be making loop scarves from a hemp jersey and a cowl design in wool - just in time for the chilly weather. this week I have had extra help and it's amazing what can be done with five extra pairs of hands (thanks ladies! - couldn't of gotten this far in the week without each of you) + of course john - my mailman :)

2011-10-26T02:46:00.003-04:00

meet kay - this adorable 22 month old will be making an appearance modelling some knitwear in the next issue of b.a.h. magazine - his dad daisuke owns a lovely vintage shop called the black pug on queen west near roncesvalle - you should check it out if you're in the neighbourhood. the past few days has been crazy work mode. the response on being a featured seller has been so amazing - thank you for your comments and emails. it's been pouring rain outside and dreary as ever - so good weather for working indoors. I hope your weeks been good so far.

2011-10-25T01:35:00.005-04:00

so my busy day yesterday was our featured seller spot on etsy. thank you for leaving a comment and hello to all the new visitors. I appreciate everyone's support. the photo of the two of us was taken by lliam (wasn't easy, but I think he did a pretty good job). I am pretty swamped today - so am doing my best to respond to emails and convos. I want to thank Christina for modelling the natural dye scarves, not only is she a lovely intern, but a good model too! - the last five are listed on etsy, and I don't think I will be making any of these styles again - so get them while you can.

bye for now! xxa

2011-10-24T01:58:00.006-04:00

happy monday friends!

I hope your weekend was lovely - yesterday was filled with sunshine and folks were wandering the streets without a jacket - oh weather - always playing tricks on me.

I have so much to tell you and such little time - so today I have two posts to tell you about, firstly a new bag - by chance I found a small quantity of this beautiful sailcloth fabric and knew immediately it would make a wonderful bag - because the bag has a coating on it to make it waterproof I couldn't print on it - which is fine - I just thought I would add a few little details like the gusset and the top edge - I really like how nice it looks without the top stitching and the little grommets. please check it out in the shop - there's not going to be a lot made since I only have a small roll of the fabric.

secondly, some of my stationary work is featured in this month's designlines - and to celebrate I made a little set of screen printed tags - I only made a limited amount - so get them while you can. I changed the colours of the porcupine and the hare - they both use to be green and I think these colours really defines john's line drawings. I'm off to spend the day with a new intern (this week only I have three interns, plus of course my new assistant kristen).

enjoy your monday - today is going to be a busy one - will tell you why later! xxa

2011-10-21T01:52:00.007-04:00

it's friday and the end of the week - it's my nephew's b-day party today and we're all eager to enjoy some family time. yesterday piper got a special present in the mail from nicole. she immediately put on the mitts and said "I love them" such sweets words coming out of her little mouth. I really adore the personalized label nicole put inside. I had to photograph piper wearing them. I also photographed her in one of nicole's child hats with the great little bit of extra knitting on the edge to cover their ears. the lovely red cape is from kessa of patouche

next week will be interesting and exciting - will fill you in monday - what I can tell you is that next week I will have four lovely ladies helping me. I will also have a new bag to show you made from a beautiful sailcloth fabric.

I hope your weekend is full of creativity. have a good one! xxa

2011-10-20T01:43:00.007-04:00

I have lots of remnant fabric and I try to use as much usable pieces as I can - my tote bags are now going to be made of 100% hemp canvas and I had some small pieces left that was big enough for oblong pouches - I have a real soft spot for embroidery - it's something that I can do anywhere and projects can start and stop at a moments notice. I have only these two for sale - but I want to make more - so much fun.

2011-10-19T02:23:00.006-04:00

so earlier in the week we had a photo shoot - it was a lot of fun and I learned so much from watching the photographer and the stylist - it's always nice to have a fresh new outlook on your space. I thought it was interesting how the photographer took some photos blocking the light coming in from the window and using a longer exposure. I will show you more behind the scenes shots when the issue comes out - I had a peek at the photos on the computer - all I can say is that they looked pretty amazing - you will have to wait till the new year to see it - sorry wish I could tell you more - my camera felt so tiny next to hers.

I hope everyone's enjoying the crispy air of autumn.

2011-10-18T01:40:00.010-04:00

so to the left is the before photo (sorry it's so small - it was an image the museum sent) - john did a great job! - my part was in the collaboration of the design - all the stripping (a gazillion staples) was all john and a ton of power and hand sanding (white wash paint on the wood was not easy to remove) plus wood steam bending and assembling - john liked the idea of leaving some of the remnants of the chair's former life - some of the paint in the cracks and the staples holes left behind in the areas that held down the upholstery. right from the beginning we knew that the silhouette of the former chair had to echo through whatever was done. I think the chair reflects our aesthetics completely. it will be picked up today and I hope the textile museum will love it as much as we do.

if you're interested in this charity event to support the TMC you can buy tickets here - it will be held at the Gladstone Hotel.

2011-10-17T01:25:00.006-04:00

happy monday everyone!

geez the weather took a 180 this weekend - welcome autumn - where have you been? so nice to see you now. it was hard convincing the kids that yes - it's time to wear shoes and socks now. a big thank you to christine for conducting such a lovely workshop - it was so interesting to see how everyone's piece progressed. I was completely distracted all day - I think I should of done the workshop - I had hand hooking envy. christine came to the workshop with some interesting equipment - one being the cutter for the wool - the machine functioned without the use of blades - all tension - I loved it! she also gave us a dyeing demo - showing how you can alter a thrift store find to something you would use in your piece. her show is on for another week so come by and check it out.

today will be a day spent sewing - enjoy your day, see you tomorrow! xxa

2011-10-14T00:01:00.001-04:00

hello friends,

it's the end of the week and it's time to gear up for the weekend. there's a lot going on these days - one of them being my new studio assistant who is starting today (how exciting!) - the other is getting our shop and apartment cleaned up and organized for a photo shoot monday (I can't tell more until it comes out) - christine's workshop is tomorrow - still 2 more spots. and also getting the chair for the redesign charity at the textile museum of canada all finished. it's being picked up on tuesday - I will photograph it this weekend and show you the photos next week. the image above is a photograph of peter fleming's chair (he is head of furniture at sheridan college) - the charred pieces will be redesign into frames. I'm pretty excited to go to the event on nov. 3 to see the result of everyone's chair.

have a great weekend everyone - thanks for visiting - I appreciate it. xxa