heartstopper

Earlier today I had the chance to go on a quick thrifting excursion, and I found this beauty. This is a vintage, hand-quilted, double wedding ring quilt. The colours are so pretty! I have never seen a quilt in a thrift shop, but I have seen them in antiques markets for a lot of money. This one cost me $10. Johanna, quilt teacher extraordinaire, had recently posted about the double wedding ring quilt, and I thought how lucky I was that I was able to find one already completed, in fabrics I could have chosen myself.

This quilt needs some attention; some of the seams need repair and sadly, some of the hand stitching has come undone. Still, I couldn't be more thrilled.

sweep her off her feet

This made me chuckle. We discovered one of our mugs in an Etsy gift guide (hey, Forest Bound!). It would be hilarious to you if you knew Monty (the "Monty" on the mug isn't yet permanent, it was just an inside joke).

Monty was this cat who belonged to my former downstairs neighbour -- who herself was quite a character. Monty roamed the neighbourhood and greeted us when we arrived at the front door. One time I came home pretty early in the morning and saw him being chased down the street by a pack of skunks. He used to sit at my bedroom window on the fire escape, making Oreo hiss, and he got into brawls with raccoons. I miss that cat.

He looked exactly like this guy.

alyson fox

I got this print by Alyson Fox in the mail yesterday, which I bought after making a few Etsy sales back in December. I love drawings of people without faces. I often encourage Geoff to leave the faces off his drawings (this one is one of my favourites), although I imagine that drawing them is good practice. It simplifies things, emphasizes other parts of the drawing, and is less distracting. It is also a little haunting, and creepy (in a good way!).

Anyhow, I love the details in this print, especially the scalloped vest. It is so lovely. I have framed it and added it to my wall of happiness.

humbled

For our website, which is a work in progress, we've been collecting links to blog posts that have featured things made by little ol' me & little ol' Geoff. It is here (we put "press" in quotes because we are self-deprecating). Every single time that someone bothers to put up a link to our Etsy shop, I feel so grateful and so humbled. Everyone has been so kind, from April to Julie and Kathryn to Shauna and Stephen. The Etsy shop is very much something we do for fun. We are a modest operation, and morale can be an issue. The materials I use can be pretty expensive and sometimes it's easy to feel as though it's just not worth it. Still, we love it and are addicted.

This morning I was scrolling through through Reader and came across a post about us from Poppytalk! I was pretty shocked, and excited. And, again, grateful and humbled.

We stayed home today to watch the snow fall and to make a few new things for the shop.

au revoir simone

I love these photos of Au Revoir Simone taken at the Met by David Black. They look so beautiful and real. They look like people I might know.

Incidentally, they took their name from Pee Wee's Big Adventure. Maybe I should watch it. Because, dear friends, today I seem to be in the kind of mood that requires a dose of silliness.

giveaway

The lovely Marta of Marta Writes is giving away one of my custom ties -- go here to enter, and good luck!

clocky: an update

Since some of you were curious about Clocky, here is a report on his first day on the job.

Clocky got me out of bed at 7 AM this morning. I haven't seen 7 AM in ages. It really isn't the best way to wake up: a huge GASP and a leap and a shot of adrenaline because it is SO loud and so startling. It's just after 9 and I've had my breakfast of steel-cut oats, I've straightened my hair, and I've puttered quite a bit.

It is effective! I saw the sunrise.

It is terrifying and horribly unpleasant, though. Oreo is traumatized by it.

clocky

I am the worst at getting out of bed.  I tend to remain in bed for one whole hour after my alarm has gone off for the first time.  It is appalling, and I don't know what to do about it.  I eat lots of fruits and vegetables and avoid sodium and take multivitamins and drink lots and lots of water and I walk an hour a day or more and I do yoga occasionally and I'm a decidedly non-depressed person -- but I cannot get my bum out of bed in the morning.  Bed is just so warm and cozy and my sleep is so deep and my dreams so engrossing!  Geoff tries to lure me out with cups of coffee held to my nose, but sometimes even that doesn't work.

The most annoying part of all of this is even if I do get out of bed early/-ish, I still putter and dawdle away the morning and I have to stay at work late; the cruelest part of all of this is that I love mornings.  So fresh, so lovely!  And me so sleepy.

Anyhow, today I bought a Clocky clock in the hopes that it will annoy me out of bed.  I'd seen it online a while back and now they are available locally (I bought mine at Rolo in Yorkville).  I am so desperate to change this sleepyhead sitch that I don't even care that it was $80 after taxes.

Oreo, hang on to your fur, 'cause your life is going to change.

louis-georges

Last night, Geoff, who had been working away at his desk for a while, quietly held this out in front of me. I think I laughed for five minutes straight.

Louis-Georges is available here, if you happen to be interested.



May I now direct you to the sweetest blog post ever? It is here. Oh, this one as well. Love!

heart-shaped muffins

I made these guys last night. I don't bake very often, but I do enjoy it. These are Blueberry Crumb Muffins from The Modern Baker, made with formerly frozen wild blueberries -- so delicious! I halved the recipe (which yields 12) but spread the batter into 8 of these little silicone heart-shaped molds. I then proceeded to eat three of them over the course of the evening. The crumb topping, made of butter, brown sugar, and cinnamon, is irresistible.

We've been eating at home almost every day lately. It's so nice! Without really trying, we've been eating simple meals with in-season fruits and vegetables, thanks to our subscription to Martha Stewart Everyday Food magazine (a bonus: the spines of the magazine are so colourful that they make great decor, too!). As a result, I've been able to spend my eating-out budget -- not so much a "budget" as money I spend on the most frivolous whim at my favourite, inexpensive restaurants -- on things like $20 clearance dresses from Zara. I win!

website

Geoff and I have a website now: fieldguided.com. There isn't much there, and part of me wonders why we bothered to set it up, but I suppose it has potential. It's also nice to have a couple of things linked in one spot, and when we get new mini Moo cards, we can put the URL on them.

I love this hanky so much. Aren't the colours glorious? I have thought about embroidering on it, but I don't dare ruin it. I found it at an antiques mall and have had a hard time finding others as lovely.

Also: I can't believe such a store has been sitting in the Junction for half a year and I have not heard of it.

kate towers

Back in the summer (oh! Summer!) Julie of Vain and Vapid was a featured seller at Etsy's Storque. She selected a capelet from Kate Towers of Portland, and I was absolutely smitten. Yesterday Chelsea from Frolic posted that Kate Towers had launched a new website, and it is a thing of beauty! I particularly like the "Wit & Prim" section.

I have begun thinking about wedding gowns / dresses in only the most vague way, but I think that if I had one of these dresses, I would be the happiest bride in the world. Or, you know, one of these dresses to wear for walks around town. Why not?

(Incidentally, why is it so hard to find a formal dress that has a nice-looking sleeve? I have a hideous tattoo that I got when I was 18 sitting right at the top of my left arm and I haaaaaaaaaate it so much that if I could afford it, I would be perfectly happy to go through the pain of laser tattoo removal. I would leap into the chair singing a jaunty little number, in fact.)

dreaming of spring

(I took this picture with my Diana last April.)

When I see images of flowers, I start to feel so excited about the coming of spring. Peonies make me particularly wistful, it seems. And I believe that sometimes the anticipation is nearly as good as its arrival. Today is one of those days in which it feels as though spring will never come; my boots are salt-stained and slush-dampened, my hair has gone curly from walking in wet snow. It's so dark when I leave work. I cannot stop thinking about how lovely it is in Australia right now.

Since I have sunshine on my mind, I made a turban last night out of some lacey knit fabric I have -- I'm happy with the result and may add it to my Etsy shop within the next few days.



I wanted to thank each and every one of you for the lovely comments on my last post. It was so, so nice to read them. I love my little group of blog-readers! xo

we're engaged!

I've kept this little bit of news to myself for a while but yes, Geoff & I are engaged! It was a total surprise! I caught him smiling to himself one day (December 1, in fact), in that "I've got a secret" kind of way. It took a bit of prodding, but when I finally got him to reveal this secret, he proposed (I said yes).

He said he had been thinking about asking me back in May/June when we went to New York, and all that time I had no idea.

He wanted to buy me a ring, but didn't know what to get as I don't wear rings. I told him about Kate Szabone's Etsy shop, after seeing her mentioned in posts by Erica and Kate, because I loved the rings and love that she's local. He got his own Etsy account (aww), ordered the white sapphire ring, and gave it to me for my birthday. It is a lovely, delicate, dainty thing. I love it!

We're aiming for April of 2010, or possibly May. Or maybe this summer or fall, at City Hall? We'll see!

We told our friends at my birthday party and as they were leaving our friends Ben & Tara told us they were engaged on Christmas Day. So lovely!

i will never get sick of bows

I've admired Etsy seller morelle for a while, and while I can't justify buying this at the moment (as the result of a series of highly irresponsible purchases in the last month or so), I think this bag is the sweetest. One day!

back to work

I hope you all had a wonderful evening last night. Geoff & I watched a few movies from the comfort of our couch, and rang in the new year by laughing & feeling glad that we hadn't gone outside: it was cold (for some reason I seem completely incapable of dealing with the cold lately).

I wish all of you much health, happiness, and love in 2009! Hearts hearts hearts.

I have had the past little while off work, but there just hasn't been much opportunity to make new things for the Etsy shop; as a result, it seems to have grown a little stagnant. Yesterday I decided to go back to work (not work-work) and I made a red plaid tie which I think will be perfect for Valentine's Day. The picture above was actually an accident, but I like how it looks with the vibrant red thread peeking out of the corner.

I made this one for Geoff with a little heart on the label, inspired by Caitlin, who had asked that I put a heart on the tie I sent her. So clever!

I also wanted to mention that I started a Tumblr account as a sort of visual archive. It's a good way to collect some of the beauty I encounter in a day.