warm greetings from Germany

The parcel arrived just in time from my girl friend Ursula in Germany. She is a superb knitter and made me this pair of socks. I think she needs these warm socks more then we do. Germany had a white Christmas for sure.

There is nothing better and warmer on my feet like this!

Thanks.

have a very merry christmas

I am wishing my friends and family here and overseas a very peaceful and Merry Christmas.

                                                  Frohe Weihnachten

                                 

                                                  bon noel

                                                  Merry Christmas

              

Gifts on the go

It is late evening and I just finished another Venti Mug Rug. I downloaded the instruction from " The Frosted Pumpkin Stitchery". These little rugs are fun to make and I wrap them with a coffee gift card and a beautiful mug. When is Santa getting sleep?

.... these delicious hazelnut cookies didn't stay for very  long.....

Shredding Scissors

Restoration Hardware has a wonderful collection for stocking stuffers. I came across the 5-blade handheld privacy protection shredding scissors. I never saw such a cool scissor . Yes, you can shred your visa bill at the end of December or use it to fringe paper in your artwork.

It cuts perfectly through text paper and stiffer fabrics.

All stocking stuffers were 30% off and it came to $14.99 for a very handy tool.

Nicely packaged with this quote:

it begins to look like Christmas.....

Last night I started to bake some Christmas cookies. I love the smell of baking drifting through the house. I would be surprised that this batch is lasting until next week. I remember that my mother and grandmother would start in the beginning of November and the cookies would be stored with an apple

 ( to keep them moist) in our cold cellar. When it came to carry the boxes of cookies up for Christmas Eve we all kids had the " not guilty" look on our faces because half of it was already eaten.

The day before I baked a traditional German Stollen which comes close to a fruit  bread. This was a winner and it's almost gone.

I started to decorated our Christmas tree and found in a antique store up north these ornaments from the 70'and 80's. ( 4 for a buck in the original package) The colors are reminding me of my first Sorel boots I bought in Canada.

Drawing as a Practice

A while ago I took a fabulous  class with Katie Kendrick. We started off drawing with the left hand, circles, eyes and different facial expressions. I liked the imperfection on paper. With practice we gain strength, skills, and confidence to do good work.

                                                    

                                                                the prayer boy

  

                                                                     discovery                                                    

more cushions....

It has been quiet on my blog for days but it doesn't mean I have nothing to share. I am totally immersed with my sewing machine and fabrics. My first cushion 13"x18" turned out so great that I fell in love with it and I decided to make them for Christmas. I had such a great response using the owl image that I ordered the last 2 yards and a buddha print. The back looks as good as the front.

Scrappy Quilt workshop

I started last week my scrappy quilt at the workroom. Working with fabric you really, really love makes it so much more fun. Of course just at the right time a new shipment of Amy Bulter arrived . I feel like in a "deli store" a little of this fabric and a fat quarter please!

      
I decided to make the quilt a little bit larger I had to sew instead of 16 squares 36! So I packed my sewing machine for the weekend went up north and set up a production line - 2 inch fabric stripes placed on the kitchen counter, beside the ironing board and the sewing station at the dining table. Why the rush?
This is a 3 week class and without homework you would never finish the quilt in time and  pssst.....
it's a christmas present.

 For the back I picked the sea shell fabric from Kaffe Fassett mixed with Amy Butler .

It seems the owl is everywhere.
Hope you like sis!

Miss Pimpenella

A while ago I signed up for an on-line class " Cloth and Clay Dolls" with Jane DesRosier. Only now I was sitting down at home and watched her videos to make one of her dolls. This was a challenge to sculpture the head out of paper clay and paint . It took me a week to finish. Doll making is very labour intensive but I am happy with Miss Pimpenella which will make a trip to Germany for Christmas.

Conversation with Hunter

" street talk" with Hunter

( photo taken from the ground level at OCAD)

((p(hoto taken from the ground level(

Hunter History

    

1817 was the year the wellington first made its appearance. At this time men's fashion was going through major changes as gentlemen everywhere discarded their knee breeches in favour of trousers. This however, led to a problem regarding comfortable footwear. The previously popular Hessian boot, worn with breeches, was styled with a curvy turned-down top and heavy metallic braid - totally unsuitable for wearing under trousers.

To this end, Arthur Wellesley, the first Duke of Wellington, instructed his shoemaker, Hoby of St. James Street, London, to modify the 18th century boot. The resulting new boot designed in soft calfskin leather had the trim removed and was cut closer around the leg. It was hard wearing for battle yet comfortable for the evening. The Iron Duke didn't know what he'd started - the boot was dubbed the Wellington and the name has stuck ever since.

These boots quickly caught on with patriotic British gentlemen eager to emulate their war hero. Considered fashionable and foppish in the best circles, they remained the main fashion for men through the 1840's. In the 50's they were more commonly made in the calf high version and in the 60's they were both superseded by the ankle boot, except for riding.

Let's talk risotto

This is  a perfect dish to have family and friends in my kitchen and "moi" is stirring the risotto loaded with portobello mushrooms. My son came home  from university for the weekend and I thought  this is a good time catching up while I am cooking. I enjoy this flavorful dish with a glass of white wine and in the background the sound of Etta James.

Ingredients:
6 cups of homemade chicken broth
olive oil
1 pd portobello mushrooms sliced
1pd white mushrooms sliced
2 shallots, diced
1/2 cup of dry white wine
sea salt, black pepper
4 tablespoons of butter
lots of finely chopped chives
butter and freshly grated Parmesan cheese


Cook mushrooms in olive oil until soft, set aside. Heat one tablespoon of oil and stir in shallots, add rice and coat it with the oil about 2 minutes. Start adding slowly the broth to the rice until rice is done. Stir in mushrooms, butter , chives and Parmesan. Season with pepper and salt.

* Here are 2 books I picked up. The Barefoot Contessa. I was reading Leslie's blog and couldn't resist picking it up at Costco. Fabulous recipes to add pounds on my hip.
*Change Your Brain, Change Your Body( library)  - I listen to the audio tapes while I am driving. Fantastic   knowledge what to put into your mouth and the very best care for your brain.
After said that, i would choose Ina's recipe on page 101 and 111.

Fornasetti and Yo-Yo banners

I have an abandon stash of fabrics, let's call the " fat quarter addiction" and various tools I never used. One of these nifty gadgets is the yo-yo tool from Clover I have in all sizes. Last night I made a handful and sewed them on the linen banner. This is a perfect project to take up to the cottage.

The Fornasetti banner took a little more time. I silk screened two different sizes on muslim . I absolutely adore  Lina's face. Two years ago I took a silk screening class with the very talented Jeff Garcia and I wish I would have made  her face in poster size .

For the next banner I will use only a part of her face.

apprentice week five

The last sunny days this week and I decided that it was a good reason to play hooky and leave the city. I took plenty of country shots and layered them with free masks from DJ Pettitte.

Lou's Last Ryde

I know my friend Nancy would get a chuckle reading this post. She always calls me Lou/Lu.

On Saturday I had to run some errands in Shelburne when I saw a CAA truck behind a funeral car and the coffin was hanging half out of the trunk. It was a bizzare scene. Side road assistance for funeral cars?

I parked my car when I noticed these words:

Lou's Last Ryde

The drivers looked like  real funeral employees taking their job very seriously but forgot to close the trunk door.

This was a great door stopper. The woman who owned the car told me Halloween is the highlight of the year for her.

The ghost pope and the HB pencil

My son Felix is Halloween baby. Every year I would ask him " how do you want to dress up"? Every year the same answer " as a ghost"! I think he was in grade 2 that he put a little spin to his outfit. He wanted to be a " ghost pope". I would like to stress that there was NO religious influence from us. My other son wanted to be an HB pencil and I remember sewing this giant costume. It was a hit! The pencil tipped always over going up the stairs for trick- or- treating with his entourage, the Pope.

The apprentice week four " The night before Halloween"

And the raven, never flitting,

still is sitting, still is sitting

On the pallid bust of Pallas

just above my chamber door.............

Nevermore

While I nodded, nearly napping,

suddenly there came a tapping,

As of some one gently rapping,

rapping at my chamber door.

For the rare and radiant maiden

whom the angels name Lenore -

And the silken sad uncertain rustling

of each purple curtain

Thrilled me - filled me with fantastic

terrors never felt before.

Edgar Allan Poe

These are my photos I used. Full moon last Friday, country side abandoned farm house,not real blood stains! acrylic paint on frosted glass, ravens - store display, rainy day in the country photographed while driving , vintage portrait

make your own biweekly Moleskine journal

We all have the best intentions to journal, but are we following through?  I am sure I am not alone.  Pages for day one and two are getting the artistic outlet to color , write and draw. Weeks later I find the journal  with plenty of white pages. So I opted for smaller version 4"x6". 10 pages (8"x6")  folded in half gives me space to scribble my daily notes. The chipboard cover gets a stamped image for the occasion of the week.

I use an industrial cutter die cut the text and cover stock. On our Heidelberg machine I lock up a die-cutting die for round corners.

This is the " home version " . The Crop-A-Dile does a beautiful job going through several layers and leather.

I used a security envelope to draw my image on because the paper is so thin. Then I lay it down on the front cover and start sewing the line drawing with charcoal grey threat and outline with orange. The paper can be easily torn away and you

are left with the stitched image on the front. I decided to leave some paper parts with the image.