resurrection fern

green therapy

...

if you live in toronto and you need some green therapy you should go visit the gorgeous shop

crown flora studio

the home away from home of adam and davis

I am certain that this shop and bookhou are my absolute toronto favorites

it is so much more than a shop

you can see adam making terrariums

and davis sewing his amazing bags at the sewing machine

they do their own letterpress

and

even hold workshops

...

...

...

...

...

...

...

...

...

...

adam made the most beautiful terrarium as a gift to me

with airplants

it is very happy in my studio now

:)

bookhou + geninne

 

...

...

these lovely friends make such beauty together

now to decide where to put my wall art so i can admire it everyday

oh and isn't the drop cloth where arounna printed it amazing

i would like to frame that and hang it on my wall too!!!

if you missed out on this first colaboration a little birdie told me there are more projects planned

lucky us :)

i met a storyteller

...

who uses the medium of clay to tell her stories

i met tanya besedina at the one of a kind show

and i was immediately attracted to her magical display

i love all things folkloric

i love terracotta clay 

and i love colour

it was as though my polish ancestry and my walk through the mexican market place with geninne

had been wed

...

tanya was wonderful to talk to

she noticed my favorite elsita pin on my dress and told me how much she loved my dear friends art

and how she connects with her because she to has a "hero" child in her life, her daughter

I would love to take a workshop with her one day

for now I will enjoy her website, galleries and her online shops

i hope you will explore them too.

xo

m

the yellow, blue, white lights of day

i am sure many of you have already realized that i am an early riser

a very early riser

in fact sometimes i chuckle to myself because i am getting out of bed only a few hours

after my night owl friend arounna has just finished working in her studio

i love the light, the predawn golden light that melts into blues and then soft white

, strengthening

as the sun rises in the sky over my backyard shed

...

...

...

...

...

...

...

i know another early riser, my beautiful friend, nicole

i hope you will join me in wishing her a happy birthday today

you can find a wonderful conversation with her here

I love that wyeth quote too :)

 

winter visit to mer bleue

with my beautiful, thoughtful and seriously talented friend nicole

there she is in her snail like photography pose:)

I don't think I know anyone else who loves winter as much as nicole

I bet she is really looking forward to the winter storm due to hit ontario in the next 12 hrs

happy birthday geninne

I am sending my very best wishes, kisses and hugs on the wings of the birds this year.

Hope you have the most amazing year!!!

embracing the unexpected

after traveling over 5000 km by car

moving 10 ( or was it 11) car loads of stuff for 4 lovely people

squeezing in time for brief yet very enjoyable trips to five beaches

where i collected some stones ( of course) 

and took some pictures ( of course) 

i was wondering what to post 

and 

decided

to post 

the unexpected

which deserves at least a little explanation

when we were enjoying the summer weather that arrived on the east coast when we did ( coincidence?) I decided to go for a walk down martinique beach ( the longest sand beach in nova scotia)

i met up with some darling little birds balancing on one leg on the beach and wanted to change lenses ( to the macro) 

on doing so I don't think I put the lense on tightly because when i checked the photographs that evening they were all super over exposed

i thought my camera was broken but thank goodness it wasn't

i was just going to delete all the pics of that day but when i took a closer look at them i actually like many of them

they have a very artsy look to them

i mean that in a good way

i wonder what you think....

(before the messed up lens change)

bekki bird

rebekah and matthew

deborah and kevin

back to work tomorrow

wish me luck:)

fog and swell

I was so pleased the kristie of fog and swell agreed to do a little trade with me. A hand dyed and crocheted covered stone for a hand dyed and stitched urchin. Sounds good , doesn't it.

Of course it looks even better when you see it in person.

and as you can see the resident merfish are just as smitten as I am.

Thank you so much k.

stitched together

one of my favorite things over the past week or so was sitting on the porch drinking soda with lemon and stitching with two of my best friends. 

Sonia was doing some amazing art with her natural dyed silk threads.

Geninne was embellishing her tiny art pieces transfered to fabric and I was stitching up a barn owl using only naturally dyed fabrics.

It is such a treat being creative with others. 

rules to dye by

I had a monday afternoon backyard dye party with Sonia, Geninne, Arounna and Barbara. So far I have come up with a few basic rules to dye by.

Dyeing at home is a good thing.

Dyeing amongst friends is a very good thing.

You can never dye enough.

It is better to have lots of pots to dye in.

Dyeing naturally is the very best way to go.

Geninne makes the very best  guacamole:)

Oh and BTW we dyed with both indigo and woad fermentation vats, coreopsis from the garden, brazil wood, logwood, and pomegranate with iron.