Shoe Styles

 
When I saw these shoes on the Metro in Paris, it got me noticing men’s shoe styles everywhere I went. The photo is a bit blurry, but I had to pretend I was just browsing through the photographs on my camera when I took the shot.

Don’t you find the blue shoelaces fascinating? I was even more mesmerized when the wearer turned and I got a peek at his socks- they were the same shade of electric blue as the laces! 

Here’s a very spiffy pair in a shoestore -

 

 

I couldn’t see anything wrong with these ones besides the missing laces but they were discarded on a Paris street!!

These are from a Centraal Museum display in Utrecht, NL.

 
A display of women’s shoes at the Paris Flea Market I attended. Love the giant one.

Pussycat, pussycat, where have you been …

 
Well, I didn’t go to London, but I did go to The Netherlands, Belgium, France and Germany!  It was a complete surprise when my friend invited me to join her on her trip to visit her sister in Holland. They planned to tour by car into Germany to attend some of the German Christmas Markets.

Encouraged by my family to take advantage of the opportunity, I booked my flight and began to pack my bags.  And to research the places I had to visit while based in The Netherlands.

Paris, to which I’ve been longing to return, since my first visit there in 2006, was first on my list.  Also, Bruges or Brugge, in Belgium. 

I did get to both Paris and Bruges and many other cities as well. Here are some photo highlights of my trip. I still pinch myself when I look at the photographs I took; I just feel so lucky to have taken this trip.

Leuven, Belgium - above

Downtown Maastricht, The Netherlands

Train Station, Liege, Belgium

 

Paris …. sigh

I have hundreds more photographs, that I will post on Flickr or Picasa. Watch for my next post where I will be showing Men’s Shoes of Paris.

Christmas Greetings

I shot this photograph in Germany in early

December. It isn't too often I get to see reindeer strolling down the
street!
May your holidays be joyful!

Recent Vintage Finds

At last week’s Antique Sale, I scored some bag lots of buttons and lace. They were all a very good price but I had to do a fair bit of washing, sorting and picking through before I could reap the rewards of my finds. Here are some photos I took after I got everything cleaned up.

I’m looking forward to using these finds in my fabric collages!

Annual Visit to The Primitive Heart

On Friday, after leaving Greensville, we made our way to St George to visit The Primitive Heart store for a fix of prim decorating. Here are some shots from our visit.

 

 

 
We had a nice chat with Christine, the shop owner, and, of course, we enjoyed seeing all the Fall goodies on display. 

Shoe Love

Yesterday, my friend Joy and I went to the Lace Ladies Antique Show in Greensville.  As we stood in the line to enter the show, I was distracted by the sight of these fascinating shoes worn by a lady in front of me.
Once inside the show, I overheard someone admiring the shoes and asking about the designer. I had to join the conversation and got up the nerve to ask permission to take a photo. The owner of the shoes gladly posed for the following shot. Aren’t they just the cutest? They’re designed by a Canadian, John Fluevog.

Around Town

Yesterday, I had an errand uptown
(to me, Bloor Street, North of Yonge Street, here in Toronto, is ‘Uptown’),
so I got off the subway at Yonge and St Clair
and walked south to Bloor Street.
  At one point, I had a Paris flashback!

 
Doesn’t that wrought iron gate look like one from the streets of Paris? And the beautiful plants and brightly painted doorways below? Apologies for the slightly blurry photos, they were taken with my cell phone.

 
When I got to Bloor Street, I made a detour over to Yorkville
and went into the Anthropologie store – nice!

I got this book which I love and a membership card
which they put in the little cloth bag-the card and bag were free.
They are going to send me a catalog every month – love that!

I haven’t even had a chance to look through this book yet but from what a saw, it’s a book that makes your head spin with new ideas on how to use and display your stuff!!

Pretty Homes & Cottages

 

I could have taken dozens more photos of cottages but I resisted –
there’s always next year

Storm Clouds

One morning during our week away,
the forecast called for rain but we weren’t expecting such a dramatic storm front of clouds rolling toward us from over the lake.

In this next one, I like the silhouette of the lighthouse against the deep blues of the clouds.   When the storm had passed and all  was calm we walked to the small pond for a local music night and I snapped this shot of the pretty swan. I couldn’t resist playing with it in FotoSketcher using the Watercolor option.

There are so many historical houses and cottages in the town of Southampton. I’ll share some photos with you in my next post.

A Week Away

We rented an apartment unit for a week on Lake Huron in one of our favourite towns. Our unit was on the water with a fantastic view of the beach and lake from our front window and deck. The view faced West so each night we were treated to a glorious sunset. Here are some examples.

Large Button Cuff Bracelet

I started sewing some black and gold buttons from my stash
onto a wide elastic band and realized I would never wear a
bracelet this wide and flashy.  So I’ll be taking it apart and
doing up a narrower one, once I get some thinner elastic.

-- Just wanted to let you know I haven’t been totally idle these past few weeks when I haven’t been posting. -

A Pretty Dragonfly

Look at this very pretty and very huge dragonfly (I think it’s a
dragonfly, someone please correct me if I’m wrong).

 

He was resting on my car window one day. I was really grateful he didn’t get inside the car and surprise me while I was
driving!

Couldn’t resist this book

Each page of this book is pretty to look at.
The patterns included are nicely photographed and
not overly complicated. Each project has
references to the novel or novels that inspired it.

And I don’t know if the price was mislabeled
- less than $16 Canadian at my local Chapters store-
I just ran to the cash and paid.

So what’s a tippet, you’re asking?  It’s a
long scarf-type thing worn around the neck.
Even if I never make any projects from this book,
I’m glad I bought it.

Mosaic Monday - Studio Mosaic

I saw on Bailiwick Studio, this morning, a Studio

Mosaic done with extra photos from the bloggers party on Saturday.

It looked like a fun idea so I did a mosaic too, actually, I did the two that you see above!
You can see more mosaics by visiting Little Red House.

And for a tour of Bailiwick's Studio click here - just gorgeous!

Where Bloggers Create 2010

The party has begun!

My craft space is in our attic which has a dormer on the right side where you come up the stairs.

You’re greeted by this friendly one-armed sock monkey that I  found one day in my local thrift store. I didn’t even notice that she (yes, she’s a girl and her name is Penny) only had one arm when I rescued her from the store.  The hanging  is a project I had to abandon - when I rug hook, I get tendonitis.

When you get to the top of the steps, and turn to the left, you’ll see one of my bulletin boards – and yes, it is on the floor, partly to cover up the side of the little chest of drawers and partly because there’s no wall to hang it up on.

View looking to your left from the top of the stairs:

You can see that my biggest challenge in this space is the extreme slope of the ceiling. I can’t have any tall bookshelves or storage units.

And the view of my work table.Below are some close-ups of things on the table and views of button and fabric bits in jars.

 

I like to use glass so I can see what I have or else I forget
what I’ve got and I go buy more!

Here is kitty cat  my assistant,  wondering when I’m going to stop taking pictures and pay some attention to him.

He’s hoping I’ll come over and pat his tummy.
He never gives up.

Some books and magazines:

Below is the room looking from the right when you come up the stairs.

Below – my little Paris corner -

  

I hope you enjoyed your little tour of my space and my stashes of stuff!  I’ve had fun showing and telling! Thank  you for visiting!