I’m Baacckk

 

A very long absence but finally settling into doing some journaling, sketching and playing with watercolours.

Just signed up for this class. It’s my fourth or fifth with Mary Ann Moss – always lots of fun and inspiration. She even includes some cocktail recipes in the class content. That girl knows how to roll!

The above contour drawing is my first effort. I am really enjoying fresh flowers this Summer, Can’t get enough of their colour, scent and beauty.

Little fabric hanging

This little hanging was inspired by projects I've seen lately online. The branch on the top is one I brought back from France on my last trip. I was going to chisel the end Into a point to use it as a pen but I never got around to doing that. I am happy to put it to use 

Happy New Year

Summer Visitor

Another Page

This is my second page playing with watercolours, I added in a stamp image plus some Copic marker highlights. So much fun!

Watercolour Class

A mixed media page I did this morning. I signed up a few days ago for Julie Fei-Fan Balzer's Introduction to Watercolor class and worked through a couple of the lessons which were quick and fun. I am happy with the result and learned a few things that I will tweak on future pages. 

Christie Antique Show 2013

A friend and I attended this show yesterday. Brrr, the weather was sunny with a brisk wind that made us wish we had brought our gloves. So many wonderful dealers with so many treasures! We wore out our legs and eyes! 

We tried to restore ourselves with sausage on a bun and fresh cut fries. Is there a way to purge my arteries today from all that delicious greasiness?

We both found some small items to take home – ironstone and silver-plate pieces and, of course, some paper and lace treasures for me.    Here are some photos or our day.

Can’t wait for the Fall show!

A Day in the Country Sale and The Greensville Antique Show and Sale

I am coming out of blogging lethargy to post about two great sales my friend, Cynthia, and I attended yesterday. 

The first show of the day is called A Day in the Country Sale hosted by Kim Davies of Tattered and Torn.

Such a feast for the eye to see so many wonderful items beautifully displayed. The photographs above are from the booths of various dealers including The Primitive Heart,  The Eclectic Pelican and Tattered and Torn.

After purchasing a few lace treasures here, we made our way to The Greensville Antique Show and Sale a few miles away. This show presented another feast of textiles, buttons, clothing and related items. It seemed to be the day to find great bits of handmade lace pieces and we both scored some nice bits.

 
To cap off the hunt for antiques, we made our way to Taylor’s Tea Room in Dundas, Ontario for lunch. Highly recommended!

We were back home mid-afternoon tired but happy!

Sifting and Sorting my Crafting Space

For the past week, I have been up here in my narrow attic space, sorting out my supplies and stashes that were taking over every shelf and inching out from the shelves and sprawling across the floor. So far, I've let go of dozens of magazines. Much more stuff to sift through and hopefully find new homes for.

Soup of the Day

Today I made a pot of delicious and nourishing Spinach-Lentil-Lemon Soup inspired by one of my blogging friends, Tammy of T's Daily Treasures. Tammy's soup is based on this recipe - http://www.pinkofperfection.com/2011/03/red-lentil-soup-with-spinach-and-lemon/

Sampler in Progress

I am pleased with how the work on this sampler is coming along and I am totally enjoying the process.

Mmm Creamy Turnip Soup

Day 2 of my cold. Feeling well enough to make this yummy nourishing soup based on a Mark Bittman recipe.

Downton Abbey and Yogi Tea

Drinking this tea to soothe my sore throat. Hope this head cold goes away soon.
In the meantime, I am watching seasons 1 and 2 of Downton Abbey and working on a cross stitch sampler I started at least 10 years ago.

Bonne Annee 2013

Happy New Year 2013 !

Weekend in the country

I just returned from a three day girl's weekend at the cottage. It was the height of the Autumn leaf colours - beautiful . Here are some photo highlights of the weekend taken with my iPhone.

Sunday Class at Bizzy B

It was tough to get up early-ish this morning and drag my journaling supplies off to the Bizzy B Stamp & Scrapbook store but I did it. Glad I did too because Dina Wakley the class instructor is a fun and talented teacher. We made wee bird journals. Look at mine, I'm so happy with how it turned out.

A Day in the City

... antiquing with dealers Kathy of the Eclectic Pelican and Kim of Tattered and Torn. We followed this path of flower petals through the side garden into the back yard where we wandered through the pretty displays.

Here are some photo highlights.

A Vist to Queen Street

One of the things I did last week was make a trip to Queen Street West, to visit some of the stores I like there. First stop was The Spice Trader & The Olive Pit.

Always such a pretty display that makes me want to go home and re-arrange my stuff.

They sell good quality pepper mills at reasonable prices and their pepper is so flavourful.

 A quick peak into The Paper Place store, where, for once, I escaped without a purchase then across to Nadege, the French coffee shop for a pastry and coffee.  I sat on their outdoor patio where I literally had to fend off the cute little sparrows who actually landed on my table and begged for crumbs!

 

My shopping experience didn't end there. I headed up to the Junction. More on that in my next post.

A Bookstore I Love

I can't believe I haven't posted since May!  I have some recently made journals to share in upcoming posts.
In the meantime, here is a neat little video from TYPE,  one of my favourite Toronto bookstores:

I Know What You're Thinking ...

You're thinking "But Lorraine, you mean you didn't buy any buttons or bits of lace?" Not to worry, of course I did! Here's a picture: