• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to content
  • Skip to primary sidebar

BirdBrain Designs

  • Home
  • contact
  • online store
  • Instagram
  • Leather Gallery
  • hooked rugs gallery

Birdbrain

the traveller bag in black

February 18, 2019 by Birdbrain Leave a Comment

After a break from making bags, I am filling orders again. Here is an up-close look at the latest Traveller bag. It is made of black Italian leather with a large exterior zippered pocket and several interior pockets including one with a zipper. This cross-body bag is meant for travelling. Carry it hands-free or shorten the strap to carry it under your arm. The bag has a double bottom and is lined in striped canvas.

The starry leather tabs for the strap are what I love about handmade. They are made from small remnants I found on a recent trip and make me smile each time I see them. Bag is 14″ x 14″ x4″.

Filed Under: bags and purses

hooked runner almost finished…finally

February 9, 2019 by Birdbrain 4 Comments

It has been very cold and icy in Ontario this week. Wednesday everything was closed as we had a day of ice pellets and freezing rain. This is perfect weather for finishing my village runner. Below you see it as it was Tuesday with one block border done. 

And here it is on Friday with one border left to go. It is approximately 15″ x 40″. You can see from the canvas at the end that I was undecided about the side borders. In the end I decided that the houses were the focus, followed by the sky and that the border needed to recede, to be there as an anchor, rather than a feature.  Next steps, finish the border, whip and press. I’ll be back with the finished piece on the table in a week. Btw–if you look closely you will see some changes from the top to the bottom–little refinements which will continue until it is off the frame. 🙂

Filed Under: Hooking

the virtuous and useful pouch–did I say they are adorable?

January 10, 2019 by Birdbrain Leave a Comment

I use every inch of my leather and what’s more…I enjoy it. These pouches are made from recycled leather clothing–skirts and jackets–and the final pieces of my favourite fuchsia dot and lipstick red. Their inspiration was the piece of gorgeous African cloth I got at the last sale at the Textile Museum of Canada. You can see it peaking out in the first photo.

Pouches have all sorts of uses. When I travel I always have three of four with me. The small ones are to store different currencies and to keep track of my receipts. The bigger ones are for makeup or pencils/notebook.

These pouches have a beautiful texture and that alone could justify their existence–but their virtue is their usefulness and their environmental quotient. Check the online store if you would like one.

Filed Under: recycled leather

some thoughts on 2019, slow stitching, recycling, using up and paying attention

January 10, 2019 by Birdbrain 2 Comments

It has been over a month since I’ve written here. What was once a daily adventure for me, writing my blog and connecting to readers, has become a rarity. As I’ve told you before I’ve been posting on instagram and enjoying the connections and inspiration there. It’s quick and fun to hear from others and see what they are doing. Slowly I’ve been giving slow stitching, sustainability and reducing waste more and more thought. So, it’s time to share some of my musings and projects.

Several years ago I was on a cycling trip in Austria when we came upon the Geiger mill. Geiger, like Marimekko, is a brand I have loved since my teens. I was thrilled to visit the factory and to purchase some remnants. You can see the blog post here with the photo of the pile of beautiful boiled wool remnants.

I’ve been sewing in the last year, using remnants from my bins and the Textile Museum sales. (I line my leather bags with the off-cuts I find there.) There was a time I sewed all of my clothes, actually wove the fabric first and then sewed. But then a career and a family intervened. I sold my looms and packed up my sewing machines. After I retired I started rug hooking and then making leather bags. And then over the last couple of years I started slowly to make some of my clothes from the remnants I had on hand.

One of the big differences now is the global sewing community available online. Below are two pieces I made from a pattern designer in the UK, Tara at Paper Theory, using her versatile LB Pullover. I encourage you to read Tara’s reflections on ‘slowing fashion down’ and buying ‘ethically’. I’ve written here before about my principles of buying second-hand or handmade from local artisans. This year I have added to that by beginning once again to make my own fashion using recycled and remnant fabrics. I hope you’ll follow me here on my journey.

The tops below are from the Geiger boiled wool and I’ve been wearing them non-stop in frigid Ontario January. The pattern used is Paper Theory’s LB Pullover.

And below is a new day bag for an order. It is made from a recycled leather jacket. The first photo shows the jacket before being cut, the second the finished bag. The quality of the leather is high and it was a pleasure to sew with and to give it new life. 

Filed Under: recycled leather, recycled wool, sewing

two new bags for christmas

December 11, 2018 by Birdbrain Leave a Comment

Here are two new custom-made bags which are on their way to be given at Christmas. They are each 11″x 11″x 4″ with adjustable shoulder straps and metal zippers. The first is made from two textures of beautiful caramel leather with a double external pocket and inside a zipper pocket and a leather phone pocket. The second which is made of chocolate and tan leathers has a flap with magnetic closure, an external zipper pocket and three pockets inside. Both are handsome day bags which are comfortable and easy to wear. I hope they become favourites!

Filed Under: Uncategorized

falling in love with Portugal part 2: Lisbon

November 20, 2018 by Birdbrain Leave a Comment

We had four glorious days in Lisbon at the start of our holiday. My son and I got there early in the day so had extra time to explore the city. We walked up the steep streets to an art store I wanted to check out, Ponto das Artes Chiado. (Ironically we found a second location about 3 blocks from our apartment in Alcantara–but more on that later.) The views looking back were spectacular. 

I fell in love with the sidewalks, seeing rug border designs everywhere. 

Our apartment was a couple of blocks from the LX Factory, a reimagined art and design space in a former industrial complex. The Ponte 25 Abril Bridge which spans the Tagus soars overhead.  Below  is LX Factory with the landmark bridge in the background and my sketch from an outdoor cafe. This is where, we found a second Ponto das Artas store.

   

This is the view of the Tagus from our apartment windows.  You can see the pillars of the bridge on either side of the photo. It totally dominates the area, in some cases just skimming roof tops. Below you can see the bridge from the distance of one of the seven hills in Lisbon.

And finally a photo of the spectacular colours of Lisbon. The white stonework set against the blue of the sky, the yellow walls and the clay-red roofs. This is the Augusta Street arch, Virtutibus Maiorum: to the virtues of the greatest. 

Filed Under: travel

falling in love with Portugal: part one, Ericeira

November 11, 2018 by Birdbrain 1 Comment

I’ve just returned from 11 days in Portugal, travelling with my older son and family. We spent a week in Ericeira Portugal, a small village about 45 minutes up the coast from Lisbon. And before I knew it, I had fallen in love with the place–the landscape, the food, and the warm, helpful people. Ericeira is an active fishing village with all that entails–the boats and nets, the protected harbour with the gnarly old men playing chess, the freshly-caught fish. But it is also a surfing spot with wonderful low-profile facilities for surfers from around the world. The coastline has been designated a World Surf Reserve–such a wise move on Portugal’s part. 

We stayed right in town and enjoyed what it had to offer–outstanding seafood, an excellent grocery store, surf shops, cafes, magnificent beaches.

I had lots of time to sketch and our airbnb had two (!) balconies from which to view the many red-roofed buildings and the ocean! My favourite cafe was right by the sea wall and it served a delicious Galao in a very sketchable mug–the colour of the tiled rooves, of course.  

There were lots of narrow streets with great shadows and geometric shapes. Many, many of the buildings in town were painted with blue stripes on the corners and bases. It was a hard blue to capture.

Here I am sketching on the top balcony with the Atlantic peaking through. How perfect. And below our first meal in Ericeira, octopus. Fabulous! 

Filed Under: travel

first two hooked pillows

October 19, 2018 by Birdbrain 1 Comment

These are the first pillows made from my hooked villages. Each one has a fabric frame around it, a fabric back and closes with an invisible zipper. The hooking is inspired by the work of Ton Schulten.  I love how he uses values and geometric blocks to build his landscapes. You can read the story and the evolution of the work here.

Filed Under: Uncategorized

reset and inspiration on Lake Ontario

September 25, 2018 by Birdbrain Leave a Comment

This past weekend we spent a beautiful afternoon on the shore of Lake Ontario. We ate our lunch on the beach and I had time for a quick sketch of another tenacious tree. It’s been a while since we have been out to that gorgeous isolated expanse and the colours and textures of the day have remained with me.

I had taken an extended, unplanned break from the studio, leaving all leather and sewing firmly under wraps and was actually looking for a way back in. I have a list of projects but nothing inspired me to actually thread the machines and start. The colours of the day on the lake held the key. When we got home, I pulled out my box of remnant leather pieces and began building some pouches in the colours of the day–shoreline and sky. The small Strand collection of pouches is made of leather remnants with salvaged cotton linings–mostly from the Textile Museum sale. It feels good to make useful things of beauty from left overs. 

I find this size of pouch, approximately 7″ x 4.5″, very useful for travelling. My passport fits in comfortably and I like to keep different currencies separate and also to save receipts, tickets etc. I often take two or three along in my backpack. These pouches will be in the online store soon. Send me a note if you are interested.

Filed Under: bags and purses, sketching

Houses, Houses. Hooked house runner–the process, the questions

September 12, 2018 by Birdbrain 4 Comments

The first side of the hooked house runner is all but complete. You can see how much I drew on each side, hoping as I hooked that I’d find inspiration for sky and border. At one point I thought half circles would work for the border, but I didn’t like them at all. I’ve decided to do rectangles of teal, turquoise and related colours on the two longs sides and something different for the shorter sides. Possibly circles. And the sky? Still waiting…

I do love hooking houses. If you follow the blog you know I’ve been working up to this, doing smaller studies. I use mostly remnant strips and small pieces. I pin together 2″ strips of related colours to keep a little order in the chaos and that forms much of my supply basket. I love what happens when the supplies are scarce–just a line of red, or a final strip of a favourite wool, placed just so. Somehow it makes things more thoughtful. And it’s a crazy thing, but I’m emotionally attached to my wool–it often has a history with me–someone significant dyed it or it came from another project that I laboured over–or the colours combined perfectly in the dye pot. By using it again here, I capture a little of the magic.

It’s always interesting to follow the development of an idea. Here are two small studies from December 2016, the start of my hooked house mat obsession. I’m at the gallery tomorrow, so I’ll take my stand and a pile of strips from the turquoise/teal bin and see how much progress I make on the border. And who knows, maybe amid the paintings on the walls, I’ll get inspiration for the rest of this piece. 

Filed Under: Hooking, inspiration

  • « Previous Page
  • Page 1
  • Page 2
  • Page 3
  • Page 4
  • …
  • Page 88
  • Next Page »

Primary Sidebar

Available in Store


melon pouch 1

Archives

  • August 2019
  • May 2019
  • April 2019
  • March 2019
  • February 2019
  • January 2019
  • December 2018
  • November 2018
  • October 2018
  • September 2018
  • August 2018
  • July 2018
  • June 2018
  • May 2018
  • April 2018
  • March 2018
  • February 2018
  • January 2018
  • December 2017
  • November 2017
  • October 2017
  • September 2017
  • August 2017
  • July 2017
  • June 2017
  • May 2017
  • April 2017
  • March 2017
  • February 2017
  • January 2017
  • December 2016
  • November 2016
  • October 2016
  • September 2016
  • August 2016
  • July 2016
  • June 2016
  • May 2016
  • April 2016
  • March 2016
  • February 2016
  • January 2016
  • December 2015
  • November 2015
  • October 2015
  • September 2015
  • August 2015
  • July 2015
  • June 2015
  • May 2015
  • April 2015
  • March 2015
  • February 2015
  • January 2015
  • December 2014
  • November 2014
  • October 2014
  • September 2014
  • August 2014
  • July 2014
  • June 2014
  • May 2014
  • April 2014
  • March 2014
  • February 2014
  • January 2014
  • December 2013
  • November 2013
  • October 2013
  • September 2013
  • August 2013
  • July 2013
  • June 2013
  • May 2013
  • April 2013
  • March 2013
  • February 2013
  • January 2013
  • December 2012
  • November 2012
  • October 2012
  • September 2012
  • August 2012
  • July 2012
  • June 2012
  • May 2012
  • April 2012
  • March 2012
  • February 2012
  • January 2012
  • December 2011
  • November 2011
  • October 2011
  • September 2011
  • August 2011
  • July 2011
  • June 2011
  • May 2011
  • April 2011
  • March 2011

Copyright © 2019 · Foodie Pro & The Genesis Framework