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recycling therapy

August 14, 2012 by Birdbrain Leave a Comment

Making my colour therapy pouches makes me so happy.! These are the first of this year’s batch. They are all made from recycled leather garments or leather remnants. Each pouch has a different colour on the front and back, and sometimes two or three colours on one side. I use every tiny piece I have. Some of them are small pieces of my favourites–on  the front pouch is the very last piece of the cobalt blue skirt that has been in many pouches beginning with Wendie’s. Using recycled leather is always bittersweet–you can never find more of the perfect piece. Once the skirt or jacket is gone, there is no replacing it. At the back of this picture is a red leather pouch, sewn in diagonals, from an early jacket I bought at the local Salvation Army. It is like butter–and on the back of that pouch is the biker leather–my very first purchase of recycled leather, some biker pants from a thrift store on St. Hubert near my son’s place in Montreal. Ah I reminisce! But that is part of the therapy–reliving the day you bought the leather, thinking of the lovely things it has become, and the people who are enjoying them now. This is the joy of repurposing castoff things–the making and the remembering.  

 

Filed Under: bags and purses

new fuchsia luna bag all ready to go

August 12, 2012 by Birdbrain Leave a Comment

I am back in the studio for a couple of days getting caught up on some orders.  First on the list was a fuchsia luna bag. This is one of my favourite leathers and styles: it is a bright pop of colour with two pockets on the outside and three inside. It is 14″x 13″x5″ and the adjustable strap is 51″ full out, so that it can be worn across your body or shortened to tuck under your arm.  

I will be at the post office tomorrow and this bag along with a couple of other small pouches will be on its way to Virginia!

Filed Under: bags and purses

August 11, 2012 by Birdbrain Leave a Comment

These rules were on brainpickings this week. Read here to get the background. I particularly love #6 ,#7 and #9. I am back at the wedding rug after a few days and a few plays in Stratford, (loved 1812!) so will post a rug update soon. Just finished my signature bird in the corner and have decided, more or less, on the border treatment, chanting #6 as I hook.

https://birdbraindesigns.ca/inspiration/4342/

Filed Under: inspiration

cottage interlude

August 6, 2012 by Birdbrain Leave a Comment

We are home again after five days at the cottage. I did lots of reading (Alan Hollinghurst’s excellent The Stranger’s Child)  and hooking on the Wedding Rug–but mostly I soaked up the beauty and the lessons in colour all around me.

Filed Under: inspiration

sewing, birds and links

August 1, 2012 by Birdbrain Leave a Comment

I have some orders for bags to fill so I am back in the studio. This one is one of my favourites, the Luna bag in magenta. There is a picture of one in the photo blog column. It has a zip closing, two pockets on the front and 3 inside and it is 12x14x5 inches with a long adjustable handle. This is the perfect bag for fall as it holds all your essential gear and provides a lovely shot of colour.  The next order is for the same bag in red, also a favourite! These bags will be on their way to the US in a couple of weeks. As I sew, I am giving some thought to changing the way I do things this year — will keep you updated on any news here. In the meantime, if you would like to order a bag just let me know at xine@birdbraindesigns.ca.

I received some new birds as gifts recently. Here is the first, a Hoopoe, from Scotland.  Very inspiring, love the colours, the crest and the polka dots. Just perfect on my denim jacket pocket.

And now some links to great stuff I have been seeing. I hope that you will check them out. It is an eclectic list: a great article, a great recipe, a fabulous interview and a delightful blogpost. I’m off to the cottage for a few days of hooking and sketching. Will check in again next week.

xine

~an excellent article on TED Talks in the NYer  here. This is not just a backgrounder on the TED process and production, but a review of the recent tech developments which are now so wound into our lives.

`my favourite granola recipe and one I am always asked for here. The best part is it makes LOTS.

~a wonderful podcast of Eleanor Wachtel’s interview with Maggie O’Farrell here. If you have read O’Farrell’s books, particularly The Hand that First Held Mine  & The Disappearing Act of Esme Lennox, you will learn lots. If you haven’t you will find yourself rushing to the nearest bookstore to pick them up. I highly recommend both.

~ Danny Gregory’s sketch and musings on the EDM Challenge 21, Draw Something Old, Antique or Vintage.

 

Filed Under: bags and purses, inspiration

my week of sketching in bloomfield

July 28, 2012 by Birdbrain 2 Comments

My friend Anne and I just completed a wonderful week in Bloomfield at the Cranston Gallery taking a sketching course with Sharon Fox Cranston. Our mornings were spent in the studio learning new techniques and the afternoons ‘en plein air’ in various locations about  Prince Edward County. What we loved about Sharon was how accessible she was as a teacher, how she both anticipated our needs and responded to our requests. The days were filled with demos of her sketching and painting techniques, based on both her well-organized plan and our spontaneous and sometimes loopy requests. Sharon is a talented artist — but she is also an inspired teacher. Here she is mid-sketch at Macaulay House in Picton.

The studio, on Main Street in Bloomfield, is upstairs in a sunny sky-lit room and downstairs is the gallery where you can see Sharon’s paintings and also those of her equally talented husband, Guy.

My biggest learning for the week was to loosen up my grip on the pen, hold it back further and just let the sketch happen. It is, of course, a lot like rug hooking. The serendipitous, the accidental and the intuitive happenings are the best. The top drawing of the paint brushes is one of my 5-minute sketches. No time to think. Here are my versions of the Macaulay house, not yet finished, and a part of a water-soluble ink sketch. The best parts of the week were learning amid the moments of laughter — and access to another important part of the creative process. I will keep sketching and learning –thanks Sharon!

Filed Under: inspiration, sketching

wedding rug to date

July 24, 2012 by Birdbrain 1 Comment

I am taking a Travel Sketch Journal workshop all this week and I am having an amazing time. I have been sketching in my journal for a few years now — first fueled by Danny Gregory’s wonderful book. But this course  is giving me a chance to learn some of the basics like perspective and proportion–and how to say it all in a few strokes of the pen and paint brush. I will post more about it soon, and maybe, if I am brave, include a couple of my sketches. Let me just say that my best sketches are done in the five-minute stopwatch time at the end of the day. At that point, I am tired enough and rushed enough to finally quiet my left brain. Whew–I love it when that left brain finally stops chatting.

In the meantime, I had a chance to take some photos of the wedding rug today. The major characters have appeared on the roof. This was not really in my plan but I am very happy with them — so I am now thinking that the border of birds may become a border of hearts. I will hook some more on the background and see what feels right. 

Filed Under: Hooking

hooked thoughts for today from Diane Phillips

July 21, 2012 by Birdbrain Leave a Comment

From when I first saw it, I was impressed with  both the style and the content of the hooked blog by Diane Phillips featured at the Hooked in the Mountains show in Vermont. Her admonishments and reminders to herself really resonated with me. This morning I was going through hooking pictures on my computer and I came upon them again. The show was in 2009–Diane as usual is ahead with her blog thinking. But her notes to herself are timeless. This morning I particularly need to listen to these — both in hooking and in life. Thank you, Diane.

Filed Under: Hooking, inspiration

family favourite pie and my favourite books

July 19, 2012 by Birdbrain 3 Comments

I know that this is not a food blog. But, all the same,  I decided to post this recipe. Because it is easy. Because you can vary it to use each fruit as it becomes available, from strawberries to raspberries and blueberries, to plums and peaches and even apples. Because it is delicious. Because people always ask for the recipe. I have been making this for 30 years and it has become a family and particularly cottage staple. And even in the blistering heat—you can make it early and let it wait for you in the fridge.

I have been hooking, quite a bit actually, and am just about to start the birds. I am going to wait before posting to see how things go. Stay tuned. And the recipe? Just below the next picture of the verandah, my favourite place with a book (there is a big wicker couch just out of this photo). I have finished all five Maggie O’Farrell books–and my top recommendation? The Vanishing Act of Esme Lennox. Wow! Read the book. Listen to the short video on her web site to give you an idea of her subjects and style. You will not be disappointed.

Fruit Kuchen

 1 cup all purpose flour

2 cups fruit–raspberries, strawberries, blueberries, sliced plums, peaches or apples

2 tbsp white sugar

3 large eggs

pinch of salt

1 tbsp white vinegar

1 cup sugar

1/2 cup butter

2 tbsp melted butter

Combine flour, salt, and 2 tbsp sugar. Work in butter and vinegar. Spread mixture on bottom and up the sides of a pie plate or layer cake pan. Arrange fruit in pan. Beat eggs lightly and add sugar and and melted butter and pour of the fruit. Bake at 400 for 10 minutes. Reduce to 350 and bake until golden brown.

This serves six. To use a 10 inch pie plate use 1 1/2 times the recipe

Filed Under: recipes

a day in Toronto

July 13, 2012 by Birdbrain 1 Comment

I love the graphics in Toronto. These two heartening messages are right near my favourite leather stores. I couldn’t resist sharing them with you. 

 

And then there is the leather. Yesterday was a good day. I buy small ends of leather and make one or, at most, two items. The exceptions are the flocked magenta pieces which I purchased to make a luna bag as featured to the right in the photo bar. I also stocked up on good quality coloured zippers–as  you can see the choice is endless. Now I just have to get back to the studio!

Filed Under: bags and purses, inspiration

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