BirdBrain Designs

Birdbrain

hooking the border

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I am almost finished a rug I began about a year ago.  This morning, listening to Sunday Morning on CBC, I was working on the border.  This is one of my favourite parts of the rug because it requires no thinking, and the rhythmic pulling of loops in colours I love allows me to enjoy the best radio of the week (this morning a UofT professor talking about good teaching and a great listen into yodelling) and even slip into a meditative state.  But since I started at 9.am., I was very aware of the time it took me to hook just half the border of one side–1.5 hours!  We rug hookers do not often calculate the hours we spend on a piece–and for good reason!  I will post the finished rug later this week after several more hours work on the border but before I begin whipping!

sewing thrift store leather

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The past couple of days I have been making bags from my collection of leather jackets and skirts.  I love the wonderful texture of leather and the array of colours you can find.  Yesterday I visited all the thrift stores in Belleville, and bought 8 pairs of leather pants!  A record.  I’m not sure what they will become.  The last photo is my first attempt at a shopping tote.  It worked out ok, but I have some ideas for the next one.

new hooked bags

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I have been adding more and more leather to my hooked bags.  The leather is either recycled or a remnant piece.  The black leather is from a pair of biker pants I found in a thrift store in Montreal.  The red and butterscotch are remnant pieces.  The bags are lined in canvas  with my bird screen printed on the pocket and in the case of the butterscotch bag, letter-pressed on the bottom.

a few days away

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I love this sculpture of Gwendolyn MacEwan and the excerpt on the pillar below.  You can find her in a small parkette in Toronto just west of Spadina Avenue.  The third picture is of my dear friend on the shores of Lake Ontario in Wellington.