Halloween market

One of the last outdoor Brickworks Farmers Markets this season. It was perishingly cold and damp from about 7-11am, the site is in a valley by the old River Don. But, all the vendors were cheerful and up for a Halloween market.

Virginia, aka Auntie Gin , who makes sweet crocheted hats bought this vintage cowichan style sweater from me...she is a great neighbor to have.

This gentleman wore the sweater he bought from me a couple of weeks ago, he likes it so much he picked up another one!

Time flies when you are having fun.

After the market there was a pot luck lunch, and if you haven't been to a meal prepared by organic farmers you are missing something.

remember my post from Oct 22, I now think that the striped cotton is vintage ticking for pillows....somehow it 'came' to me as I was having my coffee.

The etsy treasuries have been kind to me this weekend

A 50s scarf was used in rusty and yummy, curated by Maulani, she is from Indonesia and make lots of interesting and very reasonable jewelry.

Colors of India was put together by brooklynbibshop, an original and charming etsy shop. The very cute baby items she makes would be a perfect new baby or shower gift.

and a vintage fur wrap from my shop was featured in warm browns, a cozy collection by laidbackladies, who have a sweet shop selling vintage and handcrafted needfuls.

Take a peek at these etsy shops.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4SbH9-tYAyU

please bear with me, this is my first attempt to post a video, and a lovely one too,made by anacdesigns from the etsyexpats team. I am such a techno novice I'm amazed it works.

a bit chilly

Lovely colors on the doorstep this morning as I went to get the paper......but, oh boy! was it chilly.

I began thinking about what to wear....just right for tweeds.

So I went to my favorite etsy shop 13threads and found this neat coat

and some shoes that look just right for me from HydraHeart.

followed by a gorgeous skirt that is just me (if I lost a few pounds) from Couvert, who is from Poland

and for good measure the super cozy recycled pillow from EmmaDear. below

A pretty 50s quilt top from my shop was featured in this treasury also with a chilly theme, 'Goosebumps', put together by ohthisnose, check out her shop.

I was thrilled to have a link to one of my vintage scarves in this interesting blog analyzing the fashions in Mad Men!

A symphony of brown thrift store finds

yesterday I treated myself to a morning out...at the thrift stores. I hit 3 different ones. When I came home for 'show and tell' I was surprised to find I had a nice pile of stuff....nearly all browns, not usually my favorite color. You can see some cowboy short curtains, a lovely roll of 70s chintz, a 50s apron, one of 10 (yes 10!) skeins of pure merino wool from New Zealand, a Jaeger silk scarf that will go to my sister and a Valentino scarf (well it is beige in the middle) for me.

Of course, I had to pick up a few more scarves.

and the brown merino wool was in 3 different packs, so I had to buy these skeins as well! I need more yarn like a hole in the head.

A nice treasury 'treasures from Toronto' featured my vintage fur collar. Sarah, a fellow Torontonian may do this kind of promotion once a week, she says. Yesterday Toronto elected itself a new mayor....a real bozo, I'm ashamed, so the city will need all the help it can get.

I notice that in my filofax, on the things to do in January 2010 page I had noted

*set up on zibbet (that was a disaster).

*open another etsy shop (yeah right)

*join esty teams....well I never found a team that I fancied until I found etsyexpats, or they found me. What an outgoing bunch they are!

Anakit, took up the weekly challenge and put together this treasury 'miles to go before i sleep' and used a vintage 70s piece of trapunto work from my shop.She is from Europe and makes drop dead gorgeous jewelry.

Underanewlight, another talented jeweler from Montreal, featured my ivy fabric in 'fall can be fun, a bright, tasty list.
and moonandlion makes the wittiest, most clever treasuries, this one 'what I learned in my geometry class' is no exception. Her clever wit is apparent in her shop as well.

A weekend with no market

Those of us who have wonderful fall/autumn colors can't resist showing them, even if it is from the bathroom window.

No market for me this weekend, so I hung up a couple of quilts, that had not seen the light of day for years, to air.

Yvonne and Danny went looking for me at the farmers market. They called me and came over to buy some blankets. I am very picky about who I invite to the house and mini-warehouse (my garage, you can see it in the background) Y and D are such a sunny, open couple it was fun to have them over.

Another visitor that morning was the Toronto artist, Joshua Kalfa, who sometimes uses a textile component in his sculptures. One of the many benefits of my line of work and interests is that it does bring you into contact with many talented and intriguing people. I have known Josh for many years now and he carried off some lovely antique blankets.

What a lively treasury this is! I was happy to have my vintage scarf featured. Do take a peek, its so pretty.

Fabric widths and finds. Hermes day!

The foliage is so bright it is almost blinding, I keep glancing out as I know the colors are fleeting.

But, to turn my attention to some new finds. These two fabrics have unusual widths . Above 28" wide, beautiful quality, smooth cotton. Usually I would think 1900 or before but this somehow looks more modern. Could it be eastern European? or from somewhere there might be an old mill/loom still working? more research to be done, I think its the colors that are throwing me.

Chinese fabric, mentioned in last post,

silk/rayon mix I think. 29" wide.

Unfortunately I only have one selvedge side on this lovely weave. The back has over floating warps (sorry, I am not a weaver, so please, anyone correct me) that obscure dirty mauve, dusky lilac and muddy sage narrow stripes. Gorgeous weight and hand, sure its silk. No idea how old it is, the colors are very similar to this.

Friday, so it must be Hermes day. This one is called 'clips'.

adventures in mending

A pretty 30s 40s quilt that I shall call 'laurel leaf' , Barbara Brackman, where are you when I need you! There were several appliqué leaves with heavy surface wear and tear. A simple job to re apply,even for me.

I cut a template using a watercolor painting my son in law had left at the cabin, not sacrilege as he left a huge pile.

Then I assembled some 30s prints from my stash, mostly from the backs of other quilts, I tried to choose unassuming colors that would not stand out. Cut out several and basted the edges. Nearly all are appliqued now.

One of the scraps had this written on the edge, think it reads A. Haap....it came from this quilt that I resized a week or so ago. I cut it into a label and stitched it in its rightful place.

Another quilt I am going to work on. 'Farmers Puzzle' or 'Virginia Reel' is a difficult sell, for me, as it looks so much like a swastika, though, of course it is a much, much older motif. This quilt has ugly 4" rebinds on 3 sides and a bit of surface wear near the edges. But the blocks seems to float of the edges. I plan to remove the bindings and reassess the situation. I may resize and rebind in a color or print. I am not a purist and sometimes find that a print somehow brings the whole piece together visually. This will have to wait untill next year as it is stored at the cabin. R is closing it up today.

Another bashed up quilt on the line. Not sure what will become of this, probably should not have bought it, but I couldn't resist this sacking on the back.

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Thrifting find this week was a vast amount of Chinese fabric. It took two of us to wind it into a bolt, about 30 yards! fabulous taupe with rust woven chrysanthemums. (the rust is the back). Again, not sure quite what I am going to do with it.

the Sunday market

Yesterday at St Lawrence market I did not sell a single quilt.....somehow I think I've been there before. However, all was not lost and I had a fairly good day. I must re-think my packing plan.Vintage fabrics, scarves and sweaters were hot items.

A happy customer in his new vintage curling jacket!

Jeanette did red this time.

I was delighted to have this quilt featured in an exciting treasury Heat wave, put together by Hagarae. She makes spectacular recycled fabric jewelry that I love. Apparently its too hot to breath in Israel at the moment! Members of Tafa (Textile and Fabric Art) were used. Click on my link to see some of the very talented artists in this group, I think you will be amazed at the variety and quality of the work from members of this group.

one of my vintage scarves was used in Sunny in France curated by Josie.

Made by (Myrtle)

I picked up a quilt this summer that needed quite a bit of work, at least 30% of the seams had separated. Bad thread I suppose. As I set about to mend it I found this note pinned to the back 'grandma (Myrtle) Buchanan made this'. I would like to copy this onto fabric and stitch it to the back, but, for now, it is pinned in a ziplock bag.

and what fabulous fabrics I found as I stitched along.
novelty prints of all kinds, a red and white striped jersey.
cowboys, dogs and Dutch characters.
The green floral has a sateen finish, just right for a party dress.

print back as well.
adorable bird cotton, rough weave cotton.
more party prints, lots of different textures. The ginghams were amazing with a wonderful depth of color, chartreuse, deep navy, raspberry, chocolate and more, perhaps they came from a sample kit.
and whats this bright, deep pink? I imagine Man is Manitoba, on other patches I found a printed C and 700 or was that 00L?
Although I am not a very good seamstress, more a paramedics assistant than a quilt doctor I had such a lot of fun with this 30s - 40s tied quilt. Myrtle had a great eye, love her use of stripes throughout.

Sam has used a vintage silk scarf from my shop in her fun treasury. Missing home and feeling patriotic......she lives in Barcelona now and makes bright fun stuff. I specially like the new handmade Christmas (or other) ornaments in her shop, and the price is right! Do look.