more visiting

another of the great things about living in ontario again is that many of my crafty friends live here, and have studios that i can visit.  on saturday i went to hamilton to visit jenna greenberg.  we had plans to check out a craft show at the convention centre, a craft show that we couldn't find as it had been canceled, and nobody seemed to know anything about it!  we had both been solicited via e-mail to participate in the show - which happens pretty often once your name is published on any craft show's website - and wanted to have a look at the show to see if it was something we'd be interested in...i don't think that we are.

above are two photos of jenna's studio in the sonic unyon building on wilson street.  hamilton seems to have a great revival of artists and studios going on - there is a monthly art crawl

 that happens as well, that jenna takes part in, as wilson street is just off of james.

jenna then took me on a tour of some nifty hamilton shops.  we went to white elephant,

a lovely shop that sells vintage as well as canadian etsy seller's items, and is run by hollie and jane, who you can see here posing in the same nova scotia fisherman cut-out as ted and i. just down from white elephant is mixed media, a store that sells great quality art supplies along with papergoods, which are a weakness of mine.

to celebrate the birthday of her business, jenna is doing givaways ever friday for the month of may over on her blog - leave a comment to enter!

over seas

my brother colum lives in japan with his wife, masayo.  they work with her parents at their bag and soft goods business, Suda hanp [in japanese, in english], which has been in business for over thirty years now.  they make beautiful, functional bags, some of which i am lucky enough to have been given as gifts.  i always find it interesting that my brother and i have both would up working in the textiles industry, on opposite sides of the planet. 

 i enjoy blogging for a number of reasons, one being that family and friends around the world can have glimpses into what i'm doing with my life and my studio, and vice versa.  the staff at Suda hanp keep a blog as well, so i can see their thoughts and work, as well as m

y brother's long hair!  the bags that Suda hanp makes are all stamped inside with 'dadada', the sound of the sewing machine, and then the name if the person who stitched the bag. . one of the bags that i have is stamped like the beige one above, with my brother's name.  i think of him every time i use the bag. 

 if you are ever in Tsukuba, Ibaraki, please visit my family at Karahako, their beautiful store and coffee shop, and say hello for me.

business trip

i spent a very long morning on the 401 highway, making my way to the toronto area to visit potential suppliers and friends.  ted came along as well, i think he thought it would be a fun day, but it was mostly a highway and traffic day, with many curses to google maps for their bad directions!

i have a new stash of fabris swatches to pour over, including some that i had been hunting down for a long time.  i make my teatowels [coming to the webstore soon] out of a hemp & cotton blend, as it prints wonderfully and is very functional, absorbant and washes very well.  my supplier had dried up, but i think that i've found another supplier of the same fabric.

we did have some time out of the car, as we stopped by bookhou to visit arounna, john and family for tea and custard tarts.  they have a very lovely storefront on dundas near palmerston, and arounna teaches screenprinting classes there as well.

the last photos that i posted were all taken from the internet, i didn't bring my camera cable with me on the trip.  above we are at a funny discount gift shop in peggy's cove, and this is the only picture we have of the two of us together from the entire trip!

we had almost all great weather for the trip, which is an anomaly for halifax.  we arrived to 30 degree heat & sun, followed by two more days of mid-teen temperatures and gorgeous, clear sun.  we stayed with kyla, lloyd and their amazing daughter ada, who is the smartest child i've ever met.  oh, and the dogs, mr. pink and ollie.

our wonderful hosts borrowed their parents' car so that we could borrow their car for a day, and we went down the south shore to lower prospect to kyla's studio.  it is right on a little bay [maybe a cove?  i'm not sure]  we just missed the fishermen hauling in lobster traps.  the water is so incredibly clear and full of all kinds of wonderful seaweed.

then we continued onto queensland beach, which is a spot i frequented the summer that i worked for jim smith, a potter in chester.  the water here is a little warmer than at some of the other beaches; which is to say it is slightly less freezing.  there was quite a bit of excitement the day we chose to roadtrip - there was a huge forest fire just outside of halifax.  you can see it in the distance behind ted, skipping stones.

i was lamenting forgetting my swimsuit, as i wanted to go for a quick run into the cold sea while we were in nova scotia.  ted laughed at me, telling me that i wouldn't have done it.  i think he was right - this is me running out of the water after sticking my toes in for a few seconds.  it was so cold!

this is our drive home, passing through the armdale rotary in halifax, with an incredible view of the smoke from the fire.  it was such a clear day.  we ended up at the lion's head pub later that evening, chatting with a cbc cameraman about the fire.  there is a clip here about a crew that was almost caught in it.

we went to halifax for two reasons - to see our much-missed friends, and to go to the halifax crafters show.  i was a part of this show from it's very humble beginnings at the khyber club, when there were about a dozen of us.  the show and group has grown so much, and it is fantastic.  i didn't manage to take any photos, but there are some really wonderful ones posted at the halifax crafters blog.

kyla and lloyd live near the hydrostone, which houses some of our favorite restaurants, epicurious morsels and salvatore's, and is also where fort needham park is.  there is a great view of halifax, and across the harbour to dartmouth from up on the fort.  this was one of our last days, and the four of us plus mr. pink, the pug, went to julien's,  the french bakery in the hydrostone for almond croissants for breakfast.  but it was monday, and julien's is closed on mondays.  so ted & I easily convinced kyla and lloyd to go for a much further walk to johnny's snack bar at almon and windsor, a wonderful family diner with great breakfast.  mr. pink was exhausted after all this walking [and chasing other dogs in the park], so ted carried him in an enamel basin we picked up for $3 at an antique store on the way.

i had always meant to take a picture with this street sign, but never managed to have a camera with me when i passed it.  it appeals to the procrastinator in me.