it's that time - suddenly there are leaves all over the driveway and sidewalks in our neighbourhood.

pops

thanks to everyone who is writing and asking - my dad is doing well after surgery last friday. i went to see him this morning, and he was eating jell-o and custard, and he couldn't have looked happier - he had to stop eating last thursday.

i think my brother is about 18 in this photo, around 1993.

i found the saint verde digest through karyn's blog, and immediately spent too much of my work time pouring over it. beautiful photos and a great range of things are covered

i loved this post of patchwork, and the decay and wear on the garments made me think of work i was doing as an undergrad, a lot of burnout print paste and layers of cloth - something that has been sitting in the back of my mind for a little while now.

it also reminded me of this tutorial on sashiko on the Purl Bee i'd bookmarked way back in january, when i thought i'd have a bit of time to explore a new technique. it uses the same type of embroidery that i've been using on my garments, a simple running stitch.

i am trying to build up a little reserve of baked goods for my mom, ted & i in the busy weeks ahead.

today i made two zucchini loaves, and a dozen muffins with the same batter, from my mom's recipe.

2 1/4 cups all purpose flour

1 tsp baking soda

1 tsp cinnamon [we were our, so i used a microplane to grate cinnamon sticks. took forever!]

1/4 tsp. baking soda

1 1/4 cups sugar [i use half white half brown]

1/2 tsp salt

2 eggs

1/3 cup sour cream

1/2 cup corn oil

1 1/2 tsp. vanilla extract

2 1/2 cups grated zucchini

1/2 cup toasted nuts, i used pecans, walnuts, sunflower and flax seeds

preheat oven to 350

use cooking spray to coat a loaf pan

sift first five ingredients together

in another bow, combine everything else, stirring between additions

add wet mix to dry

bake for about an hour or until a toothpick comes out clean, rotating pan halfway

with the muffins, i didn't record the time, i just checked on them with a toothpick and took them out when they were done. i also added toasted coconut to the muffins.

makes one delicious heavy loaf, of 12 muffins.

yard sale

i spent time with my mom this weekend doing the things we both love to do - going to yardsales, the farmer's market, vintage shops, and garden centres. we had some great luck at the orchestra london fundraiser yardsale, which is held in an old mall and runs for two weeks.

i found more of these beautiful old hangers, which i've been amassing for a few years now, as well as a trove of other goodies

above: old linen & crochet clothes peg bag, 25cents

milk steamer, 3.50 ted found this

tapes 25 cents each

our car only has a tape player, which has turned both ted and i into hunters at yardsales - everyone is trying to sell or give them away with the popularity of cds and digital media.

i really lucked out here - i have wide feet, and it seems that a lady with the same feet as mine had finally given up on wearing heels, and donated these three pairs to the orchestra. they are beautiful, and fit wonderfully. l-r 'customcraft' by schwartz benjamin, $1, holt renfrew, $3, d'antonio, $1

both repeat and bespoke uprising are taking part in the poppytalk handmade marketplace this month - i've been meaning to try and get involved with this for a while now, but always remembered too late.

bachelor's jam

ted works all day as a cook, and then comes home and cooks all night. i don't mind a bit - it results in wonderful meat pies and preserves. this is bachelor's jam, basically fruit, booze, and sugar, that is six months will be jam.

these beautiful prune plums and pears are from ted's family farm, he came home the other weekend with bags and bags of them. the plums are beautiful, blue-purple on the outside, and if you catch them early, lime green inside.

roast pears - this photo reminds me of karyn's blog about canning - though her's isn't fuzzy like mine - the cook was rushing me.

i've had to pull out of the queen west art crawl in trinity bellwoods park this weekend - if you're heading down, stop by and say hi to my friends naomi clement - booth C09, miyoshi kondo - booth D40, and amber mills - booth B75. i'm sure i'm missing a few people - leave your booth in the comments and i'll add it in.

repeat's power line fabrics are featured in october's Australian Home Beautiful magazine - thanks to vanessa for contacting us to let us know.

repeat fabrics are now at the workroom in toronto - so exciting to have our fabric in such a great shop. karyn does a wonderful job choosing the cloth she sells, and we are chuffed to be a part of it.

i love, love this jacket. a few years ago, i would have bought it with a credit card without a second thought, but i'm trying to be a responsible adult, and less of an impulse buyer. but oh, i want it! if you buy it, can i borrow it sometime?

believe it or not, this is the tidiest my studio has ever been around show time. i make such a huge mess trying to make everything, and then packing the car takes it's toll as well - i am usually digging through bins and my stacked-to-the-ceiling pile of suitcases to find everything i need, and then rushing off down the 401 to toronto.

it is so hard to walk back into this disaster and try to get back to making - i was at the cabbagetown festival last weekend, and will be at the queen west art crawl this weekend - desperately trying to make some order out of the mess to get back to printing and sewing. i have left a bunch of stuff in the car to try and keep the mess reasonable so that i can work.

cabbagetown festival

i am at the cabbagetown arts & craft festival this weekend in toronto, the sale starts today.

we're blood donors now - as squeamish as i am, and as much of a wimp i am about needles, this hardly hurt at all, and watching everything was very interesting. the nurses and staff explain absolutely everything, and as a person that always has a lot of questions, i had a great time. i think that they really coddled us as first timers [and keeners], we got all kinds of cookies and juice, and even soup, too.

we have such a variety of nasturtiums, i love buying all the different seed packs and being surprised by what the blooms look like.

so many colours and variations, they were the inspiration for this fabric from repeat.

we had enough fore-sight to lay chicken wire over the soil before we planted anything, to attempt to keep the voracious squirrels from digging. i am currently battling them for the vegetables, they are fond of biting everything once, to see if they like it, and then leaving it for me to toss in the compost.

i think these are my favorite, a lovely peach with red-brown and yellow centres.

i think this means that fall is getting close.

kyla francis

this is the work of one of my dearest friends, kyla francis. she draws and screenprints her own decals that are on glasses, here, and ceramics. i think that they are perfect for milk, and are also a daily reminder of friends far away in halifax.

knickers!

there are certain words that i just love, and 'knickers' is definitely one of them.

here are my newest knickers, made with the beautiful organic linen, with hand-dyed cotton ruffles, and complimenting colourful bias tape around the inside of the leg.