year end honours

here we are at year end, and i've not said a word in ten days. we've been busy driving to visit family, eating, enjoying the visiting halifax and montreal friends, eating, doing dishes and eating some more. it's been a good week off for me, i hadn't seen a movie in ages, or had a day & night when i wasn't trying to just cram in as much as i could [okay, i was still cramming, but it was chocolate and cheese and wine and good company!].

a couple or three wonderful mentions in the last few days that got me very excited:

* repeat was listed as one of Apartment Therapy's top 10 online fabric shops

* my century farm tea towels - the mason jar print in particular - was noted in Poppytalk's 2009 most influential

* repeat's fabrics were mentioned again, also in Poppytalk's 2009 most influential in the hand-printed fabrics section

it's a really wonderful feeling, when your work is appreciated by others like this, and they feel so strongly about it that they want to share it with others. thanks so much for your support, everyone!

vinyl cafe

last year when we moved to london, it took about a month to get a phone line and an internet connection set up. in the meantime, i went to the public library in the village to check e-mail and do what i could there. as i logged into my email account one morning, there was a message telling me that a second night of stuart mclean's vinyl cafe christmas had been added in london, and that tickets were going on sale at 10. it was 10:03, so i spontaneously bought three tickets, one for myself, my mom, and ted. we all listen to and enjoy the show, but had never been to a live one.

we had such a great time at the show, and it was the night they recorded for broadcast on the radio, which made it even more exciting.

this year, my mom bought the tickets, and one of the musical guests was matt andersen, a phenominal blues musician from new brunswick that i had seen a few times in halifax, including one very memorable show at bearly's.

the video doesn't do it justice, his voice is just powerful, and if you get a chance to see him, go. he's touring early next year [not all the dates are on his site yet], and tickets are more than reasonable.

arounna is doing a giveaway - pop over to her blog to enter for one of her teatowel calendars.

forgetting

well, i made a brand new little dress last night, and promptly shipped it off this morning, without taking the photos i told myself to remember to take when I woke up and the light in the studio was decent. ah well, it should be back next week and i'll show you it then.

this weekend

City of Craft 2009
December 12 & 13, 2009
Saturday NOON-7:00pm
Sunday NOON-5:00pm

The Theatre Centre
1087 Queen Street West, Downstairs
Toronto, ON

$2 at the door

beautiful drawing by amy borkwood

frantically pulling everything together for city of craft this weekend - i've called in the re-enforcements [my mom, ted] to help with final pressing, heatsetting, and folding. i think every crafter has a team or person in their lives that wonderfully jumps in to help when needed, and we all know we'd never get everything done without them!

here's hoping for better driving weather than all this wind and blowing snow in the morning.

p.s. teatowels are now available at white elephant in hamilton and love, me boutique in halifax [also has donair onesies!]

the show was a great success - thanks to all who came out, especially those who braved the nor'easter that brought all the sleet and snow on Sunday morning!

tomorrow the halifax crafters show starts - it is open from 11-5 on both saturday and sunday. we'll be at the Olympic Centre on the corner of Windsor & Cunard this time, as the holiday show last year was too crowded to move in!

banner making

I just wrote a post for the City of Craft blog about how I made the banner for the show.

you can read about it here.

packing for halifax - more stacks and stacks. i'll be at the halifax crafters winter market on the weekend. it's wonderful to see something that a few of us started as a tiny fair four years ago has grown into a show of 70 artists.