31.5.12

anemone zip tote2
anemone zip tote
anemone zip tote3
it's been awhile since I made this style of tote with a zipper - I had originally made my totes simple, without a zipper, but I had so many requests to add a zipper - so I did, such a practical bag and great for your everyday. hopefully I will have them available next week - I will have several pattern choices, I'm just working out some small details. I will let you know when they are in the shop, I hope you like this bag as much as I do.

30.5.12

krystal
I'm excited for the kindred show with krystal speck and heather dahl
here are some snap shots of some of the pieces krystal will have in the show
it will start next and the opening will be on june 7th. more info soon

29.5.12

A_159 A_160
nothing like waking up early in the morning to sound of loud power tools
the chaos of some interior work has started, the big one that I alluded to on fb will begin as soon as we get all our permits.
that reno is going to be amazing, basically my studio will be exetended to where our backyard is and that space will be above my extended studio and j's painting studio will be above the garage, we will have custom doors that will be built so the dining room, deck and j's studio can open up to one large open space. we decided that it would be better to make this building awesome than to move to a warehouse space, I love loft living - but having a storefront has been really great for our business that we didn't want to lose the street visibility and we love this neighbourhood.

28.5.12

I want to wear this outfit with my new small day bag in charcoal waxed canvas.

27.5.12

my favourite weekends are the ones spent with family
my bro's got the best smile - his happiness is contagious
getting hard to keep p still for photos, unless you catch her off guard
it was great that my half-siblings could join in on the fun
always meeting new friends at the park - I want a bunny too!
playing till the wee hours of the evening
good times :-)

25.5.12

already friday - boy that went fast and it's already near the end of the month
we've got a jammed pack weekend filled with multiple birthday celebrations and work!
my dad turns 65 tomorrow - yeah !! - we will celebrate with a backyard bbq
we are creatures of habit, j starts every morning with a cup of coffee made with this lovely piece we got from mjolk, with coffee he's been rationing that I got from mexico
we also got this berry bowl
as we enjoy the sunshine - lliam's face is starting to freckle more - I love these little freckles
have a great weekend friends! psst don't forget about the set sale starting at 2pm EST
xxa

24.5.12

pouch SET SALE tomorrow (friday) at 2pm EST
*new* large pouch - in vees print and inky blue waxed canvas
+ the day bag in vees pattern is also in the shop

23.5.12

when you live in the city - you try your best to carve a little bit of nature in your space - we have a small backyard space and it's a perfect size for bbq's, eating, playing and loafing. j and I are not experienced gardeners and to our surprise all the plants we put in last season made it's return. the japanese maple sprouting the sweetest little red keys (last years birthday present from my in-laws), the vine that was taken from my in-laws garden sprouted like I couldn't believe, growing it's way up a long our the concrete wall the separates our neighbours and a new addition of a raspberry bush - the kids favourite fruit. this little oasis in the city gives us all so much joy - starting to plan a few little parties, one being my birthday coming up in a month.

22.5.12

our tote bags are going to be unavailable until a replacement fabric is found, so in the meantime I wanted to make a tote bag size available, so I'm bringing back this design, I don't know if you remember I did them in this cloud print, I love it with the zipper at the top, also I don't think I will be stitching on the handles, it was so much work added and I might have some available with fabric handles. still not sure about the details, but I do like the overall design of the bag.

It was great to have everyone back home yesterday - we had a lovely picnic in the park, I have never seen the park so full, one side of the park there was a group of people lounging and there was a DJ - the music she was playing was heavy dance, I would of preferred more chilling out tunes for hanging out at the park during the day.

21.5.12

the past few weeks I've been prototyping - it's fun to do, but it can also be stressful - I like a lot of my designs, but for production sake I try to keep the styles to a minimum and also if it requires different or more steps it usually doesn't go into production, but I still love them. I am going to sell these two as a prototype price the tote in vees and the waxed egg bag, they are in perfect condition, but since I'm not producing them I didn't want to sell them at regular prices, so they are in a way one of a kind. I am especially proud of the pocket I did inside the egg bag. I will have more egg bags, but they will have a zipper at the top, still debating if they will have this type of pocket. it didn't take long to figure it out, but when it was falling into place - I did a little happy dance. also the large pouch in the windows/triangle is back in stock again with a new larger zipper.
today is a holiday for us, I hope your start to the week is great, xxa

20.5.12

photo courtesy of songs of light

I hope you had a good weekend so far
it's a holiday here in ontario and it's been a productive weekend for me - j and the kids went to the cottage and the house has been so quiet - I miss them - it's funny sometimes the noise here can be too much, but when they aren't around you miss the chaos. all orders won't ship out till tuesday because of the holiday monday. I came across this photo from songs of light blog, reminding me I have to make another batch of the snap wallets for the summer craft shows. in june I will be participating in the junction flea - a great idea from smash and russet & empire - go check it out if your interested in applying.

17.5.12

photo courtesy of oktak
here's a sneak peek - I am very excited to be working with aki from oktak
we will have them for sale soon as well as a few new patterns exclusive to this collaboration
being an intern is an INVALUABLE experience!
I got an email from someone asking why the intern position was unpaid
I thought I would put in a few words about my own experience as an unpaid intern.
there are experiences in life that is are invaluable and that even though I didn't get paid - I felt that these experiences all help build who I am today and my strong work ethics. I don't know if my strong work ethics came because I never had anything given to me, I had to work for it and I grew up in a poor part of the city and we all struggled, and getting an education was high on the list and would pave my way to where I am today. when I was in junior school I wanted to be a teacher and working at a summer camp was a dream job for me and I didn't have much teaching experience since I was so young so I decided to look ahead and wanted to build that experience so I decided to do volunteer work at my local library to tutor kids that had trouble reading and I did that every saturday for two years and proudly put that on my resume and got the job teaching at summer camp.

when I was in high school I wanted to be in the arts field and wanted to immerse myself in the community and I did internships at the Power Plant, Canadian Art Magazine, and The Ontario Crafts council - even if I was stuffing envelopes during my shift, I gained experience and saw how these places operated and it helped me with my business skills.

while I was in grad school I had the wonderful opportunity to intern with sculptor/installation artist catherine widgery. I did a lot of production work and it was really helpful to see how an artist balances life and studio work and also that being an artist is not just being in the studio, but a lot of other networking, media relations, working with other people involved in the projects like architects and engineers, also all the research involved.

when I finished grad school I wanted to work at the Art Gallery of Ontario and it was hard to get into the education department, so I wanted to get my foot in the door and looked into being a volunteer, I did my time at the prints and drawing centre, doing talks with the docents. since being a volunteer you were consider staff and the gallery would hire internally first before posting it to the public, every shift I would look at the job postings to see if a teaching position was open and finally one day I saw a teaching posting and applied for the job, and I worked there teaching art for 10 years.

all these volunteer and intern positions were unpaid - the people I met and the experiences I had was invaluable.

16.5.12

HIRING SUMMER INTERN
I'm looking for a student or recent graduate interested in textiles and the ins and outs of running a small business must be able to sew (using an industrial sewing machine) and great attention to details
-will be assisting in the production side of the business
-package orders
-commitment to 6 hours a week for the duration of the summer
please email me at arounna@bookhou.com

when I was in graduate school I lived in a house off campus with three other people (most likely they won't be reading this) a few of them were so messy and at the end of the day I would be cleaning up after them, because I couldn't function in those spaces and evidently it caused animosity, needless to say I spent most of my waking hours at the studio (which didn't work out to be such a bad thing) - well living with two small kids that don't do the best job cleaning up gives me flashbacks to the messy roommate days. it slowly gets better as I try to establish routines, like doing a clean up before dinner and getting them to start bussing their own plates. I think when people meet me, they say how do you do it? it's not easy spending your time working on your business and doing house work and raising a family - I have the upmost respect for single parent houses, I couldn't do it all without leaning on john, but through the years I also learned to be less uptight and it's okay if it looks like a hurricane went through the house and the piles of laundry don't get folded, sometimes it's okay to leave the housework for a day or so, there's no harm.

I couldn't resist making a bag for myself using the vees pattern all the colours and tones works so nicely together, maybe I'll make a few for the shop? - wow the weather here has been fantastic! so balmy.

15.5.12

adam's photos of his arrangements are so beautiful - he had a busy weekend delivering flowers

14.5.12

SM DAY bags in rain and lines
I hope you had a lovely weekend
most days - for us, it's running on a hamster wheel going round and round - you finish one thing and
it comes back again.
but this weekend - we jumped off the wheel to have a few stolen moments of calm, of reflecting and feeling fortunate to have this wonderful life, a time to slow down and enjoy each other.

have a great start to your week, a few new things to show you tomorrow
happy monday, xxa

11.5.12

a big thank you to all of you who bought a drop cloth pouch from yesterdays sale
they sold out so quickly - I am so lucky to have your wonderful support

I made some tea towels with the vees print on it - I love the graphic quality it has

I hope you have a beautiful weekend and much love to all you wonderful hardworking moms out there!
see you monday, xxa

10.5.12

DROP CLOTH pouches will be on sale today at 6:30 pm EST - have a preview here
plus if you're following me on twitter - I will soon have a special giveaway just for you - to enter you just have to follow.

9.5.12

your wondering - how do you get work done with little ones, well they are pretty good at amusing themselves,
j working on mobile parts while chatting with p as she works on her own projects. she takes her work very seriously.
p.s. trying to see if tweeting is for me - come by and follow the progress.

8.5.12

more drop cloth pouches coming on thursday at 6:30pm EST - I will remind you closer to the time. this new set is more colourful and they will be sold with two drop cloth badges. it was sure hard do part with these, I love them all so much. I will have a preview of them tomorrow - will give you the link via fb.

7.5.12

SM DAY BAG - triangle, now in the shop here and here

6.5.12

hello everyone
what a sunny gorgeous day here in toronto - you can tell from the smiles on faces walking by the shop that they are happy to be outside - I will be heading out soon to go to a birthday party. I wanted to show you this new bag that I did - I have done this type of bag in the past but have always wanted to create a wide side seam and it was always a challenge to line things up - but I have a few more sewing hours under my belt, so it worked out and I love it - it's lined with organic cotton twill with heavy waxed canvas on the outside, so it's super sturdy. I really like the extra pockets on the outside. I wanted to start calling the bags names , rather than use the word tote all the time, so j and I brainstormed and he said how about THE DUNDAS - and I thought sounds good to me. I hope you like it.
enjoy the rest of your weekend!