Last week was full of experimenting with textiles! As I mentioned in an earlier post, the India Flint lecture entitled, Not All Those Who Wander Are Lost – Travels with a Dye Pot, took place a few days ago. I attended the lecture, and also took part in India Flint’s workshop at the Contemporary Textile Studio Coop. Which was fantastic.

I dyed silk and wool mostly, and some paper – all with local plants and flowers. It was quite fascinating. In the past, my (limited) experience with dyeing had been very structured – still amazing, but very organized and calculated. In contrast, this week’s workshop was not very formulaic at all. I mean, some knowledge was employed obviously, such as the importance of staying away from all things poisonous and so on. The experience was very individual, despite being in a group, each person using similar substances and tools.

In the end, we all walked away with: lots of fabric samples; a little book made with dyed paper, fabric, embroidery, and pen and inks (or stick and ink as it were); an apron; as well as a curiosity to continue wondering and experimenting.

I already have big plans for more natural dyeing!

Last week at lunch I checked out the Friends With You installation at Queen’s Park for Luminato. We tried to get some shots of some of the characters walking around, but they were going on break (Rosalyn posted some great pictures here).

Overall, it was super cute, and there were lots of kids having fun – the white character in the last picture was even a bouncy castle. Art is fun when it’s interactive!

Some close-ups from my mother’s yard. Taken on the May 2-4 Weekend.

Yesterday, my mom’s neighbor was walking by with his dog and she stopped him to help identify a few flowers for her. It was fascinating to hear him list off what flowers had just come up in her garden without missing a beat: variegated lamium, woodruff or galium odoratum, even a sprouting horse chestnut tree that a squirrel must have planted! This neighbor has a passion for gardening and is like an encyclopedia of knowledge.

In the past few years, I have been photographing more flowers and for the most part would not really be able to identify the variety. I think it would be interesting to learn.

Flowers, paints, and an old copy of nico magazine.

The Mascot had their grand opening in Parkdale on Saturday: complete with tiger mascot, clown on a unicycle juggling bowling pins, free mini vegan cupcakes, and best of all free coffee! The Mascot is a super new coffee shop and gallery at 1267 Queen West and the space looks great.

I first visited soon after they opened a few weeks ago and was impressed with their well-edited selection of magazines, from which I picked up a copy of hard to find Brooklyn based Dossier magazine. The crew there are really friendly and didn’t mind me taking loads of photographs – they even offered to open 2 boxes of freshly delivered mini cupcakes for me to photograph. How could I say no? And, according to this, they plan to donate all tips, as well as 20% of gallery sales to charity. A totally admirable venture – I hope they do well. Next time you’re in the neighborhood, I recommend a visit!

Photo by N.G.

Growing up, I never saw, or expected to see my name anywhere. No key chains, no novelty items at all displaying my obscure, *ahem* unique, name. Now all of a sudden it’s on billboards in New York?!

Ayala Champagne been around since 1860, and I’m only just seeing it for the first time. Okay, so it’s missing an H. But I’ll take what I can get.

Now if only I could get my hands on some…

Okay, so i was a little late in the game on this one, but good old Ottawa came through for me in the end.

I’m kind of loving Peter Philips right now. He’s the Creative Director of Chanel Makeup, and reading about him pretty much everywhere got me a little intrigued.. What can I say?

I had not purchased nail polish in a very long time (10? 15 years?) Sure I’ve had my nails done in the meantime, but I’ve never actually felt the desire to diy…until now.

For those not in the know, last year Chanel’s limited edition Jade polish was fetching serious cash on ebay, after selling out at makeup counters. And this season’s polish, Particulière, is also doing quite well for itself. It is gray taupe in colour, and it’s lovely. The models wore it very well in the Spring RTW Collection, as have nail polish addicts since.

As part of the Spring Collection, Particulière arrived in stores this winter, but it wasn’t until a few weeks ago that I decided to actually look into it. By which I mean, I had to have it. So I walked over to the Bay and inquired, it was sold out. They did have a waiting list, and the girl at the counter made it sound promising. Nonetheless, I then went over to Holts, which was also sold out. They weren’t taking names, but they were reordering. Okay Toronto, I might expect something like this in New York, but Toronto? Are people really this makeup enthused? I next headed over to Andrew’s. Whoever would know they even carry Chanel makeup there. Turns out very stylish women – also sold out!

After this unsuccessful 20-minute adventure in makeup counters, I decided to put the mission on hold.  I didn’t need it that badly or anything.

The next weekend, I was in Ottawa. Walking through the Market, I decided to pop into the Bay at Rideau Centre – I mean, the makeup counters are right by the entry. It’s hardly a big deal to just walk through the doors and check it out. Approaching the unattended Chanel counter, I spotted the tester. Which is a good sign. At least they did stock it at some point, even if they don’t have any more for sale. Since nobody was around, and I didn’t feel like waiting, I decided to explore the hidden drawer behind the display where they keep the makeup – is that wrong?

As there is my photo of the bottle above, I see no reason to further suspend your disbelief. The visit was successful! Finally!

The women in Ottawa have it right, I mean really, what’s the big deal about a new shade of nail polish?

New (old) art for the apartment.

It might be getting a little rough around the edges, but it’s still good! I never thought of myself as a red person – let alone red, purple and orange! So bold! My parents used to have these up on their walls way back, like before I was around, and now they’re unexpectedly finding new life on mine.

It’s been so sunny and gorgeous out lately.

This weekend I will be meeting with my wine club friends. Which is always great.
Some of the corks are pictured from last time. The theme was Italy.