Ms Emma Designs no more

That wonderful one-of-a-kind store, Ms Emma Designs, is closing!

My latest purchase from Ms Emma Designs
Hand-painted silk

The designer will still be making clothes and selling on-line only. Her site is under construction at the moment.

In the meantime, there is a big sale at the store on Eglinton Avenue in Toronto, Ontario.

Owner and designer, Sofia Verna,
always saved her best scraps for me.
I have been using her fabric bits in my textile art since 2007.

Best call before you visit.

 (Anyone interested in my Umbria trip (end of august, 2016) will be lucky to have a class in hand-painted silk with Sofia Verna at her studios in Italy!)

                      365 Eglinton Avenue West (2 blocks West of Avenue Road)

Grand Closing Sale

Fashion… fixtures… furniture

Great deals on summer and upcoming winter colletion

From $5.00, $10.00, $20.00, $30.00…

Branding

Is your (art) business a goal or a product of your passion?

When a consumer looks at your work do they automatically think it is yours?

Do you think about branding or are you creating without a thought of the marketing side?

At the Chanel No. 5 exhibit (Paris, May 2013), branding was at the forefront of the perfume's creation.

(photo credit Sophia Reford)

Not only did Gabrielle Chanel create a new scent using chemical components never used before in perfumes, she was selling an image.

The clean lines that she is known for were visible in the construction of the bottle and the packaging.

Her rival fashion house, Elsa Schiaparelli, is in the process of being relaunched and with that comes a fresh look at the brand. Iconic designer Christian Lacroix was invited to create 18 pieces for the brand. His work was recently unveiled during Haute Couture Week in Paris.

Schiaparelli's vintage silk scarf,
a present from my daughter.

These "art" pieces are not for sale. The concept was to create an 'hommage' to Schiaparelli. It was more like a theatrical show rather than a regular 'défilé', where the designs were exhibited on mannequins placed on a carrousel and the entrance was more like a stage set of trees adorned with birds on electronic tablets.

To see a video of the dresses click here.

5 Nice Words

I saw someone wearing a T-shirt this morning that said

Love,

detail of a commission quilt

Lead,

detail, quilt made of children's clothes

Embrace,

T-shirt inserted into a quilt

Create,

Three panels ready to be stitched together.
A commission quilt for young lady using fabric from
her favorite baby clothes.

Do.

Some good words.

Half a Log Cabin

This isn't a true log cabin quilt but it looks like it!

Machine pieced, machine quilted, cotton scraps, 1992

This was my first log cabin 'look-a-like' quilt.

The true log cabin block has a center square, usually red, and an imaginary diagonal line separating a dark and light side.

A "wonky" log cabin quilt, made crooked on purpose.
A community quilt made by the Spadina library
quilt group.

The block I used for my quilt has a square in the bottom corner of the block instead of in the center. It can be substituted for the log cabin block and subsequently all of its pattern combinations because it still has the light and dark aspect.

This pattern has become one of my favorite ways to use up scraps. I later tweaked and perfected this technique and teach it in Italy and in Toronto.

I put in many surprises in my quilt. If you look very carefully you see butterflies, animal eyes, a light house, a hand, a duck and many more curiosities. There are even a few pieces of a cotton dress I had made while living in Kuching, East Malaysia (Borneo).

The quilt lives in France.

Toronto Outdoor Art Exhibition

This weekend Toronto held its 50th outdoor art event.

booths at Nathan Phillips Square

booths with the view of old city hall 

Amanda McCavour 's booth was my favorite.

Amanda and her installation

It was so fun standing under it and looking up!

Alice Vander Vennen is a textile artist that has exhibited at this show several times.

Alice in front of her work. She arrived at
 textile art through sculpture.

Dave Hind described his work to me as "quilts made of metal".

detail of the above work

Even the visitors were artists!

Dolores and her beautiful dress

 Dolores used the crocheted doilies her mom made
and appliqued them on a white dress.

It is good to see other artists' work. 

Where was I?  Didn't apply...too many trips to Italy!

Side Space Gallery Show

It is the 4th year the Hillcrest Fibre Artists exhibit at the Side Space Gallery in Toronto.

Every year there is a wide variety of works.

"Honouring Hmong Women"
headdress made of silk, beads, silver leaf, wire
by Shelley Fowler and Pam Woodward

side space gallery, south end

"Breathing Exercise" by Anna Payne-Krzyzanowski
straight pins, thread, dry cleaning plastic bag

antique blocks from Stephanie Levers' great grandmother.
Stephanie added the sashing and hand quilted it.
I love the 'mistake' on purpose- it adds a little unpredictability

Three of the contributing artists:
me, Gunnel Hag, Marion Spanjerdt
in front of my work, Many Moons

We always have a quote.

                                                                                        

Remember Venice?

Venice was about two and a half weeks ago!

My friend, Sjoukje Roem Sijstra, has just sent me a few pictures from our time there that I wanted to share.

pretty canadian!

 The woman below spent 350 hours making her costume. Every bead is sewn on by hand. She comes from France every year to model her "art". Her past creations are in her closet!

who's the guy with the glasses??

We went to the San Michele cemetery.

the cemetery island seen from the vaporetto

coffin being brought to the cemetery

mid 1800's, woman being praised for her organizational skills as a house wife

as an X ballet dancer I had to see Diaghilew's tomb

beautiful simple art deco letters for Igor and spouse, Vera, Stravinsky

A little lesson in renovating in Venice...

to replace the foundation, they have to drain the water in the canal and build a dam made out of wood to keep the water out. The yellow tubes are inserted to keep the house "breathing" and get rid of the humidity.

you can see the rotten wood beams holding (?) up the stone house

I never went back to tell you about the festa di maschera...

We were part of my friend's family group consisting of 26 people. The costume theme for the group was The Odyssey. The 9 Canadians came as the sirens. The group won first prize! We were all presented with trophies! 

There was live music

and dancing

Gail dancing with the locals!

and laughing

 and lots of food and drink! 

me as a blonde! with Ulysses

At 1:30 a.m., after a morning, guided tour of the city, a typical veronese lunch of peara, a quilt class and the party, Gail says, "I can't believe this is only our first day!"