Movie: Moonrise Kingdom

Goodness gracious - I can't wait to see this!

Here's to new beginnings.

Handmade and screen printed chevron tea towel.

Hello and Happy New Year! It's been a while since I've written here. The later half of the previous year, I was busy with my new job at Anthropologie. For the first time ever, I felt settled with my job and being in a workplace with like-minded individuals.

One of the wonderful and talented people I've had the pleasure of meeting and working with, is Andrew Ritchie, blogger for Martha Moments. I thought I was Martha-obessesed until I met Andrew! His blog even scored him an invite to the Martha Stewart show a couple of years back.

Andrew did a lovely little feature on yours truly (moi) on his blog and for that, I wanted to say thank you Andrew - for a lovely start to the new year.

With that being said, I've done a quick update on the shop - featuring one of my favorte new designs - chevrons.

My mum and I screen printing. She's become quite the pro!

Hanging my textiles to air dry. Next phase: sewing.

Stop by the shop and... shop(!) and stop by Andrew's blog if you haven't already.

xoxo

Nathalie

Shop: Kid Icarus

Let me just start by saying, sorry blog for having neglected you so much lately. I've started a new job where I wake up at 4:45am and commute for two hours a day. In addition, making sure my home is in proper order and of course, working on new designs and products for the shop.

Hard work indeed pays off and I'm so excited to announce that our tea towels can now be found at Kid Icarus in Kensington Market, Toronto. It's one of my favourite spots in the city and KI is one of the cutest shops around as it doubles as a store for the handmade and print shop. Be sure to drop by and support local and handmade artists.

::: Nathalie

Inspired by Nature

Here's a preview of some designs I've been working on. The tree pattern was inspired by my road trip to Miami earlier this year. The trees in Pennsylvania really stood out - they looked so perfect and somehow magical. The print is done with india ink on mylar. It took me over a week to do each individual leaf with a brush.

The random feather design was something that happened to come to mind. The print above is a 4 colour screen print on hemp/ cotton that I sewed into a tea towel. I hope to have it on the shop soon.

The colours, where inspired by my pedicure/ manicure. I mixed the light blue fabric paint to Sephora's Havana Dreams nail colour, which is my favorite new blue.

There are so many other designs that I have in mind that need to come to fruition. I hope to share them with you soon!

::: Nathalie

Strawberry Jam

I went strawberry picking this weekend and was nearly trampled over by a woman who insisted on stepping over me to stay on the same path, as opposed to moving over. I was completely speechless as she laid her hand on my shoulder and proceeded to swing her leg over me!

Here I am, happily picking strawberries before being trampled over by an inconsiderate picker.

The recipe: "Children's Strawberry Jam" from The Blue Chair Jam Cookbook - a 384 page book on jams, marmalade's, jellies and lots of tips and wisdom.

Jams are best made in small batches. We picked 18 lbs of strawberries and this was only 8 lbs. 10 more to go!

Our first try at this jam took longer to cook than anticipated. The sun had since long gone when we began filling jars.

Finally! Beautiful strawberry jam! Geoff goes through a lot of jam so I hope this lasts us into the fall!

Shop: Mitrebox Framing Studio

I'm happy to announce that a selection of my crafts can be found at the lovely Mitrebox Framing Studio in Minneapolis, MN.

If you live in the area, be sure to drop by and check it out.

Happy Shopping. : )

Home Sweet Home

While I was in Florida, Geoff worked non-stop on installing new floors. I'm happy that everything is finally coming together.

We've put a lot of work into the house - painting, renovating, making accessories and furniture or collecting original artwork (from my brother mainly). I personally love looking at other people's homes for inspiration so I thought it might be fun to share mine with you.

1. Large metal tiled frame with recycled mirror, made by Geoff.

2. Ikea chairs spray painted white.

3. I screen printed and hand-dyed this runner in my No.03 pattern.

1. Screen printed and handmade pennants. By me.

2. "The Mocking of Christ" by my brother, German.

3. Handmade pillows. By me.

(I got the idea from a decor book to cover an ugly couch with fabric. Much better than navy leather any day.)

4. My favorite piece so far: Geoff and I designed this coffee table/ bench with heavy metal legs. My father cut and made the metal leg frame, while Geoff stained and finished the pine table top.

5. Geoff's first wood work project - 3 individual pine shadow boxes.

You can barely tell, but I pushed the 3 boxes together to make shift a side table.

1. Original bird drawing by German.

(Expedit Ikea bookshelf sits over top of a vent. Geoff made and painted the block legs the shelf sits on to allow air circulation.)

1. Original painting by German. (Love this one.)

Hope you enjoyed the tour. : )

::: Nathalie