Friday 30 April 2010

To market, to market

 I've been putting it off for a week, but I suppose I should now finally report back from my first ever craft market.



We trekked out to Kitchener, and got up before 7 a.m. so we could get to the awesome farmers' market and set up, ready to rock by 8:45 a.m.




I gathered my wares -- hand-made recycled-and-recyclable gift bows made from magazines, and accessories made from ribbon and vintage buttons -- and presented them just so.






And then I amiably chatted with dozens, nay hundreds, of people, almost all of whom professed their utter admiration for my bows, and almost all of whom then wandered away without buying a thing.




As a learning experience, this was tops. As anything approaching worth the effort it required, zilch.
Still, if anyone out there needs a bow, I think I might be able to fix you up with something....

Friday 9 April 2010

Do II

Further to the previous post 'Do',  subsection 2b, may I present the following household chattels and accoutrements. I argue that, despite being made previous to the current 'Do' week, the collection of these goods from their place of creation during said 'Do' week renders them admissible for inclusion under that same banner.


The exhibit includes: Six (6) napkin rings of my own design; 






Three (3) finger bowls, originally intended to have been cereal bowls, but reduced in stature due to unfortunate incidents during the throwing stage of creation (henceforth to be known as 'my clumsiness'); 






and One (1) leaf-shaped soap dish, also of my own design, created specifically for ease of soap removal from said dish. 






All works were created and glazed by me during six lessons held in the months of February and March. As some pieces remain outstanding due to a delay in the firing process, I reserve the right to reinstate 'Do' week as and when such pieces come into my possession.


Yours faithfully,
T.

Wednesday 7 April 2010

Do

For quite some while I've been wondering what to do with this blog. Keep it lighthearted? Wander into the deeper, less entertaining territory of life's unexpected transitions? Start a chronicle of my get-rich-eventually schemes? (they are legion.)
In the end (as I sit here half loaded following a meeting of the Women's Wine Federation), I have decided to follow five themes: Do, Be, Hear, See and Say.
This week, it is Do.


On Monday, I trekked an hour on the TTC to reach the Lawrence-Yonge part of Toronto to turn a stranger's backyard lawn into the beginnings of a vegetable garden. 
I am a Gardeneer -- basically a volunteer who gardens -- and I'm helping the Young Urban Farmers community shared agriculture get up and running. The idea is cool. Instead of trying to find enough land in Toronto to make a farm, homeowners donate use of their backyards so the volunteers and organizers can grow fresh produce, which is then sold through food boxes.
Great idea. Hard work. I spent four hours de-sodding earth, and frankly, that's tough. Sod is hard to turn asunder. Let that be a lesson for life.


Today, Tuesday, I made 50 bows out of magazine pages. It's all towards a craft stall I'll be manning later this month, and frankly, this one-woman-sweat-shop is wearing me down. Thank goodness my darling husband ran out at 10:30pm on Easter Saturday to buy me chocolate bunnies. Everything is better with chocolate bunnies. Another lesson in life for you.


Also today, I went to AFL practise and then trundled eastward for French wine and food with the glorious WWF ladies. I hope to extol the virtues of both at some later date.


For now, it's late and I shall now go curl up around my darling husband and sleep a deep, sore and slightly drunken sleep. The best kind. Lesson for life. 


x