Lisa, Lindy and Me

Taken by my friend Holly at Christmas at The Core in Belleville. Of course we are all wearing IsaTe's Designs.

New Accessories

 One of my goals: to bring the muff back as an essential fashion accessory. They are so useful when you need finger dexterity but its COLD outside.

Tie Wrist Cuffs available in a wide range of colour combinations. 
These are both some new accessories I have been creating lately.

Last Show of The Season

Has been quite busy the last couple of months with shows. This is a poster from the last show of the season for me. It is in Picton a nearby community at a very nice location above a wonderful bookstore. A great show to end the season with. Decided to not do anymore this year so I could enjoy the Holiday season, munchkin is at the age where she's enthralled with the whole concept of Christmas. 
Realized I have been neglecting the blog. The good news is that I have been busy sewing and working on some new designs, and of course doing shows every weekend for the last two months. In the next while will be working on getting a good website up and running. Which means a lot more pictures of my designs. 

Fieldworks

A friends birthday was last week and she loves to explore and take pictures. So I had heard about an outdoor art exhibit and I thought a perfect way to spend the day. It is A Rural Open-Air Gallery for Site-Specific Art  -  Fieldwork Land Art Exploration. That is how the official write up goes. I even let munchkin skip school that day so she could come on our trip aka magical mystery tour. This is what my family always calls a local day trip. I posted a few pictures of the exhibit it was a perfect fall day and we spent approx. 2 hours wandering around in the woods and field. 
Afterwards we went to Perth a nearby town and had lunch and wandered around for a while. I found two thrift stores, two consignment stores, we also went to a great local coffee shop and stopped at a wonderful natural grocery store called Foodsmiths.(I always lament we do not have one of these closer to home)

This weekend

Have been busy getting some new designs done for this show. It has wonderful potential and hopefully there will be a second and on. Never been to the venue before but the online pictures of the space are beautiful. Organized by a great team of women who are doing I think now 3 different shows a year, the other ones I have participated in are always well promoted and they try to think of any possible scenerios which my occur and cover all bases. 

As for what else is happening this weekend Impresario Artisan Market ( impresariomarket.ca ) is having their official Grand Opening from 3-6pm Friday afternoon. They are carrying many if my clothing designs and a few accessories. If you are ever in Cobourg the store is well worth a visit and its not just because they have my stuff.

Snippets of August

Munchkin 

munchkin and me

munchkin and holly

Downtown Cobourg

puzzle making

Downtown Picton

Munchkin took lots of pictures on my phone this past month. She loves the feature where you can take a picture of yourself or even better herself and someone else. I also have been doing more day trips to some of the local communities like Cobourg and Picton.

Dresses

XSmall Sally Dress

Medium Sally Dress

Top

Some quick pictures taken with my phone of some of the items I completed last week. Really must go on a hunt for my camera, I know it is somewhere in the front room. 
Think this week the goal is going to be some skirts, two different styles or perhaps three. Two shows coming up the end of September  and need some stock for them, City Revival and hopefully a new store. 

Schedules

The mysteries and turmoil of making and sticking to schedules. Schedules are such a difficult thing for me. I always start off with the best intentions and things like appointments and shows and such things are not a problem, but well most other things are. I have gradually been solving the mysteries of scheduling other stuff but I am sad to say there is still room for improvement. Presently working on breaking things down into daily, weekly, monthly and 3 month spans. It all just seems so against my natural creative tendencies.

More Applications

Sending out some more applications. 3 this week, I decided to do a fuller fall winter season this year. Trying to stay within an hour to an hour and a half distance. Though I have added one show from Toronto this year. Made By Hand at the International Centre Mississauga - www.madebyhandshow.com 
I'll let you know what the lineup is the next week or so. 
Presently I am preparing stock for the Bluesfest - For The Love Of Craft show in Kingston.

The Passing of July

In Montreal on the side of a Vet's ?

Campfire at the cottage

View of the Lake

Cottage

Deserted entrance to parking for the library - Quebec City

Quebec City -  Lots of steps

Petit Champlain - Quebec City

Quebec City mural

A few images from July. Will have to see how August transpires.

Munchkin and Me

One of her favourite things to do. Strangle her Mother ;0). I definitely notice we have the same smile in this picture.

For The Love Of Craft Upcoming Show

Sorting out which shows I am doing in the upcoming season. The next one I participate in is hosted by some people I know in the city of Kingston. It is in conjunction with the Kingston Bluesfest and then I am doing their Holiday Edition in December. It is always a nice show when it is put on by this group.
Have also confirmed Make It Indie again this year, this will be the third year in a row. Sent of a few other applications for the jurying process. If they all work out my Fall/Christmas season will be busy. 


As for what else I have been up to well let's see, trying to get some custom orders done, get my studio tidied(hope springs eternal), get my living room walls painted and everything sorted in that room, get backyard furniture/deck cleaned and painted, get some product shots done - post some new products on Etsy, and complete stock for the upcoming shows. That's All. Oh plus take a week off to go on Holidays.

June 2012 - Already Over

Graffiti Downtown Montreal

More Graffiti

And More - As you see I like it

Did they poster before over after the grate on door?

Look a building in Montreal

Caught in the Act -My very odd dog who manages to climb in the sleeves of anything I own

At the Toronto Metro Zoo - My cohort seemed to take all the pictures of the animals on his phone.
 Me of course took art and munchkin

A view of The Skeleton Park Music Festival

A picture munchkin took - My legs at my fav local coffee shop

So here are some images of some of the things that happened in the last month. All pictures from my phone which I am still trying to master. I apologize that it has been so long since my last post.
I have basically ignored the virtual world for the last month, guess I needed a break.

Pinterest & Swapbot

So I joined a swap on Swapbot which was about Pinterest, my opinion of it and a link to my boards.
I really enjoy pinterest because sometimes images are all my brain can deal with that day. The boards provide a great way to compile inspiration. In general I am a fan.
http://pinterest.com/isatesdesigns/

MMMay Accessories

May 20 - Sweater Flower Hair Elastics

May 21 - Crocheted cuff made with handdyed local alpaca and vintage buttons

May 22 - Fibre Cuff made with felt/yarns/beads and hand stitching

May 23 - Necklace on simple silk cord - pendant made from mirror,wire, beads and metal ring

May 24 - Vintage Fabric headband

May 25 - Stretch Velour headband - a bit of a cheat  as here it is just a strip of fabric (but it worked really well to help tame my hair) Will probably modify it by adding some trim/embellishment

Well it was as I suspected it was a week of accessories. I will attempt to switch it up a bit more for the last 6 days. 

Where Has May Disappeared to?

Another month has seemed to slip by. This week has been spent trying to get a lot of little items restocked up eg. hair elastics, bracelets. Have also been trying to get a wardrobe evolution project completed - need to complete a skirt and one jacket and then arrange for pickup. That's my plans for tomorrow. 
This weekend I need to complete a palmer dress in lilac/grey tones for a custom birthday present order. Next weekend June 2nd is the show in Batawa so I would like to get some new dresses done for that. But need to make a whirlwind visit to Montreal next week also.So I strongly expect it may be a little difficult to stay on schedule, but Well Life Happens.
If I get some new dresses done I will make sure I take some snapshots and get them posted. Think I may also try to get some other headbands done out of some of my vintage fabrics. At least a couple for myself to combat the humidity which is making my hair LARGE. 

Next addition to MMMay12

May 12 - Skirt and top made from dress

May 13 - Twirly scarf made from recycled silk yarn

May 14 - Another twirly scarf made from recycled silk yarn

May 15 - Top embellished with stitiching and ribbons

May 16 - Skirt made from T-shirts (and yes I luv Halloween)

May 17 - Dress made from golf shirts

May 18 - Capris made from pants with extras on the bottom

May 19 - Felt Bauble bracelet

Looks like I may have to make myself some more clothes or accessories before the end of the month. This is definitely more of a challenge then I expected. Probably about 75% of my wardrobe is handmade/altered but not all by me.