frogpondfarm // hungary

working at a winery has its perks, but it completely unrelated to my studies or my interested studies. some afternoons i wonder if i should just take off and become a winemaker. except that i know nothing of chemistry or farming. i am always so inspired by little shops like meike willems  that have such nice things in them. i like handmade things and would be nice to have a shop for handmade goods. i am thinking to move to hungary in october. david says his grannnies have whole attics full of nice things that might serve for inspiration for a future project. i am excited but not thinking too far too soon. feeling again like i am standing in one place and the traffic is driving by. ive got my thumb out but there is no ride to catch. 

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green ears and an etsy shop

trying to work to get more things in this etsy shop

takes some time though. embroidery hoop collages, drawings and totes. sew sew with a glass of wine. only for a short while. models from art school in spain. on wrinkled scrap paper from the floor. two second look, not on duty. and its one of my favourite. i now have some selected works and postcards available for sale at frogpondfarm winery in niagara on the lake. lovely wines and lovely faces there!

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squash soup // fruit salad // sunday.

happy sunday.

cant seem to find something nice for breakfast today. meh. reading and typing for my course at school.

finally back on track with my professor about it. freud and descartes he says. alright alright. 

so it is. 

making nice foods from nice books lately. squash soup and this nice fruit salad with real, whipping cream topping with mexican vanilla and organic cane suger on top. mmm. last night we made mushroom and lentil burgers with nice german rye bread and mango sauce on top. then to drink a frogpondfarm cabernet franc to drink. lovely niagara wine.

today breakfast, eventually. then winery then home dinner reading sleep. 

i had such nice dreams about travelling across canada in a little dingy with four people through muddy rivers and streams and it was adventurous and funny. i wish it was true. 

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tote tote tote

i sewed this the other day. thinking to weight it, and get it up on etsy soon. as soon as i find a scale to weigh my items. talked a long talk with lindsey over her cottage phone. it was very nice. we are reading some freud and some descartes with bordo now. should be perfect. i will bring some readings with me to work today. oh yes work. hm i better get moving on sandwich building and get myself out of here. 

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thursday

took david in early to work this morning, 8am. then i drove home and went back to sleep. 
woke up to do some sewing but seems ive lost the zipper foot for my machine so i can't make what i had originally planned to make. poo.
so im taking a break, making some photographs and thinking about cooking a soup for dinner tonight.

day off day off.

i finished my medicines, feeling much better now. even had a glass of wine with dinner last night. my own personal gourmet macaroni and cheese, oven baked. haha its the classic poor college student meal and has a bad reputation, but i can cleverly disguise it to be something special with spinach, onions, and sun dried tomatoes.

and today? squash soup with acorn and butternut squash, fresh ginger, and whipping cream. delicious.

they are in the oven now, softening up and then the soup making begins. 

it is lovely out. finally a hot day. i think summer has arrived, for one day only.

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winery // winery // broken car.

working a lot at frogpondfarm. it gets busier and busier these days there. seems there is always work to be done, berries to eat and pick and of course guinea hens to feed. its so nice there these days, just hanging out with jens, eating raspberries after the shop closes and talking about conspiracy theories and french oak barrels. i love it there. it is one of the most authentic places i know. the people that own and run that place are so genuine, can be entirely serious one moment and have you side splitting the next. i love it. not so rare that i find myself out of the tasting room, helping move baby chicks, or weeding the vegetable garden, or just enjoying the sunshine with the customers from the shop, just chatting about organics and wines we love. 

i am feeling another sewing day arriving this week, making another few totes for the shop. a photograph day to get some new things in the shop, and also a trip to peterborough to get my snow tires and some paintings left behind there. lovely. there also happens to be a wine and food party close to there that night which i think we might find ourselves at. i hear frogpondfarm will be there :)

our car is also sick, needs a new, very expensive part. so she finds herself at the mechanic again, waiting for the diagnosis. shes gotten us this far, i hope she will still get us a little further. our little golf.

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etsy shop in order

finally, after looking around i started it, wrote the shop policies and finally posted my first item on etsy.

a set of five postcards. lovely. i will make some more photographs tonight to post items on my shop also and we'll see waht happens. waiting for the first sale. hm. waiting, waiting. haha.

alright, well here is the link:

http://www.etsy.com/shop.php?user_id=19798

enjoy. 

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saturday // rain // rain

this is the bag i made. this is the book of inspiration lately.

etsy shop is on its way.  

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sewing // postcards // picnic // bubblegum // spinach.

i had a sewing day this week. i made an everything tote from nice fabric i found earlier last week. finally got it washed and made a nice bag. i found the pattern in a weekend sewing projects book, very nice designs. i will make some more things from this book this weekend when i have some more time.

in the mail arrived a very nice postcard written in french from a lovely friend who is on a french immersion program for the summer. they all had to promise to only listen and read and speak and live french for the duration of the program. full and complete immersion. thankful to me i know some french and read her message quite easily. i was inspired, i returned her postcard in french also. its been many years i think since i actually wrote in french but it was nice and i think i  should write more often, remembering words lost and finding the romantic structure of that language again.

today david and i took full advantage of our day off and headed to niagara on the lake for a picnic in a lake-side park and then enjoyed the old town, admiring heritage houses we could only dream to live in. such quaint little neighbourhoods and wineries and little cafes and old rich tourists. love it. absolutely.

we didnt leave the area without stopping at a favourite (but oh so expensive) dairy bar, tucked off the main road. it is actually an ice cream factory with a little ice cream store attached. old swings that are the same that were there when i was a child. they even had my favourite bubblegum flavour, although i have to admit now, i wasnt so partial to the frozen gum bits i found inside. nice colours though. smiles on my face and in my tummy. i love waffle cones and ice cream on warm summer days.

did some gardening with my mom tonight at dusk. finally we found homes for my spinach plants and my carrots and chives in and amungst her plants. we used to have a vegetable garden when we were young but when we got a pool the garden disappeared and i have missed the fresh zucchini and squashes and others during the summer months. there is nothing so satisfying than eating food that you have tended to and grown yourself. honestly wonderful.

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now what?

thinking about an etsy shop to sell some of my artworks.

i dont know if i can take the plunge just yet though, i feel like i should do some more research, some ideas to promote the shop or something. figure out shipping costs and make photographs of the art. am i going to sell more than just my artwork? vintage finds also? or should i just concentrate on one thing? probably best to concentrate. think. sew.

i will go back to work tomorrow, i think my cold is finally getting the idea to get lost. beat it.

its good because its nice to have the time off but i actually cant too much when im tired all the time, cant talk so well, and am on drowsy medication. 

i want to start sewing this bag i bought fabric for the other day. time to clear off the dining room table to work on it. perhaps get my mom in here to assist me the first time around. we shall see. i shall post.

its dinner time now.

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sunday\

sick day from work which means sewing time and movie time. sitting out in the shade and reading time. napping time. a little virus snuck up on me and made itself at home.. blah.

it wouldnt be so terrible if i didnt have to talk all day at my job. with a sore throat and a dry cough, it doesnt really work so well so i came home early.

i am starting some sewing projects tomorrow and some arting. i am seriously considering an etsy shop at this point since my work isnt really selling with art city here in st. catharines.

how to start? design a banner. 

enter david, my love to help me with the compu/tec side of things. i will see what we can come up with.

love:

envelopes with letters from across the world in them. foreign stamps.

holga / lomographic cameras.

double and triple exposed frames / overlap lovliness. 

campbells tomato soup with crushed crackers (still since i am so little it is my number one comfort food when i have a cold)

old binoculars

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friday

another art city tonight. 

david and i were there late at the salon last night hanging new pieces, and scoping the space. so strange to be in that place when its dark outside. i think my stump art has termites, so im going to throw it out after the show tonight before they get bored of the stump and move along. eek. 

made a trip to fabricland yesterday also and have a few weekends of sewing in front of me to make a skirt, a market bag, and a travel bag! new ideas from my new book. now, all i need is a day off!

i will post photographs from tonight's function tomorrow. now? sleep and work.

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tired toes and two letters from germany today!

halle and chicago / susi and mark

they make me want to travel again.. dear me! 

and sew. tonight is sewing night. no fireworks for me. 

i imagine port dalhousie or niagara falls will be

busy since the winery was ever crowded today. so home

we stay, davidka and katieket, and sew sew talk and sew.

july art city is just a few days away now. bah (aah ha we will see)

(photo: a sticker i saw on a sidewalk in prince rupert, bc / happy canada day!)

 

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