If you haven't strolled through the darkly magical woods at Hidenseek, you must! You may glimpse the darling Hidden Eloise as she goes about her creative wanderings with bears and wolves and wistful children. We have a piece on my daughter's wall ("Mom, this is the Friend I Told You About" which she adores and I am anxiously awaiting a shipment of stickers and postcards for our new land based shop (that is another post!).


Another shop that needs a mention is the winemakerssister which has the most detailed and attractive hand carved rubber stamps (among other things!). The artist made me a fabulous rowan branch stamp from a photo of my tattoo, of all things! It is a perfect stamp for my muslin toy bags, shipping envelopes and more!




Happy Shopping :)

Our 'Heart of...' line of playsilks have been super popular, but up on realizing that I have hand dyed, pressed and shipped out over 3500 pieces of silk in the last 2+ years and have always added new colours to that line, I decided I needed to add some more pizazz to keep me engaged over the dye pots!

I love the challenge of dyeing to match~ and what better match for our multi-coloured silks than the oils and watercolours of the past Masters.

The process works both ways~ thumbing through the great works and challenging myself to match them, or trying a new colourway and landing upon just the right work of art to pull it together. This self-challenge has coincided with some experimenting in new dyes, as well.

Either way, my favourite part is the added dimension to playsilk play! An Art Inspired silkie offers an opportunity to explore art with your child. To consider what emotions colour can evoke, what feelings or moods a colour combo creates, how the colours blend together to create others and then maybe try it out for themselves in paints or other mediums.

This line of six new colourways relies on Van Gogh and Monet, but look for more to follow!
Parliament ~ Inspired by Monet's
Houses of Parliament, London, Sun Breaking Through the Fog, 1904
















Poppies~ Inspired by Monet's Poppies, Near Agenteuil. 1873.
















Starry Night, Van Gogh 1889.
















Monet's The Regatta at Argenteuil 1872
















Van Gogh's Irises 1889

















Monet's Japanese Footbridge, 1899 inspired 'Water Lilies'
















And if you are not feeling like fine art, you can always check out our Limited Edition (available only until Halloween) Spooky Colorways in Bat, Goblin, Vampire, Witch, Zombie and Boo!All colorways available in 35" square playsilks in our Etsy Shop.
AND if you have read this far and you are still scratching your head about Playsilks (what are they?)~ congrats for your persistence and follow this link for more info.

When I say I don't sew, I don't mean I can't. I mean I choose not to because it is *so* easy to get sucked (back) into the fabric vortex.... bwahahaha.

But this little dress pattern, made by my friend Diane for her daughter, broke 4+ years of sewing silence (ok, I *do* sew silk regularly, but no quilting, no clothing, no new fabric). I *had* to make one for Rowan.

The pattern is the Sydney Dress (Euro Hoodie) by Modkid at Material Gal and it rocks. Super well written, fun and easy to make. My only problem was that I cut the skirt strips one size too big and was baffled as to why I had a 70" skirt and a 50" hem band. Oops! There are so many possibilities for varation and modification in this dress that I didn't stop (*gasp* shock, I know) with fabric for one dress, but also ordered fabric for a holiday dress, too!

Here is #1, made with the Marie Webster Merry Mushrooms line of fabrics. Nice weight (the finished dress is fairly substantial, it could be done with much lighter fabric for warmer weather) and very vintage look. I went for the pointed hood and strip skirt. I did my topstitching with a feathery decorative stitch and did one panel with applique mushrooms. The size 4T fits true and the options for lengthening and shortening skirt and sleeves are nice to have.

Sorry for the blur~ my camera and I are not on speaking terms about this.

I will post modelled pictures when my model is available!

The second dress is going to be made with fabrics from the Riley Blake holiday line in the pinks and greens.I feel the vortex.... sucking.... sucking me ..... in!

Edited to add in the action shots LOL

From September 7th -11th, BTRT will be joined by gracious friends to raise funds for my little (ok, my BABY brother~ I am 12 years older). Now, he isn't a cute little gaffer (he used to be, see obligatory cute kid pics at right!) but he is in need.

Trevor has an eye disease called Keratoconus. It is one of the most common corneal diseases, but its rate of progress will vary from person to person. Typically affecting young adults, the disease begins in the teen years and progresses until mid-life when corneal crosslinking occurs and stops the process of corneal warping.

At age 24 Trevor's right eye has lost all but the ability to see shadows, and his left eye has begun to degenerate, as well.

There is a new treatment called Corneal Collagen Crosslinking (with) Riboflavin. which is now available in Canada. To date, it is the only treatment proven to stop the disease (short term, there are no longer term results, yet~ been used 7 years in the UK with great success). It cannot restore lost vision, but a combination of the treatment, hard corrective contacts and glasses can improve the current vision and halt the progress. The only other alternative at this time is corneal transplant. If not halted, given the projection of his disease, Trevor will lose the vision in his eyes.

We are very hopeful that this will enable him to keep his sight! Trevor is a recent university grad, having worked his way through school while maintaining a high A average. He now works for a marketing firm (baby monitors and cameras). He is active in hockey, ultimate frisbee and other sports. My heart is aching for him at this uncertain time, and I want to do what i can, with your help, to assist him.

The cost of the treatment is nearly $6 000, PLUS the cost of lenses and glasses. Add in a minimum of one month lost work (potentially more) and the whole process is nearing $10K.

Auctions begin Monday at 10 am and continue until Friday: Beneath the Rowan Tree.

After dyeing all that pretty ribbon, I had to put it to good use!

You will find these all silk garlands in our Etsy shop, with more to come!
Measuring 18 - 30" they fit most kids aged 3+.
Each one is made with hand dyed silk and hand dyed silk ribbon.
The flowers are satin, hand stitched.

My daughter has a tendency towards the dramatic.
Not often, but when she turns it on...
She also has a tendency to form strange and deep emotional attachments.
Remember the fish mat?

This time it was a 500 ml bottle of vinegar.
White vinegar (if it matters).

She snatched it from the shelf while grocery shopping.
Considering that I keep large bottles of vinegar at home at all times (dyeing), we didn't need it and while saying so, I returned the bottle to the shelf.

Big mistake.

The tears, the wailing, the anguished cries of "MY VINEGAR!" poured out of my 4 year old.

I calmly rolled the cart forward and continued my shopping, patting her back and consoling her in this great loss.

Once the initial shock wore off, she began to seek vinegar everywhere.
Every food I put in the cart was greeted with demands of "is it vinegar? is it made WITH vinegar? Read the label!!"~ all said through sobs of sorrow but with a testy edge.
Vinegar cookies. Check.
Vinegar peaches. Check.
Vinegar margerine. Check.

When we reached the clothing section (yes, in the grocery store!) where I was planning to grab her a pair of indoor shoes for school I had to crack open the vinegar toilet paper to wipe her nose. And then she proceeded to try on ONLY those shoes which I solemnly swore were made of vinegar. Who knew they only use vinegar in *pink* footwear, not blue?

Now, I give her credit for her commitment to the drama.
I really do.
And I give myself credit for patience under fire!
I was even smiling when I walked out of that store and presented Rowan (with a flourish) with her very own drinking box of vinegar (orange) juice.