Brimfield Antique Market
Posted: 20/05/2011 Filed under: Craft | Tags: antique, brimfield, roadtrip Leave a commentLast week was the week Jacqueline, Karyn (from the workroom) and I look forward to all year. It was the Brimfield Antique Market, the place where you can find anything and everything if you have the time and the patience.
This was our second trip to Brimfield. We only went for one day last year but we didn’t even come close to seeing all that there was to see.
The show is 2 miles long on either side of the road. It is field upon field of astonishing things. Within 10 minutes of being on the fields last year, we knew it would be an annual trip and that one day was not nearly enough.
We decided to upgrade from the Super 8 and stayed at the lovely Publick House for two nights. We drove to Massachusetts on Monday so that we could spend Tuesday and Wednesday morning at the show before driving back to Toronto. I say Wednesday morning but when you get up at 5:30 and walk the show until noon, it’s a pretty long morning. 
We are each drawn to different things and tend to shop in different ways. 
I love the shoes, jewelry, and linens. Karyn was in search of new chairs and stools for the shop. Jacqueline wanted a patio set or a chandelier though she loves the dishes and glassware, too.
It is easy to be distracted from your goal. There is so much to wonder at.
Can’t wait to see what there is to see next year.
Baby quilts
Posted: 16/05/2011 Filed under: Craft, Design, Quilting | Tags: quilts Leave a commentBaby quilts. In between all the large quilts, beyond the list of wishful projects, regardless of how many times we promise ourselves we won’t start another project, there is always room for one more baby quilt.
I am about to start a new one, for my cousin and his wife in London. They are having a baby this summer. Baby quilts are the perfect place to explore new fabrics, try new techniques and be a bit adventurous, on a scale that is manageable both at home (be it dining room table or living room floor) and on the sewing machine.
Here are a few of my favourite recent baby quilts. They represent love and comfort, happiness and family. They are all pre-washed with Soak and machine washable. They are functional pieces of art meant to be used for generations to come.
Dafina, our office administrator is soon to return from her maternity leave. As English isn’t her first language, I felt that the ‘eye spy’ quilt was the perfect design for her young family. They can practice words in English and other languages for years to come. Ask if you can dip into your friend’s fabric stashes for this type of quilt- so you can find even more prints, images and animals than you have yourself.
Sofia enjoys her quilt at community play groups. Her mom, Patricia likes to have a piece of home wherever she goes. This quilt is made of squares and strips of Japanese baby prints. Word to the wise don’t make squares and even/ symmetrical borders on both the top and bottom of a quilt if you are a novice machine quilter. Lining up both the front and the back on both axis is challenging.
At quilt market one year I picked up this charming set of prints put together by a local quilt shop. I was itching to try this Amy Butler free pattern and thought this project was the perfect place. Both Ailie and Katie love this quilt. It is cozy, feminine and charming.
This quilt is made of my favourite collection of baby prints. It’s a cotton, linen blend and perfect for the sophisticated family that will soon acquire it. I learned many years ago, that while we want to gift our baby quilts as soon as the baby is born, babies don’t typically use quilts as blankets or floor mats for several months, so be patient with your project- it’s okay if the baby comes before the quilt.
This lucky boy enjoys this modern bright quilt. Fabrics with feature patterns and vivid prints make charming additions to any play room.
While there is no shortage of baby inspired fabric, little quilts made from modern prints are timeless, unique and filled with love. Baby quilts have no size constraints, no formal rules and most importantly are always received with open arms.
365:112
Posted: 22/04/2011 Filed under: Craft, Food Leave a comment
365:112
Originally uploaded by Soakwash
Happy Easter Bunny.
My first (real) quilt
Posted: 19/04/2011 Filed under: Craft, Design | Tags: quilting Leave a commentAuthor: Jacqueline
Way back in November 2008, I finished my first real quilt. It lives on my sofa (usually under a kitty) and I love it every single day.
What should you do for your first quilt?
- Find a simple yet inspiring pattern.
- Choose a small range of fabric colours (or a fat quarter set/ layer cake etc. of pre-matched prints)
- Find a local hang out and some quilting friends
- Dig in.
- Hang-on until you are finished.
I certainly didn’t hit the list in the right order, but I made it from start to finish. I wanted to design my own quilt pattern, asymmetrical, off centre squares. I don’t recommend designing and constructing your first quilt yourself. Instead find a pattern that you love and start there.
At my first Quilt Sunday at The Workroom in Toronto, I met quilter (and teacher) extraordinaire Johanna Masko. I already had my fat quarter set, a collection of prints from Anna Griffin’s collection Evelyn. It was from one of my first trips to Quilt Market and I was in love. So, I told Johanna what I had in mind and she immediately introduced me to Denyse Schmidt’s book DS quilts.
The pattern, with a bunch of squares, was exactly what I was looking for. Big pieces, simple design, off-centre squares. There are several variations of this signature design, but the point is, only choose one major challenge per project. Mine was ‘make a full size quilt’, so there was no need to add designing to the list. Did I mention Denyse is also a RISD grad? Denyse’s project-packed how-to book is the alternative quilting resource for the home crafter.
With just 25 blocks, this project was inspiring enough to keep me going, and simple enough to work in small evening sections. First I made the squares. 
I did add a few more fabrics to my fat quarter set (once again breaking the rules), but at a quilt shop full of fabric, who could really resist. For the background colour, I used 3 shades on white- for some extra depth. It’s hard to see, but the different whites gives the quilt some interesting texture, and variety.
I used solid pink squares for the centre of each quilt and the border, and a variety of browns and complementary fabrics for the back. It is finished, well used and very much loved, as all quilts should be.
Heel – Round Table
Posted: 24/02/2011 Filed under: Business, Craft, Knitting | Tags: amy singer, Foot cream, Heel, LYS, purple purl, review, yarn Leave a comment
Amy Singer, editor and writer at knitty.com often does reviews on new yarns and knitting accessories. We joined her last month at the Purple Purl as she and a group of reviewers tried out our newest product, Heel. All of our reviewers came with their current knitting projects and eagerly waited to find out what they were going to test this week. 
We received a lot of great feedback. You can find Amy Butler’s review here. I’ve summerized a few of the key comments that we received.
– “I like the spearmint. It’s cool and I think in the summer, it’s going to feel good too.”
– “It’s a little greasy, and I like that. It feels more like a lotion than a cream. It could go in a pump.”
– “It’s a lovely consistency and it disappeared into my hands right away.”
– “I didn’t find it greasy at all, in fact, I’m knitting with it right away afterwards and it’s not affecting me in any way.”
– “Definitely not greasy — almost like the moisture is sealed in to my skin now. Very nice.” – Amy Singer
Thank you so much to all the lovely reviewers. If you’ve tried Heel, we’d love to hear your thoughts on our newest product.
101 things to do with Soak |040 dolls and toy animals.
Posted: 14/02/2011 Filed under: Craft | Tags: 101, soak, wash dolls Leave a commentDolls, toys, and fake acrylic hair.
This wonderful photo was posted on our facebook wall by one of our customers. She had filled her bathtub with water and Soak and let her dolls take a nice relaxing swim.
During the holidays, I had a ‘my little pony’ that I wanted to include with a friend’s gift. They’ve completely changed the way these ponies look and I wanted one that was similar to the one he used to play with as a kid. I bought a used one online and wondered if the fake acrylic pony hair would make it through a shampoo. I figured if worse came to worse, I could buy another pony so I grabbed my Soak and a toothbrush and got to work.
The tooth brush was great to get into the little crevices and in the pony ears. I put a tiny bit of Soak in the pony hair and gently lathered.
I gave the hair a quick brush when it was drying to detangle it and left it standing on a towel to air dry.
Once the pony dried, she looked as good as new! The hair was soft and shiny and smelled delicious! Thank you Celebration Soak.
He had a good laugh when he opened his present and saw the pretty pony sitting on top.
DIY gift vouchers/coupons
Posted: 21/12/2010 Filed under: Craft, Design | Tags: DIY, homemade coupons 1 CommentAuthor: Ngoc
Homemade coupons are a great inexpensive and thoughtful gift idea. Jacqueline is the creative one in the office and has often wowed us with her fun craft ideas. If you’re stuck on a last-minute holiday gift, or perhaps you’d like to plan ahead for Valentines day or for a birthday, perhaps take a page from Jacqueline’s book and gift one of these cute DIY coupons.
Traditional cardstock coupons
Adding a few fun touches can give your paper coupons just what they need to really make a visual impact.
Tips:
- Using scrapbooking paper and stickers are a quick and easy way give your coupons a clean and stylish look.
- Think of what you want each coupon to offer in advance. Printing them out on a printer instead of handwriting will give it a more professional look.
- When choosing your paper, keep in mind what color scheme you’d like to have and pick designs and colors that complement each other.
- To keep track of which coupons have been redeemed, each one has a line that the gift giver can sign after each redemption.
The paper used here was based Amy Butler’s designs.
Finish by putting them all in a nice envelope, dressed with the recipient’s name.
Laser cut cardboard vouchers
Jacqueline visited Karen at The Workroom when she made these great cardboard vouchers. An Epilog laser cutter was used to engrave these fun messages and cut out the letters.
Tips:
- To keep track of which vouchers have been redeemed, Jacqueline included two holes on each card and tied a small ribbon beside a hole that says ‘undone’. Every time the recipient claims another voucher, the ribbon is moved to the hole that says ‘done’.
- Punching a hole in the corner of each voucher allows you to hold them all together using a paper or binder ring. You could also hold them together with a pretty ribbon.
Buttons
Jacqueline also visited Karen for these fun button coupons. Look around your local craft shops to find somewhere that rents out a circle cutter and button press. You can also buy button making kits if you can’t find one to rent.
Tips:
- Jacqueline took a circular embroidery frame and put fun fabric in it to give a base for the buttons to be pinned to.
- Using two different types of fabrics will allow you to keep track of which buttons have already been redeemed. Start with all the buttons on one side, move to the other side as they are used.
- You can use magazine images, wrapping paper, or other fun colourful paper to make some decorative buttons to add some variety and color.
- Be creative. Add related images as background to the text to make the buttons more visually pleasing.
Here are a few of my personal favourites. I tried to redeem the male model button. It unfortunately was just a decorative one. At least I tried.
The ice cream button on the other hand was not decorative. Yum!
Did you make any fun homemade gifts this season? I’d love to hear your ideas or send us your photos of the finished gift.
We hope everyone has a wonderful and safe holiday.
Our Card Tree.
Posted: 14/12/2010 Filed under: Craft, Design | Tags: Soak office, thank-you cards Leave a commentSeason’s Greetings. Happy Holidays. Thank-you. Keep Knitting. These are a few of the wonderful cards we’ve received lately from our friends, family and customers. We love when a fun card or letter shows up in our mail box. After we’ve all had a chance to look at the card, we proudly display it on our card tree.
I wanted to point out two especially fun cards that we’ve recently received.
The first is is a great group photo from the Men’s Fall knitting retreat. They sent us a very kind thank-you letter for our goodie bag contribution. Look at all those wonderful smiling faces!
The second card that we thought was especially fun was from Clara Parkes and her knitting retreaters. They all signed the thank-you card. How thoughtful!
Every year, I have every intention of making fun holiday cards for all my friends and family. I always tell myself that I have plenty of time and then the next thing I know, it’s the middle of December and I have yet to grab any craft supplies. One fun card idea we saw this year was the use of knitted squares to create knit prints on cards. I didn’t make one so I don’t have a photo to show you but the basic idea is to knit a square with an interesting design, use a roller or brush to paint a thin layer of paint on the square and press it on the front of a blank card. It should leave a pretty knitted design on the paper when you remove the square.
If you are feeling crafty, and decide to try this tecnique out, send us a photo of the finished results.
Heels, hand-knit socks, and photo shoots.
Posted: 16/11/2010 Filed under: Craft, Design, Knitting | Tags: Foot cream, Heel, Kate Atherley, photography, photoshoot, soak 5 CommentsAuthor: Ngoc
I’m fascinated by photography and lighting. I find photo shoots extremely interesting and just the other week, I was able to go to another photo shoot for our newest product, Heel – foot cream for feet worthy of hand-knit socks. 
I am always impressed by the whole process and the beautiful results that we get. The above photograph was professionally taken by Jessica, our wonderful photographer. The following images are from my camera as I documented our day. 
The day started off with a quick brainstorming session of different pose ideas so that Jessica could get an idea of how to set up the backdrop and what lighting we would need. We then tried on some of the hand-knit socks that were designed and made by Kate Atherley, a Toronto based knitter, designer and teacher. I never understood the fascination/obsession with hand-knit socks until that morning. They were beautiful and comfortable and hugged my feet in this way that only hand-knit socks can. Some of our Heel labels will feature Kate’s beautiful socks. If you are thinking of a fun gift idea for your favourite knitter, why not pair a tub of Heel with the accompanying sock pattern? Visit Kate’s online store for her designs. 
Esther and I were the lucky feet models for the day. After a few hours of tippy toes, pointing, and stretching, I have gained a new appreciation for feet models. I don’t know whether my feet and toes are just terribly out of shape or what, but after holding a pose for 10 mins with slight movements, I started to get cramps galore. As we looked at the images appearing on the computer screen, it was fascinating to see how the slightest movement in the toes or the smallest change in the direction that your feet were pointing could completely change the feel and attitude of the image. 
I am always impressed by a beautiful photograph and am constantly asking for tips and advice on how to improve my own photography skills. I find that once in a while, I’ll fluke into a decent photo. I am still striving to take that one photograph that I am proud enough to display on my wall but alas, nothing as of yet.
Here are a few of the tips that I’ve gathered along the way.
1. Welcome to the wonderful world of digital. Just snap away. For every wonderful photo you see, that person probably took 90 mediocre ones. Take a lot of photos. Look at them and figure out what you did wrong, what you like about them, and what you should do differently next time.
2. Catch the light. When photographing people, spin them around and look at their eyes. Stop spinning them once the eyes catch the light.
3. Photos don’t always need to be artistically beautiful. They are about capturing your memories and emotions. A photo might not be impressive to anyone else, but if it brings you back to a wonderful moment or invokes certain wonderful emotions in you, then it’s a good photograph.
4. A good camera and a good lens doesn’t equal a good photograph. I’ve seen people take wonderful photographs with their camera phones. There is so much more to photography than just the equipment.
5. If you’re new to the SLR world, take the time to learn about ISO, aperture, and shutter speeds. Don’t waste a perfectly wonderful camera by only shooting on auto. Try manual. It will open up a wonderful new world.
Do you have any fun photography tips? Please share, I’d love to hear them.
101 things to do with Soak | 038 Halloween costumes
Posted: 09/11/2010 Filed under: Craft, Uses for Soak | Tags: 101, halloween costumes, hand washing, soak wash, soakwash, wash Leave a commentAuthor: Ngoc
Lions, goblins, princesses and super heroes. These are a few of the interesting characters that you may have seen roaming the streets a week and a half ago (or perhaps you were one of those interesting characters).
If your house is anything like mine, then you’ll have an endless supply of single sized chocolate bars, chips and jujubes. Discounted candy after Halloween gets me every time. I am also notorious for not taking down decorations once the occasion has passed (this is reinforced by the ‘Season’s Greetings’ banner that still hangs in my mom’s house from the time I wanted to decorate in Gr. 10. Let’s just say I’ve finished highschool… and University… and that banner still hangs. It’s a running joke now amongst my friends).
I digress, let’s get back to the topic at hand. If you have kids or you chose to dress up yourself, I’m sure you have a crumpled up costume either thrown into your laundry basket or in the corner of a room somewhere. It’s been a week and a half, it’s time to wash and put it away for either next year or to be donated to your local Goodwill shop for someone else to enjoy. Or maybe you have a toddler at home that loves being a princess or superman more than just 1 out of the 365 days of the year. Or perhaps, you had on a slightly risky costume (a mistress Claus? Wonder women?) that may be pleasing to your partner on days other than Halloween. Either way, it needs to be washed.
Many of the store-bought costumes aren’t made to the highest quality and may not survive a trip in your washing machine. A lot of the time you will see costumes with lace, satin, nylon, sequins and other fun materials, that need extra care. A nice gentle wash in Soak is exactly what your costume needs.
Washing your Halloween costume
- Check the label of your costume for care instructions. A general rule is, if it can get wet, then it can be wash with Soak.
- Make sure you take out any left over candy that may have found its way into the pockets. If your costume was battery powered, make sure you remove the batteries and the hardware.
- Fill up your sink with cool water, add some Soak.
- Put your costume in to soak for 15 mins.
- Give it a gentle squeeze to remove excess water. Roll in a towel to remove more excess water.
- And as always, hang or lay flat to dry.
I also made a Where’s Waldo costume this year. Can you do me a favour? If you have young kids in the house, can you ask them if they know who Waldo is? I walked by a boy who looked about 12 and he looked at me with zero recognition of who I was dressed up as. Do kids still look at Where’s Waldo books? Has Waldo gone the way of cassette tapes?
I love home-made costumes and would love to see your wonderful craftmanship. Send your photos to ngoc@soakwash.com.
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