Merry Christmas!

I hope all of you have an amazing Christmas and Joyous New Year!

cutie cook off

I wanted to share a sweet little gift my friend Carol asked me to make for her daughter Rowan. Rowan is quite the sous-chef, dragging over a dining room chair (she's not even 2!) to watch her Mom prepare dinner every night. Carol thought it would be cute to give her a little apron to wear while she was 'helping.'


I used some Amy Butler fabrics I had in my stash and then took the pocket to a local shop to have Rowan's name embroidered. I think it's super sweet and might add these to my shop in the new year.

Happy cooking!

chirp, chirp!

Well I got to meet my new little nephew yesterday -- his name is Max! How cute is that. He's a super sweetheart and I'm so excited that I get to see more of him on Christmas Day. In preparation for his arrival, I made Max (and his Mom of course!) a little gift that should keep him warm during these chilly winter months.

The little chicky fabric is from Olive Manna and I use some soft white fleecy fabric for the back I had already. I kinda wish I still had it with me because I'm a little chilly myself right now.

friday finds {charming accessories}

There's no doubt about it -- I'm an earring girl. But I often dream of covering myself with the many other amazingly beautiful accessories I see in stores, and of course, on etsy. Here are some things I found this week.

This has to be one of the prettiest accessories I've ever seen. Le Collier Antoinette by cocoboudoir


Oh to be bold enough to wear flowers on my head. Peche Brouillee from the same designer Le Collier Antoinette by cocoboudoir


I actually would wear this if it didn't say "Cathy" on the back (see alternate pics on etsy). Vintage. 70s Tooled Leather Belt with Metal Buckle from raretreasure


Bring the outdoors with you with this Original Tree Photo Ring from My Belle Bijoux.


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So what are you doing this weekend? We're welcoming a new member to the family today! My sister-in-law is having her second baby today we can't wait to meet the little guy! Other than that I have lots more sewing to do so I had better get to it!

Have a great last weekend before Christmas everyone!

Auntie Pillows

I've been sewing up a storm over the past week and none of it was for my shop! A few weeks ago for instance, Mark's aunt asked me if I could make her two sets of pillows that she could give to her friends as gifts this year. She brought over the fabric and away I went!


I love how these turned out and almost kept them for myself to be honest. They're so simple yet fun at the same time.


These are more Pottery Barn-esque, but just as fun as the first set. I made a little loop out of the fabric to hold the button and voila!


I also made a tiny purse for a friend out of the tiny bit of fabric I had leftover from the first set of pillows. I shouldn't really show you this because the picture is really bad, but it's a nice way to use up material that would have been sitting in a pile. The one thing I have to work on for next time is the handle. It's a tad wonky. Next time I will have to put in some hardware so it doesn't flip around the way it does.


Ok I'm off to eat some breakfast and then start my day for the day job so have a great Wednesday!

friday finds {cozy cowls}

Happy Friday! One thing I love about the winter weather is wearing cozy things around my neck. I love scarves and I just love all of the cowls out and about this year. Here are my Friday finds:

the winter run cowl in LINEN by thehouseofhemp


the accidental cowl in SLATE from thehouseofhemp


Orion Moebius Cowl/Barley by lizziemac7


I want to put all of these on at the same time, sit by the fire and sip hot cocoa. Ok three of these around my neck might be much...

This weekend I'm locking myself in my sewing room to get some stuff done and then on Sunday I'll be heading down to the City of Craft event on Queen Street.

Have a great one!

new look!

It's not even January yet and I've already been makin' some changes 'round here! Thanks to Ellie at Rainy Day Templates, I now have a fresh new look to my blog. I feel like I've been to the spa. ooommm...

friday finds {pretty jewels}

Leaf and Raw Pearl Necklace by NamesakeDesigns


pretty blue bracelet by cserdan


moraccan style earrings by thehouseofhemp

if all else fails, just fake it

This is my new roman blind in my kitchen. I've been wanting to make this since February, but have been afraid to. You see... when I need/want to make things and I don't really know how to do it I sit and stare at the fabric for god knows how long, thinking of how I should go about my project. Finally the time would come when Mark would say: "Would you just make that already??" or "So how is the blind coming along?" as he points to the fabric still sitting in the envelope it came in.

So one day I brought the fabric upstairs and just did it... I made my blind. I've been trying to tell myself that a lot more these days "JUST DO IT." It feels better when you say it and then do it so I think I'll do it more often.


I knew this roman blind wouldn't really be used (pulling it up and down because ya know, I really love staring at my neighbour in his kitchen while I'm doing dishes and I know he loves it too) so I decided to fake it. I made the blind as one normally would; adding dowels to create nice folds, but then I used velcro to fasten the folds together and then used this crazy super velcro stuff to hold the blind onto the window frame. We'll see if it holds... The first 'warning' on the velcro label says: 'Do not use this on fabric or in sewing projects.' But I'm too impatient so hopefully I don't come home one day to find a roman blind in the dish water.

Mark says it's crooked (so he might be right) but I don't care. It's up there and it's done.

Now on to the zillion other projects I have piling up!

friday finds

tasty chairs from avrilloreti


pretty bird earrings from fabriquer


upcycled mittens from thingsbySLO

Christmas Wreath

In honour of the US Thanksgiving I thought I would post about my Christmas wreath ;). I made it from scratch! Ok I bought all the shiny "natural pieces" at the store in a package, but I actually made the vine wreath.

Mark and I were cleaning up the back yard, preparing it for winter a few weeks ago. We had vines all over our garage which were taking over the neighbourhood, so we decided to take them down to start fresh next year.

As I was cleaning up the vines, I began to feel them in my hands thinking they would be perfect for the wreath I wanted to make. So I ditched poor Mark in the cleaning process and began putting all of the vines together and molding them into a circle formation. I grabbed some of Mark's fishing line and tied it altogether. Et voila! It was a bit wonky on one side but nothing a bunch of sparkly balls can't hide!

I laid everything out on the dining room table the other night to get working on wreath part two. First I placed the ribbon where I wanted it to go and then I placed all of the sparkly pieces in place. Then I went to town with my glue gun taking care not to burn the eff outta my fingers. It was so much fun.




(those of you who have been to our place might notice we did a door reno -- more on that later!)

Happy Thanksgiving to all my US friends!
~lealou

friday finds

Perfect travelling companion.

Pearson Pillow by NicoleTarasick

I should probably get this.

From Zippster

Be practical and cute on the subway.
From BrookAlviano

thursday things

My lunch. Doesn't look pretty, but dang it was good.


My husband. Adding tiles to what seems to be our never ending fireplace reno.


My cat. Jumped up onto my lap while I was writing this post. I thought he deserved some lovin'


I can't believe it's Thursday already.

Camo Cool

I was in the fabric store sometime back and I saw this cool camo fabric that was all pixelated (word?) and cool looking. I brought some of it home to make some totes and I showed my sister and she said "Yeah that's what all the soldiers are wearing these days." Oh. I'm not a big soldier or war person, but I still liked it and I still made a tote out of it. I'm glad I did.


This is another one of those me totes. I think I'm going to make all of my totes in this style from now on too. It's kind of cross between this tote and this bag. It's perfect for zipping around town for this and that.



If you think it's cool too you can get it here!

Happy Wednesday y'all

The Fireball Tote and Clutch

Do you have one of those friends who has so much energy and enthusiasm you don't know what to do with it all? My friend Cortney is like that... it's a good thing believe me. Every time I see her she's full of excitement and passion for whatever she's doing, whether it's entertaining a crowd or chasing her adorable son around the house.

So when Cort asked me if I would be interested in donating a tote bag and clutch to the annual Fireball event she helps organize every year for Sheena's Place here in Toronto... how could I say no? I'm also going to the event which I'm pretty excited about, mostly because I'll get to hang out with some fun friends, but also because I got to buy a new dress...

Alas the Fireball Tote and Clutch.


I've made something like this before here and here... but I just really love this style of bag so why not? The thing about Fireball is that there is an unwritten rule that everyone has to wear something red to the event, so I lined the bag with some bright red fabric and put a little flower pin on the front for some added punch.

The clutch was made with the same fabrics, but I added a vintage button I found at the St. Lawrence Market a few years ago.


And because I liked this bag so much (and had enough fabric); I've made two! If you like it too (and won't be at the event to make a bid on the silent auction) you can trek on over to my shop to get on there. Unfortunately I didn't have enough fabric for two clutches, but I do have an extra zip pouch made out of grey peony fabric that I'll throw in for fun.

Happy Weekend & Fireballin'!
~lealou

scenes from a lazy morning

The day after our Thanksgiving Dinner, we woke up late, ate breakfast and sat around. We were lazy and we loved it.

...and the winner is....

Alison Matchett! Alison wrote the following comment on my Facebook page:

Contest Submission! I would stuff the clutch with the Tim Hortons grind I have to take to work in order to have a decent cup of coffee!

Alison is my co-worker and she's referring to the coffee she has to bring to work because we don't have the best stuff to drink at the office ;) I put all the contest names in my toque in case you were wondering how I picked!

Congrats Alison and thanks to everyone who played! If you're looking for more lealou goodies, visit my etsy site here.