Saint Lucia Hurricane

Friends-
You’ve probably heard that my sister in law and I won a trip earlier this year. Well, we finally booked tickets to the Caribbean island of St.Lucia!

And then a hurricane hit the weekend of October 30th and devastated the island. They were without water for several weeks, there are 8 confirmed deaths (and many still missing) and the country was in a state of emergency. Now, a month later water is back, roads are being rebuilt, and, since our resort has reopened, we have decided to continue with our travel plans.

We have several extra suitcases which are currently empty.

We have been in contact with the Red Cross and NEMO (the national disaster organization) and below is a list of items that the people in Saint Lucia need right now. If anyone is interested in donating anything we would be happy to take it along with us. Nothing too heavy or bulky, please, we don’t want to go over the weight restrictions on our suitcases.

We are leaving the evening of Saturday November 27th. Donations can be dropped off with us anytime before Saturday suppertime. I can meet people downtown Calgary at lunch this week to pick up anything they might like to donate. Email me to make arrangements (silverSistersStudio (at) gmail.com).

thank you,
gisele

From the Red Cross:
Tooth brushes (we have some already donated), toothpaste, soap, towels, linen, under wear- children and adult, male and female would be welcome, dry items like cookies, pasta, beans, cereals will be able to pass through customs.
Other emails have mentioned basic food supplies like rice, sugar and flour as well as children’s clothing and toys (story books, coloring books, crayons). Again, nothing too heavy or bulky, please, we have to fit it all into suitcases.

what's she up to now??

Here's a new project to show you. I needed something for a gift this weekend so thought I'd whip up a shirt. I took 2 shirts that no longer worked by themselves - one was overdyed grey (ick!) and the other had a super wide neck and a couple of tiny holes. I painted the greyish tank and cut the red shirt up to sew on top.

Of course, you can't just "whip up" a shirt that calls for painting and drying, construction and embellishing, all done by hand so I am cheating here and only showing you the front side which is finished! Soon enough the whole thing will be finished and whisked away on a jet plane on a tropical vacation.

Obligatory artsy photo of the stitching. Love stitching.

Eyes Wide Open

This photo was completely accidental but then I realized I loved all those lines.

Eyes Wide Open

I forgot about the beautiful patterns snow brings. It's going to be an interesting winter afterall.

Birds and Blooms Magazine

Look Look Look! Silver Sisters gloves in a magazine!

I should be all cool about it all but to tell you the truth I'm darn excited. I think I squealed a little when the package came in the mail yesterday!

I've got the gloves in my shop here, here and here. Order now if you want some, I only have a limited number of gloves in stock until spring.

Eyes Wide Open

This leaf is about dochotmies.
And I love how it's accidentally beautiful.
It's like a secret that I pass on my way through the city every day.

I used to be a painter.

Before I ever sewed fabric I painted it. And painted it and painted it. I had the urge to paint something early this Saturday morning, so I got up, snuck about and got to work.

I am thrilled to bits about how this turned out. It's a bit 60's era old man, but I like it.

I bought this red cotton sweater when I was pregnant with my youngest - so 3 years ago. And never wore it after she was born. It fit well but lacked interest. I used a stencil for the pattern. It was something that was in a ceramic painting kit that my daughter got for Christmas. To tell you the truth I got pretty worried about all that black about half way through. But I knew I had to finish and then figure out how to fix it.

I think I am in love.

Eyes Wide Open - New Feature

There's so much to see if you just look around. But you have to have your eyes open and be looking for it. You might have noticed I've been posting some random images lately, well, these are the beginning of a new feature on the blog where I post images I've taken recently of interesting colors, textures and patterns I find while out and about. Play along if you like; put a link on the comments to your own pictures of interesting things in the everyday.

The light tonight is so beautiful. I loved the way the sun was playing with the bark on this tree trunk.

I love the "wrong" sides. So right.