Button-y Goodness

blue and green buttons

Last Saturday was a button-shopping trip with a friend. I said it last time and it's still true; digging through the button trunk at Rubans Boutons is like sifting through jewels in a treasure chest. They're now up on St-Hubert in the fabric district, so not such a neighbourhood treat, but it's still just $4 for a medium bag of selected buttons. I got 2 this time, and managed to cram in over 550 buttons.


pink and purple buttons

I had a great deal of fun sorting my buttons after I'd washed them. I now have 3 jars full, including some that my Mom gave me from the family button tin. After spending a couple hours digging through buttons, it's easy to forget exactly what you've chosen. I always find it satisfying to sort by colour. Perhaps it's something to do with being a visual person, but I've always like sorting my pencil crayons or selecting new colours of pencil crayons. Is that just me? Certainly for me, the same appears to be true of buttons.


white and brown buttons

There were some nice surprises of ones that matched buttons I'd selected the last time (as well as some I remembered and specifically chose for that reason). I'm looking forward to dreaming up projects for buttons. Maybe part of mixed media pieces? Or sewn in patterns to make my clothes more quirky? Or used to make button jewellery? Unlike my more disciplined friend, I did not go with much real purpose other than the delight of scooping through pretty buttons. So I just picked and chose where my eye was drawn.


pink button square

I mostly chose within my preferred spectrum of blue, green, and purple, though a bit of red and pink were also included. I did have my eye out for a variety of white and cream buttons with a view to a monochromatic project with the variation in texture of different buttons for interest. Oh, the multitude of possibilities is delightful.


Photographs by Allison Gryski. © All rights reserved.

Restaurant Reviews

young garlic
Originally uploaded by allisongryski

I've noticed a number of google queries landing on this blog looking for my Montreal Restaurant Reviews, so I thought I'd provide a direct link. There's also a list of favourite restaurants in other cities.
Update: We've added a page for Amsterdam Restaurant Reviews.

Back from holiday

Prince Edward Point
Originally uploaded by allisongryski
I am back from nearly 2 weeks of holiday in the countryside. It was wonderfully relaxing to visit family and be away from the city for a bit. I didn't miss my computer at all, though I did miss my sweetie who could only join me for part of the trip. Thinking of him, I picked up heart shaped stones along this lovely pebble beach.


Heart Stones
Originally uploaded by allisongryski

I absolutely adore the beach. When I was little, we lived just a short walk from a wonderfully rocky beach. The kind that's best for poking about and exploring and turning over rocks to see what's underneath. I can spend ages watching waves curl in and splash, a little differently every time. Something in me, despite having lived away from the seashore for so long, is still inextricably drawn to it. An afternoon at this beach, followed by a picnic on a rock shelf nearby (perfect for paddling one's feet in the water from) was really an absolutely perfect way to spend a summer's day.

Yesterday, my first day back in Montreal, was the usual laundry and errands day that follows a holiday. I bixi'd downtown in the morning, and despite the mostly downhill ride, was melting by the time I got there. Montreal decided to greet our return with the first truly sweltering day this year ... it was 41°C with the humidity. We went to see Julie/Julia in the evening, mostly to enjoy the air conditioning in the theatre (though we both enjoyed the Julia Child part of the film too). We walked home in the cooler evening and paused for some refreshing lemon sorbet. More holiday stories to follow as I upload the rest of my pictures...


Heart Stone
Originally uploaded by allisongryski

Pretty things in purple

Thrifty Purple Finds
Originally uploaded by allisongryski

Despite the distinctly grey and rainy "summer" that we've been having in Montreal, I haven't been much in the mood for blogging. I've been twittering little nothings instead, extolling the virtues of bixi mostly. Yesterday I finally pulled out my oil paints and got started re-learning how to use them. Today I went to the thrift stores to see about finding a suitable old shirt to use as a smock, but instead I came away with pretty things in purple: A dressy sort of blazer, a purple bobble necklace, and some vintage buttons. I almost got a purple polka-dotted scarf at the first shop too, until I noticed it had some stains.


Vintage buttons
Originally uploaded by allisongryski
The necklace and buttons came from the church bazaar at Mont-Royal and St-Hubert. It has quite a lot of sewing notions and some bins of old patterns. It's also where I got one of the pillow cases that I used in my quilt. And, in a funny coincidence, where I found the skirt that I'm wearing today (for $3). The blazer came from the friperie Retromania just down the street on Mont-Royal. Not as cheap as the church bazaar, but definitely higher quality stuff when it comes to the clothing. It's the usual thrift store trade-off ... if it's "curated", you're more likely to find something nice, but it's not going to be as cheap. The other thrift store I wanted to visit, on Gilford, appears to be closed for summer holidays until August 4. But it's another place I found a great $3 skirt. Perhaps tomorrow I'll check out the Salvation Army on Notre-Dame and see if I can find a smock. Or you know, maybe something else purple.

Flowers to beckon Spring

office flowers
Originally uploaded by allisongryski

Spring doesn't really show up properly in Montreal until mid-April. We get teased by March with a few nice days here and there, but there's always another snowstorm and chilly day up its sleeve. March is also usually filled with dirty humps of melting snow ... not at all reminiscent of the the velvety soft white it once was. To hold me over until Spring, I buy myself flowers from this little corner shop near the post office. It's not a fancy florist's, but their flowers are reasonably priced and they must be fresh as they always last well. Daisies are one of my most common choices as they're $6.99 for a huge bunch, and they'll last for 3 weeks. This week I splurged on 2 bouquets... a mixed bouquet of purply-pink daisies and a bouquet of some mystery spiky white flowers (I love the texture, no idea what they are).


march house flowers
Originally uploaded by allisongryski

So all this is from $15 worth of flowers ... 2 large vases (one in living room, one in kitchen), 3 small vases on the coffee table, 1 small vase in the office/guest room, and 1 small vase on my sewing desk. If you're feeling impatient for spring, treat yourself to some flowers... even the cheap ones will cheer you up!


studio flowers
Originally uploaded by allisongryski

Buttons Galore

buttons
Originally uploaded by allisongryski
There is this wonderful button shop on St-Denis. It's on the West side of the street if you go North from Mont Royal until you get there. That's how my friend Taylor and I found it when we went on Thursday. I've no idea what it's actually called but signs in the window say "boutons" and "ruban" which is precisely what they carry. Best of all, there's a big trunk FILLED with loose buttons. And you can dig through it to fill little bags. If you just scoop out a lucky-dip bag, then it's half the price (or rather, if you select buttons individually it's double the price). I got a medium bag of pick-and-choose for $4 and selected these lovelies:




You can see more pictures of my new button stash in my newly created Crafty Materials set. A rough count is about 250 buttons ... no wonder we spent more than an hour in the shop and I barely looked at anything else they had. Scooping through that trunk of buttons was as satisfying to the senses as sifting through a treasure chest of coins and jewels.

Fabric folly

reprodepot fabrics
Originally uploaded by allisongryski
I'm not sure when this blog turned into fabric porn, but I just can't resist taking pictures of stacks of pretty fabric. I also can't seem to resist buying it, more's the pity. (The full extent of said lack of will power will become clear when I receive and photograph a certain package that's in the post). I got the 4 remnants above from the Reprodepot table at the Pomme-Pomme craft/zine fair this past Saturday. My favourite is the top one with snails and pea pods.

The space for the fair at La Sala Rossa was unfortunately muggy and crowded. After a quick once-around and a good rummage through the fabrics, my friend Taylor and I left in search of ice cream. We found ourselves some AC and inspiration at the nearby Au Papier Japonais first, then stopped by Local23, an excellent consignment/vintage clothing shop that was new to me. Then we wended our way back towards Le Patio (where I had a refreshing Guava-Grapefruit sorbet) and met up with my sweetie. The three of us finished off the lovely afternoon by having a picnic in Parc Lafontaine. There were further picnic and park lounging plans for Sunday, but the weather gods weren't having it and it poured rain all day.

In other fabric-stacking news, here's a picture of my quilt-squares-so-far. It actually looks less impressive in the picture than the square of paper on top with 410 written on it suggests it should.


That means the stack on the right has 410 squares. The stack on the left is the 16.5" squares for the back, of which I have 31/42. And if that wasn't enough fabric for one day, here's a picture of one of my favourite thrift-store sheet finds. This is actually the first one that I bought for the quilt.

Botanical gardens and being a tourist at home

Iris, up close
Originally uploaded by allisongryski
I've been a bit on hiatus from even thinking about my blog as I had a friend visiting. It's always fun to play tourist in your own city since in our day-to-day lives we often miss the things that visitors go home to rave about.

The Archaeology museum, the château Ramezay museum, the Biodome, and Olive + Gourmando were some new things. Picnics, artisinal ice cream, the Jean-Talon market, and the botanical gardens were some old favourites.

This pretty iris with the pink of some other flowers in the background might make its way onto a card. (See more of my photos from this and other visits in my botanical gardens set.) If you are in Montreal, now is the time to see the alpine garden.

What? Huh? Spring?

Strawberries
Originally uploaded by allisongryski

In typical Montreal style, we've skipped spring in favour of glorious summer. The trees, still lacking any foliage, would disagree with me. They are just decorated with little bobbles at the moment. But I went on my first picnic of the year, yesterday afternoon. The first of many I hope.

We prepped some strawberries and lemon drizzled apple slices at home. Then, lugging a picnic blanket, books, frisbee, and juice, we walked over to Le Fromentier, a delicious boulangerie/fromagerie where we bought some ficelle au fromage, baguette, and for cheese, some morbier and a local ooey-gooey chèvre (for which I foolishly did not get the name). We then headed to the park and set up a spot. The books and frisbee remained untouched in favour of basking in the sun and munching on yummy things (yeah, I know, not a beautifully styled photo that last one, but I was too busy enjoying the picnic to bother). We spent two hours snacking, and chatting, and basking, and people-watching. Oh how I love Montreal.