The Pink Olive Blog

So Long, Thanks for all the fish :)

2008-09-19T19:05:00.013-04:00

I'd like to thank everyone who supported Pink Olive over the past few years!

The Pink Olive website will no longer be updated.

But don't worry!

I've just launched my new website, Jordynn Mackenzie. I will continue to make wallets, pouches, pillows and other fun items for sale, just under this new name.

Last weekend I attended my first official show as Jordynn Mackenzie - The Queen West Art Crawl. Thanks to everyone who stopped by the table!

You can visit my new website here: www.jordynnmackenzie.com
And my new blog here: blog.jordynnmackenzie.com

Craft Show This Sunday

2008-06-26T09:14:00.004-04:00

Greetings!

So this summer has been a rainy one so far.. hopefully it will hold off on Sunday! PinkOlive will be attending the Kid Icarus One Year Anniversary Craft Show.

I've just put a few items in their shop and I'll be selling some new items as well, so if you're in Kensington Market this Sunday (It's also a pedestrian Sunday!) stop by and say hello!

Graduating Year

2008-02-26T20:49:00.003-05:00

Hello!

This is what I've been focusing my efforts on (among other things) this year:

That's my thesis project. You can find more information here if you'd like: www.softcorps.ca

----

I am hoping to be able to focus a LOT more of my time on Pink Olive starting at the end of April. I have a show lined up (TBA) at the beginning of May and I hope to do lots more... I have big dreams for Pink Olive.

thanks for coming to my website :)

Queen West Art Show + Sale

2007-09-09T18:37:00.001-04:00

Pink Olive is going to be at the 2007 Queen West Art Show + Sale this coming weekend September 15 + 16 in Trinity Bellwoods Park in Toronto.

From the Festival Website:
"The Outdoor Art Show + Sale in Trinity Bellwoods Park is a feature event of the Artscape's annual Queen West Art Crawl, a weekend-long festival celebrating Toronto's Queen Street West."

I've been getting ready for this event and starting year four of university these past couple of weeks. Look for owl pillows, totes with wave patterns, mushroom keychains, and wallets at the Pink Olive Booth in the Blue section 1, 145 (fibre art). You can download a pdf map here.

Hope to see you there!

Show This Weekend

2007-08-17T12:05:00.000-04:00

Hi everyone,

Sorry for the lack of entries (I'm still not even sure how many people read this blog!)

A couple of weekends have passed and I've been to our nation's capital (Ottawa) and back again keeping myself busy with work and sewing up new goodies for the show this weekend as well as a wholesale order and some custom orders (phew!)

I was in Ottawa for the Busker festival.. which was awesome! I got to catch some amazing shows and hang out with some amazing people that weekend. Aidan did a really good job too! It's hard work putting yourself out there and getting a crowd to get into your show.. although every time I come back from a festival like this with Aidan, I want to become a street performer (yeah right!)

So if you haven't already seen it on Toronto Craft Alert, The Good Catch General Store is having a First Birthday Craft Show (+ weenie roast!) I haven't done a Good Catch Craft show yet, but I've heard awesome things about them so I am looking forward to the weekend! (View the facebook event)

Hope to see you there!

New computer, happy Jordy

2007-07-30T11:37:00.000-04:00

Well it's been a while since I've posted anything to the blog! (tsk tsk!)

I've been spending time preparing an order for a Toronto brick-and-mortar store (to be named soon!) which I am very excited about. I am currently screenprinting some cute owls onto some snap wallets.

I've also been spending a lot of time with my new favourite toy:

So far it's gotten a lot of use in the sewing room playing degrassi TNG on broadband while I work. I'm almost through all of season 5 and moving on to season 6. But of course, this computer will be used for more than watching reruns of Canadian teen dramas.. it's just so pretty!

I'm visiting Ottawa this weekend with Aidan for the Ottawa Busker Festival. So he'll do his street show and I'll watch, hang out, drink some beers and relax. I went with him in 2004 and it was a blast! Anyone from Ottawa know anything good near Sparks Street that I could visit while he's working (I've seen his show a bajillion times)? I'll probably end up wandering around.. maybe I can convince Aidan to let me bring my bicycle.

Before I leave - Two upcoming shows, which I'll no doubt post about again later with more details:
Good Catch General Store First Birthday Show: August 18, 2007 - 12:00pm to 5:00pm
Queen West Art Crawl: September 14 & 15

2007-07-10T11:48:00.000-04:00

Well today is the beginning of a very very busy week!

Coming up on Saturday/Sunday (July 14 & 15) I'll be selling at the Parkdale Arts and Crafts Festival. Admission is free and hopefully the weather will be nice too!

In preparation for the event, I've been making a TONNE of new things. These things include: wallets, trees! clutches, coin pouches, and insect pillows. The insect pillows and wallets are exciting me the most.. I've never made such a large amount at the same time before (15 wallets!) and the moth and beetle pillows are a new project. I made a beetle pillow for an assignment in second year and they're so much fun to make!

This batch of wallets are the last to get these kinds of flaps... they're way to difficult to turn out.. but they make cute finger puppets!

Specktone iPod Dock

2007-07-03T18:52:00.000-04:00

We just won this on ebay:

I'm so excited for it to arrive!!

Happy Canada Day Weekend!

2007-07-02T12:37:00.000-04:00

Happy Canada Day! (yesterday)

So yesterday I went with Aidan to a gig he was doing in Georgina, ON. Some bands played, Aidan did his thing and then they had fireworks. We ended up skipping the fireworks, which turned out to be cool because as we were driving back to the city you could see fireworks going off in the distance all the way home.

..and then we got home.. to the gardiner...

There was such horrible traffic (that we were trying to avoid) and exits that were closed (but no signs before hand giving you a heads up)... and the worst part of all... people actually stopped in the right lane (not even on the shoulder, although they were there too) watching the fireworks that were going off at Ontario Place. I can't believe that people would be so stupid! What a total lack of respect for other people, not to mention your own safety! so we were all "grrrr" the entire way home.
People, if you're driving a car, you cant watch the fireworks too... and stopping in the middle of the highway is NOT an option!

Ok so this weekend I also made a new shirt! It's a reconstruction of a men's button up collared shirt (which i neglected to take a before photo of... just picture this pattern on a men's shirt.. way too big for me to wear)

So I removed the pocket, left the original hem and side seams intact, made a band and straps from the sleeves (it was long sleeved), and cut the top part off and attached it to the band backwards with a gather at the bust. (You can see a picture of the back on my flickr page.. I kept the original buttons/buttonholes) I used my new serger.. that thing is a dreamboat!! I think I made the entire thing in less than 2 hours with no pattern.. just guessing and I think it came out great! I wore it last night, but it was covered most of the night by a sleeping bag (it was so damn cold out!)
(the necklace in the picture is my new favourite piece from Zippan Designs, which you can find in Toronto at Red Pegasus)

So today I need to get my life/house/schedule back in order.

Yummy Indian Food Post.. GO

2007-06-26T16:10:00.000-04:00

The other day Aidan and I finally got around to making some Indian food from the cookbook we got at the One-of-a-Kind Show last time around. It's called Daksha's Gourmet Spices - cookbook three.

We made Cauliflower Potato Curry and Veggie Pakoras... SO GOOD. Had to modify the recipe a little bit... but everything turned out well. We made it two nights in a row. Both nights I tried to make the tamarind chutney.. both times came up crappy. Maybe next time? I don't know.... 1/4 cup of lemon juice + 1/4 cup of water made it SUPER runny and WAY too lemony. I want to try making the garlic naan bread next!

Tonight I'm going to make the boyfriend a pair of shorts so he can show off his skinny white legs (he hasn't worn shorts in years!), water the garden again, try to convince said boy to make a veggie pepperoni pizza and go for a jog.. think I can do all that? I'm going to try!

xo

PS: I love that Mozilla checks your spelling as you go!

PSS: Thanks to everyone who came to the show on Sunday!

New Sewing Room Pictures, Show Tomorrow!

2007-06-23T11:01:00.000-04:00

Show Tomorrow!
The Ladyfest Craft Show is happening tomorrow afternoon in Kensington Market (during a Pedestrian Sunday) at the Kapisanan Philippine Centre (right across from the Boat, at Dundas + Augusta). There will be music during the event and the entrance is pay-what-you-can. There's also going to be a raffle in which Pink Olive will have an item. So if you're in the neighbourhood, please come by.

I cleaned up my sewing room (again) last weekend.. it seems like it's always getting so damn messy! I'm blaming it on the size of the room :)

I made some additions as well. (Click the images to see larger sizes)

I love the Mac Plus parade in the hallway leading up to my sewing room (which is in the back of our house and was previously an underused office/room-that-leads-to-the-deck)

Here's the biggest wall and the door that leads to the deck. I love leaving that door open on nice days!

Here's a shot when the door is closed. I think I'm going to make some curtains for the little window on the door (off-white eyelet material?)

My main workspace. I just put up that little shelf for my ipod/speakers/pins/pens/etc and rearranged the entire thing so I could hang my lovely spool holder (which now, thanks to a trip to my mom's house is totally full of new spools of thread)

Here's another shot of the long wall - I've hung up my craft show sign that I made and added some hooks from Home Depot to the wall to display my things

Oh and the ultimate gift.. Here's the story:
Thursday night I came home from work and went out for a jog (yes, I've started jogging... mostly walking haha) and came back, had a shower/etc. I was watching a bit of tv and talking with Aidan for about, oh I don't know... forty-five minutes or so.. And Aidan says to me, "Oh I picked up your laundry from downstairs for you" (referring to some fabric I had washed). So i went to go take a peek and fold it up and what did I find?

The boy bought the girl a serger!!! (and kept it a secret ALL DAY from me!)
It's a Janome MyLock 204D and I think I'm in love. I've only had a chance to play with it a bit and I'm trying to figure out the tension/threading (4 threads.. ah!) and everything, but I LOVE it.

Now I'm going to go get some lunch and start/continue to work on some things for tomorrow's show.

PinkOlive.ca site Launch... Finally!

2007-06-12T14:52:00.000-04:00

+ items on Etsy
+ upcoming Sale/show in Toronto

Welcome to the launch of PinkOlive.ca! ((It's about time, wouldn't you say?))

For those of you that do not know me personally (and well, I guess for those who do as well).. What have I been up to? Well, I've just finished my third year of University at Ryerson University in Toronto, ON. (more about me here...) So that mean's I've been super busy this year.. But I'm trying to re-organize and bring my online presence back!

I'm hoping to blog at least once a week this summer (when I actually have time to make crafty things and sew) and hopefully I will have a bit of time next year too (although it will be thesis time, and let's just say that will suck up a lot of my energy.. although it will be crafty-sewing-design related, so I'll post the details as they come!)

In addition to launching the new website, I'd like to announce that Pink Olive will be at St. Stephen's in-the-fields Church this weekend. More about the event can be found out by clicking on the poster or checking out the event on Pink Olive's google calendar here

After this weekend I should be able to add more items to the shop (pinkolive.etsy.com), so sign up for the mailing list (at the bottom of the page) if you wanted to be notified when things are added.

Thanks for visiting the new website!