fall browns

just a quick post tonight as i sneek away from the machine for a few minutes.

here's my favourite of the newest batch of bags i've been working on since returning from vacation. see the shop listing here.

i love these spindly, bare brached trees. i love drawing them, but especially sewing them... the fabric and thread really making them pop. i'm sure they'll be a recurring image for cipolla this fall.

back to work!
♥ m.

aqua love

i was up sewing until early morning hours again.
which means that when i logged into etsy for a quick peek,
there was space for new treasuries...
i threw together a collection of yummy blues,
including this awesome yarn by haptotrope.

view the entire treasury here.

these bright blue colours make me nostalgic for summer already -
but at the same time look forward to winter.
they're so crisp against the white backgrounds and accents.

love it.

♥ m.

garden goods

i am buried so far deep under one of my infamous to-do lists that i'm sure i won't be playing around with the pics from algonquin for many... many days...

so here's a quick garden pic instead - a lovely little pile of grape tomatoes that were ready for picking when we got back yesterday evening.


i'm in love.
♥ m.

i've got new glasses! oh, and a bunch of clutches too...

the first batch of the new cipolla everything clutch is finished.

these were first inspired by back-to-school time. and originally, i wanted to make something a bit thinner, strictly thinking about pencil cases.

but then i thought about all the things i used to cram into my cases... scissors, tape, glue... kool-aid packets and sour balls...
a pack of cards for a game of asshole...
-- and then suddenly i had decided to make a clutch type case instead. a simple, sturdy design that could work for myriad uses.

looking at them is making me happy. they look so cute!
it was exciting to finally play with all the fun cotton prints that i picked up at the creativ festival this spring.

plus, the prospect of such organization... well if you know me, then you know i'm grinning like an idiot thinking of all the things you could sort and separate and delegate to each pouch... (i'll stop before i give away too much crazy).


i went downtown today and picked up my new glasses!
i love them so much i even used them in the pics i took for the new clutch listing! they go well with the baby bananas i think ;)



now i have a shitload of work to do before vacation, so ciao!
♥ m.

Dust and Shadow

I've finally created an etsy treasury!
Including this lovely print from phantomwise.

View the entire treasury here.

♥ m.

Cipolla Summer Sale

i'm not usually a fan of sales, I like to set prices fairly and stand behind them...
but a little sale once in a while can't be a bad thing!

i have been working hard these past weeks to create some new items with the back to school season in mind... messenger bags, pencil cases, lunch bags, and such. so in order to clear the etsy shop out a little, we're having a sale on some of this summer's items... pouches, tank-tops, and a few bags... for $1-7 less then their regular prices.

Come by the shop to check-out the "Summer Sale" section.

now, for me, back to work!
♥ m.

pistachio tree

yay!

two of my new messenger bags are featured in an etsy treasury.

view it here.

♥ m.

100 pencil cases...

behold a scary stack of fabric.

oh yeah, i keep forgetting that it's only scary to me.

ok, so i hurt my thumb when i cut out 200 suede patches for my promos on monday night. don't know how i hurt it exactly. though it might have been from holding onto my tiny pair of applique scissors for so long...

woke up tuesday morning and the top of my thumb felt numb - you know, all pins and needle-ish. funny thing is, it didn't look hurt - not red, not swollen, not bruised.
and the funnier thing is that it's still numb now...
think i'm going to have to call the clinic tomorrow.

happy to report though - no injuries today while i cut what can best be described as a shitload of rectangles. 100 to be exact. they'll sit waiting on the shelf as i try to make my way through them over the coming weeks.

this is for a batch of my new pouch design in various prints, inspired by the back to school crowd (pencil cases) and the fact that the pre-xmas craft show season is looming ahead.

now to cut the 100 pieces of interfacing,
and 100 matching pieces of lining ;)

but they will be oh so cute!

♥ m.

it's that time again...

i think it's time for another shot of the garden.
i was out there this morning watering,pruning, and of course drinking coffee. i couldn't resist taking yet another batch of pics.


news in the garden...
• the cucumbers are huge, there's at least a half dozen that will soon be ready to pick.
• i've got so much basil i'm going to have to start hanging it up on the clothesline to dry.
• the onions are being dug up by squirrels or raccoons or some other annoyingly cute creatures almost every night - but almost every morning i snuggle them back into the soil and re-cover the bulbs. the crappy part is that they don't even eat them, just dig them up to get to bugs or something else delicious (at least i hope there's a reason to it, other than tormenting me).
• the grape tomato plant is growing like some sort of virus... the branches reach way taller then me, or at least they would if they weren't too heavy to support themselves. i've had to rope them up with twine attached to the top of the porch... it looks like some sort of jungle plant puppet, hilarious and effective.
• oh... and craziest of all, the rosemary is actually growing, a lot!
perhaps the curse has been lifted (as long as i didn't just jinx myself).

for those of you in ontario... enjoy your holiday monday.
i'm off to make messenger bags for the back to school crowd.

♥ m.

sewn fresh daily on it's way to your door.

my eyes are fried, my fingers will never fold again, and i should really be getting a discount from canada post...

yup, the newsletter is done and on it's way tomorrow morning!


i know, you can't wait, right?

a little peek...

... when i first started cipolla, i immediately new that i had hit the mark. i instantly felt at home. like i had made it to that place i had daydreamed about while sitting bored at office jobs, or cursing snobs with their little dogs in the service industry...

if you'd like to join the mailing list, look on the right →
just drop me an email ;)

now to finally get some time on the sewing machine. aaaah...

♥ m.