A Red Linen Bag

This red bag was a request from my sister-in-law, who wanted/needed it as a prop for her Fringe Show.

Although it never actually made it onto the stage (she said that she liked it way too much and was worried that it would get wrecked during a scene in which she gets a pie in the face), it did make the rounds of the Fringe Tent almost every night.

Similar in design to (but larger than) my GO Train Bag, it features a long shoulder strap instead of handles.

The outer shell is a luxurious linen-blend in a fabulous tomato-red.

The lining was screen-printed (by hand and by yours truly) and features my original fruit-sticker design.

Stumpits

When my parents sold their house this year (in an effort to downsize), I inherited a box of beautiful, 100%-wool blankets. They were perfectly felted (I assume from years of washing) and ready for a unique sewing project.

It wasn't until this week, however, that an idea about what to do with them came to me.

Meet the Stumpits! Clever little creatures that live in the cracks between the sofa cushions and take secret baths in your kitchen sink while you're away on vacation.

They have hand embroidered faces and safety eyes...

... and fanciful embroidered appliques...

They were stitched together on my trusty Singer, stuffed with polyester fiber-fill and lovingly finished by hand.

Ta-da!

Little Yarn People, Man...

People kept asking me when I was going to make more Little Yarn People, so I spent two whole days watching "Glee" re-runs while stitching up another one...

Again, this doll was crocheted free-form (without a pattern) and based upon

Fisher Price's Little People (circa 1980)...

Made from a combination of wool and acrylic yarns and stuffed with polyester fiber-fill.

(his features are a combination of felt and embroidery floss)...

Pictured below with the original doll on which I based my design.

"Stuff" in stores...

You can now buy selected "Stuff" by Heather merchandise exclusively at:

Ransack the Universe

1207 Bloor Street West, Toronto

(in the basement of 69 Vintage Collective/Buy the Pound)

It's an amazing store featuring the work of many talented local artists and I encourage everyone to check it out.

"Blue Jay"

This is Blue. The final project for my "Explorations in Fibre" class.

He’s a streetwise jay who makes his home in an elm tree at the corner of Broadview and Danforth Avenues in Toronto. Originally from the valley, Blue moved here over a year ago to get away from the noise of the parkway and the rumble of the TTC.

Blue was a fairly involved project. He was created using a combination of wet felting, needle felting and machine embroidery.

Guess who finally finished second-year?

...and after a month of sitting around the house watching re-runs of Glee I think I'm now fully recovered from the experience!!!

It was an intense eight months filled with laughter, tears and thirteen-hour studio days but it all paid off in the end. I just found out yesterday that I won the 2010 George A. Reid Scholarship for second-year Material Art and Design students.

I want to sincerely thank the estate of George A. Reid for this incredible honour and express my profound appreciation for the financial support and opportunity your scholarship has afforded me.

Apparently good grades do matter after all!