Flip Side

Right now, as I type, Chrissy Cheung and Natalie Reis and hanging the beautiful paintings they have made for their opening exhibition at HQ, this Saturday! How do I know they're beautiful, I'm not at HQ? Well, I just talked to Tyson, and he told me the show is totally kicking ass. Good enough for me.

Check out the column on the right side of the blog for more info about the show...

(Psst! It's also Tysons B-day on Saturday!)

Red Tights Make My Day!

I just got a pair of red tights, and it totally made my day, $4 well spent.

I've been seeing them here and there, and wondered why I didn't own a pair. Here are my various inspirations: (all from the Flickr group Wardrobe_Remix, with the exception of the first pic which is from Facehunter)

All's well that ends well....

I just got an e-mail from Angela, the wonderful girl who makes all natural bath and beauty products under the name "Honeyflower". Well, around Christmas she had been dropping both subtle and not-so-subtle hints to her BF James that she wanted, needed, was DYING for one of the little owl guys that I make. Tyson and I were made aware of this, so we were expecting James to pop in the store anytime. Christmas was fast approaching, but no sign of James...

Tyson and I began to get stressed about this as well. "What should we do? should we let him know somehow? what if someone else buys it? will Angela kill James and mash him into a delectable body scrub for all to enjoy? what to do? WHAT TO DO!!?!?!?!

Well, our stress was unfounded, and a few days later James popped in and picked up the exact golden paisley guy that Angela was hankering after. All's well that ends well....what a happy Christmas story!

Angela was also kind enough to send in this pic of the new family member hanging out with her dog Cheeba, so sweet!

If any of you have pics of yourself, family or friends enjoying something you got at HQ shoot it our way and we'll post it on the blog. It makes the designers totally happy, and we really like blogging about this sort of stuff. It makes us feel all warm and weekend-y.

Our Friend James Braithwaite is an Oscar Nominee

Usually my post titles are somewhat misleading, and at the very least, tongue in cheek. But this time, I'm dead serious.

Our friend who we refer to as James B. (we also have a friend named James K.) is now an Oscar nominee, due to the amazing work he did on the animated short "I Met The Walrus"!

Sweet jebus, way to go JAMES!!!! As one of his friends on Facebook put it "I think I like you a little more now"

Just kidding James, we liked you lots and lots before! Does this mean we can sell your sketches from drawing night for a million dollars?

Read more about the craziest thing to ever happen on a Tuesday here

Socks - We don't sell 'em, but I love 'em

Can I just say that I love how this girl is wearing these socks with these heels.... and a leopard print cardigan. This is a little reminder to myself that NOT matching is the cat's pyjamas, and that I should try getting dressed even FASTER in the morning (current time: 10min, if I cut it down to 5min. I get to sleep 5min. longer, perfect).

Pic is from www.facehunter.blogspot.com

I'm in Love with Etsy

I've known about Etsy for awhile now, in fact I found a few of our very first suppliers for HQ on Etsy. But now, I am a PART of Etsy. Oh boy, am I ever....

Just after Christmas I decided to really get back to my roots of making stuff myself. As many of you who read the blog have probably noticed, I have a full time job in addition to running the store with Tyson (although it's a lot more work for him, he has to be there every day!). I work in the fashion industry, which is fun a lot of the time, but sometimes it's a wee bit soul-crushing.

So I wanted to go back to the beginning, and devote more of my time to my own ideas and working with materials with my own two hands. Designing the line (Yarncraft) as my full time job is fun, but totally different than making something myself. I've always had a line of clothing on the side in one form or another, but I decided I needed a fresh start this new year so I started Norwegian Wood (as I mentioned in a previous post). Bye bye BLUEprint (my old line), hello Norwegian Wood. This new line allows me to do clothing, accessories and homewares (pillows, etc) with a name that is a little more all encompassing, and more friendly I think too!

Part of my newfound energy is pulled from my excitement at joining Etsy and selling my wares to a whole new market in a completely different way. For those of you who have never heard of it before, Etsy is an online marketplace of sorts, which sells handmade goods from crafters/designers from all over the world! I'm talking, like, hundreds of thousands of people here, it's amazing, and it's only been around since 2005!!!

Being a crafter/designer, I'm a pretty visual person so why don't you just watch this video about Etsy instead of making me type a huge description:



So Tyson and I both have shops on Etsy now, which you can conveniently access at the right hand side of this very blog! How nice and thoughtful! Or if you'd rather save our link as a bookmark which you will check every day, here are the addresses:

www.iheartnorwegianwood.etsy.com
www.tysonbodnarchuk.etsy.com

A lot of the other crafter/designers who sell in HQ have Etsy shops as well, here are the ones we know of, but if we haven't listed you we're sorry, we just haven't found you yet! Please post your shop address in the comments section, we love you!

www.parnell.etsy.com

www.supayana.etsy.com

www.roadkill.etsy.com

www.broundoor.etsy.com

www.neawear.etsy.com

www.orno.etsy.com

HQ hearts WR - Jan. 11/07

Friday, people, Friday.

Too bad the snow had to come back. Let's let these beautiful pics cheer us up! Remember, all the pics are from the Wardrob_Remix Flickr group, so if you wanna see more, go here.

thenewclotheshorse

allthishappiness

spaghetti-hoops

strawberrykitten

sjwhidden

Lady Smaggle

pyza*

etsy labs

bonboniaa

irene adler

Year of the Dance!

Well, shortly after New Years my friend Jill declared 2008 as the "Year of the Dance", which actually began this summer at Osheaga, but that's a whole 'nother story.

I can get down with that. What better way to start it off than with this video that the wonderful people at Apartment Therapy were so kind to share with us.

Happy Friday! ("HQ Hearts WR" to follow later this afternoon)

Marimekko on sale at Repro Depot!

One of my favorite online fabric stores is having a sale on all their Marimekko fabrics until January 15th!!! That's only 5 more days!!!

In case you haven't heard of this company before, they are a Finnish textile company that creates bold, beautiful high quality textiles, and fabric based products. Go to their site here for a full history of the company.

A beautiful Marimekko dress,
the company also produces clothing

I've seen these fabrics used for all sorts of things: pillows, bedspreads, lamps, clothing, even stretched over a canvas and hung as art. So if you're thinking of spring already (I am, it's just around the corner for all of us who are sewing and crafting) check out this sale, it is sooooooo worth it!!! Keep in mind that these are large scale prints, and are often sold by a section of "repeat" (that's one section of the pattern, before the image repeats itself). Keep in mind these are VERY large scale prints, meaning.... they are huge. So take a careful look at the measurements before buying, or do a quick search for "marimekko" on flickr.com and you'll find lots of great examples of the fabric in use.

In other exciting Marimekko news, they have joined forces with H&M (Scandinavian fashion giants unite!) and are producing a 50 piece womens and childrens collection which will be released this April!!! It's probably not a good idea for a shop owner to promote products not sold in his/her store, but I am hoping these will be fabulous. If not, I am sewing a bunch of fun summer dresses in vintage fabrics for HQ, so you can always pick up one of those ;)

Aarni black - Regular price: $63.50Sale price: $47.63


Kaiku summer - Regular price: $104.00Sale price: $78.00

Iso HarlekiiniRegular price: $38.00Sale price: $28.50

Unikko pink/white - Regular price: $38.00Sale price: $28.50

Vapaa Pudotus yellow/blue - Regular price: $104.00Sale price: $78.00

www.reprodepot.com
www.marimekko.com/eng

Outfits of the Week: Jan. 9/08

This weeks "Outfits of the Week" feature the amazing handpainted t-shirts of Catherine LeBrun, aka. Mauve Naif.

These shirts of course look great with basic jeans, but I wanted to show how great they could also look with a skirt or wide legged slouchy trousers. Check it out!

Flouro fringe bag by Samantha Stoncius, red vintage pumps

Red car tail-light necklace by Moineau, highwaisted skirt by Amika

Multi chain necklace, vintage. Gold quilted purse, vintage

Slouchy trouser pants by Amika (so Chloe-ish!)

Christopher Ross solo exhibition

"Hank Loves Diamond"

This past Saturday marked the opening night for Chris Ross' solo exhibit here at HQ. If you couldn't make it out the show will run until the 30th of January, so you still have time.

The man of your dreams, Christopher Ross.

"Open Sesame I Want to Get Out"

It was a puppy paradise.

"RIP 715"

Spencil & DJ Garry Vickers 2 fistin' er'!

Hot babes.

"Quetzal Triple Word Score, He's Only Lucid When He's Dreaming"

The show in "Shoplift-O-Vision"!

"Peanutbutter Fingers Sees A K9"

"Everyone Knows The Bacon's Burning"

"Drinkle Take II"

"Dirty I.B.A."

Thanks to all who came out and had a good time. It was a pretty fun party but shit, I had a hangover the next day..........

If you need any additional info, you can contact the gallery for prices and availability.