Yes, I'm back. Thought I'd be a-nattering a while ago but got those lazy bones, oh yes, busy days but those lazy blogging bones. Wore some of these the first week of January - there was all that snow and cold, and now it's green all over. Love that mix!
Well, here's the seven.
This is from the turn of the century, not 2000 but 1900 - actually around 1902. Isn't it lovely; it's become a favourite. I remember as a kid always looking for a four-leaf clover, for that little bit of extra luck and you would find them because as a kid you would be digging around the earth, looking at the goings-on in the grass and flowerbeds. I used to have one pressed in my wallet. Here's to the luck of the Irish.
Methinks this is a thrush of some sort - gray-cheeked, swainson's, hermit or wood - a robin is of the thrush family. My money's on the hermit. In "A Field Guide To The Birds" by Roger Tory Peterson he writes of the thrush family - "Often fine singers." - well, that's to the point.
"Walser House Pin" is what's on the card. A little tourist doo-dah. It's based on the windows in the Walser house that Wright designed in Chicago.
A friend found this in a secondhand shop; it's my first ark pin. And it's well suited. I love birds and the noble elephant is my fave animal. The Ark - well I get motion sick so I wouldn't have been one of the 2 redheads allowed on board.
Found this on a toot up North - well Renfrew County is north to me. I have a penchant for sprays of flowers brooches. I like muchly the etched metal and the pearly globes.
This is actually a tie pin but it sits prettily on a thick sweater - especially needed this winter. Can't you see the bird flying full tilt across the sky.
My friend Carol spent a few glorious weeks in Paris, in the Springtime - sigh! I gave her a request to find an Eiffel Tower pin of the ilk that I have dangling around my bedside lampshade. Alas, none to be found, but my intrepid friend found this one for me. Another interpretation of my favourite structure, and in shades of pink no less.
It's been toooooo cold and blustery to do snow angels. The snow is crispy, not ideal conditions. But inside, our home is Christmasy and bright. We leave up the tree and cedar and Christmas decorations til after our party which we always have close to Twelfth Night in January.
Hope your Christmas was Merry and Bright as Bing Crosby use to tootle. And may 2014 bring you much happiness.
Here's the last 3 brooches.
A new brooch addition from family up North. I'm routing for the mouse. He looks like he can get the better of the kitty. When our cats catch a mouse, it's a free for all, usually ending in us catching the mouse, and setting him free in the great outdoors - hopefully never to find his way back inside.
I wish more potters made brooches, I'd be buying them. Here is a fine example from Maine, from a dear friend who's Mom had a wonderful art and crafts store there. I love the soft colours and the crackle in the glaze. And the trees sit out from the background. Luv it.
I promised 365 brooches, and here is the last one - my favourite building, my favourite brooch. It's an old brooch. Bought it up North in Ontario decades ago; almost squealed with joy when I spied it. The cream isn't bone or ivory but a hard plastic of some sort, and it still has glimmers of blue in the background. It must have been a souvenir from Paris. I even like the pin style at the back of the brooch. It was difficult not wearing this brooch a few times through the year as I love it so. My Mom always said, "Heather, you don't love things, you love people," so my apologizes to my Mom.
This year has been quite a brooch journey for me. When it was looking like I was going to be a bit shy of the 365, friends made sure that I would make it.
So, thank you dear friends and family, for your generosity and your uniqueness in the gifting of brooches. Thanks to my husband for photographing and scanning them all so I could put them in this blog. He had particular favourites of my rug hooking wool to use as backgrounds. And to Carol, who usually wrote a comment, so I always knew someone was out there.
It's been great excavating my jewellery boxes and finding long forgotten gems. I have found brooches that I've forgotten about, and now that the jewellery boxes are empty, a little reorganization is in the works, so my faves will be all together. Don't worry, I won't forget the rest.
It's also been a challenge to blather about the brooches, about what's happening, about what I care about. Memories have resurfaced. I have to say I've had a blast!
And a BIG THANKS TO YOU! who have been with me; who supported me and continued to read this blog. I hope I've made some brooch fans out of some of you. Take that wee step and buy a brooch, or look in your jewellery box, there might be a few lurking there. I watched the Queen's Christmas message as we do every year. The Queen and I both wear brooches. Come and join the club.
I've been receiving and buying brooches for most of my 62 years. In fact, I received a new one last night from a trio of Bs. I will never stop prowling around second-hand stores, going to craft shows, enjoying the white elephant rooms at Church bazaars, lingering in antique stores, scanning through brooch pages on Etsy, looking for a brooch that catches my fancy.
This isn't the end of the blog, I will continue on when I get 7 more brooches and will post them on the 1st of a month. Come and take a boo on the first of each month, I might have 7 more. A friend wants me to send it to her email when I do the occasional posting. If you want me to send it to you, please email me.
I'll miss touching base with you through my brooches on a "weekly" basis. Thanks again for being on this journey with me.
Heather XO
I'm a sucker for Christmas carols, songs, movies, all that ho ho ho stuff - those cheery Christmas lights, tree festooned with ornaments galore, and turkey, shortbread cookies and fruitcake. And traditions, better late than never; today we made my Grandma Button's carrot pudding - it's steaming on the stove as I write. The pud was mixed, stirring clockwise and making a wish; a dime folded in for extra good luck in the new year for the person who finds it when eating their pud.
Here's seven more brooches; the end is in sight.
Thankfully, I don't think hunters have their sights marked on teddy bears, even when said bears are wearing antlers. This is a recent brooch from a work bud - the same one who added the extra appendage to my Christmas moose pin on last week's blog.
A talented friend creates beautiful beaded jewellery. Here's a lovely example.
I'm finishing my Christmas brooches with my two favourites. This is another old wreath pin. I like it when paint has rubbed off so some of the gold metal shows through. This brooch has a life and delicacy to it and I always wear it close to Christmas Day.
My favourite childhood brooch. Very worn, some sparklies have fallen out. Most of the paint except for the red has disappeared, but I have always loved this Santa. His arms joyfully flung to the sky, his merry face, and best of all his legs dangle so they swing back and forth. I treasure him.
I had the good fortune to work at the Banff Springs Hotel one summer in my early twenties. I had the best of times, not only got to roam around that lovely old building but I have some fine memories forever in my noggin too. A friend gave this to me thinking it was here I had worked, but no matter, isn't this a great hotel pin.
This brooch reminds me of that old chestnut camp song "Up in the air, the Junior Birdmen", a favourite with the CGITs at Ryde Lake Camp in the '60s.
Hope you all are singing it along with me (and with the hand and arm motions too).
At a party last night, this brooch was admired and touched - a lot. The dragonfly was easily recognized. Nothing better to watch on a lazy summer's day than to watch the dancing of the dragonflies. But it was what this brooch is made of that garnered the touching - can you guess? Might as well give up. It's made from a piece of dried gourd. And is as light as a feather (or a piece of dried gourd).
Surprise, surprise, a second blog on the same day, and it only took me one glass of wine to finish them both - I sipped slowly. Here's blog #2.
Finally, a snow storm. Lots of fluffy snow, perfect for snow angels. A friend and I are both snow angel fanatics. We have a friendly competition each year. Sigh - she won last year. Now I want you to try it - flop down on some pristine snow, the fluffier the better, so you go poof into the snow, make your angel, and then lie there quietly, feeling the coolness on your back. Look up into the sky, through the trees and just breathe - it's perfection.
It's a Monkey you cry, it's not a Christmas brooch, but it is to me. I think it's the scarf with the little stars. The head is stuffed, and yes, it came with a brooch back attached. I find it charming - friends tend to differ with me about the seasonal aspect and the brooch aspect and that I like it so. Variety is the spice of life.
I know I said this before, but I'm saying it again. I like Church Bazaars. I picked this one up years ago at The Candy Cane Bazaar. I don't know why but I love it!
Another one of those brooches that look like it came from a craft class. It makes me want to make some shell brooches, then Christmas finishes, the brooches are put away and I forget until I see it next year. This brooch creeps a friend out. She likes shells on a beach, individual ones are swell, but not when they're in a pattern. Can't imagine who terrified her with shells as a child. Where's Freud when you need him.
I haven't made a snowman since that son of mine was a kid. A few days ago I saw a "snowman" group down the street on a front lawn, Ma, Pa, kids, plus a cat and a dog. Take a boo at the snowmen or snowpeople Calvin (from the comics) makes - funny funny in a darkly funny way. Anyway, I enjoy wearing this brooch as I can move the arms and hairdo into many a-direction.
A leg fell off this moose and a work bud said she'll take it home and fix it for me so that it would be four-legged again. When I got it back, it was now the proud owner of a fifth appendage. Makes me laugh.
I like this dancing tree. Bought it at Christmas in Paris (Ontario that is) years ago and keep hoping that she'll make some again. Will have to beg.
A brooch from the 40s or 50s. Saw it in the window of a retro store in Toronto on Queen Street West a few decades back and it was retro then.
I'm tres late in posting. What excuse shall I use? .......shopping... baking.... partying...snow shovelling...watching Christmas movies...ahh, the excuse list goes on and on. But the brooches don't and it's getting close to the empty jewellery box.
Here's 7 more Christmas brooches.
If my egg-noggled brain rightly recalls, this was in a Christmas cracker methinks. It's a pressed metal brooch, weighing zippo.
A balsam at Christmas always graces a corner of our dining room. Violet, Moggy and Purdy (the cats) get very excited when we bring it in. The feline festive fun is zooming under and around the tree spraying presents in their wake.This tree brooch has a more refined look than ours - I like the crisscross pattern with the tiny pieces of coloured glass on this brooch, just like the tiny lights on a tree.
I think both this brooch and the one previous are Avon brooches. I've never bought anything from Avon but I'm glad friends do as I get some pretty tree brooches.
A funky poinsettia pin. Not a fan of these plants but I do like this pin.
This was a freebie from a favourite gift store downtown. And who doesn't like freebies, especially when they are a tree brooch.
I like wreaths, the cheerfulness of them. The red has disappeared from most of the berries on this holly wreath, but there is still a hint of it. Don't you love wandering around secondhand stores and finding a hidden treasure.
I like how this Santa is dressed in a onesie and that the bell still jingles. Not when I walk though, I would have to jump up and down along the street, and I'm tooooooooo dignified for that.
It always takes me by surprise when December rolls around. It's been a full year since last December, I think I have lots of time to do all that Christmasy stuff, like writing those Christmas cards so they arrive before Dec 25th, baking a Scottish Dundee cake (one of the best fruitcakes) in time to soak it in brandy......, but alas, behind as usual. But, no need to get my knickers in a knot - it's Christmas time, being with family and friends is what it's all about and I hear the bakery downtown makes a nummy fruitcake.
Nestled among my Christmas brooches was this little pin. It's from my high school days when we went to Expo '67 in Montreal on a school trip. J'aime la belle province et poutine.
At the One of a Kind show in Toronto this year I was on the prowl for a brooch. Necklaces, earrings, bracelets galore but just a smidgen of brooches did I find. And then I spied those nesting Russian wooden dolls, and joy of joy, this lovely troika brooch. Google troika. When I was "studying" photography at Ryerson in Toronto ( as an aside - One of my teachers there thought the school should attach a plaque with my name on it to the back of a chair in the student lounge where you could find me drinking copious amounts of bad coffee with my friends, as he found me there often), I frequented the Gerald Street Village off Yonge St. There was this Russian store called Troika where I would buy my cologne - unique fragrances in beautiful and fanciful glass bottles. My favourite cologne was "Wee Star" (that's the translation) - I still have the bottle, I've kept them all but I would love to have that scent again. It was perfect.
Do you know who this is? Back in the seventies, a travelling friend was in China, doing a photographic job. On the street, he traded some Canadian pins for a couple of Mao Tse-tung pins. It's like wearing a little bit of history. Cool!
This brooch graces my fall jacket. I bought it at the same time as the big brooch that I wear on my blue jean jacket, and one on a spring coat. Every week I would get off the street car at King and Yonge in Toronto, walk up to Simpsons and stare at these brooches. Finally, finally, finally they went on sale - happy days.
Immediately fell in love with this brooch at the funky Renaissance antique store (long gone) in Toronto. I gave none-too-subtle hints to my then boyfriend (now husband). Described it at great length to him, looked forlorn, and he kindly bought it for me. I can be persuasive when need be. This is one of my favourites. I like every bit of it.
Here is the beginning of the Christmas brooch parade. A lovely little wooden angel that my young'un bought for me from Ten Thousand Villages. It says quietly Christmas. Don't worry, the next brooch ain't so quiet.
Ho Ho Ho Holy Moly. I like that Christmas brooches can be fun and silly. I have a friend who likes to give me festive brooches. Four of them are from her. And fun and silly are just a few of her many attributes.
This year, November was a month of celebration, and of sadness.
I have always found November a mercurial month; a poignant month - with balmy days, frosty morns, blustery winds, driving snow. Barbara Frum wrote about her garden in "In a Canadian Garden", published way back in 1989. There is something special about November light and she stirred me with this..."My main goal is a landscape that's beautiful in all seasons, in the rain, under snow, in the sodden mists of March and in the sweet, sad, lavender light of late November.
Here's another week's full.
This is Anne Boleyn of the 6 fingers. In some portraits they show 6 fingers on one hand and in others it's the normal 5. I think her hat would be perfect for those bad hair days. Not that I have any of those of course.
The brooch back broke so I covered cardboard with wool, glued it in place and now the brooch is useable once again. Next year it will join my Valentine brooches.
Quite a while back, at the One of a Kind Show in Toronto, I was deciding what colour of cat I wanted on the brooch; I turned around to pay and there was Sue, an old high school friend. She had made it, and it is such a Sue thing to make. Don't you like chance encounters - serendipity. And I oh so like this cat pin.
A present from my siblings and siblings-in-law for a special birthday - a lovely Limonges china brooch from France. Ah, young love.
Scottish people seem to be generous people. This brooch had come over with one of my Docs from Scotland, and since it's a spray of Heather with thistles she gave it to me. Isn't it a beautiful brooch. Once (30 years ago), I snuck some Heather from the Scottish moors pressed into a book into Canada. It passed through security in secrecy, but my agile kitty Pirbright was able to do a vertical jump of Olympian heights to get it from a wee ledge. After a good mauling I was able to retrieve a spray and still have it to this day.
I saved a few of my very favourite brooches for the end of this blog. This one ranks in the top ten. Bought it in London England at the fab Horses Hospital "antique" building where each booth was actually the original horse's stall. Don't know who the artist is who created this brooch. I paid a measly 2 pound 50. A steal.
This brooch resides always on a blue jean jacket. You can't miss this one, and many people have commented on it. It elicits ohhh, nice, I like your brooch. And so do I. It's tres fab.
