Hogtown Tour

This weekend Mike and I had a friend's party to attend in Toronto on Saturday night, and on Sunday we had been planning on visiting City of Craft. Instead of making the trip into the city twice, we decided to get all fancy like and book ourselves a room at The Drake Hotel. And just wow. I didn't really take many photos, except for this David Lynch hotel hallway of my dreams. I've never stayed in a boutique hotel before, and I fear I may be spoiled for life.

Saturday night we had good tidings and cheer with good friends where I laughed so much and so hard all night that I ended up bursting a seam on my 1940's dress. So worth it.

After a delicious breakfast at The County General Sunday morning, we headed over to City of Craft. What an inspiring event. From the vendors, to the event space, to the decorations, to the positive vibe, it was the craft fair that I've always wanted to attend. Everyone had high energy, even considering it was the second day of the event. I chatted with so many makers that I am lucky enough to call my friends (Roisin! Bianca! Hazel! Tara-Lynn! Alexx and Ian!) and ran into so many more friends from the crafting community just out to support an awesome thing.

One thing you couldn't help but notice as soon as you walked in was Grant Heaps floral textile installation. It was a total showstopper. Made with pieces of found material, some of the textiles were collected during the time that he worked at the National Ballet of Canada. Thinking about the fact that it incorporates pieces of ballerina's extravagant costumes makes my heart all aflutter. Photos don't do it justice. I'm so happy that I saw this in person and that it will exist in my mind's eye forever.

After finishing up at City of Craft we headed out on our independant shop adventure. Down the street a little ways at The Workroom we were met by Rosalyn's smiling face. It's beautiful here. A happy place for people to learn and create together. It's made me really excited for Needlework to open up on our own street.

Next we stopped in and said hi to Liz from The Arthur. Her current space reminded me of White Elephant's first space. Cozy and homey and beautifully curated. Jane, I may have found something awesome for you here.

Finally, we headed to The Junction to check out Russet and Empire. Micah had just stopped by our shop about two weeks ago, so it was a joy to see her lovely smiling face twice this month. The Junction reminded me a little bit of Hamilton, in that it's a little rougher around the edges than most of the neighbourhoods we hit up that day, and Micah has just done an incredible job brightening up the area.

We hit more along the way - Type, Preloved, Coriander Girl, The Drake General Store, Shop Girls, Robber - and there were so many more stops that we just didn't have time to fit into our whirlwind tour.  It was really inspiring to see so many independant retailers in Toronto. That's all Mike and I kept saying to each other as we walked around, "There's small shops! Everywhere! And they're all open!" Quite a change from Hamilton's retail landscape.

So, my love affair with Toronto has been reignited. It had been so long since I actually spent a significant amount of time in the city for pleasure (as opposed to business) and it was really nice to see all these hardworking folk work towards the same common goal of a more conscious and responsible type of consumerism. I'm happy to say that I got most of my Christmas shopping done, all locally, all from independant stores or designers, and for the third year now without stepping foot in a shopping mall. No matter what city you live in, you should try and do the same.