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It's all about the pillows...


I love pillows…

I love their coziness, their luxurious voluptuousness and the possibilities of beauty and comfort they provide. It may have to do with the word “pillow” itself…what do you think of when you hear it? Big, soft, fluffy pillows piled on top of your bed; piles of gorgeous pillows in fabulous colours and textures on a deep-seated sofa…perfect for reading or napping on a cold, rainy day. Or perhaps it is the pillowy hug from the woman you love or the mother who held you when you were tired or sad.

Wherever you find the word “pillow” it is usually associated with comfort. I have always carried my pillow (or “pullump”, as the five-year-old Aussie kid in me says) on any trip, be it a short road trip or a fifteen hour flight across the Pacific Ocean.

As a little girl, when my dad would come home from work he would call out “get your pullump Christine, we’re going to Queensland!” Oh the heaven of it! A huge pile of pillows and blankets in the back of the van and a thousand mile drive ahead of us. Too bad I had to share it with my two little brothers - but that’s another story.

Then there was the bliss of being wrapped in the loving, pillowy bosom of my nanna when we finally arrived in Queensland and climbing into a bed that was encircled by a "romantic” mosquito net and made up in clean, white, cotton sheets and pillows. One of my daughter’s few memories of my dad includes bringing her pullump into bed with him and nanna for a morning snuggle.

I have this huge collection of of gorgeous fabric and vintage blankets that just keeps expanding; spilling off the shelves, into drawers, out of drawers; piling up in corners…

So when I asked myself the question “what do I want to do?” I thought…”I want to make pillows.” I will make beautiful pillows to make people happy.

Wednesday, 17 October 2012

Encore Une Fois


" (French for once again / one more time)"


About two and half years ago my good friend Barb Rutherford and I were sitting around in my back yard wishing and dreaming about having our own "shop" and how wonderful it would be.  We envisioned a place to display and sell all the the stuff were accumulating in our houses and storage spaces: old wicker furniture, pictures, buckets, lovely old worn china and most of all textiles.  If only it were possible but with her living in Victoria and still working part time and me living on a gulf island. a ferry and 2 hour drive away it just was not going to be.
So we started to figure out how we could do it in a "pop up style". Maybe we could have a sale once or twice a year, bring everything together at her beautiful Arts and Crafts house in Oak Bay, Victoria and invite people to come and shop.  It seemed like that would be doable, so we decided to just do it.

Well Barb went home to Victoria and chatted about this idea to her friends Fran Fettig-Winn and Patti Wells, two very stylish and talented ladies in the world of vintage and upcycled design who thought that this was a great idea and loved the idea of being a part of it.  Encore Une Fois was born.  Barb came up with this wonderful French interpretation of "once again / one more time" and we jumped right into our first sale for that Christmas.  Between the 3 Victorian friends they had a pretty substantial friends/family email list, and our house show was  a huge success. Patti has been a vintage and all things beautiful collector for many years and had a garage full of containers filled to the brim with glass ware, silver, paintings and china, small pieces of furniture, jewellery and textiles which she had sold in her beautiful shop in Oak Bay - Manilla Tag in another life.

Fran is a craftswoman and needleworker of great skill and style who makes tea cosies which are works or art as we well as pillows, aprons and childrens dolls.  She is also a collector of vintage ephemeria and had an overflowing crafts/sewing room which was crying out for a bigger outlet.

So between the four of us and a few wonderful friends we did Barb's house up as a boutique with each room displaying our home made and found wares, it was beautiful...... and a huge success.  We have gone on to do another Christmas sale last year, and a spring/summer outdoor sale this past June, each of which has been a great success.  We are in the throes of getting our next sale ready for early November and looks to be better than ever with people looking forward to bringing their friends and family to early shop for Christmas or just for themselves.  Here are a few pictures to tell the story so far

Our first sale advertisement



Aprons and tote bags lining the stairs

One of Fran's beautiful tea cosies







Encore Une Fois's first spring/summer sale in Oak Bay Victoria








So if you would like to join us on November 6th  in Oak Bay, Victoria Encore will be presenting it's Winter Sale.  If you would like more information you can go to Encore Une Fois Community on Facebook or drop me an email at christine@modernbohemian.ca.

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1 comment:

  1. christy29 October 2012 at 19:38

    are you doing a sale this Nov 6th? I notice that is a Tuesday so wonder if this is from a previous year? oh I would love to come but midweek will not work.

    have FUN!!!

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