Thank you for being a friend

And if you threw a party, and invited everyone you knew, you would see the homemade gift would be from me and the card attached would be appropriate to the occasion, but not homemade as I have too many interests already.

For better or for worse, I have been trying to make most of my gifts over the last year.  It certainly was a crafty Christmas.  If you nail the homemade gift, there is nothing more personal or treasured.  Of course, if you goof, there is nothing more awkward (and nonreturnable).  So, you've been warned.  One day, you may be gifted with an awkward and nonreturnable craft project that I slaved over and thought you would love.  And my earnest little face will shine as you stare at it in horror wondering what in God's name I was thinking.  And you will feel obliged to dig it out of the deep recesses of your closet to display it when you know I'm coming over, to avoid crushing my delicate soul.  But, hopefully, I'll knock it out of the park.

Christmas, birthdays, babies, weddings, housewarming are all fair game to my crafty gifts.  I've had a number of projects on the go, including:

My favourite recipes on cards and hand embellished tea towels for weddings;
Homemade preserves, teacup candles and aprons for housewarming/hostess gifts;
Quilts, sweaters and hats for babies:

Rainbow Quilt and log cabin pillow

And a little girl being carried away to dreamland

For birthdays, it really depends on the person.  For instance, I made my niece a little frock and crochet collar that looks equally adorable on the hanger, hung as it is meant to be worn, and on her with the collar worn as a crown, because, well, because.

 

My favourite of late has been an attempt at cross-stitch.  This is my first real foray into the thready arts since a mother's day project at Girl Guides.  I don't even remember if that was particularly successful, as I hated stitching (and given the number of badges I had, you would have thought I had gotten somewhat used to it - not so humble brag).  I preferred my crafts executable with a hot glue gun.

 

Picture it, Ucluelet, 1992.  We didn't have a lot in the way of TV signals making it to us.  One of the only consistent TV stations that we had was the CBC.  And, for whatever bizarre reason, despite being below the 49th, we only had access to CBC North.  This meant that we had nightly news that was based in Yellowknife and was often in one of the Aboriginal languages of the North.  However, everyday after school, my girlfriends and I would rush home for one particular program - The Golden Girls.  It was awesome, and it was in English.  Long before there was Carrie, Charlotte, Miranda and Samantha, there was Dorothy, Rose, Sophia and Blanche.  Oh, we loved them so.  In particular, my friend Z was taken with them. 



Inspire your prayers

One day, I was on the twitter and someone posted a set of prayer candles emblazoned with these remarkable women.  I immediately started an Etsy search, but alas, they had sold out.  I was now convinced, like a sign from St Estelle Getty herself, that I needed to make a gift by hand.

 

I've been thinking of starting to explore embroidery for some time.  I love the look of a little bit of embellishment on the corners of napkins, little flowers on pretty dresses, and the woolly tattoos that Dottie Angel has been busily adding to her thrifted finds.  However, as I have explored elsewhere, I don't really have a ton of patience and my hand stitching always starts off ragged, becomes great and ends rushed.  But whilst searching out gifts for Z, I came across a cross-stitch pattern for the Florida quartet, and I knew I had to give it a whirl.  It took time, and I got annoyed (and stabbed) but in the end, I think it turned out magnificently.  And while I'm in no rush to get there, I do look forward to being a subversive senior, running amok with my besties.

Christmas Countdown: Decorating

My day job has been creeping into my evenings and weekends as I traipse across our fair country and back (and forth and back) again.  This type of thing tends to limit the extra time I want to spend in front of a computer.  It also tends to put a bit of a damper on my energy levels...hence the somewhat spotty blog posting of late.  But, our household enthusiasm for Christmas is starting to give me a jolt, and between trips, I've been busily preparing for the jolliest of times.

Jeff and I are both pretty nuts for the holidays.  Jeff's holiday muse is Clark Griswold.  He's about half-way through putting them up.  The weather has been pretty wicked here, so lights are not as far along this year as usual.  And me, well, I take the indoors to a whole new level of granny chic-bohemian-crazy gypsy-kitschiness. 

The towels are exchanged for Christmas towels, the photos are exchanged for holiday themed 'art', garlands are hung in each doorway and decorations are stuffed in every nook and cranny.

I love my reindeer.  They're the first ones up and the last ones down every year.

This year I decorated our upstairs tree with the ornaments I've been creating for my Etsy shop.  It's a fun little tree.

Downstairs, our tree is stuffed with ornament that have taken many years to collect.  Like the rest of the decor in the house, the only 'theme' is, OH! PRETTY!.

Finnegan and Bastet tend to roll with these changes.  Bastet likes to curl up under the Christmas tree and pretend she's out doors.  Finnegan just tends to ignore it, unless he is being decorated as well.  Poor little wiener.   

Ummm, yeah, so could you just stick to the trees?  Thanks.

Fleet of Foxes - craft room update

It's been a busy couple of weeks, what with getting the Etsy shop up and running, travelling to Ottawa and now being sick (the last two often go hand in hand). I've been taking a bit of a mental break...a break from thinking. Thinking can be exhausting, and when I'm already exhausted, the thinking tends to be less productive. But this does not translate into idleness. My hands still go even when my brain doesn't.  So here are a couple of the projects I've been working on:

For my birthday this year, we went camping and driving around the Northumberland shore.

Umm, is that bacon?  I like bacon.  Give me the bacon.

We also popped into a couple of artisan businesses, such as the Seafoam Lavender Farm,

Smells like heaven.  Unfortunately, frolicking was frowned upon.  Sniffing was okay.

the Tatamagouche Brewery

Frolicking was looked upon favourably.

 



Cosy, soft beret, perfect for fall, and making you all green with envy.

and the Lismore Sheep Farm. The lavender oil I bought became this, the beer Jeff bought was declared delicious, and this week, the yummy yarn I purchased without any concrete plan became this:

I've also been making a small army of adorable woodland creatures. I think they will become Christmas ornaments and possibly a child's mobile. I'll keep you posted.

 

Finally, I've been hooking some new boot cuffs. I heard fairly resoundingly that folks were pretty keen on these, my first crochet project. As such, I thought I'd try some additional stitches to get something new and fun going.

Happy Friday!

Xo

S.

Just Bliss - Vintage Patterns 3

So far, Jeff has escaped the inevitable and unenviable position of guinea pig for my designs.  Many men are not so lucky, as evidenced by this wickedly awesome tumblr "dedicated to the wretched creatures abused for economic gains by their Etsy girlfriends"- Sad Etsy Boyfriends.  But that could all change if I were to start applying my skills to some of these true remarkable patterns.  We've already seen the suspected Pom-Pom Killer, but there are so many other stellar options.

Clark is both honoured and dismayed.
Honoured to be featured in the Guinness Book of Records,
dismayed to find it's for the world's ugliest tie.

 Let's begin with accessories.  Every man's wardrobe should include a solid black silk tie.  Other ties based on need and taste should also be included.  I can even get behind one or two novelty ties for the Christmas season, though I am likely in the minority.  Granted, I don't always have my finger on the pulse of men's fashion, but I don't think that one needs a 'crochet tie for the country look', nor do I believe that this tie is or was ever 'right in fashion' as claimed by the pattern.


Full frontal coverage also helps in those awkward
situations when your secretary wears that extra tight
angora sweater and mini skirt.  Good golly, what
women get away with these days.

Some days call for a button down shirt, but not a tie, and certainly not a jacket.  What do you do?  This guy was lucky enough to have a significant other not only to make him a dickey, but this exceptional sweater vest.  He was even luckier to have that significant other understand that it's not only important to keep the core of your body warm, but the boys warm too - a double dickey, if you will.



Hmm, tell me Charles, have you heard the crazy stories that the folks in the North are
telling us about Franklin?  Through my bathtub reenactments, I can tell you
they are completely divorced from reality.  Best ignore them until the 21st century.

Art hey, well isn't that the damnedest thing.

Sweaters are an important part of any Canadian wardrobe.  It's cold as heck in the winter here in Nova Scotia.  And, we're very environmental conscious in this house (also cheap), so we try very hard to layer rather than crank the furnace.  I actually have nothing in particular against these sweaters, except that they're knit in a very fine gauge and I have the attention span of a small child.  I'm more interested in the staging for the photo.  How do they come up with these things?  Does the yarn company still own these sculptures, because holy heck, they're gorgeous, and I can't even begin to think what they'd be worth these days.  Somehow though, I doubt very much the political correctness of the conversation.

Happy Friday everyone!

xo
s. 





Launched! Etsy is live.

Holy smokes guys.  After years of humming, hawing, rationalising, procrastinating, planning, abandoning plans and reinitialising plans, I can finally say, I have an Etsy shop!!

The shop is going to be focused on creations from vintage patterns, re-purposed fabrics and upcycled treasures.  From there, we will see...now that the genie is out of the bottle, who knows what will inspire me next.

Some tidbits from the shop:



I love the bee trim on the pocket

I've been busy making aprons using pillowcases and vintage napkins.  I think they've turned out pretty spiffy.  Viva l'apron revolution! (or however that might translate). 


Jeff was very accommodating in helping me with the photo shoot.  I noticed in going back over the shots, he was particularly thorough in capturing a lot of the back detail.  Such a sweet boy.

Hope you'll drop on by and have a look!

xo
s.

My butt is about to become an Etsy superstar.

I've also been working on:

Upcycled Sweater Beds

Saucy Pin-Up Girl Tree Ornaments

Fin & Batty Finnegan Pillows

And Granny Chic Vintage Teacup Candles