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.

Just Bliss

Value Village beckoned a couple of weeks back.  It had been a while since I'd been on a good bargain hunt, and I was craving the chase.  And so, it would seem, was half of the city on the day I finally made it.  There was, apparently, a 50% off sale, and the place was an absolute zoo.  It was also pretty picked over, but I did find the following treasures:

I have a bit of an owl thing, and I also have a bit of a kitschy Japanese figurine things, so, these amazing salt and pepper shakers have found an honoured place in the kitchen.

I have stacks of beautiful vintage teacups, but I do like having spares for projects.  This set of four are gorgeous and will make a very pretty something or other.

I also have piles of vintage linens, which I convert into various things.  I'm currently crocheting another rag rug, and I have plans on quilting some throw pillows using the granny-chic prints.  But I really had to pick these up for the nostalgia; we had sheets like these growing up, and I still love them.

My collection of vintage pattern books is getting out of hand, but I just can't resist!  And look at these beauties.  Inspiration abounds.

Happy Hunting!

xo

s.



Crochet beachwear is all the rage. 
These guys look hot.  Like sunstrokey.

Nothing chic here, just straight up granny. 
And I still kind of want to make them.

When quilting (and lady mullets) go too far.

The family that wears matching sweaters has no choice but to stick together.

February Bookshelf

Shack-Wacky Puppy.

It's kind of hard to believe that it's March already, though quite honestly, that goodness.  February was balls out awful.  So far, the year of the Goat has been fairly harrowing, so I'm hoping I got my bad luck out of the way early.

I am also over the snow.  Like, really over it.  I thought I was over it last year, but I have several feet of compacted snow and ice over my gorgeous garden, and a couple of shack-wacky wiener dogs that are pushing the limits of my sanity.  As a friend recently pointed out, with both dogs and children, 1+1=5.


I did get a bit of reading in this month though, so that's the up side of being a virtual shut-in.

The Circle, by Dave Eggers:
I wanted to like The Circle.  People have been talking about and talking up The Circle.  But I did not.  We've heard it all before: corporation starts out making life easier, has great intentions, then the wrong people get involved and bingbangboom, corporation has infiltrated our whole life and we're doomed, the end.  Great.  In this case, perhaps we're reading a satire (it is Dave Eggars after all) and not an actual warning or seeming prophecy (1984).  But the characters are wooden and derivative, the ideas less fresh, and the wilful naivety of the 'protagonist' disheartening. But the Luddite alternative was equally ridiculous.  And if that's the point, and you have a genius like Margaret Atwood adding to the genre with Oryx and Crake, and authors like Gary Shteyngart trying something new in Super Sad True Love Story, what's the end game?  We've been here, done that, and nothing has been added but a layer of money to Eggers's bank account.

Yes Please, by Amy Poehler:
Everyone loves Amy (yes you do).  And I like Tina too, don't get me wrong, but Amy and I, we'd be dangerous, slaying bottles of wine and the egos of over inflated suits at fancy restaurants.  This book wasn't laugh out loud funny.  Tina's was funnier, so, for that matter, was Mindy's.  It is a pretty solid self reflection, and a love letter to her craft and the many people that supported her along the way.  Though she is amazingly gifted, what I liked about this was the acknowledgement that yes, hard work and talent are important, but so is support and so is living a relatively charmed life.  We'd all like to think that hard work and talent will get you anywhere...and for some lucky people, it is enough.  But the acknowledgement that privilege has something to do with it, well, that it a level of self awareness and maturity that we don't often see in celebrity.  Now that Parks and Rec has ended, I'm excited to see what's next.

When the Saints, by Sarah Mian:
This was our bookclub selection for this month.  A true pleasure to read.  If you've lived in a small town, you are aware of this story and you've seen this family. The characters are vivid, the language is poetic and the writing is embedded with both levity and grace. Tabby is a beautifully executed character that I loved immediately. I can't recommend this one enough.

Mollie Makes, Volume 50
For such a milestone magazine (let's be honest, 50 is pretty impressive in this day and age), I was a little underwhelmed by this month's edition.  Perhaps I am in a crafting rut.  Perhaps they are.  Still, it was pretty to look at, and the articles we interesting (especially about creative couples!), but I closed the pages uninspired to create any of the offerings.  A first.

Simply Crochet, Volume 28
The March edition of this magazine also had less pop for me then usual.  Regardless, I have bookmarked a couple of patterns to try - one is a lovely daffodil, which would make a cheerful brooch in this transitory time, and the other is this month's granny square - Granny Phylis.  I do aim to finish my quilt by the end of April, so, I should probably get on it!

Happy almost, almost spring.

I found this ridiculous creature in Yellowknife last April. 
We could have one here too, but it would be an iceman.  Stupid winter.

xo
s.

My Bookshelf - January

The Pokey Little Puppy - A classic

 

I am a reader, not a writer. As you sit and read my writing, that sentence will either be utterly perplexing or undeniable fact. The truth is, I like to write, but I'm not all that good at it. But I know good writing (and good writers), and I emulate and mirror, but the threads I weave don't usually create a fabric that could keep you warm at night. I am, however, a magnificent reader. I devour words, my brain sponges ideas, my eyes search out the next literary meal. I flip thoughts and concepts, devices and language over and over, likely imbuing each with far more meaning than what was intended. But that doesn't matter. These are worlds, character, experiences to explore, try on, absorb. They become a part of you, a moment of time, a fixed point to return to. Books are our histories, our treasures, our weapons, our time-machines. They have always been my fortress.

For the next while, I thought I'd give you a sense of what sits on my bookshelf each month, what I thought of them and what they each inspired. I'll also point you to an all time favourite that you may want to explore your self.

January was a lighter than average month for reading. Between a new puppy and absolutely no time in an aeroplane (a place that the fortress is incredibly important to my sanity), I found many other things to occupy my time. But I did manage to read the following:

The Paying Guest, by Sarah Waters

Some of my Halifax ladies and I have a very informal book club. Our guys like to get together and drink beer...we decided to put a little structure around getting together and drinking wine. We all have weirdly divergent schedules, so we probably only manage 5 or so gatherings each year where we can all be there. We've recently decided that the host of the evening also picks the book. At our last meet-up (I want to say early November), I chose our next book based on a rather stellar review in the Globe and Mail. We finally had a chance to sit down and discuss at the end of January. Two of our five didn't finish it (it's a long book), and the other 3 of us each gave it a 3/5 on Goodreads. However, as we started to discuss what we liked and didn't, I realised how much more I liked the book than the initial knee-jerk star rating system indicated.

The book is a great character study of women in post-WW1 England. It explores class and privilege, grief, sexuality, and the Victorian generation trying to cope with a world with no men. It is written in the quietly stuffy way the mind of such a woman dealing with these conflicts would experience them. Stiff upper lip, chin up, keep calm and all that, but acknowledging that the status quo led to the war, and left something scratching at the back of skull, something unbalanced. I loved her voice, her doubts, her neurosis. There was probably at least one too many twists than necessary, leaving me feeling like the author was trying just a titch too hard, but if you have any interest in WW1 era England, women's suffrage etc, I would strongly recommend.

Serenity Vol 2, by Joss Whedon

I've never really been one for graphic novels. I didn't read comics as a kid (full disclosure, I hated Archie and his gang. Why two women were fawning over that jackass didn't make any sense to me. I've always had a bit of an attitude about these things). I do love the Marvel universe on film. I am also a huge fan of sci-fi - Star Trek, Doctor Who, Firefly, Buffy, Supernatural, yes, even Star Gate. Last Christmas, one of my BFs got me the most perfect thing I had ever seen - a graphic novel mash-up of the 11th Doctor fighting Cybermen-Borg hybrids with Captain Picard. Come on! It was amazing.

Every Christmas, Jeff and I binge watch a TV show or two on Netflix. This year, Jeff suggested we re-watch Firefly/Serenity on Netflix. I fell back in love with Malcolm Reynolds. I couldn't just leave Wash and the Shepherd dead. I required more of that universe. Happily, the story has been expanded. I'm looking forward to re-entering that world at carefully rationed times in the future.

Chatelaine Magazine, February 2015 

I've been a subscriber to this magazine for the last 6 years or so. Sadly, since Jane Francisco left as editor-in-chief, the magazine just hasn't been the same for me. However, because of Chatelaine, I have cue cards full of recipes. I was inspired by a couple of recipes this month 1) Turkey Chili with Chedder Cornbread and 2) Coq au vin blanc. I can report that with a few substitutions, both turned out well. The Coq au vin blac was maybe only okay, but the one pot comfort of the Chili was very welcome during the blast of winter the Maritimes has been having of late.  I substituted chickpeas for the bean medley, and made cheaters gluten-free cornbread (Bob's premix gluten-free) in order to really simplify the whole meal.   

Mollie Makes, Issue 49

I have an e-subscription to this magazine full of craftiness. There are interviews with crafty people, links to crafty sites, crafty tends and crafty projects to inspire your crafty juices. Beautiful photos and easy to follow instructions sit well on the pastel hued pages. I love it. A couple of crafty projects that I could see myself trying 1) the Jackalope Tote - I keep meaning to try my hand at embroidery, and 2) the Patchwork Needlecase - for Christmas, Jeff signed me up for a quilting class at Patch Halifax.  I now have the itch to quilt everything.

Simply Crochet, Issue 27

I also have an e-subscription to this one. Since learning to crochet, it has been my go to for fun projects and a supportive online community. Sister publication to Mollie Makes, magazine follows a similar format, except it is all crochet all the time. I was inspired to try 1) the Chunky Cowl - I knocked-off in a couple of hours, and is very cosy indeed, and 2) the Winging It blue cardigan - I love the retro vibe and the sparrow detail, though I am slightly intimidated by the commitment!
 

2015 is here

I'm amazed at how fast 2014 passed. It was a year of ups and downs but it was, on balance, generally a pretty okay kind of year. As part of our rambunctious New Year's Eve of eating take out Thai food and watching season 9 of Supernatural on blu ray, Jeff and I started a new tradition. We've decided from here on, we're going to do a yearly journal entry for our year in review, focusing on the highlights of the year past, and jotting down some aspirations (not resolutions) for the year to come. We are then going to write down 5 positive things that happen to us everyday.

I think it will be a fun thing to look back on, even if we become a bit spotty in the reporting. I can be a dweller, the anxiety and OCD makes me mull and dissect negative happenings until I fall into a pit of despair. If I'm going to dwell, it may as well be on the positive things in our lives.

So, before we move forward, here are some of the highlights from 2014.

Seeing the always amazing Kathleen Edwards at the Dead of Winter festival. While she may now be a Quitter, her performance that night was beautiful and personal and she was wearing the most beautiful snugly looking sweater that almost had me jumping on stage just to hug her.

Visiting the Buckle Ark and practising my newly learnt crochet skills under the helpful eye of a bestie that I see far too little of...if only there were secret passages between our craft rooms!

Our Ottawa weekend for Folk Fest. The National were awesome, but The War on Drugs were one of the very best outdoor shows I have ever seen.

Hiking Duncan's Cove on Remembrance Day. It was spectacular, the weather was amazing, and the stillness of mind that it induced was well needed.

Christmas break hike - Kearney Lake

Christmas break hike - Crystal Crescent 

This Christmas break has been a good one too. Though Jeff and I would probably choose a different time of year for our annual vacation, he is required to take the time by his employer. We've been lucky enough to have had some beautiful weather, perfect for spoiling Finnegan with some extended off-leash walks.

Today, Jeff returns to work, and Monday I do the same. 2015 will begin in earnest, and every night we will reflect on the good in our lives.

Happy New Year from Fin and Batty!

Throwback Thursday - evolution of a crafter

I've been a crafter for a long time.  It probably started with Brownies.  I was obsessed with badges, and many of the badges for both Brownies and Girl Guides required making things.



Ta-wit-ta-wit-ta-woo, give me all the badges.

My collector's badge project.  Later made into landscapes and creatures

Success!  So many badges.

 

 I set up my first craft shop when I was about 8.  It was a roadside stand out front of my grandparent's house in Deep Bay, B.C.  They had a gorgeous property on the water where my sister and I were often shipped for a week of our summer vacations.  It was heavenly.  Besides raiding gardens and swimming in the bath-warm water of the Georgia Straight, I tried my luck as an entrepreneur.  My first endeavour - a joke stand, a dime a joke, was a bust.  I had but one pity sale.  Lemonade was too cliche, so I decided arts and crafts were a better fit.  I borrowed my grandfather's hot glue gun and began creating little statues out of driftwood, clam shells, seaweed and other found-objects.  They were a hit.  The strategic location of my stand - just outside the entrance of a campground, was a definite bonus.

For Christmas that year, I was given a glue gun.  It was the best Christmas present ever, and I still have and use it.

Crafter's manifesto...

High school art class - an excuse to stare
at pictures of Mikhail Baryshnikov to study his...form.

I was the queen of posters, and my science projects and history displays had as much style as substance.  I also took on roles in year book and photography to feed my inner need for creativity. 

Ancient things in an ancient lab - I had though archaeology involved more whips and horseback riding.

In university, this side of me took a hit as the projects undertaken were focused more on writing, though I did manage a job in the archaeology lab that had me photographing and sketching artifacts.

I taught myself how to knit in my twenties and got back into sewing at the same time.  I've never stopped sketching or writing, and crochet has now exploded in my life as my go to tactile therapy.

And so concludes this little trip down memory lane.  To my Brownie compatriots, you are welcome for posting that exceptional photo of us.

xoxo
s.  

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. 





Just Bliss - Vintage Patterns 2

Kids, before they begin to exercise their free-will (temper tantrums) are routinely used as experimental fashion dolls by their parents (mothers).  Preppy boys and princess girls, punk-rock babies and lumber jack hipsters...with kids, anything goes.  Here are some delightful knit wears that alternately scream, 'please lure me to the playground where you can steal my lunch money and give me a hard lesson in schoolyard politics' and 'oh God, I better start exercising my free-will much sooner than many of my contemporaries'.



Really Mom?  This doesn't seem very safe for someone that may only
barely in the zombie-walking stage of development.  Concussions will abound.

Ponchos occupy the margins of fashion.  Clint Eastwood managed to pull them off, but he was decidedly bad-ass while wearing them.  I enjoy a good fashion cape, but a poncho only ever makes me look like I put up a mean fight getting out of bed, but ultimately my blankets won.



On the upside, if the tricycle has an unfortunate rollover
these knits should have enough padding to ensure little injury.

This kid looks like they were having some difficulty finding their motivation for the fashion shoot.  The expression is one of reluctant compliance.  I sure hope there was an ice cream reward for having to model this little number.

 

Smile while you can, Suzy.  Smile while you can.
 

What gets me about so many of these patterns is just how much work is involved to create them...so much work going into something that will have little Suzy in tears and shaking her fist at the sky soon enough.  Potentially adorable to some, this outfit doesn't even serve a practical purpose unless she is actually one of Santa's elves and Santa doesn't heat his workshop.  In the snow it would be useless.


I probably wouldn't have picked up this last little book, except that the cover model looked so much like a young Emma Watson, it kind of blew my mind.  Of course, this photo was taken approximately 20years before she was even born.

What Hermione thought of as magical before her letter from
Hogwarts arrived.
 

Happy Friday everyone!

xo

s. 

Just Bliss - Vintage Patterns

Fashion - she's a fickle one isn't she? One day you're all the rage, the next, yesterday's news and the next, well, you could bounce back and you could be considered classic vintage, or retro chic. It could go not so well, dropping you in the dated, cringe worthy category. Or it could go really not well. Like the 70s. Thank goodness for thrift stores and pattern books that date the heck out of themselves. Let's explore some of those - that's what Fridays are for.

Let's start in the house. I know when I'm decorating, I'm always on the look out for home accessories that will make me feel nurtured and that have a touch of whimsy. Do you think those were the same considerations for this delightful giant vagina blanket and matching wall hanging?

A truly mesmerising vulva.

"Tom and I had a double-bogey last night!"

How about sportswear? I'm sure these lovely ladies were a hit down at the country club. First for a round on the links, then we'll head to the courts for a rousing match.  And nothing caps off your tennis whites and granny-square vest like a hand-crocheted turban.  All in all, a rather fetching outfit.

Sue's left eye is actually glass, so binoculars are utterly confounding to her.

Finally, I will leave you with this thought, ski masks are not a good idea unless, and this is a big unless, you are actively snowmobiling in the north in a place where large ungulates outnumber the human population 3-1.  Otherwise, you look like a psycho killer or bank robber no matter how nicely it frames your eyes or how big your pompom is. Imagine being known as the pompom killer.  Full on crazy.

They suggest a red, white and blue colour combination.

Of course they do.

 

Happy Friday!
xoxo
s.