Natural Beauty

I was feeling pretty sick over the weekend. On Sunday I was feeling a little better and to test my stamina I decided to go for a little walk to my local thrift shop, five minutes from my apartment. (open Sundays, open evenings, good cheap entertainment). I did bring home a couple little goodies but my best find was this wasp's nest which I didn't notice laying on the ground on the way there, but did on the way home.

I think the colours are amazing, and remind me of Leslie's beautiful (wip) socks.

The call of the Socks posted Sep 15th is at the bottom of the page.

Can anyone tell me... When I link to someone's site, can I link directly to one of their postings? I know this probably isn't the place to ask. My daughter isn't around to help out and if I tried help on blogger it would take me about 10 hours to figure this one out. Honestly, it's not intuitive to me and using the computer is an extreme challenge. It's a real love hate relationship!

Thank You

Thank you to everyone for such kind, heartfelt comments regarding my last post. I've been busy lately, working on fixing up my apartment, going through everything and trying to simplify and spruce it up. I bought a bunch of Ikea frames and have been finally putting up some artwork, something that was lacking here. I seem to have a lot of nick nacks, (too many) but not enough pictures. Anyway, that's been fun going through old calendars and such. Miro, Grandma Moses, Chagal, Diego Rivera all in similar colour schemes. Maybe one day if I ever get my place to a point that I'm really proud of, I'll post photos. I'm doing this on a real shoestring budget mind you. Anyway, for now I'll show this great knitty bike I saw while window shopping a few days ago. I should have noted the store, or be able to give the artist credit but I can say it was on south Granville St. in Vancouver.

My Dad

To explain my absence for any of you that still visit me here.

This has always been one of my favorite pictures of my father.

I've always been very private about my life, when I write on my blog. Somehow I just wanted to keep it a simple, happy place, about crafts I've made or bargains found at the thrift store. It's a difficult thing to put myself out there in public, cause I'm never sure how much I want to share, even little things. Then there are the life altering experiences....and so I've decided I would share.

My Father died recently. It wasn't a shock. He was ill with emphysema and heart disease for several years. What was especially difficult was that it was on the anniversary of my son's death. He was fourteen years old at the time of his accident, which was just over three years ago. My grieving for him was especially tender this year. So there it is, a blast of reality on a simple little blog.

You see, when I read about someone sharing their struggle with an illness, or the death of a parent or the birth of a child, I feel as though I'm keeping a secret. Part of who I am is the fact that I'm a mother who has lost a child. And please, I don't mean to bring anyone down. Ultimately I find life extremely beautiful, even more so, knowing how fragile it is... and so...I go about my sometimes hum-drum life, trying to remember to keep an eye out for that beauty. (As I know many of you do)

The tail end of the yard sales...

I love yard sales when that special something jumps out at you. These crazy birds are great.

Here's another tin. I've had this a long time.

And here's a little bag that I finished off this morning, inspired by all the Japanese ones I've been seeing. My neighbor gave me this little lamb. I was admiring it on one of my visits. Wasn't that sweet? She's my little knitting mascot.

Trying to shake it off.

I've had some crap happen in my life recently, and suffice to say, I've been left feeling unmotivated and uninspired, so my sincere apologies to anyone coming to visit and finding no explanation for my absence. My blog felt unimportant in the big picture. This is the place I go when I want to share my inspiration, and I didn't have any.

I did get to go to Ontario for a week at the end of June, and be with four of my five brothers and sisters. That felt really good! It was a trip to visit my father, who's health is failing. That's a hard one. I love my Dad.

We grew up on a one hundred acre farm. What a rich childhood. This little swampy area, at the end of our driveway was still there. We sat here a little while and were drenched in birdsong.

There was a bit of the foundation of the barn left standing. Our barn was torn down long ago, but I recently found out that some Mennonite farmers had salvaged the wood. I felt good about that because, our barn... It was so huge, it was a big giant friend, it had presence and history.

The silo was the only structure still standing. The lay of the land had been changed so much, the pond ploughed over, hills moved, that if it weren't for the silo, it would have been difficult to judge where our house would have stood. It wasn't heartbreaking. The grassy fields had been replaced with dark green, undulating rows of corn. Hey, it easily could have been a suburb!

We were also able to visit my beautiful mother on Manitoulin Island. We took the Chi-cheeman ferry through the mist...

Hey! Don't be feeding those seagulls... even if they fake having one leg and make you feel completely sorry for them!

A few minutes from my Moms doorstep and you have this!

The visit to Ontario was too short. I loved my time there... my family, the country side, all the stories and memories and especially all the good laughs.

Shop, then shop some more.

Have I mentioned how I've been having crummy luck in the thrift stores lately? I just have to admit that it will never be the same as it was back in the hey day.

Any way, I like to think up projects with items that I can still find for a steal while thrifting (for that treasure) and that's why I bought the shells and cigar box. It's to make these!

I've been on a little collecting kick for these shell boxes lately and I have three of them now. It's probably because I have fond memories of looking at my mothers shell box when I was very young. It was a beautiful one and made with care and I thought of it as a treasure box because it contained old, mysterious sewing paraphernalia. Anyway, I like my corny box with its corny Acapulco postcard glued onto the inside lid.

Over the weekend I was able to find some fabric that got me excited. Some of it from an expensive quilting shop and some from a great discount store. It's all washed and ironed, and ready to use. Does the thought of cutting into fabric pain anyone else?

OK, one last shot. I found this little pillow today. (so I lied about not finding anything good any more) Since it's tiny, I'm going to add some sort of trim, turquoise and red? and give it some proper stuffing. I love when my daughter likes something that I get a kick out of, so, this one's for her.

Friday Night

An artistic shot on the way to Chinese dinner. OK, no, that was the margarita talking. This was the fortune I got.

Yo-Yo Tutorial

First off, trace and cut a whole lot of circles. I used a CD as my template. Blue Trail of Sorrow, (16 top bluegrass gems) was just dandy. How could anyone resist a song with a title like Cotton Eyed Joe or Cruel Willie or Owl Feather or Everybody Wants to Go To Heaven? I'm figurin old timey music suites this project, after all, making yo-yo's was all the rage in the 20's and 30's. It was (and is) a great way to make use of those scraps. Anyway, your CD will make a finished yo-yo just a little over two inches. Obviously any reasonably sized template will do. I think I may try some teeny tiny ones sometime.

OK, on to the next step. Just go right ahead and start stitchin! The hem in this photo is a little wide, but hey, as long as you're consistent, they'll be the same size in the end. Because you're folding the edge of a circle you'll need to ease in a few ripples here and there, but you certainly don't have to snip the edges or iron. Well, at least I don't.

Ok, now we've gone round the circle, so before you pull it tight, turn it right side out.


Don't pull the gathers too tightly or they won't have room to lay flat in the end.

And there we have it! Simply stitch your yo-yo's together in your desired pattern. You're going to start finding them very addictive, because they're fast and I should mention, very portable! Before you know it, you've got a great pile of cute little buttons to play with. It's a wonderful way of trying out different colour combinations. Oh, I should mention, there is no backing involved when you create a bed cover. I'm just working on small projects at the moment, pillows and such, so of course they will lay atop other fabric. Have fun and let me know if you give it a try.

Love those yo yo's

I'm planning on making these into a tea cozy, maybe leave the green out. I had a disappointing hunt for red and yellow fabric the other day. (at my local thrift shop) Out of all of the clothing, bedding, fabric... No cheerful red or yellow cotton. And you know, it's not even thrifty shopping for fabric this way anymore, when they're charging $5, $6, $7 dollars for a shirt or skirt. Time to hunt down the rummage and garage sales I suppose. Anyway, making these yo yo's are a fun way to try out colour/fabric combinations and if my tea cozy doesn't work I guess these will become a pillow.

Will have Warm Feet

Here we go, a little change in colour. It's a popular combination right now, blue and brown, but one I've always liked. I spent a day sorting and organizing of my craft crap on the weekend. I've converted one end of my tiny dining room into a work area. I wanted to post a picture of the before and after, but the after isn't done yet. Seeing as I love interior shots of other peoples homes, studios and work spaces I may as well show mine as well. Soon...

Mothers Day Weekend

I was at the beach (Spanish Banks) on Saturday. See downtown Vancouver in the distance? See the sock I am about to perform the kitchener stitch on? They say when you're about to attempt this, you should lock yourself in a room, unplug your phone and tell anyone in the home to not dare interrupt you until you come out. I made myself simplified written instructions ... Front knit off , front purl on, back purl off, back knit on etc. Knitting can be very frustrating, but when you do finally get IT you feel like such a genius!

I love this beach. It's big and open and windy. When the tide is out the kids play on their
skim boards, and the big kids play on their kite boards. See that big green kite? It's ours and yes, I fly it too. If you dig your heels in and lean way back, you can have it pull you a good ten feet! It's a trainer kite, a smaller version of the kites you use for kite boarding, and no, I won't be doing that!

After our beautiful beachy day we stopped at our local garden shop and bought a bag of lady bugs! Yes, 500 wonderful lady bugs to eat the aphids that have invaded the plants on our balcony. We have a yellow rose bush, named Lilly who is very happy now. Oh, I got the idea from Capello at No Appropriate behavior. Go check out her lady bug picture, May 8th post.

On Sunday when I came home from the coffee shop I was presented with this beautiful bouquet of orchids, and an excellent breakfast of crepes with berries and whipped cream. So to you Mothers out there with young children that made you those questionable pancakes on Sunday, just hang in there! I was also treated to a movie and then we hung out at English bay beach for the afternoon.

Now, if you look beyond the beginnings of the new blue and brown sock, across the bay, and to the left . . that was were I was the day before. In this picture I'm at a beach downtown. (Which you can see in the very first picture.) I think I made all of that sound confusing.

For my parting shot you get to see the green socks finally finished. I don't like these socks, I never have and don't think I ever will. I made a lot of mistakes during them too, probably because my heart wasn't in it. Well, I perservered and I'm glad I saw them through to the end, but more importantly, my needles are free for the new socks, which I love so far. Happy belated Mothers Day to those of you who fit the bill.

Cherry Blossoms and Embroidery

Such an inconsistent blogger! Here it is one week into May already. Vancouver finally has some beautiful warm, sunny weather. It was a long time coming.

The cherry blossoms in my neighborhood are beginning to loose petals in the gusty wind, and some days it looks like we're having a pink snowfall. The path under the canopy of trees in our little park is now a blanket of slippery pink blooms.

I've wanted to try my hand at a little embroidery and a while back I made this small piece. I discovered that it's just too fine and finicky for my taste. I'll use this somewhere, probably on an apron pocket. I need to erase the pencil marks though. I traced right through the fabric from a drawing I copied. Not the proper procedure, I know, but the transfer paper didn't work well. It just rubbed off in no time at all.

I know there's been some interest in crewel lately and I've also seen some beautiful crewel in a few stores as well. I don't know how many times I've said "I could do that!" especially when I'm not willing to pay for something I really can't afford. So, I traced the pattern from this little vase,

took the drawing to the photocopiers and enlarged it, then using parchment paper and a transfer pencil, the fabric and a hot iron, I got to this stage. Now I had a decent image that didn't smudge!

This is the stage I'm at now. I started off with an embroidery hoop but found I preferred not using one. The fabric is completely puckered. I imagine I pulled the stitches too tight. I don't even really mind the way it looks, but I am considering filling in the background to remedy the situation. Give me your opinion. I'm not sure how much I enjoy this craft, but I'm sure that now I've had a little practice I'll be more likely to use some sort of embroidered embellishment in the future.

I found this little bird I a long time ago in a thrift shop. The full image is at the beginning of this post. I know it's not fine work but I think it has charm and I wanted to post it because it's so similar to what I've been working on.

Cheers everyone and happy spring.

Bunnies and Chicks

Some recently thrifted fabric that I thought was appropriate to post today. These would make cute aprons, my daughter said shirts. Now that would be good, but I'm not so ambitious, maybe a simple summer blouse or skirt.

It certainly didn't feel like spring today, in fact it hailed a little this morning, and the snow is low on the mountains in areas. This was the view today from a local park (on high ground). Vancouver is beautiful. We've discovered this is another good spot for kite flying.