mexico!

I am off to the beauty of Mexico for a couple of weeks:  Isla Mujeres, Tulum and Playa del Carmen.  See you in February!

tulum 2011

 

creationism

I finally stepped foot back in the studio!
If my sewing project book is to be believed (and since I made the entries in it I think I have to believe it) I have not been in the studio since April 2011.  I am not even going to do the math on how long ago that was because its closeness to a whole year is hurting my soul.  Suffice it to say that it was tooo long, much tooo long.

I had grandiose plans for my first day back at my guru’s house.  But like all grandiose plans, real life got in the way of fruition.  Instead of a whole day of playing with fabric and thread I had a mere four hours, including travel and set up.

I made hay with the sunshine of my couple of hours and got the bits and bobs for three scarves cut.

alexander henry fabric

The first scarf is to be for my friend Amanda.  But don’t tell her, because it won’t be finished for at least another month as I am off to Mexico for three weeks and then Whistler for a weekend before I can get back to it!  I promised her a scarf last winter.  No, not the before New Year’s last winter.   The one that began in 2010…  Anyway, it is going to be 60ish inches long and 6.5ish inches wide, with a dark brown flannel backing.

The front side will feature various sized patches of lots of great skulls and paisleys!

michael miller fabric

I also cut the pieces for a further 60 inch scarf with brown flannel backing and an 80 inch scarf with sage green herringbone flannel backing.  Alas I do not have photos of these works in progress as I just got a new camera and I’m having some trouble figuring it out!  My previous Lumix had an unfortunate accidental meeting with the ground.  Fortunately it was still under warranty and rather than sending it out to be fixed, Future Shop just gave me a new one.  A shiny new red one!  Its pretty, but its entirely touch screen and I admit that I am having trouble fiddling with the settings to take a half decent shot.  So rather than keep trying, I just gave up and kept on cutting my fabric pieces.

patchwork pieces

Hopefully I will have the new camera figured out before the end of my Mexico odyssey and in time for my next crafternoon at the guru’s studio.

 

50 book challenge – 2011

I did not read 50 books in 2011.
Technically I guess this means I failed in my 50 book challenge.
Realistically, I feel like I won!  I read 48 books in 2011.  And many of them were 1,000 page books.  I rock!  Literacy rocks!

I could have tried to cram in two more books at the last minute, but I preferred to spend some time enjoying the television version of the Game of Thrones (all 10 hours of it) instead.  I felt guilty for about the first five minutes!  Then I relaxed into seeing how the novel I had read translated into a television series.  I think they did a great job!  I am eager to watch season 2.

I also watched several episodes of Dexter as well, which seemed fitting since I read two of the novels in 2011 as well.

I am debating starting the challenge afresh in 2012, but am reserving the right to decide that when I return from vacation!  If I manage to find time to read several books then I will be off to a good start on the year.  If I end up being more active this year (which is highly possible after my couch potato tendancies over the holidaze) and don’t get any books read I think I shall simply read for the sheer enjoyment of it in 2012.

Favourites of the books I did read in 2011?  Definitely the Game of Thrones novels, The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet’s Nest (entire trilogy rocked my world), Agent X and the Bricklayer, and the Michael Connelly novels.  The Dexters were also quite enjoyable.

DECEMBER

48. George R.R. Martin – A Feast for Crows

47. George R.R. Martin – A Storm of Swords

46. Benjamin Hoff – The Te of Piglet

45. George R.R. Martin – A Clash of Kings

NOVEMBER

44. Elizabeth Gilbert – Eat Pray Love

43. George R.R. Martin – A Game of Thrones

OCTOBER

42. A.J. Jacobs – My Life as an Experiment

41. Michael Connelly – The Fifth Witness

SEPTEMBER

40. Michael Connelly – The Reversal

39. Stieg Larsson – The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet’s Nest

38. Margaret Atwood – Oryx and Crake

37. Jilly Cooper – The Man Who Makes Husbands Jealous

AUGUST

36. Lisa M. Morrison – Craft Beers of the Pacific Northwest

35. Sarah Graves – Crawl Space

34. Jeff Lindsay – Dexter is Delicious

33. Noah Boyd – Agent X

32. Jon C. Stott – Beer Quest West

31. Khaled Hosseini – A Thousand Splendid Suns

JULY

30. Kelley Armstrong – The Reckoning

29. Kelley Armstrong – The Summoning

28. Kelley Armstrong – The Awakening

27. Michelle Moran – Cleopatra’s Daughter

26. Michelle Moran – The Heretic Queen

25. Kelley Armstrong – Frostbitten

24. Michelle Moran – Nefertiti

23. Kim Harrison – Early to Death, Early to Rise

22. Charlaine Harris – Dead in the Family

JUNE

21. Michael V. Smith: Progress

20. Michael Connelly:  Angels Flight

19. Jilly Cooper:  Jump!

MAY:

18. Rachel York:  Chasing Lightning

17. Guy Gavriel Kay:  Under Heaven

16. Kim Harrison:  Black Magic Sanction

APRIL:

15. Preston & Child: Fever Dream

14. Nicholas Pashley:  Cheers! An Intemperate History of Beer in Canada

MARCH:

13. Louise Welsh – Naming the Bones

12. Jack Whyte – Order in Chaos

11. Noah Boyd – The Bricklayer

FEBRUARY:

10. Christopher Moore – Coyote Blue

9. Christopher Moore – Island of the Sequined Love Nun

8. Jeff Lindsay – Dexter by Design

7. Rachel Solar-Tuttle – Number Six Fumbles

6. Val McDermid – Fever of the Bone

5. Kim Harrison – Once Dead, Twice Shy

4. Jonathan Franzen – Freedom

JANUARY:

3. MaryJanice Davidson – Undead & Unwelcome

2. MaryJanice Davidson – Undead & Unworthy

1. Kim Harrison – White Witch, Black Curse

 

jennifer brial

I love this!

you are here

I love maps!  I think this might be inspiring me to find a world map to paste on a bulletin board and start recording my far-too-few travels…

 

Visit Jennifer Brial’s website for more!

 

 

2012

Happy New Year!
Buh-bye 2011… Hello 2012!

happy new year!

I wish I had a photo credit for this one too, but alas, I just steal them from facebook…

 

coexist

I love this card!
No idea who to give credit to though…

coexist

 

creative spaces

I have not been spending much time at home this year.  I’m often a social butterfly, but this year has seen me somehow spending even less time at home.  Which means I have not crafted in forever.  Nor have I been attending to my home as a functional and nourishing space.

I host a Winter Solstice party every year.  Some years its conveniently on a weekend.  Other years, like this one, its mid-week.  Sometimes this affects the number of people able to come.  But no matter how many people are actually available to attend there are enough to make a human pyramid.  I do not know what this has to do with the Solstice, but it has become a wacky tradition, and who doesn’t love a wacky tradition?

What do these two thoughts have to do with each other?  And the photo posted below?
Quite a lot actually!

By hosting a party each year, that involves moving furniture around and people getting down on their hands and knees on my floor, I HAVE to clean my house thoroughly at least once a year.  I need deadlines.  Nothing gets done it seems unless there is a deadline looming.  So Winter Solstice has become my time to Spring clean my home.  This year’s clean also involved a long overdue purge of unused items.  I have a long, long, long way to go in minimizing as much as I would like to, but the process has had a nudge in the right direction.  And it felt soooooo good!  Old cans of paint recycled, clothes and other items donated to charity, old computer equipment delivered to Free Geek, recycling recycled, books donated to the community book exchange… all in a matter of a couple of hours.

Which brings me to the photo below.  I want to clear up my clutter and get to a place where I can have a crafting space like this!

crafting space

I found this photo on the Epheriell Design blog, in a guest post by Addy.  I get such a sense of peace just looking at this photo.

Alright 2012, bring me the discipline to clear all my clutter, the inspiration to create, and the serenity to get through the process!

 

 

local vancouver gifting

Yelp! Vancouver has the following tips for buying locally this holiday season:

This year is gonna be different – this year we’re making our list early. This year, the gifts are gonna be the best. That’s right, we’ve done the legwork and polled yelpers all over Vancouver to find out where they’ll be buying locally this season. This Weekly‘s here to guarantee that there won’t just be a Pot Of Gold at the end of your gifting rainbow.

In search of a gift for a man-friend, Emily-Anne P hits up Lloyd’s: “They have a great selection of everything from Ben Sherman to local designers. Shopping there always ends in success.” And Sam L feels that “in a time when the men’s section in many clothing stores doesn’t look that different from the women’s, Mr. Lee’s is bringing it back to the dude. The wood-choppin’, fish-guttin’, motorcycle-fixin’ dude.” Yeah, flex those gifting muscles! And though “it may sound like a simple concept,” Jeff F won’t “settle for the headphones that a big-box stores or pharmacy/electronics dealers have.” He’d rather you “give Headphone Bar a shot.” Ladies, listen to the man – he’ll be glad you did.

For the girl in your life who’s impossible to find the gift for, Tina H recommends visiting Twigg and Hottie for “edgy, stylish, unique and beautiful clothes, shoes and accessories. The quality is outstanding!” Or, present her with some relaxation. After using a half-day gift certificate at Willow Stream Spa, Erica L “left looking rejuvenated. The private women’s lounge was very serene,” and it was “a great getaway and luxurious treat!” But Derek W draws inspiration from vintage shop Front & Company, and haikus his present prowess: “Beautiful people sniffing / fashion-forward deals / descending in droves.” Giving the gift of prose!

“Got a design nerd on your shopping list?” Erin S knows of just the place for you: Vancouver Special. They have “books on every element of design you can imagine, plus beautiful home accessories and excellent stationery. Who knew a dust pan could be so attractive?” We’re swept away. But it’s the “plastic thingamabobs” and “industrial-quality, heirloom, multi-generational, what-do-you-mean-I-don’t-need-this” cooking gadgets at The Gourmet Warehouse that have Shelley M gushing, ”Holy, kitchen orgy!” Lastly, Alex K says it best when paraphrasing a famous Irish playwright: “We’re all in the gutter, but some of us are gazing longingly through the window into Homewerx.” So let’s go wild(e) in the aisles!

photo by kimli

photo credit

 

50 book challenge

The end is near and success is within my grasp!
However, I don’t make anything easy on myself… I have become addicted to the Game of Thrones books and am plowing through those 1,000 pagers rather than finding myself a few shorter books and coasting to completion!

I think I can, I think I can, I think I can!  3 books, 2 weeks…

DECEMBER

47. George R.R. Martin – A Storm of Swords

46. Benjamin Hoff – The Te of Piglet

45. George R.R. Martin – A Clash of Kings

NOVEMBER

44. Elizabeth Gilbert – Eat Pray Love

43. George R.R. Martin – A Game of Thrones

OCTOBER

42. A.J. Jacobs – My Life as an Experiment

41. Michael Connelly – The Fifth Witness

SEPTEMBER

40. Michael Connelly – The Reversal

39. Stieg Larsson – The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet’s Nest

38. Margaret Atwood – Oryx and Crake

37. Jilly Cooper – The Man Who Makes Husbands Jealous

AUGUST

36. Lisa M. Morrison – Craft Beers of the Pacific Northwest

35. Sarah Graves – Crawl Space

34. Jeff Lindsay – Dexter is Delicious

33. Noah Boyd – Agent X

32. Jon C. Stott – Beer Quest West

31. Khaled Hosseini – A Thousand Splendid Suns

JULY

30. Kelley Armstrong – The Reckoning

29. Kelley Armstrong – The Summoning

28. Kelley Armstrong – The Awakening

27. Michelle Moran – Cleopatra’s Daughter

26. Michelle Moran – The Heretic Queen

25. Kelley Armstrong – Frostbitten

24. Michelle Moran – Nefertiti

23. Kim Harrison – Early to Death, Early to Rise

22. Charlaine Harris – Dead in the Family

JUNE

21. Michael V. Smith: Progress

20. Michael Connelly:  Angels Flight

19. Jilly Cooper:  Jump!

MAY:

18. Rachel York:  Chasing Lightning

17. Guy Gavriel Kay:  Under Heaven

16. Kim Harrison:  Black Magic Sanction

APRIL:

15. Preston & Child: Fever Dream

14. Nicholas Pashley:  Cheers! An Intemperate History of Beer in Canada

MARCH:

13. Louise Welsh – Naming the Bones

12. Jack Whyte – Order in Chaos

11. Noah Boyd – The Bricklayer

FEBRUARY:

10. Christopher Moore – Coyote Blue

9. Christopher Moore – Island of the Sequined Love Nun

8. Jeff Lindsay – Dexter by Design

7. Rachel Solar-Tuttle – Number Six Fumbles

6. Val McDermid – Fever of the Bone

5. Kim Harrison – Once Dead, Twice Shy

4. Jonathan Franzen – Freedom

JANUARY:

3. MaryJanice Davidson – Undead & Unwelcome

2. MaryJanice Davidson – Undead & Unworthy

1. Kim Harrison – White Witch, Black Curse

 

spool of thread

Spool of Thread in Vancouver has some fabulous new holiday fabric in stock, including flannels!  They also have lots of great gift ideas for the crafty.  Check out their lastest newsletter and visit their website too!  If you have to give gifts, give handmade!  Support your local craftspeople and shops!

holiday fabric at spool of thread

As always, I had all sorts of good intentions of sewing up some fabulous holiday projects with all the lovely fabrics I scored at the Cloth Shop last year in their after Christmas sale.  But, well, it just isn’t happening.  I haven’t even touched a sewing machine since April.  I have a few days off work between Christmas and New Year’s, hopefully I will get off my buttocks and make something during that time!