tis the season

Well, the holidays are officially in full bloom around the house. I've been putting together Christmas gifts on and off again for a while, but I'm feeling the spirit of the season... it's probably the pine scent from bringing our beautiful Christmas Tree inside! Owen and I baked a lot for Thanksgiving with Val and her family... and that probably helped as well. Owen and I also made some felt rocks like I've seen on Etsy by reyaveltman... mostly I wanted to see (a) if I could make one and (b) to see if it was something I could do with Owen... so we each made one... not bad! O. wanted to pull at the felt before it was done a bit, so had to be distracted periodically, but mostly really enjoyed the frothy soapy wet mess. While we were running around this weekend (and speaking of felt), we made it to the Mill End Store and picked up some felt to attempt a variation of pillow I saw by Looolo... anyhow Brian has been using what he calls "the best $12 craft supply you have ever purchased" which is a circle cutter and put together this pillow case! I still need to make the pillow part... I just made the cover without thought as to where I'd get the fill, I guess I'll have to make one to fit. It was so much fun, I think we will be making a few more to fill out our Christmas gifts. Brian cuts the circles... I sew them on... it's a nice family project :)

Today, I headed to a few Craft shows with Robyn... we had a good time. I picked up a few cute hats and some letterpress bookplates and ornaments. We've been doing our part this weekend to be good consumers, but I'm looking forward to sticking around home and finishing up a bunch of our "projects"... including another set of potholders. Brian picked up the knitting needles again after a several year hiatus... he knits a bit tighter than I do... can you tell? We'll see how they look after they are felted. Maybe they'll even out a bit.
Hmm, I just like this picture, we are trying out our new waterproof camera. It's funny to me that pool season is as soon as it is too yucky or cold out to play outside. The indoor pools are awesome around here. We love them... other than smelling like chlorine for days, it's the perfect way to spend a drizzly afternoon.

B.C. Inspiration

I had to head up to Vancouver, BC for a work meeting.... well, it is my favorite meeting so it's always a lot of fun too. In addition to some academic inspiration, seeing lots of friends and colleagues and even having an evening to go out dancing (!!!), I did take a morning off from the meeting to go to Granville Island Public Market. It was a great way to spend a morning... loads of wonderful, fresh, vibrant food, arts and crafts, huge bags of dried apples (made me think of Mom) a little shopping and a nice morning with friends. Walked around and ate too many sweets with Val, Ray and Joaquin, as well as my roomie Carolina. We took a tiny ferry back (so we wouldn't have to walk along the freeway again... plus it was irresistible.

Great great aunties

My Grandma Jean came from a pretty good sized family that included two sisters who were prolifically crafty. Growing up, we always had hand embroidered towels from Aunt Esther and these perfect scrubbies from Aunt Myrtle... They have all passed away now, but I saw these at my Grandpa Em's house and couldn't resist the nostalgia and snapped a few pics. Mom asked Nancy's Dad's partner how to make the scrubbies (pshew) and has taught me... Mine aren't nearly as nice as Aunt Myrtle's , but I'm working on it.

Green Rectangles

My dear friend is expecting a baby boy in January. I was so excited to put together another small quilt for baby Noah. I don't really know what colors they are going for, but Becky always makes me think "green" .... I really liked these fabrics against the linen. This is also my first attempt at hand quilting. It took a while and a bit of frustration, but I think I got the hang of it finally. Although I don't think you can see it in the pictures, but there I embroidered his name on one of the linen squares.I had a hard time finding a complementary binding... I made the mistake of not buying all my fabric at once, I can never find something to match after the fact... Anyhow, it made me explore the neighborhood a bit so I ended up with some soft red corduroy from Knittin Kitten. I used the rest to make a warm rice pillow cover too (my flash was on the fritz so don't have a picture). I liked it so much that I went back and got more corduroy to make one for ourselves so we can be cosy warm too!