In the Community

I was recently invited by the Youth Diversion Program at the Robert Meek School in Kingston to be the first presenter in their month long series of arts worskshops for at-risk youth.
Let me tell you, these kids are amazing. When I first got there I felt a little intimidated, and the kids seems disengaged, but as soon as we got started on our felting project, they lit up. Some even started off outright refusing to even touch the wool, and by the end, there was laughter and smiles all around while everyone's hands got soapy and their arms got tired.
Thanks to the staff and students for a lovely morning!

politics

Canada woke up this morning to a new political reality. There was good and bad news.
The meteoric rise of the NDP was offset by the unfortunate majority won by Stephen Harper and his Conservative Party.
Congratulations to Jack Layton, I am happy to see you as the leader of the Opposition.

The true silver lining for me, though, was the historic and very exciting victory by Elizabeth May in her riding of Saanich-Gulf Islands. She is the first Green to be elected in Canada (or the United States, for that matter!).

So, here's to Elizabeth May, an inspiring and charismatic leader. May you do great things in Ottawa!
And to the courageous voters of Saanich-Gulf Islands, I'm sorry that the rest of the country couldn't have followed in your example.


Art by Hannah Stone. For more info go to www.facebook.com/GOHANNAHSTONE

this moment

{this moment}- A Friday ritual. A single photo - no words - capturing a moment from the week. A simple, special, extraordinary moment.
Inspired by the lovely SouleMama

photo shoot

Fellow Wolfe Islander, Kristen Ritchie, was here on Saturday for a family photo shoot, meant as a gift for the children's grandparents.
Here is a peek at the results...

signs of spring

Our dear, lovely hen, Granny, has been brooding on several eggs for the last three weeks. Very early Sunday morning, we got our first glimpse of her chicks! There are three little ones under there, and a couple more eggs. What an amazing, magical, everyday miracle!

friendly help

I am so inspired by my friend and crafty colleague Becky Johnson's creative funding campaign over on Kickstarter, that I just had to share it with you, readers. Becky is a tour de force,and a treasure to the craft community. She is the lady behind The Sweetie Pie Press. Please visit and pledge! Becky is offering some amazing crafty, creative rewards, plus you will have the pleasure of knowing that you are helping to keep the indie craft dream alive!


photo still from video: "Sweetie Pie Press Summer Tour 2011"

this moment

{this moment}- A Friday (or saturday!) ritual. A single photo - no words - capturing a moment from the week. A simple, special, extraordinary moment. A moment to pause, savor and remember. If you're inspired to do the same, leave a link to your 'moment' in the comments for all to find and see.
Inspired by the lovely SouleMama

Enjoying

My new boots, scored at Value Village!


Contra dancing, I'm the blur in the skirt and red shoes in the middle, at the Toronto Country Dancers March 12th dance.


Our brooding hen, Granny! She's got 4 eggs under there!


Hanging laundry on the line!


Another spring hat for me! Inspired by Kathy's.

spring toque

This simple hat was made from a mash-up of 5 or 6 different handspun/handdyed yarns, some of them being mash-up yarns to begin with! Grey and yellow is one of my favourite colour combinations, and I humbly think that the bits of blue and green mixed in here are just lovely. There are fuzzy angora and mohair bits as well as some silk, but mostly this hat is corriedale wool.
The hat is a no-pattern slouchy affair, worked in the round, and took only a few hours to complete.
Who says wool should be confined to winter?

silkscreening time

I like to think of myself as a multi-crafter. Whether it's sewing, knitting, pottery, toymaking, bookbinding, spinning, dyeing, felting...my, how the list goes on! I really do get a kick out of making things. So, when my dear friends in Sheesham and Lotus needed some t-shirts made, I offered to do the silkscreening for them, as my father was a master screen printer, and I was lucky enough to learn the basics from him a number of years ago at his shop outside of Toronto. The artwork is from the cover of their new album.


Here is a blurry action shot of me in process.

and some of the finished product!

this moment

{this moment}- A Friday ritual. A single photo - no words - capturing a moment from the week. A simple, special, extraordinary moment. A moment to pause, savor and remember. If you're inspired to do the same, leave a link to your 'moment' in the comments for all to find and see.
Inspired by the lovely SouleMama.

belated holiday show and tell

One of my favourite gift-giving projects from the holidays were these simple bookplates. This was a collaboration between my daughters and I. First, Azzurra drew the image, I transferred it to some easy carving rubber matting, and we took turns with carving, although I probably did the majority.



We had an assembly line going when it came time to print, and fun was had by all.

2010 in photos

January 2010


February 2010


March 2010


April 2010


May 2010


June 2010


July 2010


August 2010


September 2010


October 2010


November 2010


December 2010

Happy New Year!

At the end of this busy season, this busy year, I would like to take a moment to quietly thank all the people around me who make every day special.

Hope 2011 is good to all of you, readers.

thirty-one

today. thanks to everyone who has made it a great 31 years thus far.

Three

3 years ago today we welcomed our son, Basil into the world.




Today, he is a sweet, adventurous, thoughtful, daring, all-around lovely little guy.
Happy Birthday Basil, we're so glad you've come!

Pumpkinfest

We went to the Wolfe Island Pumpkinfest yesterday, and both Azzurra and Sonika carved their own pumpkins for the contest. I'm proud to say that my youngest darling, Sonika, got first prize, with her big sister Azzurra taking second prize. Sonika did the "Princess" pumpkin, and Azzurra did the cat.
And yes, there are about a hundred kfc bags behind them, and yes, those were the prizes. Not much of a prize really, but the girls savoured their glory.

Happy Pumpkin season to all of you!!

To Make

After seeing so many lovely star lanterns around I searched and searched for an online tutorial. It seems the couple of free ones that used to be around have been taken down, so I ordered one as a PDF from Syrendell.
I can't wait to get started.

Photo courtesy of SimpleMama. I hope mine turn out this nice!

this moment

{this moment}- A Friday ritual. A single photo - no words - capturing a moment from the week. A simple, special, extraordinary moment. A moment to pause, savor and remember. If you're inspired to do the same, leave a link to your 'moment' in the comments for all to find and see.
Inspired by the lovely SouleMama.

Kingston Yarn Bombing

I am a little late with this, but it tickles me so, and better late than never, right? A group called the Outlaw Wool Lovers has knit and crocheted a cozy for the McBurney (skeleton) Park cannon!
It wasn't there for long, but it got covered in the papers and make lots of people smile. Hope you enjoy.
The photo below is lifted from this blog post.