Holly's Red Bike

Potential

2012-01-20T12:47:00.000-08:00

This photo from last Saturday shows all my cross stitch supplies ready to be put into use on a new and exciting project. I haven't cross stitched for over a decade, but it all came back to me quickly and I'll reveal the project I made very soon (just have to finish a few last details!). In the meantime, you can browse weelittlestitches' pattern shop and decide which pop culture pixel people you just have to make!

Thanks to Austen Gilliland of the make + do blog for the inspiration to post a crafty photo today!

Star Wars Snowflakes

2012-01-17T10:30:00.000-08:00

My Yoda snowflake

I saw these templates for making your own Star Wars paper snowflakes on Apartment Therapy, I had to drop everything and make one. We're fans of both Star Wars and intricate paper snowflakes at this house, so it was a no brainer. Twenty minutes with an exacto knife, my back-up cutting mat, and a piece of printer paper and my Yoda snowflake was ready for display. Now that it has finally snowed in Vancouver (a rare event, to be sure!), I thought it was the perfect day to show you my snowflake. Let me know if you make one!

Kona challenge quilt finished!

2011-12-05T07:00:00.000-08:00

Sophie with my completed Kona challenge quilt

Cross one project off the WIP list - I've finished my Kona challenge miniquilt! I used Don't Call Me Betsy's bookshelf quilt tutorial to create "Nancy's Library" for my Aunt Nancy who retired this year from a career as a librarian. It's finally complete and I'll send it off in the mail asap.

Back in March (right when I was welcoming baby Ellie into the world), the Vancouver Modern Quilt Guild announced they'd be participating in Robert Kaufman's Kona cotton challenge. Each quilter was given a dark charm pack (43 five inch squares) and challenged to make a quilt adding only solids. I made sure they saved a charm pack for me as I was determined to play along. I didn't get anything done for the big reveal at our one year anniversary meeting in June, but I did manage to have my quilt ready for show and tell at our August meeting.

The dark colours reminded me of book bindings, so I thought this would be the perfect opportunity to make a bookshelf quilt. Since the pieces were only five by five, I had to piece every single book using three to seven pieces. Observant Harry Potter fans may notice a few familiar spines.

The state of my quilt as of August, 2011 (note stray threads and binding pinned down)

Since all the fun stuff was done, this is where the quilt sat for months. Finally, I pulled it out at the November sew-in and added the sleeve (thanks to Terry for giving me some tips about pulling the sleeve up a quarter inch before hand stitching it down to allow for a hanging rod!) and stitched down the binding. Now, I only had to add the label. I really wanted to continue the library theme and make the label an old school paper due date card. This is what I came up with:

Here are a few pictures of the finished quilt:

Book titles (thanks to Dean for mentioning I was about to fuse them on upside down!) read:

Red Letter Day by Lizzy House (because retirement is a red letter day!)

It's a Hoot by Momo

Sophie's Garden (a nod to my daughter, Sophie)

Flights of Fancy by Paula Prass

Central Park by Kate Spain (in honour of our family's frequent trips to NYC)

Quilt back complete with hanging sleeve, label, and every square inch of the remainder of the charm pack

Label detail

Books detail

Details:

19"x26.5"

Kona cotton charm pack (dark)

Assorted selvages fused on with Wonder Under

Kona snow as background

Kona coffee (mmm, sounds yummy!) for bookshelf and binding

Cotton/bamboo blend batting

Quilting: outlines just inside each book as well as around the tops of all the books

Potholder progress

2011-11-26T17:08:00.001-08:00

The current state of my potholder

(sorry for the bad photo, it's a dark and rainy night here in Vancouver)

After carefully (I thought!) going through all my works in progress in order to write my first WIP Wednesday post, I neglected to list the potholders, my most time-sensitive WIP! This is why I need a list!

Here in the Lower Mainland, we're lucky to have two modern quilt guilds, the Vancouver Modern Quilt Guild and the Fraser Valley Modern Quilt Guild. To build community between the two groups, we're having our first VMQG-FVMQG Swap this fall. We're making two potholders for our partners and the deadline to send them is November 30th.

I've been going back and forth about my design for weeks but have finally settled on something I've been wanting to try for a long time - equilateral triangles. I've cut enough triangles for one potholder and now I just need to piece them together. I'm thinking I'll do them in strips but wondering if I need to press the seams after every triangle. Does anyone have any tips?

WIP Wednesday

2011-11-23T15:17:00.001-08:00

At the Vancouver Modern Quilt Guild Sew-in on Sunday, I told Amy I was planning on joining in on WIP Wednesdays, so I thought I'd better live up to my word and write this post!

My sewing space

I loved the idea of checking in on my works in progress, but I didn't have a list of them and I was starting to feel scattered. The other night, I sat down and broke down my projects into three categories:

1) Works in progress

2) Planned projects that aren't started yet

3) Wish list for when I have oodles of free time (aka never)

Here are the details:

1) Works in Progress (8):

Kona challenge bookshelf miniquilt (binding finished, just needs label)

Colour wheel quilt (rainbow wedges are cut)

Habitat challenge double diamonds baby quilt (quilt top is pieced)

Red and Aqua Bee square in square quilt (quilt blocks arrived in Spring 2011)
Little Folks voile patchwork quilt for me (fabric cut into squares)
Spring Garden Rainbow baby quilt (blocks made but I don't like them)
Strip-pieced picnic quilt (I've cut a few strips of old fabrics)
Paper-pieced hexagons (basted a couple dozen hexagons)

2) Materials/pattern purchased, no work started (10):

Gift for someone who reads my blog
Ditto
Ditto
Ditto
Gift for VMQG holiday exchange (December 15, 2011)

Busytown pillowcase for Sophia (Christmas 2011)
Log cabin pincushion from kit I won at November VMQG meeting
Ladybug costume for Sophia from fleece
Gift bag for Grandma Lou using Xmas fabric she gave me

3) Ideas/Wish List (8):

Wonky stars quilt in blue and orange for the preschool (either for house corner or silent auction or both)
Label for Sock Monkey quilt given to me by VMQG members in December 2010
Label for Eleanor’s baby quilt
Stockings for our family for Christmas 2013
Christmas tree skirt
Bunting flag banner
Swoon quilt
Valentine’s heart flannel pillow for Sophia

That's a total of 26 projects I'm either working on or would like to do. That's a pretty full list! And don't get me started on my Pinterest tutorials board full of projects I'd love to make sometime. Well, at least I've started keeping track. Admitting you have a problem is the first step to solving it, right?

Habitat challenge progress

2011-11-16T17:02:00.000-08:00

The big reveal for the Vancouver Modern Quilt Guild's Habitat challenge happens tomorrow night at our guild meeting. This is where I'm at right now. 144 HSTs, all trimmed to four inches. Will it become a quilt top by tomorrow night? Attend our meeting* and find out!

*our meeting location has changed and our temporary spot for tomorrow night is at a private residence - spread the word and email president@vancouvermodernquiltguild.ca for more info!

p.s. if you need more incentive to come to the meeting, check out what arrived in my mailbox today to add to the door prize stash:

Yes! Lark Books kindly sent our guild a copy of Pretty in Patchwork: Doll Quilts by Cathy Gaubert for one lucky member. Will it be you? Here are a few peeks into this lovely little book:

Diamond Lattice

Cupcake Quilt

Mod Log Cabin

Happy Halloween!

2011-10-31T07:42:00.000-07:00

Carving elaborate pumpkins is a tradition for us. We've been at it since university, so we've had over 15 years of fun. You can see many of our pumpkins from 2003 to the present in Dean's flickr set. Every year we choose a theme (a few recent ones have been "Where the Wild Things Are", Popeye, Asterix, and Star Wars).

2011 has been the year of Shaun the Sheep around our house, so we thought it fitting to carve Shaun the Sheep characters for our 2011 pumpkin theme. Shaun and his gang get up to all sorts of hilarious adventures and they've brought lots of laughter to our lives this year!

Here they are:

Shaun the Sheep, carved by Holly

Timmy, the baby of the flock, carved by Holly

Bitzer, the beleagured sheep dog, carved by Dean

One of the naughty pigs, carved by Dean

Happy Halloween!

Eleanor at seven months

2011-10-28T20:15:00.000-07:00

I love this girl! This fall, Eleanor is becoming a little person right before our eyes and it's so much fun!

Ever since she turned six months old, she's been trying a variety of solid foods. Her preferred method of eating is through her cheeks.

She still fits in the baby bathtub and she doesn't mind when we do silly things with her hair.

She can be found hanging out in the Ergo most days (she's in the Ergo as I write this, bending over backward to try to see the screen).

She turned seven months old yesterday, so we did another photoshoot on her quilt.

She can sit up unassisted for several seconds, sometimes even for a minute or two.

She now has two teeth (one on the bottom and one on the top!).

And she's basically an adorably chubby sweetheart! Happy 7 months, Ellie!

Halloween Guild Meeting

2011-10-20T16:49:00.000-07:00

It's the Vancouver Modern Quilt Guild's October meeting tonight, hooray! I always look forward to these meetings and have a great time at them. Tonight will be my first meeting as guild president, wow! I thought I'd add a little seasonal decoration, so I made a VMQG mini pumpkin (It's proudly showing off on top of the sock monkey quilt the guild gave me last year). See you there!

A Rainbow of Fabric Cards

2011-09-19T07:00:00.000-07:00

Sophie loves a rainbow!

I made a set of fabric cards for my fellow VMQG executive members to celebrate the last meeting of our first year. We had a great time getting the guild going and I wanted to show my appreciation to each of the exec members with a handmade card. I had fun making each card monochromatic so they'd make a rainbow when placed together. I love making these cards, they use up scraps and are fun and easy!

Ellie at five months

2011-09-03T08:00:00.000-07:00

Eleanor is now five months old and I thought it was time for a couple pictures of my cutie. She's an easy-going, happy baby who adores her big sister. She has tons of hair, drools like crazy, and is about to cut teeth, I'm sure of it! She has found her feet and likes to hold both at once. She has also discovered her tongue and makes the funniest faces!

Sophia reading to Miss Ellie (recognize the quilt?)

Eleanor loves her Jolly Jumper

Making faces at her five month photo shoot

Quilting is in my genes

2011-09-01T17:03:00.000-07:00

On our summer trip to my Grandma's cabin, I discovered this antique quilt in our bedroom. My grandmother told me it was made by her great-grandmother (my great-great-great-grandmother, is that right?). It was amazing to touch this quilt that was made by one of my ancestors about 150 years ago (this is a guess, as there was no label. A good reminder to label every quilt!).

The blocks are an arrangement of squares and half-square triangles that I wasn't familiar with, but that reminded me of sailboats. The back is solid white and the binding is mostly white with bits of blue.

I love knowing that my fore mothers were quilters and that I'm carrying on a family tradition. Makes me wonder how long my own quilts will last and who will use them in the future. Will my quilts be draped over my great-grandchildren's knees as they are driven home in their flying cars?

7. Take part in an online quilt block exchange (virtual quilting bee). AKA Red & Aqua Bee wrap up

2011-07-28T10:05:00.000-07:00

My Blocks for the Red & Aqua Bee

1. Pickle Dish blocks for Red & Aqua bee, 2. Red and Aqua Bee March 2010, 3. String pieced blocks for Lisa, 4. Spiderweb block for Susan, 5. Liberated Wedding Ring block for Corey, 6. 2 Mondrian blocks for Suzy, 7. Pinwheel block for Karen, 8. Flying Geese for Karen, 9. HST Star for Karen, 10. Wonky Star for Karen, 11. Asterisk blocks for Ryan, 12. My sample block

It's been awhile since I've posted about my progress in the 101 Things in 1001 Days challenge but I'd better get busy, because I have just one month left to complete my list! Today, I'm posting about my first virtual quilting bee, the Red and Aqua Bee. It was definitely a learning experience and a challenge! We started off with several paper pieced blocks and I had a chance to refresh my rusty skills. I was often late with my blocks (I blame Canada Post!), but I managed to make them all in the end.

We made Mondrian-inspired improv blocks last summer and I was really pleased with how they came out. We had several people drop out for a variety of reasons and by the time my month came along, I ~~only~~ got blocks back from ~~six~~ seven people (after I wrote this post, I got one last block!). I had the last month in the bee (Feb 2011) and am planning to make a quilt for Ellie with my square in a square blocks.

Lessons learned:
- Canada Post takes forever and I often got blocks from the States with just days before the end of the month, leaving me perpetually behind the 8 ball.
- A stated colour theme got a little repetitive over the course of a year and it might be nice to have a more open-ended bee next time.
- Accountability and communication are key! It's more fun when everyone participates in the bee and posts to Flickr. I don't mind if someone's going to be late if they post about it.
- It's fun to make online friends and then meet them in real life (it turned out that Karen and I joined this bee and then both became members of the new Vancouver Modern Quilt Guild!)
- Despite the hiccups, I'm excited to participate in another bee and looking forward to making more quilting friends!

Nine years

2011-07-06T18:05:00.000-07:00

Our growing family with the redwood we planted to mark our wedding

Nine years ago today, two high school sweethearts were married. Since we met as geeky 10th graders in Grade 11 math class, I give you our marriage by numbers:

Years of dating before Holly proposed = 8.25

Grandparents at our wedding = 8

Moves = 3 (Burnaby to Vancouver, Vancouver to Victoria, Victoria to Vancouver)

Mortgages = 1

Number of sandwiches willingly made by Holly = 0

Ferry trips to Vancouver Island = 84

Movies watched at The Hollywood Theatre = 75, one for every year they were in business

Children = 2

Anniversaries when Kristi has provided free babysitting = 5

Days I've been happy that I married my best friend = 3288*

*includes two leap years and today, not simply 365 x 9

Just waiting for Kristi to arrive so we can go out for dinner on this lovely Vancouver evening.

Happy Anniversary, Deano!

Ellie's quilt

2011-07-04T06:30:00.000-07:00

Exactly one week before Eleanor was due, I decided that I needed to make my baby a quilt. Prior to this, I had chosen not to make a quilt for my second child, because daughter #1 had received so many special handmade blankets when she was born and we were well-stocked. However, once I reached 39 weeks, it was time to go fabric shopping! I thought I didn't have much time left (I was assuming the baby would come a couple of days early, ha!), so I decided on a simple, strip quilt using colours from Kate Spain's Central Park print. The quilt came together quickly, although pin-basting was a pain!

Basting a quilt at nine-months pregnant is tricky! (note hospital bag ready to go on bed)

I decided to make bias binding for the first time (I used a combination of Whipstitch's continuous bias tape tutorial and the Dread Pirate Rodger's tutorial and it worked out wonderfully!) so I could have rounded corners (I was inspired by Lysa's quilt and used Nettie's tutorial)

Hand-sewing the binding on March 24th (seven days overdue)

Bias binding makes it easy to make curved corners!

I was happy with the results and it's been wonderful to have a Mama-made quilt to wrap my little Ellie in! The bonus is that it matches our lime and charcoal stroller perfectly and I didn't even think about that when planning the colours!

Here are a couple pics of the quilt in use:

Details of Ellie's Quilt

Size: 30x40 inches

Fabric: A mix of Kona cottons (including some Kona flannels and corduroys) and the Zoo print in Lawn from Central Park by Kate Spain for Moda

Quilting: straight lines a presser-foot's width from the seams

Batting: bamboo/cotton blend

Label: none yet! Hmm... better get on that now that I know the baby's name and birth date!

Introducing Eleanor

2011-06-27T21:46:00.000-07:00

I'm thrilled to announce that my second daughter was born on March 27th, 2011. Her name is Eleanor and she's a happy and thriving baby who is loved by her whole family! She's also the reason I haven't been blogging for nearly four months! I'm sure most of my readers know that Eleanor has arrived, but I feel like I can't start blogging again until I write this post for posterity. Now that she's three months old, I'm hoping to get back to blogging more frequently. Here's a snippet of what's been going on lately...

Our first trip to the park as a family of four

Big sister loves her new role and helps push the stroller, get clean diapers, and choose outfits for her baby sister.

Aren't sisters grand? (I come from a family with two girls and may be slightly biased!)

One month photo shoot

Two month photo shoot

Three month photo shoot (today!)

And one more from today cause Ellie's just so darn cute!

Felt cupcakes as favours

2011-03-02T07:14:00.000-08:00

I'd like to share one of my last crafting accomplishments that will happen before the baby is born (that mid-March due date is approaching fast!). Last weekend, we had a birthday party for my daughter and gave out "Make Your Own Cupcake" Kits as favours. Just a week before the party, I found a tutorial for making felt cupcakes by Rachel Meeks of Small Notebook on Alpha Mom and loved the idea. My daughter has been "baking" non-stop and I hope her little friends enjoyed these kits!

The mountain of felt scraps in my workspace after cutting out 32 cupcakes, 32 icing pieces, 32 baking cups and assorted decorations. I spaced out the cutting throughout the week and, surprisingly, my hands never got too sore!

Everything ready to be sorted into goody bags. Each child received 4 cupcakes (lemon, butter pecan (a family favourite), vanilla and chocolate), 4 types of icing (chocolate, purple, vanilla and light pink), 4 baking cups (light blue, hot pink, white and brown), and four decorations (birthday candle, star, heart and first letter of their name).

Cupcake components

The finished product!

Kona cotton heaven at Spool of Thread

2011-02-06T12:56:00.000-08:00

Bolts upon bolts of Kona cottons

Lili and Henry at Spool of Thread Sewing Lounge recently got in all 221 colours of Kona cottons and I had to go in and check it out for myself! One wall of the store has all the yellows, reds, purples and blues, plus lots of greens. The other side has the rest of the greens and the neutrals.

I brought out my handy dandy Kona colour card and picked up some lovely solids to add to my stash.

My little helper was happy playing with the felt board, giving me time to shop. Thank you, Spool of Thread!

My haul

I picked up some cactus, olive, cyan, mulberry, Chinese red, and a ton of white as well as a cute Lizzy House green and white stripe and a new chalk marker. Some of these fabrics will go out to the members of the Red & Aqua Bee, some will be used in a pair of Quick Change Trousers I'm making for the baby, and the rest is for the stash. All in all, a very successful trip!

Look what I got!

2011-01-28T07:00:00.000-08:00

Dean obviously reads my blog because he surprised me with a gift of this Vancouver poster! Now that it's all beautifully framed I have the perfect spot to hang it. Thanks, Deano!

Auction for Baby Molly runs until Sunday

2011-01-27T07:25:00.000-08:00

The Bamboletta Auction for Baby Molly has been live since Monday the 23rd and the current bid for my sweet doll quilt is $62.00! Everyone is being so generous for this good cause and I'm thankful to all the bidders.

There are over one hundred amazing handcrafted items that have been donated. If you want to take a look, you can see all the items or just the listing for my quilt. The auction runs until 7:00am PST on Sunday, January 30th. I'm interested to see how much money they'll raise for Molly's family!

1st quilt of 2011!

2011-01-19T07:01:00.000-08:00

I have to tell you the truth. Although I founded the Vancouver Modern Quilt Guild in 2010, I didn't complete a single quilt last year! Between organizing the guild, taking care of a busy preschooler, and fighting the exhaustion of the first trimester, I didn't find the time to finish any quilting projects. Since I'm due in March, I can't see myself getting much quilting time in in 2011 either, so I'm happy to say I used my time wisely in January and finished off a quilt! Here's my first quilt of 2011:

It's a 15"x20" pinwheel doll quilt that will be auctioned off by the amazing Christina of Bamboletta Dolls to raise money for Baby Molly Campbell's medical costs. Molly was born in Victoria on November 23rd, 2010 and at one month of age was diagnosed with leukemia. On Christmas Eve, she and her mom and dad had to leave her four siblings with family and travel here to BC Children's Hospital to start her treatment.

Here's Sophie holding the quilt to give a sense of scale

I first tried pinwheels for Karen's block in the Red & Aqua Bee and really loved them! When I heard about Baby Molly in late December, I knew I wanted to do something to help, and this pink and tangerine pinwheel quilt came together very quickly!

For the back, I had a perfect piece of Heather Bailey's Lindy Leaf left over from when I made Kristi a Barcelona skirt for her birthday. I quilted along the diagonals, using pink thread in one direction and tangerine thread the other way. Some Kona cotton in Cheddar was the perfect frame and I enjoyed hand stitching the binding.

The auction starts on Monday, January 24th and I hope my quilt will find a good home!

Snail Mail

2011-01-16T08:00:00.000-08:00

Image from Canada Post

Does anyone out there still send real letters? If you do, and you live in Canada like me, you should know that Canada Post's rates are going up tomorrow. It will cost 59c to send a letter anywhere in Canada, $1.03 to send a letter to the US, and $1.75 for International letters. Despite the cost, I still love sending the occasional letter and, of course, it's a treat to get real mail in my mailbox!

More info is available on the Canada Post website.

Montessori child's apron

2010-11-30T08:39:00.000-08:00

I used Meg McElwee's Montessori child's apron pattern to make two aprons this fall and I love how they turned out! The pattern is available free at Sew Liberated and it's perfect for the 3-6 year old in your life. This ingenious apron is designed so the child can independently put it on, so handy! The neckband is elasticized and the waist strap has a velcro attachment on one side. What an improvement from the apron we had been using where I had to tie the neck strap and waist strap for my daughter!

Sophie in her apron, making porridge with Grandpa

I made both aprons using Alexander Henry's apples and pears print. Sophie has the brown one (with Kona red on the back) and the blue one (with Kona chartreuse on the back) was a gift to a friend who was turning four. Funnily enough, after I had decided to use that fabric, I noticed that Meg had used the same brown apples and pears print for the pattern photo!

My cooperative model in the blue apron

The pattern was easy to understand and went together smoothly for me. My only problem came with the velcro - I didn't realize there were both adhesive-backed velcro strips and sew-on strips available! You want to use the sew-on velcro for this project. Sewing machines and adhesive-backed velcro are not friends.

Thank you, Meg, for making a great pattern available for free! I hope to make many more in future!

Vancouver neighbourhoods

2010-11-29T15:52:00.000-08:00

You can now get your own awesome poster of Vancouver's neighbourhoods, courtesy of Ork Posters. Thanks to Inside Vancouver for letting me know that our fair city is now part of a group that includes NYC, San Francisco, Portland, Seattle, Chicago and Toronto. Think this would be a great Christmas gift? Buy it online here: http://www.orkposters.com/vancouver.html

This view makes me happy

2010-11-05T10:19:00.000-07:00

Tulip trees (aka Yellow Poplars) lining West 10th Ave in Kitsilano

We were lucky enough to have several days of sunshine here in Vancouver during early November. It looks like the rain and clouds have set in for a while now, so I'll just have to remember the glorious yellow leaves shining in the sun. I love the trees of Kitsilano!

Car-free no more!

2010-10-27T06:41:00.000-07:00

After nearly nine years of living car-free (with the help of our Co-operative Auto Network membership), we finally bit the bullet and bought a car! We are now the proud owners of a 2008 Honda Civic Hybrid!

The obligatory cheesy shot as Dean accepts his first ever set of car keys

A brief history of my car ownership:

1995: I bought my first car, a 1991 Toyota Tercel that served me well through university.

2001: I became a member of CAN, Vancouver's car sharing network

2002: We said goodbye to the Tercel in favour of living car-free

2007: Sophie was born and we kept on living car-free

October 26, 2010: Hello Honda Civic!

Our car! (sorry, we picked it up at night, so the photos aren't great)

By daylight (photo credit: Pacific Honda)

I have to admit, as an environmentalist, I've been quite proud to go almost a decade car-free. I've expanded my walking radius, gotten to know the bus system extremely well, commuted by bike, and I've been a loyal CAN member. I even wrote about our car-free lifestyle for Blog Action Day 2009. So, it's a little humbling to have to say, "I'm a car owner." However, I'm proud to say I stood by my 2001 pledge to Honda written during the heady, idealistic days of my early twenties:

"I have pledged to never buy another solely gas powered car."

Why the need for a car, you ask? Let's see if you can figure it out...

Yes! We're expecting our second child in the spring! We're thrilled that Sophie is going to be a big sister. We have decided that the transition to a family of four necessitates the transition to a car-owning family. We'll still keep our CAN membership for those cases when we could use a van or a truck. Dean will still commute to work on his bike and we'll never give up transit, walking and cycling. But, frankly, this environmentalist stay-at-home-mom is pretty darn excited about the freedom that our new car promises! Any suggestions for our first road trip?

October VMQG recap - membership cards, pumpkins & selfless photographers

2010-10-22T09:35:00.000-07:00

As of October 21, 2010, I am now a card-carrying member of the Vancouver Modern Quilt Guild! We had our October meeting last night and welcomed our first official members. Thirty members paid their dues - hooray! Another reason this meeting was a momentous occasion was that it was the first VMQG meeting I didn't chair. I sat back, relaxed, and let our new president Kalin take the reins. She was organized and kept us on track and efficiently got through the important guild business so we could have lots of show and tell time. Thank you, Kalin!

Kalin at work

We started by sharing our Halloween blocks. I liked this little paper-pieced pumpkin that I whipped up yesterday afternoon (yes, I'm a terrible procrastinator!). To the person who won my pumpkin, I'm sorry that it's six inches rather than six and a half! I hope you can add a little extra sashing!

Show and tell, as usual, was the highlight of the evening. This was Arita's wonky Halloween houses quilt. I took a few quick photos, but many more will be available soon on our Flickr group.

Paul's monkey quilt created from our very first challenge blocks.

Paul always has creative ideas for the back of his quilts! Thanks to Anna and Terry for being our quilt holders last night!

Sonja, our amazing photographer, is also a talented pattern designer. Here she is showing off her Chuck Wolfman block.

And here she is, showing her dedication to "getting the shot" and her complete disregard for her physical comfort. What a pro!

I'm already looking forward to our next meeting!

October Vancouver Modern Quilt Guild Meeting

2010-10-19T12:21:00.000-07:00

It's nearly time for the next meeting of the Vancouver Modern Quilt Guild! Looking forward to seeing you at Spool of Thread Sewing Lounge from 7-9pm on Thursday, October 21st!

I'm excited to officially become a member of the VMQG (don't forget your dues!), see all the Halloween challenge blocks, and, of course, admire the many beautiful quilts at show and tell!

p.s. Check out our brand new VMQG logo, designed by the amazing Cynthia Frenette of greencouchdesigns.com. Thank you, Cynthia!

I love my bike!

2010-09-05T07:00:00.000-07:00

Isn't this the perfect button? My sister surprised me with it this week and I love it! If you, too, love your bike, you can pick up your own button, plus oodles of fresh local produce at one of the Vancouver Farmer's Markets like the Kitsilano Market (today at the Kits Community Centre parking lot from 10am-2pm). I love riding my bike to the market and taking advantage of the bike valet!

Art by Jane Koo

The "I Love My Bike" button was designed by the very talented Jane Koo, who created this year's amazing poster for the Farmer's Markets.

My proposal story

2010-09-03T10:10:00.000-07:00

Minutes before our fateful dive (Dean had no idea what he was in for!)

September 3, 2001

Nine years ago today, I asked Dean to marry me while SCUBA diving in the Pacific Ocean. I haven't told this story on my nearly-two-year-old blog, so I thought today would be an appropriate day to share.

In 2001, Dean and I had been dating for eight years, I had graduated from SFU with my degree in Biology and I was working as a naturalist at the Vancouver Aquarium. I was ready to take the next step, so I took matters into my own hands. We went for a dive off of Ogden Point in Victoria and after seeing a variety of amazing marine life, I wrote "Will you marry me?" on my dive slate. I can still remember how Dean's blue eyes widened in surprise as I showed him the slate and then popped open a box with a dive watch inside. All he could do was signal, "OK!"

We came back to the surface and shared our news with our parents, who happened to be there to "watch us dive". We assured them that the wedding would be held on dry land, and everyone was happy!

The happy couple with dive watch and proposal slate

Announcing the Fraser Valley Modern Quilt Guild

2010-08-31T08:59:00.000-07:00

There's a new Canadian Modern Quilt Guild! I'm excited to announce that the Fraser Valley Modern Quilt Guild is getting started! They have a brand new website and are looking for members!

The FVMQG is being organized by the amazing duo of Cynthia Frenette and Lysa Mair. I'll let Cynthia introduce the group in her own words:

I had joined the Vancouver Modern Quilt Group and met my new pal Lysa thanks to the thoughtful Van group's organizer and hitched a ride with her in to one of the meetings one night. We soon discovered that the drive to the city in total being longer than the actual meeting itself, while it was fabulous in every way and we loved being part of it, was not really that easy for us to get to each month. So after a few chats, we decided to start a Fraser Valley group to make it more accessible for those like-minded quilters out this way.

We hope you'll join and share the love of modern quilting with us and fellow Valley modern quilters! We hope to make this group accessible and fun for everyone at all levels of modern quilting, whether you're a beginner, a master, a teacher, or anything in between, and will look forward to being part of a great Valley group! We also plan to stay in affiliation with the Vancouver Group, perhaps with intergroup challenges or meetings, the sky's the limit! Won't you join us? And please feel free to share suggestions, ideas, links, activities, anything to help get our new group growing and sharing.

As of yet, this group is just getting going, so they don't have their first meeting posted yet. I believe they're planning to hold meetings in Abbotsford. If you're a modern quilter in the valley, please check out the Fraser Valley Modern Quilt Guild!

Ringle and Kerr have a new book coming this fall

2010-07-20T06:00:00.000-07:00

Have you heard about "Quilts Made Modern"? Weeks Ringle and Bill Kerr, who wrote the popular book "The Modern Quilt Workshop" and others about colour theory, have written a new book that's coming out in December 2010. I read a sneak peek post on Week's blog and was happily surprised. I hadn't heard about this book on any of my other quilting blogs, so I thought it might be news to some of my readers. In Week's words:

It’s a big book. It’s 160 pages of quilting A to Z. There are 10 never-before-seen patterns using a wide variety of techniques. In addition to pieced quilts, we show you how to tackle hand applique as well as machine applique. There are designs for solids as well as those for large-scale prints.

I am drawn to the skinny coin quilt on the cover and I look forward to seeing more new quilt patterns from this talented team!

Coming soon - the 2nd Vancouver Modern Quilt Guild meeting

2010-07-14T06:00:00.000-07:00

Photo by Sonja Callaghan

It's almost time for the second meeting of the Vancouver Modern Quilt Guild! I'm excited to go back to Spool of Thread and see my new quilting friends again! The first meeting was a great success with 45 quilters present and I'm curious to see how many people come out tomorrow night.

If you're coming, it would be a great help if you could bring along a folding chair or blanket/cushion to sit on and a mug! Of course, we would love to see any modern quilts you'd like to share as well as a tool of the trade for our tool talk section of the evening.

Event details:
Vancouver Modern Quilt Guild Meeting
7-9pm, Thursday, July 15, 2010
Spool of Thread Sewing Lounge
101-649 E. 15th Ave.
Vancouver, BC

Get more info and RSVP here: http://vancouvermodernquiltguild.ning.com/events/vancouver-modern-quilt-guild

1. Make a quilt for Mia's baby by May 2009.

2010-07-12T06:00:00.000-07:00

It's been awhile since I've updated my 101 Things To Do in 1001 Days List. I've just taken a look and realized I've accomplished at least 15 goals without logging them. Shame on me!

I'm going to try to catch up and I'll start at the very beginning, a very good place to start. Goal #1 was to make a quilt for Mia's baby. I made my first really modern quilt for little Gabriel and gave it to him in July, 2009. He was already three months old, but he was still small enough to enjoy it, so I'm counting this as a win.

I wrote all about this quilt in my Blogger's Quilt Festival post so you can look there for lots of process photos.

Photo by Sonja Callaghan

I actually have this quilt in my possession right now, as I borrowed it from Gabriel to share at the first meeting of the Vancouver Modern Quilt Guild!

Atticus, Jem & Scout

2010-07-11T07:32:00.000-07:00

Atticus, Jem & Scout. I don't even have to mention Boo Radley and I'm sure you already know what I'm talking about. The characters from Harper Lee's literary masterpiece are etched into our collective consciousness and seem as real to me as my friends and family. Today is the 50th anniversary of the publication of "To Kill a Mockingbird".

This is the version we have in our home library and I re-read it this spring. Have you read it lately? Have you watched the movie? It's one of those rare cases where the movie is as good as the book, thanks to Gregory Peck and the way he became Atticus Finch.

Thank you to Katie who blogs at The Dundee Writer for tipping me off about this event!

The bike of my dreams

2010-07-09T06:38:00.000-07:00

This Patchwork cruiser bike by Felt Bicycles has stolen my heart. Two of my favourite activities are quilting and cycling so this is clearly the perfect bike for me! I spotted it on the Sisters Outdoor Quilt Show blog and saw that they are raffling one of these beauties off tomorrow at their big show in Oregon.

I did a little research and it looks like you can't get this bike in Canada. I may just have to go on a road trip to Bellingham, WA and then ride my shiny new patchwork bike home across the border!

What of my red bike you ask? My red Norco Monterey will always be my first love and I still need and want it! I think there's room for two bikes in my life. I have no complaints with my red, 15-speed, hybrid bike with rim brakes and it has served me faithfully for nine years. I'll still need a bike with gears to get me up and down the hills of my neighbourhood, but I can certainly see going for a ride along a seaside path on a quilting-themed cruiser. Oh, yes, that would be sweet!

What do you think of this bike? Have you ever ridden a one-speed cruiser with coaster brakes?

My Kona color card

2010-07-08T06:30:00.000-07:00

When my birthday came around this May, I thought I'd treat myself and finally get a Kona colour card. Here it is in all its glory - 221 fabulous colours! Each 1'x1' swatch represents a colour from Robert Kaufman's Kona cottons line of solid fabrics. I've been using it to find the perfect solids to coordinate with various prints. I got my card in early May and it still gives me a thrill of delight when I open it up. I'm geeky like that.

Happy Birthday to me!

Inside the mystery gift. What are the elastic loops for?

I got my card from the lovely Kathy Mack of Pink Chalk Fabrics just down across the border in Washington state. She packaged up my order so carefully and thoughtfully included a little birthday present for me! I'm still a little puzzled about what it actually is (a needle wallet? a regular wallet?), but the thought was definitely appreciated.

Update (July 17/10): I just heard from Kathy, "Yes, the Sweetwater wallet is a needle case. The elastic loops are for holding thread spools. An on-the-go carrier for thread and needle." Mystery solved!

Of course, I had to make sure the envelope was full (I was just being efficient!), so I ordered some great Kona colours, a little of Denyse Schmidt's Hope Valley, a Single Girl quilt pattern, and a charm pack of Kona brights for Sophie to play with. Kathy's service, packaging and attention to detail was impeccable and I know I'll be shopping Pink Chalk Fabrics again! (she just got in Robert Kaufman's Pure Organic collection of 15 organic cotton solids!) Are you a fan of Kona cottons? Do you have your own colour card?

Eight years ago today

2010-07-06T11:15:00.000-07:00

Ice Cream Social SewAlong

2010-07-05T07:00:00.000-07:00

Amy (of badskirt) and Kate (of One Flew Over) are hosting an Oliver + S Ice Cream Dress SewAlong from July 18th-31st and I can't wait for it to start! I've been wanting to dust of my garment sewing skills (hmm... I think the last thing I made from a pattern was a pair of boxer shorts back in Grade 8) and this is the perfect chance. Amy and Kate will answer questions, blog about each step you take to make this cute dress, and they've already started a Flickr group where you can share your photos.

I've wanted to make this dress for Sophie ever since I saw it on the Oliver + S blog and when I saw the pattern at Spool of Thread, I just had to buy it! It's my duty to support a new local business, isn't it? I'm going to make View B, which is a colour-blocked dress. I'm going to be my literal self and use solid fabric in the colours of Neapolitan ice cream (strawberry, vanilla, and chocolate, yum!).

I wanted to get started cutting the fabric, so I bought my first ever roll of freezer paper at Safeway and used it to trace the pattern pieces. I've purchased the pattern for size 5-12 and I hope to use it again in a larger size, so I didn't want to cut it up. To preserve the original, I traced the pattern pieces I'd need onto the paper side of the freezer paper. The cool thing was ironing the freezer paper straight onto the fabric before cutting. Using a hot but dry iron allowed the freezer paper to stick to the fabric temporarily so I could easily cut the fabric with my rotary cutter. After I was done, I easily peeled off the paper and ironed it to the next piece of fabric!

There's plenty of time to buy your pattern and fabric and join in! Check out the fabric and pattern giveaway going on in the Flickr group until July 8th!

What I learned in June 2010

2010-07-04T16:14:00.000-07:00

I was inspired to write monthly reviews by Amber Strocel of Strocel.com. See her June review and learn what she's been harvesting from her garden here.

Here's what I learned in June:

1. I'm going to be spending a lot of time at Spool of Thread Sewing Lounge. I went to their highly-anticipated grand opening in early June and brought the whole family with me. Here I am buying fabric for a quilt Dean is going to design for me.

2. My family is so supportive that they'll listen to me talk about quilting for hours on end. My father-in-law can now distinguish modern quilts from art quilts and traditional quilts!

3. Sophie can run/walk a 1K with ease! She was a star at the Child Run and had fun high-fiving all the cheerleaders.

4. I have a junior quilter on my hands. Here she is carefully arranging her Kona cotton charm pack. I bought it for her so she could have her own fabric to play with while I quilt.

5. There is an enthusiastic group of modern quilters in Vancouver who are excited to make the Vancouver Modern Quilt Guild a success!

6. Dean's still a kid a heart. Of course, I knew this, but here's some visual proof.

7. Sophie's not about to win an Olympic medal in the sack race, but she sure had fun jumping up and down in one place!

Rainbow Girl

2010-07-03T06:57:00.000-07:00

Rainbow Jello by Sakurako Kitsa

Back in Grade 1, in Kingston, Ontario, Mrs. Smith gave me the nickname "Rainbow Girl". I painted her a rainbow that hung on her classroom door for years after I'd moved to BC. She was the sweetest teacher and we still keep in touch. I'll always remember how she made us rainbow jello on the last day of school! I loved rainbows then and I love rainbows to this day!

I've been having fun this week, cutting out a rainbow of fabrics for my colour wheel quilt. Instead of keeping all the rainbow-y goodness to myself, I'm sharing it with you, thanks to a little prompting by Kate Conklin. Kate is an Australian quilter and designer who has just made a gorgeous quilt with Cloud9's Beyond the Sea organic fabrics. You should go check it out! Kate, this post's for you!

I'm using the colour wheel quilt pattern from Joelle Hoverson's Last-Minute Patchwork + Quilted Gifts and it calls for 52 different monochromatic prints. So far, I've cut out just over half that. I've been so happy watching the rainbow come together. Most of the fabrics are from my stash, but I've bought a few extra pinks and purples with this project in mind. It hardly takes any fabric at all (just 4'x12') for each wedge, so you need less than a fat eighth of each colour.

Have any of you made this quilt?

Featured on The Modern Quilt Guild's blog

2010-06-28T07:48:00.000-07:00

Happy Monday! Today is special because my post about the 1st meeting of the Vancouver Modern Quilt Guild is up on The Modern Quilt Guild's blog. The Modern Quilt Guild is the umbrella organization that connects and inspires all 65+ local modern quilt guild chapters. Check out their site if you're looking for a local guild. The first modern quilt guild was founded less than a year ago and now it is an international movement. So far, there are over 50 modern quilt guilds in the US, three in Canada (Vancouver, Toronto and Calgary), and several in Europe and Australia. It's been an amazing year for modern quilting and I look forward to seeing what comes next!

The Vancouver Modern Quilt Guild

2010-06-20T07:46:00.000-07:00

"I love the idea of a Modern Quilt Guild and would definitely join one if it existed in Vancouver, BC, Canada!"

When I wrote this comment on Alissa Carlton's blog in November, 2009, I had no idea that I would be the one organizing the Vancouver Modern Quilt Guild! When Alissa, co-founder of The Modern Quilt Guild, wrote a post entitled "How to start a guild branch in your area" in January 2010, she encouraged me to start an online group to see if there was enough interest. Sure enough, there was (as of today, we have 95 members in the online group!), and five months later, we had our first meeting.

The Group!

Photo by Sonja Callaghan

We had 45 enthusiastic quilters at the meeting! 45! In the planning stages, I had told Lili and Henry, owners of Spool of Thread Sewing Lounge and hosts of our first meeting, that we would likely have 10-20 people at the meeting. Boy, was I wrong! We quickly used up all of Spool of Thread's chairs and the kind restauranteur next door loaned us a dozen. We still had people sitting on the floor!

The atmosphere was welcoming and inspiring and people seemed to be bubbling over with excitement to meet other young quilters. Some had never made a quilt but wanted to learn, others had been quilting for several years, and a few people had 25 years experience. A quick survey determined that 100% of the attendees would rather buy fabric than watch a World Cup soccer game. We had found our people!

A happy Holly sharing Gabriel's baby quilt, photo by Sonja Callaghan

After our intros and a discussion on the definition of modern quilting, we shared our quilts. We had an amazing show and tell session and got to hear the story behind dozens of modern quilts. Tons more photos are posted in our Flickr group.

photos by Sonja Callaghan

I want to thank everyone who made this event a success; Lili and Henry from Spool of Thread for hosting us (and moving their industrial sized cutting table so we'd have more room!), Sonja for taking 150 amazing photos to document the evening, Arita for taking minutes, Paul and Lawanda for bringing refreshments, Krista, Louise and Lili for donating door prizes, and my husband, Dean, for talking modern quilting with me on many morning runs! Thanks as well to those who talked up the meeting on their blogs. And, of course, thanks to Alissa Carlton for giving me the kick in the butt to get this guild started!

The next meeting is 7pm, Thursday, July 15th, 2010 at Spool of Thread. I've gotta go find some chairs!

The Vancouver Modern Quilt Guild meets today!

2010-06-17T09:12:00.000-07:00

I'll be here tonight!

Can you see me jumping up and down with excitement? No? Well, I am! It's because tonight I'm going to the first meeting of the Vancouver Modern Quilt Guild! We've had 20 people confirm that they're coming, with another 11 who might attend, and I'm so excited to meet other local modern quilters! The meeting is being hosted by Lili and Henry at Spool of Thread Sewing Lounge, one of my very favourite places to visit!

Dean helping me pick out fabric at Spool of Thread

I heard about the very first Modern Quilt Guild back in October 2009 and thought, wow, I wish I lived in LA so I could go to a meeting! Then, this January, Alissa Carlton, one of the founders of the LAMQG, suggested that I start an online group in Vancouver to see if there was enough interest for a Vancouver Modern Quilt Guild. Well, it's been five months and we now have over 75 people in the group!

Lili and Henry let me give one of their sewing machines a spin at their Grand Opening

Thanks to everyone who has let people know about this meeting through the newspaper, blogs, and word of mouth! A huge thanks to my husband Dean, who has listened to me blather on about quilting non-stop for months. He can now tell the difference between Kona White and Kona Snow!

A trip to the Lions Gate Quilters' Guild Album of Quilts show

2010-06-13T07:54:00.000-07:00

Autumn Dyes by Krista Hennebury

On Saturday, I spent a lovely afternoon in North Van at the Lions Gate Quilters' Guild show. After a little cell phone tag and some mistaken identities (apparently Sarah and I look quite similar in our avatars), three members of the Vancouver Modern Quilt Guild managed to find each other! I enjoyed meeting new quilting friends and viewing the 250 quilts on show with them.

It was exciting to chat about modern quilting and meet new people who were interested in the modern quilt guild I'm starting. I handed out flyers and recruited a few new members who want to come to our first meeting on Thursday the 17th!

I'll let the quilts speak for themselves. I've posted many more quilt pictures to my flickr account.

Friendly Beacon by R. Leslie Forbes

The clapboard siding details were breathtaking!

Nature's Floating Ice Sculpture by R. Leslie Forbes

Provence by Isabelle Jenkins

I loved this bike!

1930s Scrap Zigzag by Paula Bohan

What "cheerful" looks like by Anne Field

This was my favourite quilt from the show. What patience!

Sheer Insanity

This quilt was aptly named, the pieces were incredibly tiny and there were hundreds of them!

My haul from the members' boutique and vendors

Of course, I bought a few things at the show, I had to support the guild and vendors, right? I love my new potholder by Krista Hennebury! I also picked up some Heather Bailey (I'm thinking I'll use it to make a striped binding), Denyse Schmidt and Sandi Henderson fat quarters, a Lecien fat quarter with cute French writing ("bon journée!'), and a skirt pattern. Now I'll have to sign up for the next A-line Skirt class that Spool of Thread offers (their June class is sold out!).

What I learned in May 2010

2010-06-01T06:37:00.000-07:00

Running a 10K is more fun with friends.

It makes sense to outsource certain life lessons. Dean is much better suited to teaching Sophie how to throw a rock than I am.

Janet makes delicious chocolate cakes. And macaroons. And Thai curries. And French toast. Boy, was I spoiled on my birthday weekend!

It was super fun to get forty comments on one of my blog posts. Thanks to all who visited my blog during Blogger's Quilt Festival!

I'm going to be spending a lot of time (and all of my fabric budget) at Spool of Thread Sewing Lounge. Their grand opening is June 5th, a date I've been anticipating since January!

Don't leave a preschooler unattended with a bottle of paint.

June 17th is the 1st meeting of the Vancouver Modern Quilt Guild!

2010-05-29T07:18:00.000-07:00

Ever since I heard about the LA Modern Quilt Guild, I've been wishing there was a Modern Quilt Guild here in Vancouver. I'm happy to announce, that I've found a way to make that happen! I proudly announce the first meeting of the Vancouver Modern Quilt Guild!

Time: June 17, 2010 from 7pm to 9pm

Location: Spool of Thread Sewing Lounge

Street: 101-649 E. 15th Ave.

City/Town: Vancouver, BC

Phone: (604) 879-3031

Join us on Thursday, June 17th, 2010 for the inaugural meeting of the Vancouver Modern Quilt Guild at Spool of Thread Sewing Lounge! This is the place to be if you love fresh, modern quilts!

Come to this informal meeting to meet other fabric lovers, show us your modern quilts, and share your ideas for what this guild could become! Stay tuned for more details (door prizes anyone?).

A huge thanks goes out to Lili and Henry, who have created the amazing Spool of Thread Sewing Lounge! They are gracious hosts who are genuinely excited to meet some local modern quilters. I'm also grateful for the support of Austen Gilliland, who writes for Canadian Living magazine and wrote a post about our meeting her Make + Do blog. Of course, I must also thank my husband, Dean, for putting up with my never-ending quilting chatter during our morning runs!

Feast your eyes on Blogger's Quilt Festival!

2010-05-22T18:12:00.000-07:00

HST Overload by Red Pepper Quilts

Have you had the chance to check out the 3rd Blogger's Quilt Festival at Amy's Creative Side? As of 6:00pm on Saturday, May 22nd, 427 bloggers have shared the story behind one of their favourite quilts. I added my most modern quilt and have had tons of commenters visiting my blog (yay!). You can add your own post until Friday, May 28th and there are great prizes up for grabs! If you don't have a blog, you can visit all the participating blogs - there's quite an array!

Enjoy!

Here are a few quilts that caught my eye:

Little Folks Ruffle Quilt by Bijou Lovely

Stepping Stones by Sew Katie Did

Colorbrick by Stitched in Color

Whirly Gigs Quilt by Rose Room Quilts

Sea Glass by Strandz

My Blogger's Quilt Festival Quilt

2010-05-21T09:58:00.000-07:00

It's Blogger's Quilt Festival this week and I'm sharing Gabriel's Baby Quilt, a 41" x 46" quilt that I finished in July, 2009. My dear friend had her first baby and I gave him this quilt. It was the first quilt I made since I got hooked on modern quilting and it's my favourite quilt to date!

I thought I'd share the process from start to finish.

I headed to The Cloth Shop and picked out fabrics from Paula Prass's Flights of Fancy line in the ocean colourway.

I fussy cut the Par Avion fabric to highlight the birds and butterflies.

I (with lots of help from Dean) laid out the fabrics and balanced the colours and patterns.

I used Finn's quilt pattern from Chickpea Sewing Studio.

After piecing the top, I sent it all off to the longarm quilter.

I love the hand stitched stripy binding and mitered corners! In comparison, I give you my first quilt (completed in Spring 1997) with square corners and machine stitched binding.

It was stipple quilted by Jackee Thaysen of Jackee's Quiltworks.

I used one piece of the fun polka-dotted fabric for the back.

Writing the label directly on to the backing was nerve wracking, but I love how it turned out!

I'm so glad to share this quilt with you! Head to Amy's Creative Side to check out the list of other Blogger's Quilt Festival participants. There are nearly 250 participants as of May 21st!

First attempt at fabric cards

2010-04-25T08:00:00.000-07:00

I made my first fabric cards this week and I'm pretty darn happy with the results! This was a collaborative project; Sophie chose all the fabrics and I sewed them to the blank cards. I was inspired by seeing some fabric cards on Dana's blog. Her tutorial is here. It's based on a project from the book Denyse Schmidt Quilts, which I was given for Christmas (thanks, Jan & Ken!), so I pulled out my copy for reference while putting together the cards.

The rainbow card went to my Grandma and the Earth Day card is waiting for a lucky recipient.

In other sewing news, I received this great fat quarter (1/4 yard of fabric) from Georgi in Whitehorse yesterday! We were partners in the Sew, Mama, Sew! FQ Swap that is part of their Quilt Month celebrations. As soon as I opened up the handmade envelope, Sophie said, "You should make some more fabric cards with that!" Good idea, Sophie!

The Snail and the Whale

2010-04-18T06:43:00.000-07:00

Our house is full of books, especially kids' books, and a great one that we were introduced to by the lovely Mia is "The Snail and the Whale" by Julia Donaldson and Axel Scheffler. It's a lovely story of an adventurous snail who hitches a lift on the tail of a humpback whale in order to see the world.

When I bought Sophie some whale pajamas from the consignment store, she requested that I add a snail on the tail of the whale. This week, I finally pulled out my needle and thread and granted her wish.

We were both pleased with the results!

Bike the Blossoms

2010-04-16T06:35:00.001-07:00

If you're in Vancouver this weekend, hop on a bike and join the 3rd annual Bike the Blossoms ride! It's part of the Vancouver Cherry Blossom Festival and it runs from 10-4 on Saturday, April 17, 2010. Our family did the ride in 2009 and had a great time!

Bicycle print by My Little Buffalo

2010-02-19T10:48:00.000-08:00

Sophie says: "I would like to have a brown and blue bicycle like that sometimes."

I say: "I'd love a copy of this print with a red bike!"

Spotted this great bike print by My Little Buffalo on Etsy. Spotted her shop via Handmade Evolution.

Sophie's owl pillowcase

2010-02-09T09:20:00.000-08:00

I used the "Pretty Quick Pillowcase Tutorial" by Ashley at Film in the Fridge to make my first ever pillowcase. Sophie loves it and has so much fun picking out her favourite owls! I`m now hooked on pillowcases and am in the middle of making a lemon yellow and aqua pair for Janet.

This was my first time using French seams, so I just had to share how beautiful they are. Encasing the raw edges truly creates a professional looking seam!

I bought the fabric from a Canadian online shop called Pink Panda Fabrics where shipping in Canada is always free! Cheryl, who runs Pink Panda Fabrics, kindly featured my pillowcase on her blog.

The Vancouver Modern Quilt Guild

2010-02-01T08:39:00.000-08:00

The first Modern Quilt Guild started in LA in October, 2009. In the past several months, new guilds have been popping up all over the United States and there are now international guilds in Melbourne and Toronto. Modern Quilt Guilds are a place for non-traditional quilters to share their fresh, modern quilts.

I watched all these developments with interest and was encouraged to set up a Vancouver Modern Quilt Guild. I created a ning group on Thursday and by Monday (just four short days later!) we have thirteen members!

With the Olympics coming soon, I think we'll wait to have our first meeting until the spring to avoid the pandemonium. It will be so exciting to meet other local modern quilters and see what kind of quilts they're making!

Image via Spool of Thread's blog

One more development that's super exciting for me is the fact that there will be a modern fabric store and sewing lounge opening in Vancouver very soon! It's called Spool of Thread Sewing Lounge and it sounds like heaven. You'll be able to buy lovely fabrics, take sewing classes, and rent a sewing machine by the hour (this is my chance to try a serger!). I just can't wait for the grand opening!

Vancouver in January

2010-01-27T20:57:00.000-08:00

We are just over two weeks away from hosting the Winter Olympics here in Vancouver. Today, I thought I'd take a few photos around my neighbourhood to show just how ready we are for the Spring Olympics. All of the above photos were taken by me on January 27th, 2010. Gotta love our temperate climate!

36. Try 10 new vegetarian dinner recipes.

2010-01-19T22:30:00.001-08:00

Today, Dean and I made a Vegetable Biryani from my new "Sundays at Moosewood" cookbook. It was delicious! Saffron rice, oodles of veggies ranging from cauliflower to chickpeas to sweet potatoes, topped with toasted cashews and plain yogurt. It was the first time we had tried this recipe, so it took us 90 minutes to prepare this dish, but I'm optimistic that we can cut that time down the next time we make it.

Thanks to Mom & Dad for giving me the cookbook for Christmas, I look forward to the next recipe we try!

94. Donate to MSF/ Doctors Without Borders

2010-01-18T09:13:00.000-08:00

I had been meaning to donate to Doctors Without Borders ever since Sophie and I toured their Refugee Camp in the Heart of the City. I believe that they do good work and they're already on the ground helping the people of Haiti. Their news updates page gives up to date info on the conditions they are facing in Haiti.

I called their busy donor relations line today and made a donation towards the earthquake relief effort. I was happy to know that my donation will be matched by CIDA (and so will yours if you donate before February 12, 2010.

I also just found out that Bamboletta Dolls is running a raffle to raise funds for Doctors Without Borders. They're raffling off two dolls plus assorted doll clothes and I just got myself a $10 ticket. They're already past the $4,500 mark!

Holiday Traditions Exchange

2009-12-10T23:46:00.000-08:00

This year, I participated in the Holiday Traditions Exchange organized by the creative and inspiring blogger Meg McElwee at Sew Liberated. In this exchange, you are matched with someone from around the world (most participants are in the US) and you are asked to send them:
1.) One handmade holiday decoration.
2.) Your family's favorite holiday recipe.
3.) A “Tradition” Tutorial. This is a description of one of your family’s special holiday traditions.

I know that my parcel has been received, so I can share what I sent to my partner (who, ironically, lives not too far away in Washington State!).

2 DVDs of Christmas Cartoon Classics, a Christmas Pop Mix CD, a copy of "The Gift of the Magi" by O. Henry, a fair trade chocolate bar, a sparkly Christmas necklace, and a recipe for Butterscotch Squares, plus:

The recipe for Aunt Lizzie's Peppermint Squares

Complete with diagram!

A pear ornament made using Retromama's pattern

A felt ornament with one of my first attempts at embroidery. Pattern from Fantastic Toys.

It was so much fun to reflect on my favourite holiday traditions while creating this package. Now I can't wait to see what arrives in the mail for me!

My cycling roots

2009-11-24T22:26:00.000-08:00

Thanks to my dad for scanning this awesome photo of Mom taking me for a ride on Quadra Island. I'd guess it's circa 1979. Good times.

My 1 year blogoversary!

2009-11-11T07:00:00.000-08:00

Yay, me! I've been writing this blog for one whole year now! This is my 40th post, which means I've almost reached the once a week blogging frequency. I've enjoyed having a place to share silly stories, document my progress on my 101 Things List, and show off some of the crafts I've been working on this year.

Here's to reaching 100 posts in year two of my blog!

What I learned in October

2009-11-02T13:17:00.000-08:00

Inspired by Amber's post at Strocel.com, I've compiled a list of things I've learned in the past month.

1. Sophie isn't scared of being surrounded by chickens.

2. If your kid is sick and you end up not going to the Island for Thanksgiving, turkey dinner at the White Spot is more depressing than a regular dinner at home.

3. Rain gutter shelving is easy to install and makes for a great display area for picture books.

4. There are at least one or two members of the younger generation in the Vancouver Quilters' Guild.

5. Canadians care about climate change. If you look closely at this picture, you can find my family in the Bridge to a Cool Planet march.

6. $650,000 can get you a 100 year old house in the Main St area that's falling apart at the seams (don't worry, we didn't put in an offer).

7. Giving a toddler a Sharpie isn’t always a bad idea.

8. The camera smile that Sophie flashes these days is definitely genetic.

9. I can sew Halloween costumes for Sophie. I also learned that you can fit two full quilts worth of batting under that bee tunic.

10. Group costumes are a lot of fun! Especially when you stay in character and solve the mystery of the missing emails! Jinkies!

Happy Halloween!

2009-10-31T09:07:00.000-07:00

We had our annual pumpkin carving night on October 29th. The soundtrack of the festivities, as always, was Michael Jackson's "Thriller" album. The taste sensation of the night were Kristi's strawberry tarts. Yum!

Sophie was a willing helper in the pumpkin gutting chore.

Kristi made a traditional pumpkin which Sophie was sure was angry.

We gave Sophie a Sharpie and let her go with a mini pumpkin. She really enjoyed "carving" her pumpkin while we were working on ours.

My pumpkin was Moishe, a monster from "Where the Wild Things Are"

Dean made the sea monster from "Where the Wild Things Are". We couldn't find it's name.

We've posted a set of our pumpkins over the years on flickr.

Blog Action Day 2009

2009-10-15T06:00:00.000-07:00

Today is Blog Action Day 2009 and the theme is climate change. My little blog is part of a global network of blogs that will touch on this topic today. As an eco-geek, an environmental educator, and the daughter of a man who's known as "The Carbonator" because of his work on carbon neutrality, I have a bit to say on the subject. I'm going to narrow my post to how I try to reduce my carbon footprint through using alternative transportation. Our family of three lives a car-free lifestyle by choice. Here's how we do it:

Walking, walking, walking. I live in a high-density urban neighbourhood with many amenities within walking distance. We walk to the library, the grocery store, the credit union, the bookstore, the video store, gym class, music class, and any number of coffee shops and sushi restaurants. I love getting where I need to go on my own two feet!

As you may have guessed due to the name of my blog, I like to ride my bike. In the past, it has been my main mode of transportation to and from work. The addition of a child to the mix has assuredly lowered the frequency of my bike trips, but we do get out and about with the bike trailer once in awhile.

My main mode of transportation when I'm getting around with my two and a half year old is the bus. The transit-savvy of you may have recognized the bee logo from the 99 B-Line bus that runs east-west along Broadway here in Vancouver. It's a great express bus, crowded at times, but gets me to many transfer points including the new Canada line skytrain.

When walking, biking, or bussing won't work, we book a car through the Co-operative Auto Network (CAN). I've been a member of CAN's car sharing network since 2002 and I love having access to a fleet of 230 cars throughout the city (and beyond!). I typically book the sedan that's a five-minute walk from my house, but I've also used their minivans, VW beetles, trucks and cars with bike racks.

For the really long trips (e.g. visiting my family in New York), we fly. Then we buy carbon credits. It's not a perfect solution, but it's something!

Now that you've heard my two cents, head over to Blog Action Day and read some of the other 8,000 bloggers' posts on climate change!

9. Personalize at least three onesies for new babies.

2009-10-04T23:36:00.000-07:00

I have now personalized three onesies for some little ones that have entered the world in the past year. The most recent one was ironed on and then embroidered around the edges and I was quite pleased with the results. I also made a matching pair of booties (they turned out really tiny!) and a burp cloth (sent them off before remembering to take a photo!). Such easy and fun projects!

Blog Action Day 2009 is coming

2009-09-30T14:33:00.000-07:00

Will you be blogging about climate change on October 15th? http://www.blogactionday.org/

Best bus ride ever!

2009-09-19T17:40:00.000-07:00

Dean, Janet, Sophie and I had the pleasure of riding on this vintage 1948 trolley bus today. It was in service to ferry people to and from the Dunbar Harvest Festival and we had perfect timing and caught a free ride! The driver was wearing a vintage uniform (complete with jacket and hat) and there were old ads inside the bus. I particularly liked the one for the Pirdle, a stylish form of underwear from the 60s. There was also a futuristic ad showing skytrain, sea bus and buses transporting their users into some unspecified future time period, perhaps 1987?

Our trusty bus gamely took us up the steep hill and we alighted with a spring in our step. Thank you, driver!

Found the image here in AaverageJoe's photostream on Flickr.

I've got a thing for...

2009-09-15T15:09:00.001-07:00

... cute shoes! I can't help it! I try to keep myself in check, but have been coveting adorable kids' shoes for a long time. Can't believe I've never heard of Puddle Jumpers Shoes before. Just came across them on a blog called Arnelle that is full of delicious design ideas. Check out these polka dots!

Do you think it's justifiable to buy a pair in every colour?

Happy 75th Birthday Tomie dePaola!

2009-09-15T07:04:00.000-07:00

Meeting Tomie dePaola

Back in August, I visited the Eric Carle Museum of Picture Book Art in Amherst, Massachusetts. Just as we arrived, we noticed a line-up in the lobby. It turned out that Tomie dePaola, author and illustrator of oodles of children's books, was just wrapping up a book signing. Thrilled by the serendipity of arriving just at the right moment, we hurried into the gift shop and got a copy of Strega Nona for Tomie to sign. Strega Nona is a story of a good witch who leaves goofy Big Anthony in charge of her magic spaghetti pot, resulting in spaghetti threatening the small Italian town. Sophie loves how the spaghetti escapes through the door of Strega Nona's house.

Anyway, after this long preamble, I wanted to say, "Happy 75th Birthday, Tomie dePaola!"

Yummy dishes

2009-09-09T23:07:00.000-07:00

I'm not quite sure why I'm drawn to these porcelain take-out dishes by Lorena Barrezueta of Brooklyn. I usually avoid disposable containers but these are handmade porcelain replicas of disposable containers, so now they become cool to me. I'm drawn to the pie plate that reminds me of all the delicious apple pies my dad has made over the years. I also like the circular take-out dish that is an exact replica of the aluminum ones the Chinese restaurant across the street uses.

You can also find samples and seconds of her wares on Etsy.

Patchwork mosaic

2009-09-08T23:15:00.000-07:00

I've been quilting since 1994, back in the olden days when we didn't have digital cameras. Fortunately, we got ourselves a newfangled camera in 2003 and haven't looked back. Here's a sampling of my more recent quilts. I used the mosaic maker at BigHugeLabs.com to create this image. I'll try to add more quilts to my flickr set at some point.

32. Bake a loaf of bread the old-fashioned way.*

2009-09-07T23:33:00.000-07:00

With some tutelage from a friend and the master recipe for boule from "Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day", I baked two loaves of bread today. They were things of beauty and I'm very proud. Can't wait to try again!

Loaf #2 (the one I flipped upside down while attempting to slide it into the baking dish. Fortunately, it turned out just fine!)

Loaf #1. I was so excited to bake my first ever loaf of bread that I forgot to dust the top with flour and slash the top with a pretty pattern. It still turned out good enough that Sophie was saying, "I want more of your bread! I want more of your bread!"

*I think I have fulfilled the spirit of this goal in that a yeast-risen loaf of bread was made in my kitchen. Granted, the recipe didn't call for kneading, but who knows, maybe I'll get crazy and try that kind of bread next!

Cooking with Kids

2009-08-25T16:45:00.000-07:00

"Pretend Soup" and "Salad People" are cookbooks for preschoolers by Mollie Katzen of Moosewood Cookbook fame. I have to return them to the library today but I haven't actually made any of the recipes in either book. This post is really just a reminder that I should get these books out of the library again. I have a feeling Sophie would love following the visual recipes and tasting the yummy treats like quesadillas and focaccia.

Elude: my fake YA novel

2009-07-28T15:42:00.001-07:00

I had some spare time, so I decided to take up the challenge from 100 Scope Notes and create a cover for a young adult novel. Here's how I did it:

CREATE YOUR DEBUT YA COVER
1 – Go to “Fake Name Generator” or click http://www.fakenamegenerator.com/
The name that appears is your author name.
2 – Go to “Random Word Generator” or click http://www.websitestyle.com/parser/randomword.shtml
The word listed under “Random Verb” is your title.
3 – Go to “FlickrCC” or click http://flickrcc.bluemountains.net/index.php Type your title into the search box. The first photo that contains a person is your cover.
4 – Use Photoshop, Picnik, or similar to put it all together. Be sure to crop and/or zoom in.
5 – Post it to your site along with this text.

Who is eluding what? I'll leave that to your imagination!

From Canada to India

2009-07-09T22:42:00.000-07:00

Not me, but one of my quilts. Over the weekend, I put together a small baby quilt to contribute to Craft Hope's Project #3. Craft Hope is a love inspired project designed to share handmade crafts with those less fortunate around the world.

I came across Craft Hope in my daily blog reading and wanted to contribute. My quilt will be going to help the babies at an Indian orphanage.

I wanted the fishy fat quarter to stay intact so you could see the large fish pattern, so I simply surrounded it with colourful squares.

Instead of using batting and creating a quilt that might be too warm for the climate, I simply sewed a snuggly flannel backing to the cotton top of the blanket and I'm happy with the light, yet cosy, result.

I'm sure the good folks at Craft Hope have more ideas and I'll be keeping my sewing machine at the ready for future projects.

Our wedding tree over the years

2009-07-06T22:36:00.000-07:00

On July 7th, 2002, we planted a redwood tree to celebrate our wedding the day before. The tree started out at waist height and is now well over our heads seven years later. We've taken an annual picture with the tree and today I put together a series of these photos for your enjoyment (note the arrival of Sophie in 2007). Unfortunately, I didn't have digital copies of the photos from 2002 and 2003 (the dark ages before we had a digital camera!), so they're missing from this compilation.

Aunt Kristi was kind enough to babysit for us tonight so we enjoyed a lovely dinner out and a long walk on the beach to celebrate seven years of marriage. I love you, Deano!

68. Convince Dean to recycle box of old Peaks.

2009-05-11T13:19:00.000-07:00

Ever since university (I graduated in 2000 and Dean in 2002), we've been lugging a cardboard box of student newspapers from apartment to apartment. They've survived four moves and each time I've wondered why we were keeping them. I didn't read The Peak even when I went to SFU, and I only occasionally thought the student-drawn comics were funny. Finally, this March, in a fit of culling, Dean decided he was ready to part with the Peaks. Thank you, Deano for helping me to tick a goal off my 101 Things list!

93. Train for and participate in the Sun Run.

2009-05-05T13:24:00.000-07:00

My dear friend Janet convinced me to join her in the Vancouver Sun Run this year and I am proud to say that we both ran the whole 10 kilometres in one hour and 12 minutes! I started training in mid-January and followed a great program that gradually increased my running segments while decreasing the amount of walking I was doing. I kept to a 3 runs/week schedule and did many runs with Sophie in the jogging stroller at the beach.

Here we are on race day, gathering with the rest of the 55,000 participants:

The crowds were amazing, a sea of people in every direction:

Dean, Sophie, Mom, Dad & Kristi (taking this photo) came to cheer us on at the 5.5km mark:

The 45 second video Kristi took while running alongside of us:

Runners coming over the Burrard St Bridge:

Minutes after completing the run, I think we look pretty darn good!:

4. Make Sophie a skirt using Oliver + S's lazy days skirt pattern.

2009-05-05T12:58:00.000-07:00

I'm very excited about this cute skirt I made for Sophie using the free Lazy Days Skirt Pattern by Oliver + S. I found the 70s style ABC trim for $1/3m and couldn't resist! This is the first garment I've made for Sophie and it came together in about three hours. It was so satisfying to make that I've got another one in the works!

Thanks to Soule Mama for the inspiration to do this project. You can see other items people have made using Oliver + S patterns in their Flickr group.

I'm glad I'm NOT the girl in this book!

2009-04-30T16:08:00.000-07:00

I had to share this blog post that Janet shared with me that has pictures of the entire book, "I'm glad I'm a boy!: I'm glad I'm a girl!" by Whitney Darrow. It's so bad you can't believe it and the worst part is that it was published in 1970!

I think I'd better go read Sophie "The Paper Bag Princess"!

Holly's Red Bike

2009-04-20T13:43:00.000-07:00

I feel that it is well past time that I introduce you to my bike. Seeing as I called this blog "Holly's Red Bike", I really have been lax in talking about biking. However, I only started writing this blog in rainy November and I haven't been cycling lately.

My bike is my "engagement ring". When Dean and I got engaged while SCUBA diving (another story I should blog about sometime!), I gave him a diving watch (since I was the one doing the proposing). Sometime afterwards, he took me on a hike up First Brother mountain in Manning Park, presented me with a bike catalogue and said I could have my pick. A bike in lieu of an engagement ring. Perfect! My shiny red Norco Monterey was my first bike since the one I bought when I was 12 with my allowance money. Riding my bike makes me happy and I love living one block from the bike route.

I just got my bike tuned up for spring last Friday. On Saturday (when this photo was taken), we went on a family bike ride to "Bike the Blossoms" as part of the Vancouver Cherry Blossom Festival. Vancouver has hundreds of beautiful cherry trees and Saturday was a lovely sunny day. A good time was had by all and it felt fabulous to be back riding my red bike!

11. Knit or crochet a hat.

2009-04-01T23:51:00.001-07:00

This soft and sweet hat was delivered to a sleepy little three-week-old boy today. The pattern is called "simple hat" from "baby knits for beginners" by Debbie Bliss. I used US size 6 needles (4mm diameter) and just under one 50g ball of sage Rowan cashcotton dk (doubleknit) yarn that had 18% angora and 9% cashmere in it to make the hat super cosy.

I started this hat on double pointed needles about five times. I wasn't getting the results I wanted and I still haven't figured out how to use dpns. However, when I pretended the dpns were regular needles, all went well. I made the 6-9 month size because this baby was 9lbs 7oz at birth and I figured he'd be growing fast.

Now I can't wait to start another knitting project! (but I've got a quilt and a hanky in the works, so I'd better finish those up first!)

Hooray for pysanky!

2009-03-26T23:29:00.000-07:00

For years and years, I've been writing pysanky at Eastertime. For those not in the know, pysanky are Ukrainian eggs decorated using a wax resist method. It requires patience, attention to detail and a good dose of persnickety-ness to do them well. Fortunately, I have all those qualities in spades (granted, the patience is an on-again, off-again thing with me!).

I made the egg in the above photo in March 2008 and I can't wait until Good Friday to do a new batch. I bought ten different coloured dyes from the local craft store and I just know some fabulous eggs are ready to be created!

Just in case you haven't seen enough pysanky yet, here's one with a rooster design that I did back in 2005 to share with my primary students. Yes, I have even taught pysanky to five-year-olds!

In 1492...

2009-03-10T21:15:00.000-07:00

Today, I taught a Gr 4/5 class that was preparing for a test on explorers. I was teaching basic studying skills; how to predict questions and write out flashcards (surprisingly, not all of them got the concept of question on one side, answer on the OTHER side!).

One boy was preparing a few key facts about Christopher Columbus (country of origin: Italy, area explored: Bahamas, Cuba) and he got stuck on date of exploration. "1497?" he guessed. I told him he was close, but said, "In 1492, Columbus sailed the ocean blue." "That's what the sub we had last week said!" he exclaimed. What a coincidence!

22. Replace annoying blinds in front room.

2009-03-05T14:08:00.000-08:00

Our old cloth vertical blinds that were too long for the window and dragged on the sill every time you opened the blinds are finally gone! Goodbye annoying blinds and hello beautiful new wooden horizontal blinds! The new blinds are stylish and functional. Blinds that actually block out the light of the streetlamp that's directly outside the bedroom, what an idea!

The front bedroom before (note the gap-tooth effect where one blind had broken):

The front bedroom after:

Master bedroom before (note the two different types of blinds):

Master bedroom after (ah, consistent window treatments!):

Sliding glass door before:

Sliding glass door after (sorry, I didn't get a shot with the blinds down):

38. Find 3 new ways to get vegetables into Sophie.

2009-02-21T16:46:00.001-08:00

Ok, so Dean found this one, but I thought I'd add it to my list, since I was the one that fed it to Sophie! This is a fruit juice that has some veggie juices added to it so you can sneak veggies into your diet. Sophie happily downed a watered-down version of this juice, so I consider my goal 33% done.

20. Get carpet cleaned.

2009-02-07T23:31:00.001-08:00

Technically, #20 on my list has been done. Much dirt has been removed from our carpets. Unfortunately, this before photo of Dean attacking the nasty coffee stain with the Rug Doctor doesn't have a picture perfect after photo to accompany it. That stain is deeply set and won't be going anywhere soon without some heavy duty chemicals. Any miracle solutions would be appreciated!

A poster that made me smile

2009-02-07T23:23:00.001-08:00

Sharing a lovely poster by Nick Dewar that was featured on ReadyMade as part of a salute to the Federal Art Project that was started by FDR during the Depression.

93. Train for and participate in the Sun Run

2009-01-19T23:20:00.000-08:00

Progress update on my 101 Things to Do List. Janet has inspired me to start training for the Sun Run this year and we're going to follow an online training schedule so we'll be fit as two fiddles by April 19th.

Today was Day One and I followed the strenuous instructions to the letter. 30 seconds of running followed by 4.5 minutes of walking, repeat seven times. I bundled Sophie up into the jogging stroller (she insisted on wearing her bike helmet) and we braved the patches of snow and soupy fog and dark (by the end of the run, I needed my Indiglo on my watch to read the time). Intrepid joggers, we are!

My plan is to do two runs a week with Sophie and then to meet up with Janet for a weekend run. Hopefully writing this down on my blog will help me stick to my plan!

Begone blueberry stains!

2009-01-19T16:25:00.000-08:00

I just have to share this stain removal tip since I used it and it actually worked! (a rare occurrence for me) My nearly-able-to-drink-by-herself 22 month old was enjoying her blueberry/raspberry/banana smoothie and got some on her beloved owl jacket (see the SuperFly Lullabies on Etsy).

I watched this video and did exactly what it told me and the stains magically went away!

How (part of) Trisha's quilt went on a trip to Australia

2009-01-14T22:29:00.000-08:00

Back in the fall, when I was working on Trish & Erik's wedding quilt, I ran across some photos of an amazing dress made of selvedges. (If you're not in the know, selvedges are the little strips at the edge of a bolt of fabric that show the designer and the colours used in the fabric.) I cut off the selvedges from the huge piece of green backing fabric because I had a feeling that the amazing dressmaker would be looking for more selvedges in future.

To most people, selvedges are to be thrown away. To Jodie, they are treasure. So, I'm packing up four metres of selvedges and sending them off to Australia so she can create another stunning piece like this:

Check out Jodie's blog for more selvedge projects and lots of photos of the amazing dress. P.S. Jodie, if you're reading this: "Hi! and thanks for getting me inspired to blog about my quilting!"

Scanning Code of Practice

2009-01-04T17:42:00.000-08:00

Today's post is a public service announcement about the Scanning Code of Practice. This is a voluntary code put into place by many large Canadian retailers (mostly grocery stores) that says you're entitled to a free product of up to $10 value if your item scans in wrong. You can read this post about the scanning code of practice on paulyblog for more details.

My personal story about this code has to do with jellybeans. I bought some bulk jellybeans from Safeway last month and the $25.68/100g seemed pricey to me, even for those gourmet beans. The bag came out to around $6 and after checking the posted price with the cashier, I was refunded in full. Woo hoo, free jellybeans!

So, next time you see the sticker at a grocery store indicating that they comply with the Scanning Code of Practice, check your receipt and speak up for free food!

101 Things To Do in 1001 Days

2009-01-01T19:22:00.000-08:00

Holly's 101 Things To Do in 1001 Days

Start date: November 30, 2008
End date: August 28, 2011

It's the start of a new year and I'm joining the bandwagon by posting my 101 Things list. See Day Zero for more info about what it is and how to make your own. I'm pre-dating my list to November 30th, 2008 since I've been writing my goals for over a month and I ended up accomplishing five of them before posting the full list.

Crafty
~~1. Make a quilt for Mia's baby by May 2009. (July 2009)~~
2. Make at least 10 fabric gift bags (some holiday, some general).
3. Make fabric covered thumbtacks and at least 20 fabric covered button magnets using the idea from Jessica Jones' How About Orange blog.
~~4. Make Sophie a skirt using Oliver + S's lazy days skirt pattern. (April 2009)~~
5. Make a new ironing board cover ala Marmadaisy.
6. Design my own fabric and get it printed up at spoonflower.com
~~7. Take part in an online quilt block exchange (virtual quilting bee).~~
8. Enter a quilt in a quilt show.
~~9. Personalize at least three onesies for new babies. (one for Maddy given Dec. 23/08, one for Cate given Jan. 22/09, one for Arwen sent Oct. 2/09)~~
10. Attend a knitting night at Urban Yarns.
~~11. Knit or crochet a hat. (April 1, 2009)~~
12. Make stockings for Holly, Dean and Sophie to keep in our home.
~~13. Make Sophie a pair of flannel pjs for Christmas.~~
14. Make a tree skirt for our Christmas tree.
15. Clear out my fabric stash by making a scrappy quilt for use as a picnic blanket.
~~16. Finish the green sweater I'm knitting for Sophie before her second birthday. (Dec 25/08)~~
~~17. Give Trish and Erik their belated wedding quilt. (Dec. 26/08)~~

Home Projects
~~18. Get Sophie her own bedroom and bed with rails.~~
19. Get a repairman to fix the dishwasher door that I broke when I fell on it.
~~20. Get carpet cleaned. (Feb 2009)~~
~~21. Get new flooring.~~
~~22. Replace annoying blinds in front room. (Mar. 5/09)~~
~~23. Replace track lighting in kitchen.~~
~~24. Buy an artifical Christmas tree for Christmas 2008. (Nov. 30/08)~~

Travel
~~25. Take a road trip to Seattle and visit the Pike Street Market.~~
26. Take a day trip to Bowen Island.
27. Visit the Brackendale eagles at their peak. Eagle viewing is at its peak from mid-December to mid-January but significant numbers of eagles may be present from mid-November to mid-February.
28. Take Sophie to Long Beach.
29. Hike The Chief.
30. Visit Leavenworth, Washington in December (see a concert or A Christmas Carol).

Cooking/Baking
~~31. Make Aloo Gobi. (July 23/11)~~
~~32. Bake a loaf of bread the old-fashioned way. (Sept. 7/09)~~
33. Make cut out sugar cookies with flood fill icing.
34. Use dried chickpeas in a recipe instead of the ones that come in a can.
35. Take a cooking course with Dean.
36. Try 10 new vegetarian dinner recipes. (#1: Cajun rice & beans, Feb. 14/09, #2: Vegetable Biryani, Jan. 19/10)
37. Make tomato soup using canned tomatoes and a blender.
~~38. Find 3 new ways to get vegetables into Sophie. (#1: Fruit plus Veggie juice, Feb. 20/09)~~
39. Make one kind of preserves (possibly pickles or antipasto).

Eco-Friendly
~~40. Buy food at farmers' markets at least 10 times.~~
41. Revive the worm compost.
42. Grow a garden on our balcony for at least one summer. Include at least one edible plant.

Clothing/Accessories/Stuff
43. Find and buy a red winter coat that makes me smile (and possibly twirl).
44. Get a new wallet.
~~45. Find comfortable, well-made black shoes to replace my eight year old Doc Martens.~~
46. Get a filter to protect the lens on our camera.

Experiences
47. Go ziplining in Sooke.
48. Go to Diwali celebrations.
49. Go to the letter writing club at the Regional Assembly of Text.
50. Eat at five new restaurants (including dinner once all by myself).
~~51. Take Sophie to the Family Musik "Jabberwocky" concert at UBC in January 2009.~~
52. Go to the Christmas event at Burnaby Village Museum.
~~53. Attend a sporting event at the Vancouver 2010 Olympics.~~
54. Go snowshoeing.
55. Go 10 pin bowling.

Geeky Stuff
~~56. Start my own blog and write five posts. (5th post written Dec. 6/08)~~
~~57. Find a solution to our video downloading issue.~~
58. Write a letter of appreciation to the librarians at the public library.
59. Update the music on my iPod.
60. Put some video and images on my iPod.
61. Download a podcast onto my iPod and listen to it while going for a run.
62. Get a TV connector cable for our videocamera.
~~63. Create a new website for the Vancouver City Lights Chorus~~
64. Participate in the 365 Photos in 365 Days challenge starting Jan 1st, 2009.

Practical/Organizing/Simplifying
65. Get a photobook of Sophie's first year printed up.
66. Get a photobook of Sophie's second year printed up.
67. Make DVDs of the home videos we have made since we got our new videocamera.
~~68. Convince Dean to recycle box of old Peaks.(March 21, 2009)~~
~~69. Make a will.~~
~~70. Go to an appointment with a life insurance broker.~~
71. Write up a list of weekly routines (Sophie's classes, visits to playgroup, groceries, meal planning, cleaning, etc).
72. Keep the house 15 minutes of cleaning from ready for visitors for a month.
~~73. Get our passports renewed before the big rush in summer 2009.~~
74. Make a list of contributions to Sophie's education fund.
75. Print up wallet-size recent photos of Sophie and distribute to grandparents.
~~76. Donate or recycle or throw out at least two boxes of stuff from my room at my parents' place.~~
77. Take the 50% challenge for one month.

Self Improvement
78. Write in my journal at least once a month.
79. Take either a web design or graphic design course.
~~80. Take a digital photography course.~~
81. Read five non-fiction books suggested by friends or family members.
82. Write an article for the TTOC column in the VESTA News (likely topic: handy things for teachers to file in the TTOC folder).

Family
83. Make Sophie some homemade Playdoh (use recipe from Green and Crunchy), find used Playdoh toys.
~~84. Take Sophie to drop-in gym at Kits Community Centre. (Dec 9/08)~~
~~85. Take Sophie to Little Nest.~~
~~86. Take Sophie to Baby Eats in North Van.~~
~~87. Spend a Christmas morning with Dean and Sophie in our own home.~~
88. Write a letter to Melissa at Vassar (optional: send a DVD along with the letter).
89. Send Grandpa a DVD (of our choir's Christmas 2008 concert if I can get a copy).

Health
~~90. Resume yoga. Take a weekly yoga class for one term.~~
~~91. Attach bike converter for trailer to my bike. Take Sophie on a bike ride all by myself.~~
92. Use up fitness class credits at Bare Fit and Pregnant. (about 10 left as of Feb. 9/09)
~~93. Train for and participate in the Sun Run. (April 19, 2009)~~

Social Conscience
~~94. Donate to MSF/ Doctors Without Borders (inspired by seeing their Refugee Camp in the Heart of the City).~~
95. Decide how to donate my climate action dividend cheque.
~~96. Volunteer for an organization I've never worked with.~~
97. Volunteer to make quilts on Salt Spring with the Island Comfort Quilt Bee (usually in mid-late March).
98. On the 1001st day, donate $5 to charity for every goal not met.

Social
99. Host a Groundhog Day party including a viewing of the movie "Groundhog Day".
100. Go to a chick flick at the movie theatre with a group of girls (at least four others).
101. Have a sisters' day with Kristi.

Snowy snowy Christmas

2008-12-28T13:38:00.000-08:00

On Christmas Day, I had some fun clearing snow from the heavily-laden apple tree. It felt good to give the tree some help!

Yoga blooper

2008-12-16T23:43:00.000-08:00

I went to a yoga class last night after about a year and a half without yoga. I had really been missing the peace and relaxation that yoga brings me, and I thought going to a class would be a nice way to relieve the stress of the impending holidays.

As soon as I sat on my mat and heard the measured cadence of the instructor's words, I felt like I was home. I did my best to focus on my breath and let any thoughts about my day just slip past. This is very difficult, however, and I continually found myself distracted. Probably the worst yoga faux pas was when I was in the final relaxation pose and I found myself thinking, "I'm enjoying this so much, I'll have to blog about it!" Maybe that means I need to go to more yoga classes in the new year. Or maybe I should write more blog posts?

Umbrella Karma

2008-12-10T23:38:00.000-08:00

Way back in October I lost my red umbrella on the bus. Since then, I've broken our only remaining umbrella as well. I don't know what happened, the blue umbrella just exploded in a shower of plastic and metal bits and it made its way to the dumpster soon after. We've been living through the Vancouver fall umbrella-less. This is not the most practical thing to do in a city that is located in a rainforest zone.

My environmentalist frugal side was considering buying a long lasting but very expensive handmade (here in Vancouver!) umbrella from The Umbrella Shop. My lazy side nearly bought a $10 forest green umbrella at Safeway the other day. Fortunately, I couldn't quite face the idea of having a forest green umbrella and I put it back into the display case.

Tonight the great umbrella gods offered up a solution. As I sat down on the bus, I noticed that the door wouldn't close because someone's red umbrella was stuck in it. That someone didn't seem to be around and I quickly called dibs. I am beyond pleased to have a new red umbrella!

Winner winner, chicken dinner!

2008-12-06T00:10:00.000-08:00

Dean's work had their annual Christmas party tonight and the theme was Monte Carlo Casino. They had roulette and poker and, my favourite, blackjack. At first, we had no idea what we were doing (I'd never stepped up to a blackjack table before), so we observed several hands without betting.

After a while, we cashed in our $10,000 tickets and started to bet with our fake money. It turned out to be lots of fun and I do have to say that I was raking in the chips. It's so much fun to play with poker chips and stack them into neat little piles! Dean's little piles got a bit decimated, but mine were growing strong when they announced the last two hands. I bet $3000 and first drew a queen, who was shortly met by a lovely ace, giving me 21 and a two to one payout! I put $3K on the table and took back a sweet nine thousand. Woo hoo! What a great way to end a fun night!

Tripping Hazard

2008-11-23T23:34:00.000-08:00

I'm still sore from this escapade, so please don't laugh too hard at me. I squeezed into the kitchen past the open dishwasher door (when opened, our dishwasher prevents the fridge door from being opened and nearly blocks off entry to our tiny kitchen). I started helping Dean with some kitcheny task and then the phone rang. Completely forgetting that the dishwasher door was still blocking my exit from the kitchen, I ran for the phone, tripped over the dishwasher and went down like a gangly tree.

Fortunately, I seem to have hurt the dishwasher more than it hurt me. Our GE Potscrubber's door is nearly off its hinges and we were barely able to get our clean dishes out of it. As for me, I have a small bruise on my arm and some sore muscles. I feel lucky overall and plan to move a little more slowly and deliberately in future.

Objects in mirror may be dumber than they appear

2008-11-19T23:16:00.000-08:00

I have an embarrassing story to relate. And then I have to write another post and tell you a second embarrassing story. Sheesh, this isn't how I expected my blog to look! (note to self: stop doing silly things, at least for a couple days!)

On Tuesday night, I booked a car from CAN (the Cooperative Auto Network) so I could drive to a Vancouver Craft Mafia "Make a Christmas Gift for Someone" night. I turned on the car, but the dashboard didn't light up and neither did the lights indicating which gear you're in. This had happened to me once before when I was driving Janet home at night and I'd driven with the interior light on the whole way.

This time, I called the CAN office to report the problem and told them that no amount of fiddling with the dimmer switch would cause the dashboard to light up. I spoke to a CAN employee for five minutes and he promised to email their mechanic about the problem. Just as I was about to hang up, he asked me, "You've got the headlights on, right?" and I replied, "Of course!" while double-checking. And at this moment I realized I did not have the headlights on and this possible fuse problem was actually a problem between the steering wheel and the driver's seat (link to geeky reference).

Etsy goodness

2008-11-15T18:52:00.000-08:00

I'm having so much fun getting to know the online craft fair that is Etsy. So far, I've purchased some beautifully illustrated letter press cards, a cool t-shirt with collective nouns on it (fun ones include a parliament of owls and a crash of rhinos), a colourful new camera strap that makes me smile each time I look at it, and some supplies for crafting (project to remain secret until after the holidays). The creative people on Etsy are inspiring and they give this environmentalist non-shopaholic some serious urges to go wild with my PayPal account. Plus, you can list favourite items in your profile like your own personal wish list.

If you haven't seen Etsy yet I'd highly recommend it. Try it, I dare you!
Credits: card by sweetbeets
t-shirt by Xenotees
camera strap by Straps By Leslie