Wooden Basket

My daughter likes to collect unusual art.

A while back she bought this interesting handmade basket at an antique shop.

It can lie flat - or even hang on the wall...

Or open up to hold things. 

Handmade by CKW!

I love it!

Favourite Store

We all have our favourite stores.

This is one of mine..

I could happily shop in every department...

The joy of creativity, of making things! To me, this store sells JOY!

Learning More

My grandfather was a carpenter - who built houses and barns - and, in his latter years had a "sash and door" business, making windows and doors.

Here is one of the barns he built 100 years ago. It's still in use! I visited it last winter in Edmonton.

My brother hung around our grandpa's workshop after school - but I stayed away from the buzzing saws. Too dangerous! (Though fun to watch from a distance.)

So it's not surprising that I've never done any crafting in wood - though I do have an electric sander and have refinished tables, chairs, and old pine cupboards.

Recently - in my winter decluttering - my attention turned to this hand-made wooden duck, a gift to my parents from a visiting cousin.

Would my kids like it?

Who is the artist? Ron Sadler.

Online... I discovered that Ron Sadler had made many beautiful wooden birds which he sold in his Ontario woodworking studio. 

His passion must have been birds ... and wood. Beautiful!

Interesting Sweater Design

My son recently sent me a photo of this sweater that he saw on Reddit, his favourite online news source.

When I did an online search of skeleton sweaters, there were quite a few out there.

Was it a popular item for Halloween?!

There's even a pattern for a more subtle crocheted version - of just the ribs.

Speaking as s former high school teacher... it could be an interesting item for teachers to have in their wardrobe. It would definitely generate discussion!

Interesting - and educational - to be reminded of what's under the skin!

Crafty Card Ideas

Recently I was inundated with Christmas card ideas on Pinterest...

Triangles were the basis of a few...

Like these Christmas trees ...

And these reindeer cards...

Old sheet music was recycled for a few.

So many great ideas... if you like making cards!

Midwinter Break from the Ordinary

A few weeks ago, the priest at our neighborhood Anglican Church sent out an email about a one-day Ottawa-wide church conference called You Are Leaven. I signed up to go.

I didn't know what to expect... but it "called my name"! I knew I needed this!

So out we drove into the country one Saturday, a few weeks ago... to a little church in Winchester, Ontario. 

(As an aside, for those who know the name, Winchester is the hometown of George Beverly Shea - a singer of my mother's generation. Throughout his lifetime he returned to a cottage in the area.)

The day's program was organized and led by instructors from the Anglican Studies Department at St. Paul University in Ottawa - where Terry studied counseling when we first moved to Ottawa.

The day was wonderful! There was art... ("doodling prayer")... Singing... Great food... An introduction to writing a "spiritual autobiography." Also an interesting discussion on change, and why it's sometimes hard.

Sometimes - especially in winter - I need to do something totally different... This was just what I needed! A week later, I was still basking in the glow!

Joy in ...Colour!

I'm currently going through the photos stored on my cell phone - deleting a lot of them ... because I just have too many!

But when I came across this picture from an Instagram post, I stopped ...

I probably shared it on my blog before. I agree with what it says. BUT the COLOURS of these granny squares fill me with such energizing joy... I could just bask in it!

I wonder what research says about the POWER of COLOUR!

Crafting 🩷

I could really identify with this "definition " from Bernat Yarn company... They know their customers!

I don't mind doing laundry - the machine does most of the work! I'm just the helper. But I'm happy to "pro-craft-inate" when it comes to cooking ... and especially cleaning the house!

Back to Painting

My "paint time" in the basement of the Anglican Church in Almonte has resumed after a summer break.

It was interesting to hear what people had done over the summer.

My project of the afternoon was a sunset scene  based on a photo I took a few weeks ago (above).

Together with a few other paintings, it's now sitting up on the piano as I wonder whether it needs more work - or whether it's done.

More Crochet!

In response to my blog post on doilies, my daughter sent me this picture of a crocheted sweatet she came across...

Doilies may not be as popular as they once were - but crocheted clothing isn't going away!

Needle Felted Seal

On our last pottery session, the potter who first told me about the craft of needle felting brought her little felted creature to show me.

It's a harbour seal.

The kit was made by a Canadian crafter in Western Canada.

I immediately went out in search of a needle felting kit to do as well... and bought a kit to make this felted bird. (I later bought this little bird house to go with it!) The kit I bought was made in Scotland.

I haven't finished it - I haven't glued them in yet. I'm  wondering what to do. 

The little bird isn't as solid as I'd like it to be... My daughter suggested that I pull it apart  and start over. That's pretty drastic!

Sometimes, when I don't like a craft project I'm  working on, I put it away and work on something else for a while - to get a fresh perspective on it when I return to it.

Now that my pottery session is over, I'll hopefully have more time to figure out how to proceed. 

New Craft Project

Sometimes it only takes a comment!!!

One of the potters in the studio mentioned she had spent the weekend doing a "needle felting" project... A teddy bear... It had come as a kit...

Needle felting?! Not sure I knew what she was talking about...

So later, I looked it up online...

Here was a craft I had never heard about! 

So I headed over to a large yarn store in my neighborhood and found a kit that claimed to be "easy peasy"...

All supplies are included. I plan to give it a try!!

Starting a "Temperature Blanket"

A few days ago, I sorted through my yarn stash for colours suitable for a "temperature blanket." I didn't have time to go through ALL my yarn - but it occurred to me that I only needed three or four colours for cold temperatures to start. I expect it will stay cold for a few months. That will give me time to hunt for "warmer" ones.

I'm planning to do three rows a day, marking the high and low temperatures of the day, then adding a third row in the middle: white, if it snows; and yellow if the sun is shining!

If I do that, I'll end up with an afghan comprised of  365 X 3 = 1095 rows! Will that be too long? I guess it depends on the thickness of the yarn.

(Perhaps I'll end up making two - if it gets too long!)

I decided to crochet the "Alpache Tears" pattern - one of my favourites for combining a variety of colours. I've used the above version for years, for many scrap afghans. 

But there are other variations of the pattern, too, like this one by Sarah London.

In the end, I  decided to stick with the one I know best?!

So many things to decide!

New Crochet Project

Most afternoons and evenings, I spend a few hours knitting and crocheting. Then an hour or two before bedtime, I do several online word puzzles - "quordle", "sedecordle" and "octordle". Then I play a game or two of "Patchwork" to clear my mind and put myself in sleep mode. It's a routine...

So... having finished my most recent crochet project, I needed another. Fortunately my upstairs "studio" has an abundance. So I pulled out a crochet kit I had bought a while back from Mary Maxim..,

 

And I've begun!

So far, I'm enjoying it. I love to watch it progress - so I have to pace myself. If I do too much, I develop hand pain... and I don't want that to happen!

The Joy of Creativity

I noticed this instagram post - because of the colours, especially the orange! It's so cheerful! 

Then I read the blurb: when we work with our hands doing crafting, gardening and so on, our hands trigger the release of chemicals that produce happiness in our brains...

These are called "effort driven reward cycles"...

A good reason to encourage children to be creative and to do more things for themselves... There's JOY in ACCOMPLISHMENT.

Maybe adults need to do more, rather than less, as we get older... After all, we want to be happy, too!

An interesting thought!

Mary's Winter Quilting Project

I don't talk to neighbours much over the winter, but I happened to hear that, while I've been trying to master mosaic crochet, my neighbour, Mary has been busy quilting. 

Send me some pictures, I asked her - and tell me about the project. 

This is what she shared:

Late last year, when my friend here in Ottawa found out that our friend's daughter in western Ontario was having a baby, I suggested that I could make a quilt.

The pattern is from a quilt designer in Winnipeg with a company called The Blanket Statement (https://theblanketstatement.ca/).  I really liked the pattern in general for a larger quilt but when it came to the baby quilt size, the pattern was turned sideways and not logical for me who likes symmetry.  So I changed the look a bit.

The quilt is made from one single patch x 12 turned in various directions.  The finished product is approximately 36 x 48 inches (92 x 122 cm).

I really didn't want to make a pink quilt in this day and age but we found out that they had already painted the baby's room in a light pink.  I also didn't want to make the quilt too babyish since she is only having one child. My hope is that it can be used as a lap quilt (or blankie) for several years. 

Gorgeous!

Mosaic Knitting and Crochet

I've been plodding along on my latest crochet project - an afghan in "mosaic overlay" crochet. My modest goal is two rows a day.

Now, on Pinterest, I've noticed a shawl in "mosaic knitting." 

Not sure what that is. I guess I'll have to read the article! But I think I'll wait till I'm further along with my current project.

I have way too many unfinished projects waiting to be done.