Kitty witty

Posted by – 24/01/2012

I find it strange that I have never blogged this picture before, but I went through my archives and couldn’t find it. It’s silly old Rose. She sits on my yarn bins while I’m sewing and fills me in on all her news. You know, she drives us bananas with all her meowing but I am still very fond of her.

20120124-210543.jpg
That is her. Although if her mouth was open she would be more recognizable.

Here is a picture that made me laugh for a long time and forced me to attempt the same pose. You should do the same.

20120124-210719.jpg
So awesome, right? Prada, you’re killing me.

Stash building

Posted by – 10/01/2012

I got some delicious fabric in the mail today that I thought I’d share. Like most quilters, new and beautiful fabrics are very hard to resist for me. Pink Chalk was (and still is?) having a big sale and I picked up a couple pieces.

20120110-201244.jpg

Hmm, so the one at the bottom, it is navy blue with green twiddles on it, that is by Amy Butler from her latest line, Lark. Ditto the red wavy fabric, top right. The two pink pieces are Heather Bailey, Nicey Jane. The green and the aqua swirly fabrics are by Khristian Howard. The light purple with chairs and chandeliers is a Lecien print.

20120110-201632.jpg

I’m pretty happy with how nicely these two go together. Funny, I only ordered the purple because it was so cheap-$2.74/yd-and it turns out I like it best.

Now I have to find a purpose for them. I’m not yet 100% on board with the Farmer’s Wife quilt along, and I have already made quilts for everyone I love most (barring those who can make their own quilts, Libs). Suggestions?

Happiest of new years

Posted by – 31/12/2011

I wanted to wish my loyal friends and readers a safe, happy and most importantly healthy new year. This cake will be demolished after supper (roasted lemon chicken, roasted Brussels sprouts and cauliflower, boiled mini potatoes). With cake it’s the taste that counts, right?

20111231-144951.jpg
I embarrassed myself twice last night. Sometimes I wish I wasn’t so quick to blush. Both happened at the movie theatre where my boss and I were to see the new Mission Impossible movie. If you were considering it, it’s pretty good. Of course all I can think about is Tom’s one giant tooth and his Xenu inspired $10million bunker he had built at his home in Telluride. Ok, so the embarrassment: the theatre was sold out and we got second row seats at the side of the theatre. No one sat in front of us until the very last minute when a couple mid twenties dudes came along and one said “I wonder why no one has sat here, what is wrong with these seats?” and I cleverly said “oh, we peed on them.” Then laughed like a maniac while dudes just stared at me and politely chuckled. Which spurred me into saying “JUST KIDDING!”.

Luckily the previews started quickly after that but I think I must have been still feeling stupid because I almost did pee on my seat I was laughing so hard at The Dictator. I re watched that preview when I got home and it wasn’t as funny the second time.

You can’t take me anywhere.

Traveller

Posted by – 07/12/2011

Long time no blog, sorry. My writing juices runneth low of late. I blame George R.R. Martin and his incredible books. Never in my life have I ever-I mean it, ever-read any fantasy books or period books. These are both and I’m somehow completely absorbed. I’m only 121 pages into the second book, A Clash of Kings, and loving it. And yes, I saw the HBO series, hello, Sean Bean!

And we have done some traveling. I don’t have a camera so I can’t post anything. I have tan lines, that’s about it. Well, that and I love Mexico, I plan on living there some day.

In crafting news, I finally figured out what to do with all those vintage sheet squares I cut with no plan: a traveller! Yes, I realize I didn’t put it together using traditional techniques, but I do think I’m close enough. It looks very perky and girly me. I won’t talk about how strip piecing nearly drove me bananas, my stitch ripper got a workout.

20111207-192931.jpg

Shannon’s camera did something weird with the focus and colour and I have no real way to correct that, sorry. The centre square is pink, as are the murkier looking solid squares interspersed with white squares. The back will be pieced, naturally, which is what I’m in the middle of figuring out.

In personal news, way too personal news, I got a pad stuck in my hair last night. A sign, perhaps, that it is time for a hair cut.

Scrapping

Posted by – 18/11/2011

I’ve started yet another quilting project: the Farmer’s Wife Sampler Quilt. It’s a pretty amazing book full of stories and 111 different 6 inch quilt blocks. Yes, 111. I’m not as ambitious as you may think and at the moment my goal is to make 80 of them which I plan to put together in a similar fashion to this beautiful quilt. Karyn, of The Workroom fame, proposed that we all do a quilt along starting in January but seeing as I am such a keener I’ve already finished 10 blocks, 8 you can see below.

20111118-132852.jpg

One I might re do. My issue with this book is that there are separate PDF files for each little square and I have very little interest in printing them one by one. None of them have measurements on them either so for now I am winging everything. Winging like mad and avoiding HST math. Then I have to figure out what colour sashing and who will be recipient. Oh, decisions, decisions. This and I have to finish 3 quilts for Ashley. And my vintage sheet quilt. And the tshirt quilt for Shannon. That can’t be it, surely?

In other news: still no heat here. Seeing as it was snowing in Toronto last night, it is pretty freaking cold inside. My feet were like ice and I had to give up sewing for the day. Boo.

I’m craving roti. Or a giant burrito. Hot, spicy, goopy comfort food.

Lentil Dahl

Posted by – 01/11/2011

I was just going to type out this recipe in notes and then it occurred to me that other people might enjoy it too. I wish I could give credit to the person I got it from, if you happen to read this and recognize the measurements, please tell me. That said, I have made some minor changes.

I like this recipe because it makes a reasonable amount, about three bowls. Of course if you ate it with rice you could make it go a lot further but I eat it as soup, on it’s own.

1 onion, diced
1/2 a green pepper, diced
1 carrot, diced
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 Tbsp ginger, minced
1/2 tsp turmeric
1/2 tsp coriander
1 tsp cumin
1/2 tsp garam masala
1/4 tsp cayenne
1 cup red lentils
2 1/2 cups broth

Sauté the onion, green pepper and carrot in some oil for about 4 minutes. Add garlic and ginger, cook another 2 minutes and then add all the spices and cook until really fragrant, another 2 minutes. Add lentils and broth, bring to a boil, lower heat and simmer until the lentils are soft, 15 minutes. Serve with a squeeze of lemon and maybe some chopped up cilantro if you have it.

It’s warming and delicious! I think, if you’re inclined, that adding other veggies, like spinach or peas or a tin of rinsed chick peas, would be very nice too.

A study in low contrast

Posted by – 01/11/2011

Dear Rose, please forgive me for ever saying that you are a useless grey rag. It’s just not true: you happen to be quite a useful grey rag and I am enormously proud of you. For the third time in your, what, 15? 16 is it now? years, you caught and killed a mouse. And you neatly laid it in front of the door I use most often, what a good girl you are!

20111101-140924.jpg

Now if only you could figure out how to make me coffee. Or toast, that’s easy.

Shnoogy.

Posted by – 27/10/2011

As it goes with friends that have babies, I basically move in one day a week to sniff and snuggle and to give mom 5 minutes to pee on her own. This little muffin is the latest Elliott on the scene and I like her very much. 10 days old today and it was my second visit. Meet Niamh Ava who is a party girl and rocks the house from midnight to 3 am every night.

20111027-175135.jpg

Waving! Already!

20111027-175217.jpg

Laughing. I told her about the great battle of Rob Ford and Marg Delahunty. Hilarious!

20111027-175321.jpg

Then I taught her how to whistle. She is pretty good.

20111027-175406.jpg

Then she posed for a silhouette which we gave to her mom. It was a good visit, we got a lot accomplished. Next week I’m teaching her to knit and how to rig a small sail boat. Should be fun!

Crosses

Posted by – 18/10/2011

Back from our romantic getaway for two, I’ve got the itch to get to work on projects that have been set aside. I find flickr to be a great source for inspiration and that is where I found this tutorial on a simple quilt pattern. My squares are bigger than the instructions but it seems to have come out evenly.

20111018-144600.jpg

I don’t know if it really is the right arrangement for this project. Eh, I will leave it on the floor for a couple days and think over…it seems a bit busy.

Obsessions of mine

Posted by – 08/10/2011

Lately, it seems, that I can’t have a day go by without listening to Lady Gaga. I know I’m a little old to be a fan and I’d never claim to be a little monster…out loud. Well. Ok, maybe I am one, what of it? She is GREAT. I wish there had been a musician with a similar message when I was a teenager. Every song on Born This Way speaks to me, the present and the past me. And it is a fantastic album all the way through. Sure I struggled with a few songs at first but as a whole it’s one of my favourite albums of all time.

Seriously. OF ALL TIME. That is alongside Prince, Zappa, The Who, Zeppelin and assorted musical soundtracks.

And you know what flipped me from being a casual admirer to a hardcore fanatic? Her performance on Howard Stern. Yep. Her interview was great but her lead in story to performing Edge of Glory, how and why it was written, and then singing it as a ballad (unlike the album version which is poppy and uptempo, like she did on the MTV video awards) was seriously emotional. It moved me. And I’m very confident that it wasn’t just me, I know that there are many Howard fans that love Gaga too now. If I knew how to see the embed code on this stupid iPad I’d make a link, but if you search “gaga Howard stern” it is the top result. The other song she did, Hair, was also great, a fantastic song.

Ok. So I’ve outed myself as a Gaga fan. What else do I love?

Oh yes, I love Arrested Development. It is the funniest series I have ever watched. The stupid thing is that I missed it entirely when it originally aired. I mean, I caught a few episodes here and there on satellite when I was living in Windsor, but it seems to me that it really needs to be seen beginning to end because there are a lot of jokes that carry from one episode to the next. Thankfully, all three seasons are on Netflix, that was how I watched it, basically on repeat, for a few months. Then I got these tattoos. I wanted them to be obvious to fans of the show (like the couple that was giggling behind me at the petting zoo at the CNE) but no super blatant like other AD tattoos I’d looked at online.

The first one, on my left calf, commemorates Buster’s pet turtle, Mother, that he got in a misguided attempt to make his own mother jealous. Mother dies from eating Uncle Father Oscar’s marijuana stash.

20111008-151713.jpg

The second is the seal that was from GOB’s wife (Crindy?) that he used in a magic show but had to be set free as it had gotten a taste for blood. Buster went swimming in the ocean against his mother’s wishes on his way to army and meets up with the loose seal (see? Loose seal=Lucille) who bites off his hand.

20111008-152135.jpg

I think I might get a few more, I have a bunch of very silly and hilarious ideas (jorts with analrapist on the banner maybe) but we will see. Oh, and darling Glennie did these at Pearl Harbor in Kensington Market in Toronto. She is super talented and fun and makes you feel like you have a new best friend at the end of your tattoo appointment.