COMFORT

I go to bed every night when it gets cold with a hot water bottle. I like mine bare so I get good and hot under the covers. (Keep it clean people.) But these hot water bottle covers are so fun. I found it while stalking Maggie Makes blog, but the tutorial is found at Patchwork.

I love blogs and tutorials. What did we ever do before the web.

OH CANADA

I live here now...
I know you think I'm joking, That's my dad standing there. Okay, now I'm lying, that's not my dad and we do get snow but it usually looks like this...

A lot less exciting huh? It's definitely dumped snow here, but it likes to blow away, really faaaarrrr away. The wind blows so hard that they have put up a wind gauge in Lethbridge.

Yes, that is a big wrecking ball blowing in the wind. Okay, okay, it is also a sculpture. I can never hold onto a lie very long, but let me tell you, the wind has blown so hard here that I have almost been blown back to school on my walk home. NO JOKE! The wind has also blown me across a skating rink. I hate the wind. It's ruined many ice cream cones.

After 20 years I have moved back to where I grew up, Southern Alberta.
Andre Salvador
Mike Basil Otto RappTo date a farmer who lives on property very similar to this...
Otto Rapp
He doesn't farm the coulee of course, he farms the land on top of his coulee. The flat stuff. It's very flat where I live. Strange after living among mountains for so long. And the city of Lethbridge isn't known for it's quaintness, but I'm determined to discover it. I know it's in there somewhere.

Luckily the mountains are only 45 minutes away. Alberta has some of the most beautiful wilderness you have ever seen.

I worked here for the summer...

Okay, I bailed after 2 weeks, but I still worked there!!! Waterton is a slice of heaven on earth and just an hour away.

Then there is Banff. It can feel like another world. Especially when you walk into the specialty shops and the Japanese shopkeepers shake their hands at you and exclaim, "I don't speak English."

"But, I'm in Canada....aren't I? Where am I?" It's very disconcerting.

Moving back has been surreal. But I will admit, something fills my heart when the Canadian border guards say, "Welcome home."

So there will be more to post about Alberta as I do my best to convince everyone to come for a visit.

STOCKINGS

Almost time to think about Christmas. Look at this amazing tutorial for stockings from Maggie Makes. The colors are so beautiful and non-traditional. I think I might have to make some. I'm pretty sure if my friend Paula likes it enough she'll have it made by this weekend. She is compelled to craft after all and the fastest crafter I have ever seen.

NEW CAMERA

Yep, I splurged and got a new camera. The photogs at work tried to convince me that I needed the Canon 7D. They are silver tongued canon convincers and I almost took the bait. But in reality, I have a lot to learn before I plunk down what to the photog world is a paltry sum of money for fairly good equipment. If I ever think I'm good enough to deserve the 7D, I'll spend, spend, spend. Instead I just spent, spent on the Canon T1i.

I took it out for a spin yesterday and WOW, I love the camera and can't wait till I take photos that I drool over. But this is what I have so far, using my dog as my muse.

Off to find the rock amongst the grain.

I think he smells it!

Where'd he go?

A chocolate lab rises from the gold.


Stand BACK.



I could only get this shot by faking I was going to throw a rock. How do people get pictures of dogs? When I move, he moves. I'm not going to lie, me + camera + dog = a frustrated agony.

PEARLS

I love this necklace featured on Style Me Pretty. I have no idea where I would wear it or what I would wear it with, but I really want to make one. Stephanie explains how she made it here and all I can think is, it would never occur to me to make something that looked so feminine, sheik and downright cool. If cosmic forces aligned and I had accidentally made this, I would think, "I want my money and my time back!" Sometimes it's easier to evaluate things when they are made by other hands.

Isn't she a pretty bride? She looks like Marisa Tomei.

GET DIRTY

Oh Roland . . . I don't know where I would hang this after I messed around with it, but I love the whole concept. A+!

THE WHITE HOUSE

I am homeless . . . I feel great! I can't believe it. On Tuesday I shed some tears as my sister and I hurriedly tried to shove every last bit of my life in our cars. I walked through the house alone, admired, got verklempt then drove away. Wednesday I found out the correct plumbing wasn't fixed, so after I signed my closing papers I had to go sit at my now SOLD house and wait as the plumber worked and thought, this house is still taking money from me! I walked through again after I handed over the check, locked the doors, dropped the key through the mail slot and shed no tears. Friday I did a drive by, yes I did. The driveway was filled with cars. The front door was open with people milling by and I thought, well, they get to deal with the bills and the spiders, and the weeds and the unfinished fence and the plumbing now. Not my problem. I am FREE!!

Until I buy another house. I've already decided my next house will be a lovely and warm and white. What!! you don't think white can be warm? I disagree. What do you think of these...

The above is from a show I love, Design Inc. They do such amazing stuff. I don't really want all white furniture because I'm the worlds largest slob, but I admire. From afar...

Check out that chandelier above, kind of hard to see, but so interesting.





Throw in some colorful rugs wowza! You've got amazing things happening.

Amy Butler has started home textiles and she is rockin' the rugs. I just want to lay across them.





I also found this company, Galbraith & Paul while looking for rugs tonight. Holy cow they rock my eyes! (words from my friend Jen, sort of). They design and make the textiles, lighting and rugs? themselves.


These lampshades are awesome. How fun would they be in a white house! I know.

And here they are actually making the fabric. I want to do this. Who does this? Please invite me over so I can learn your tricks and make my own stuff. Seriously. Nothing makes me want something less than when everyone else has it. So therefor, I should make my own. How high school I know. I should be ashamed, but I'm not.

QUILT BLOCKS

I'm packing up my house and finding things that haven't seen the light of day for a few years and I'm throwing a lot away. I'm not really a junk collector. However, I will probably never get rid of these quilt blocks. I started them 11 years ago when I moved to Oregon. I was bored and lonely and so to occupy my time I went out and bought fabric. Makes sense right?

But I'm not sure what to do. 11 years is a long time. Fabric has changed and I certainly wouldn't choose this fabric to make this quilt again. Should I finish it? Should I change out the fabric and start again? I'm inclined to think the fabric really isn't that bad. A couple little country designs never hurt anyone...except emotionally.

What do you think?

POOR BABY

What type of mother will I make. Look at my poor dog! This is what happens to him when he isn't allowed in the house in Canada. The mosquitoes try to carry him away while they suck him dry.

Many times my mom would say, "It's such a beautiful day, I'm sure Jasper would rather be outside."

"Wanna, bet." And I would promptly open the door and show him the great outdoors. "Here's your chance. Go be a free dog." His ears would instantly drop and he'd look at me like I was punishing him. So I would grab his collar and give it a little tug and in turn he would instantly go stiff legged, "NOOOOOOOO!!!!"

He hates being outside. If I sit outside in my backyard with him and a fly happens to land on his butt, he gets up and goes in, leaving me to my own devices. He's such a pansy.

Look at his poor swollen eyes.

And all down his snout. He must have had hundreds of bites.

"You did this to me." A dog can say a lot with his eyes. Swollen eyes say, you're a bad mother. Guilty....

RATS OF THE SKY

Love 'em or hate 'em, they are awesome in this stop animation. I want to do stop animation. I need to control the things I want to do because I never do any of them and it just gets depressing after a while.

Michael Stevenson did his film Pigeon Pilfer as a student at San Francisco State University. It took 60 pounds of clay. I wonder how much it cost him? Being an art student is expensive. What am I saying? Being a student is expensive!

Pigeon Pilfer from Michael Stevenson on Vimeo.

COLORED EDGES

How pretty. I kind of miss making business cards and I'm really loving colored edges. Especially this color green. Yum. I want to make something so I can color the edges, stack them and enjoy. I think one of the things I love most about Studio On Fire, aside from the jobs they print is the tips they give with their posts. It makes me feel smarter.

IT'S ABOUT TIME!! LITERALLY

I finally took the time today to stitch on my quilt. The last time I did it was when I was in Canada. Guess where I am now . . . in Canada again! Maybe I should stay and get the quilt done. I'm obviously too busy to finish it at home. Too many other things happening.

I really love this embroidery stitch; the two grays twisted together give it a nice depth. I think it is called a rope stitch? I'll have to refer to my notes when I'm home. Maybe that will motivate me to put the quilt higher on the totem pole of priorities. If I keep going at this pace The Lazy Organizer will have finished her quilt months before me. And she's self-confessed LAZY!!

JOHN HUGHES

Isn't is sad John Hughes passed away? Nobody made high school films like he did. And it isn't just because I was in high school when he made them. The best kiss ever was in Some Kind of Wonderful. Watts is so awkward and I remember slipping down in my theater seat when Keith grabs Watts' butt. I think I still would!



The music is killer as well. It gave the kiss even more impact. Hughes, or whomever, picked the greatest music for his films. He introduced me to Otis Redding in Pretty in Pink and I still have Try a Little Tenderness on tape. I think I found it in a second hand store.

I so wanted Andie to be with Duckie. He had the coolest shoes.

SELLING

So, I'm selling my house. It's kind of a bittersweet thing. If it sells I'll love paying off my student loan and car, but I will cry mucho tears when I hand over the keys. I've been here almost 7 years. I keep reminding myself, it's just a house, but it's my home. Sigh.

LIGHT FIXTURES

I desperately want this light fixture. I have for years, ever since I saw it on an HGTV design show. It's a bit more than I want to spend at this point in my life though. Maybe I should try and make one. How hard could that be?

ETERNITY TO FOLLOW

I saw Matt Dorfman's invite on Design Sponge today. How can you not love the story! Great design too. (Stupid blogger, you'll need to click on the image to read it, because of the size restrictions.)

NPR

I love NPR and I love creative people and I'm really loving little dioramas lately. 3d artwork in general. Here they are all combined in a piece of artwork done by Grady Mcferrin for an NPR calendar. I love how he does the leaves on the trees.


Here is some other stuff he's done. Awesome.

OVERHEARD

"You have really cute feet."
"Are you sure you're looking at my feet?"
"Ya, they are really cute, well . . . except this big toe"
"Uh huh"
"And this second toe has a weird curve to it."
"Yes. . ."
"But this third toe, it's really cute."

BEFORE AND AFTER

So I was looking at my yard when I first moved into my house this weekend and comparing it to how it looks now. Wow, I am amazing. Seriously? Is it bad to have too much self pride. I feel bad for the number of plants I killed in the process of getting it here though. May they rest in peace.

Before






After

I'M A SCIENTIST

Once again I'm stealing photos from Jen. It was my Birthday last week and my team did the best desk decor I've ever had. Nothing like having a scientist in your midst to make these dumb artists around here smarter.