HOOKING

Remember the hooked rug you did as a kid? I want to do one as an adult. I'm not sure when I'll fit it in my list of things to do, but now it's added and there it sits.

Maybe argyle?



Maybe one made out of old t-shirts? Found here.

Graphic?




Off to bed to dream about rugs, when I should be dreaming about finishing painting my kitchen cupboards.

STITCHING

I'm not the only one who is loving stitchery. Anna Maria Horner has a new needle works kit out.


It's like she pulled it right out of my brain.


I can't wait until house stuff is done so I can start stitching on a new quilt idea I have going.


I wonder if house stuff is ever done . . . technically . . .

RANGE HOODS

I love these range hoods and priced out a custom option at a local sheet metal shop...Folks, you can have one for at least $2000, I will be looking elsewhere. Why do prices always come in thousands?

TO A FUTURE MOTHER

Years ago, my sweet niece Jackie gave me a homemade card that had written on the front, "To A Future Mother". I thought of that card every Mother's Day and I can't tell you the number of times it made me tear up because I knew deep down in my heart I would never be a mother.

Well, what can I say. I was wrong. And today my eyes would well up every time someone talked about their mothers on TV because...I am one. And now I get to worry about things like, how do you cut the hair of a 5 month old and how much does it cost?

Oh the times, they are a-changin'.

Untitled from onbelay11 on Vimeo.

WHEN IS IT TOO MUCH?

Does liking and wanting good design make you spend more than you should? Should you always spend less, invest your money, travel or give to those more in need?

Let's use the bathroom faucet as a test subject. Should I get cheapest bathroom faucet out there? The same one that I lived with for the last 7 years in my little brick house? The one that worked just fine? The one that grew a lovely green sludge I couldn't clean underneath the plastic diamond? The one that costs $49.99?


Or keep the $380.88 faucet I got for $100?


Because truly, the function is the same.

How much is too much? I can't tell you how often I question my wants in life lately. Do you really need more than a warm dry house, clean clothes, good food and friends and family?

As Mike and I are remodeling his family house on the farm, I am amazed at the cost and all the purchases required. And that brings up the question a lot. Do we need it? Should we get it? Are we being extravagant? This is partly brought on by Mike not really caring what we get, just as long as I am happy, and will I stop asking him if he thinks it's pretty.

I've been trying to cut costs to lessen my guilt, like going with Ikea for the kitchen (still not cheap!), finding fixtures on Ebay, and generally spending all my spare time online trying to get deals. But it is still expensive and it shocks me. But here is my confession...I don't get the cheapest faucets out there, (see above). Nope, I want the prettier ones and I work like crazy to find it cheaper than retail.

But why am I spending so much time finding and buying this stuff. To paraphrase Tom Shadyac, "Does taking care of stuff make you happy? We don't need to take more than we need." (Well, we do need a faucet, but is my life better because I got the prettier one?)

But what can I say, I do love a well thought out design. Here is a very beautiful kitchen I have in my inspiration folder, found over at for the love of a house.





I think this will be an eternal struggle, but would love to know your thoughts.

LED LOVE

I was talking to some family last night about how much I dislike the fluorescent bulbs. The light is harsh and they are toxic to throw away. So I went on a search to see if they made LED lights in the shape of regular bulbs and I came across this beauty at C. Crane.


It creates a warm light closer to an incandescent bulb, lasts about 10 years of average use and doesn't have any mercury or lead. Not cheap, but not as expensive as it used to be either! And it's quite pretty.

Just thought you should know.

VOTE...VOTE...VOTE

Now that the wedding is over it's time to vote over renovation items.

I think the choice of bathtubs is a hard one because 1. buying online is less expensive, but you can't sit in them and give them a test drive 2. They aren't cheap, even online 3. They are hard to return if you don't like them.

I am a big advocate of buyers remorse. I have it all the time. In fact, Mike and I went down to the states to order kitchen cabinets. The next day I canceled the order. Mike thinks I'm nutso. Between hunger and a crying baby, I just don't feel like I was able to evaluate the cupboards well enough. And they are a LOT more expensive than a tub, and harder to return as a matter of fact. So, we are going with the $3000 cheaper Ikea cabinets and I'll just paint them. Eventually. Probably by the time Casey it 10.

What was I talking about...voting. Here are the contestants.

1. Classic pedestal cast iron tub. Beautiful, sit at either end, classic.


2. Ignore the ugliness the tub is inset into. Most affordable option. Notice where the overflow valve is set. Nice deep tub. Good sloping back.


3. Beautiful modern freestanding tub.


4. I didn't like this tub at first, but the more I look at it, the more I like it. I don't know why. Will dog hair get stuck under the slope at the bottom?


Not a tub, but a sink I WANT SO BAD!! I will give a dollar to anyone who can find it for me. I think it is a salvage school sink. Lethbridge doesn't have much for awesome flea market finds. When you do find a great item, you fall all over yourself trying to get it before someone does.


So VOTE!

ISLANDS IN THE STREAM

This song title ranks as Mike's third worst song out of five.

Tonight we are looking for antiques online to use in our kitchen island. That's right, we have started work on the house at the family farm. He is in a house gutting frenzy and is pretty happy about it.

While searching for inspiration we came across this gorgeous island created by b-arch studio sabrina bignami. I think she/he/it/they are in Italy, so they won't care if I try and steal part of their idea for our kitchen.

I wonder how much it would cost to have someone build it...I wonder if I could build it...probably would take quite a while with a new baby in tow. Anyway, here it is in all of it's glory.

GOODBYE 2010...YOU WERE THE BEST

Well, this is it. We ended 2010 off with a bang by having a baby. Our best moment yet. He is beautiful and perfect and a complete time waster because all we want to do is hold him or stare at him. He came with masses of dark hair and it's only gotten longer in five weeks. Here he is fresh from the bath.





It's amazing how a person's perspective instantly changes. I'm so in love with this kid it still makes me cry. I've become a real crybaby; but only about happy stuff. I'm so lucky.

Oh, and for the record, all those people who said kidney stones were worse than giving birth, lied...

STORMS

My friend and old car pool sidekick Casey Hyer took this time lapse video of a storm passing over the Wasatch Front over 3 1/2 days. Gorgeous. I love seeing how the direction of the clouds shift. You should check out his other photography stuff here. I really wanted to fly him up to take pictures of our wedding, but...that didn't happen.

As a side note, you have to see his little girl, you have never seen bigger cheeks.

Time Lapse Storm in Utah's Wasatch, Nov 2011 from Casey Hyer on Vimeo.

LANDFILL

So, lately I've been reading blogs of people who produce very little garbage. I love the idea but it's a really hard task. Everything you buy is packaged, double packaged or triple packaged. Even if it doesn't need to be. Every time I go to the grocery store and buy a head of lettuce, I think, "Do I need to put this lettuce in the plastic produce bag?" The answer is no, but I do it anyway. AND I can never remember my shopping bags. So I have a drawer filled to the gills with plastic bags. I'm a creature of habit and laziness.


And then there is the subject of diapers... It's really what started my whole pattern of thinking. How do I keep from contributing excessive amounts to our landfills. Some people, especially family, will think I'm a tree hugger, but... I like trees. Is this a bad thing?


This morning I was reminded of my seemingly impossible desire when I came across these extremely cool bags. They are almost entirely upcycled from old materials. I want one. They would make a great but expensive diaper bag.

You can buy them at peace4you.


They remind me of these dresses made from old canvas tents Mike and I saw at an art gallery in Nelson, BC. Angelika Werth is the artist behind them. They fascinated me. I couldn't stop looking at every detail. This is where Mike and I went our different ways in the museum. He went in search of the History of Beer and I stayed put.


They make me think of an old rocking chair I bought. I was going to go and buy some canvas fabric to recover it, but maybe I'll go in search of something a bit more interesting at Goodwill and upcycle it.

We'll see. Only two more weeks until this baby makes his debut. supposedly.

LIGHTING

These are AWESOME! I will be either buying them or making something similar to them for my own house. The idea of them over the dinner table makes me weak in the knees. Maybe the babies room...hmm I like that
idea too. Found here.

DONE!

And it only took me a year and a half to do it.


The inspiration came when I saw in a hip little fabric store some enchanting applique quilts and exclaimed to my friend Renae, "I'm going to start designing quilts!" And she basically let me believe that this was the best idea I've ever had! Because that is the type of person she is. I wonder if she would have told me if she thought it was a bad idea...?


I promptly recruited my friend Lara to help. She is amazing with a needle and thread. And to keep things manageable, I started by designing two baby quilts. One for her and one for me. When I posted the fabric in this post and the start of the quilt project in this post, my only thoughts were I'm going to get this done in a month or two. No sweat.


Little did I know that in a weeks time I would meet Mike and start a crazy awesome carnival ride that would lead me to actually finishing this quilt for our baby boy that is currently tossing and turning in my belly right now. A little miracle that I thought would never happen for me.


I wish I could say it is all Mike's fault this quilt took so long. But really, I'm just easily distracted. Creative ADD. That and the needle turned applique birds. If you want to make this quilt and you are in a hurry, machine applique. There is no shame in that. Those bird beaks require patience.


But now I am done. The baby can come and I think the small ruffle looks gorgeous. It isn't girly at all. Any baby can sport a small ruffle. Have I convinced you? I've certainly convinced myself.


I love the layered look of one quilt on top of the other. It adds a lot of depth. That scallop took a lot of brain power to pull off. You can barely see the contrasting polka dot fabric underneath, but trust me, It's dang cute.

I've never done a quilt with embroidery before, and I'm thinking it's possible that every quilt I make in the future will have it. It's just such a great detail. I showed a close-up last year of the stitch here.


All that is left is to wrap my new baby up in it when he arrives. Well, I have to write the instructions for the quilt too. I hope that doesn't take another year and a half. I hope I can remember what I did.

INSPIRED

It's been so long since I've wanted to be crafty. But tonight/this morning I feel the sudden urge. Maybe it's because tomorrow/today is my last day of work before I take maternity leave. (Thank you Canada for such a generous benefit.) I was feeling guilty about taking off a month early, but not anymore. My ankle bones disappear at the end of every day. It's pretty freaky and generally not an attractive look. But hopefully this will give me time to finish making blankets and burp clothes. Organize the babies bedroom. Finish the baby quilt I started two years ago. Etc, but now I want to add this to the list.


Wouldn't these be awesome hanging from your Christmas tree? I found these snowflakes on one of my favorite crafter's blog, maggie makes. I love the stuff she develops and shows. She is making hers out of fabric, but I think paper would be stunning too.

WEDDING TIDBITS...DECOR

Our reception was held in an old Mennonite church that had been abandoned due to a feud between church members. Never a good thing, but we fell in love with it as soon as we walked in. It had some great characteristics including a large hole that had been cut into the center of the chapel floor to accommodate the large machinery of the new owner. An interesting solution that probably had some Mennonites turning over in their graves. Hopefully they would approve of the wedding decorations more than the farm equipment. It's now the Gem of the West museum and filled with all sorts of fun nicknacks.

Apparently some people had more fun with the museum than even I had anticipated. I hope they don't mind that I showed their pictures. It makes me laugh so hard.

Being drawn to a spring garden theme for a wedding reception is definitely a good idea, unless you live in the cold north where spring is just barely starting to show. But that didn't stop me! I had lots of ideas that didn't pan out, like forcing paperwhites. Such a pretty bulb. But they wouldn't ship them unless night time temps were above freezing. But, I found out that you can also force flowering tree branches and lily of the valley. Woohoo!

So Mike and I cut some branches from his barely budding apple, lilac and cherry trees and I set to work forcing their blossoms. It was amazing to see their progress every day, but it was the cherry branches that became the most showy. And while there weren't any blooms on the trees outside, we had some beautiful spring flowers inside.

To give spring even more of a boost I decided to bite the bullet and make giant paper flowers from postal wrapping paper. I really went back and forth about doing these flowers. I knew they would be very time consuming and possibly flop and if weren't for family members ready to pitch in wouldn't have happened. I love how they turned out. Some people took them home at the end of the night and I have a few on the wall in my office. Some hard work you just can't get rid of.

To keep with the relaxed feel for the reception I found some beautiful paper by Amy Butler that were made into pennant garlands to drape everywhere. You say circus, I say festive garden.

Our guest book table looked so pretty and had such a great concept behind it. People were asked to write down memories or give advice that we would then hang on the stage wall. I think there was a lot of confusion. Most people didn't fill it out and those that did gave us the same advice, don't go to bed angry. We also got a few notes that people were writing to each other and passing around. "That guy at the table to your left is pretty cute." "Should we go over and talk to him?" "I think he's married..." We had fun afterwards trying to figure out who wrote these notes.

Every wedding has a favor and ours was no different. Mike's mom recently passed away and we wanted to include her in the wedding. Gladiolas were a love of hers and as a result the family farm had hundreds of bulbs that we packaged up and placed on each dinner plate. I love how it turned out.

And the desert table. Pies surrounded by spring flowers, moss and logs. Some of the logs were cut to be pie stands and others were cut to accommodate succulents. Have you ever tried to buy moss online. Not cheap. However, if you happen to have a friend who lives in Oregon that is willing to go pillage the nearest forest or sidewalk, that's the direction you should go in.

We bought pies, but the best ones were made by my mom and aunts. Mom made our wedding pie, however, it didn't make it out of my brothers car until after the pie eating started. I do believe it was eaten though. Just not by the bride and groom.

Which leads us to mood lighting. I really wanted candles in mason jars. I loved the relaxed look, but mostly loved the idea of washing them afterwards and reusing the jars instead of buying candle holders that I wouldn't know what to do with afterwards.

All I can say is, if you plan on decorating yourself, it can't be done without the help of your family, the grooms family and friends. I think that is what makes it even more memorable. Having everyone rally around to pull off a seemingly impossible task. The talking the laughing the idea swapping...I don't know that I would abuse everyone if I were to do it again. I would probably go more simple. But if I did that, I wouldn't have the memories of the love expressed through those helping hands. And what a loss that would be.