December 9, 2019

My current obsession is with the word "maker". Last weekend, I worked as an assistant for a friend of mine who sells her baking and mittens at a big flea market here in Ottawa. Her mittens are sewn from felted wool sweaters. When people complimented me on the work, I always made sure to point over to my friend who was working the baked goods table and proudly say, "My friend Melissa is the maker!" as I did not want to take any credit for her work. In this day and age of mass production that comes into Canada from all across the world, we have lost so much connection with raw materials and those who build or develop the item in our hand. I give away my handmade ornaments for Christmas and regularly receive comments from friends and family about how they treasure the ornaments each year as they place them on their Christmas trees. My heart is warmed by that connection being made.

I am a maker. I am driven to make things, to deconstruct the every day things in my house and figure how to make them myself and to make things. My urge to create has been suppressed these past few months because of work commitments. There just has not been the time, the energy or the drive to create, leading to a maker's block as it were. The urge to create has hit again and I am feeling so energized by it. This past week has been a flurry of organizing Christmas parcels that need to be mailed out. A batch of bits and bites was baked up the other day, dryer balls have been wound while watching television, ornaments have been stitched during a lazy Sunday yesterday and I mixed up a batch of laundry powder this morning.

The ornaments are being stitched on a scrap piece of 28 count either Lugana or Monaco with scrap threads that I am somewhat matching to the picture of the finished product in the book.

Can you tell which dryer ball might have been pushed off the table by the cat for the dog to unravel and for me to unsuccessfully try to re-wind? I hope that it felts well once I finally get them into the washer and dryer.

Now that the maker urge has hit again, I feel so much more content. There is such joy in watching a handful of raw materials turn into something that is useful or beautiful and to have it enjoyed by loved ones.

Happy stitching and making!

Dec 3/18

Yesterday was "I HAVE TO GET THESE ORNAMENTS DONE!!!" day in our house. They have to go in the mail this week if there is to be any hope of them arriving at their destinations on time between the calendar showing December and the aftermath of the Canada Post rotating strikes in recent months. I had a slow start to the day thanks to a head cold virus that saw me up early only to take a nap at noon. After my nap, the supplies and tools were dug out, the fabrics ironed and everything was spread out on the table so that I could begin. My little helper was removed from the table several times only to return a short while later to check on my progress.

This group was completed by supper time.

This group was completed by midnight. Once I was in the groove, I just could not stop even though my eyes were protesting and my back was letting me know that the kitchen chair was getting uncomfortable. There were a few mistakes like a ribbon being sewed in backwards and a few ribbons not being centred properly. Overall though, I am pleased that I managed to get anything done this year. These will be gifted to family and friends this holiday season.

Happy stitching!

Nov 6/18

There are days when I wonder what the heck I have been up to because it is the end of the week, I am exhausted, my house looks like a bomb has gone off and I feel like I have done nothing except work and vacuum up pet hair. Apparently, there has been a little bit of this

and a little bit of that 

and a few other things going on around here. Hallowe'en is a favourite night of mine with the kids out and about in costume and I go a bit nuts with carving jack'o'lanterns.

For good measure, there were chocolate chip cookies made as well.

The jack'o'lanterns have been chopped and roasted. Pumpkin soup was made yesterday, muffins will be made today and the rest will be frozen for treats for the dogs. The dish cloth pattern has finally morphed into something that I am quite happy with. There have been a few adjustments made to the size and the number of rows within the pattern to where I am quite happy with it.

One of the downsides of the Hallowe'en decorations would be this fright I gave myself the other night when I walked by the front door during the wind storm. Our peeping tom was dealt with ASAP after I got over my scare!

Happy stitching!

Oct 2/18

So, this happened this weekend:

Yes indeedy, 25 years since this chick graduated from pharmacy school. Can someone please help me find out where those 25 years have gone? I could have sworn that it was only a couple of years since we put away our text books, donned the robes to accept our diplomas and headed out into the world. It was so cool to catch up with my classmates and to learn about some very interesting careers. My classmates have gone on to do cool things like movies about pharmacists, a dean of pharmacy in the US and a corporate executive. I kind of fall into the cool category with the medical missions to the Dominican Republic. Everyone has an interesting story to tell about where they ended up and why.

The fella' and I were tiffing on Sunday and Monday so I ignored him last night *(Monday) and did the last of the back stitching on these ornaments for his children before sewing on the red beads. My plan to finish them is to attach red or green felt to the back with a blanket stitch instead of glue and make ribbon hangers. Hopefully, the love, and not the bickering, was stitched into these Christmas gifts.

The fella' and I called a truce when I sent him this meme this morning:

He laughed and we moved on. I went on to make this gorgeous pan of soap this morning. I took a class on soapmaking this morning from a wonderful soap maker at the Happy Hippie Soap Company. It was so cool to be measuring and stirring the ingredients while looking out the window to see the source of the goats' milk grazing in the pasture behind the house. The fella' mistook this pan for supper and was sorely disappointed when he licked the finger that he had stuck into this mix. NEVER A DULL MOMENT IN THIS HOUSE!

Happy stitching!