Hooray!

They're done! Done!! (the pot holders, not the paintings.)
And only a month late!

I feel like a weight has lifted, enabling me to focus on more interesting things, and I'm excited. A couple of lil' pot holders might not seem like much, rather anti-climactic for those of you who received them, (sorry,) but for me they took a lot of effort. I did make about 50 of them after all. So if you got some please use them, tell me if they hold up alright, and think of that wonderful person who made them for you and just how great she is.

Ha. ha.

Uhm, there's this other thing goin' on that I'm looking forward to, and have been quietly preparing for this last week. On Monday I'll be taking a 6 hour art class (my first art class in 10 years,) at my neighbour's studio with a handful of other people. Pat is a fantastic artist who creates beautiful paintings... My favourites are her landscapes that have this warm, inviting light, I just want to step into them and stay awhile. I'm pretty pumped about the whole thing. I've got my photos printed and ready to go, I suppose I just have to dig out my acrylics and maybe prime my canvas.

Well, I guess now that those xmas gifties are all done, I can work more on that crazy thing hanging in the dining room tonight. Dinner's been cooking since 6am, (thank you for the 5am wake-up Sullivan, much appreciated,) so I've got a pretty open schedule this evening. My new best friend is my slow cooker, or shall I say my three slow cookers. They're all going right now, making my house warm and yummy-smelling. Hugh + LT, if you're reading this, get jealous. Two of those cookers are full of pulled pork n baked beans. Yum!

xoxo
-C

Amessa Mess

Getting there...



I actually have a little hope for this painting now.
Neato.

I sat down at the sewing machine just now and tried to finish up some things, but the noise woke the baby up. Gosh darnit, I'm just gunna have to do some drawing instead ;)

There's been a lot of talk in the house these days about furniture, computers, and prioritizing. I think I'm going to move the 'desk for bedroom' up a bit on the list, and do my night sewing in there. We're desperately trying to minimize night wakings, so I guess I'll save the sewing for another time.

The tablet is fantastic, as predicted. I'm using it right now to turn that monstrosity pictured above into something less garish. The painting has been through a few incarnations, this latest one being the product of a couple sessions I did in November. I hated it, so Steve sat in the garage with me for a few hours while I turned it into what it is now, something I hate a little less. I'm determined to finish it though, if only to get the darn thing hung up someplace out of the way. Otherwise I'll have to burn it. (Oftentimes this seems the most logical thing to do with my artwork.) I was perfectly happy to hide it in the garage awhile longer, but Steve dragged it out and hung it on the wall.

So the next step I'm taking is to figure out the colours + colour values. As you can see, some fit and some really don't. It's been difficult for me to figure out where the lines are going in it, too. I usually draw this kinda thing on a piece of paper, not a huge canvas, so it's easier for me to lay out the whole scene as it is in my head. This time though, I need a bit of help. I'm using this photo here as a background, and drawing that 'line' I'm looking for through the painting, also planning the tone of the colours a bit better. It's pretty fun, actually. Long way to go, but it's better than letting it sit in the garage for another couple months. Or so I'm told.

Uhm... Where did January go? The 15th? Already? In fact there's only about 30 minutes until the 16th... So I better make this quick.

The last few weeks I've been slowly putting together the gifts I should have had finished a month ago. Sorry friends, but I swear your things will be in the mail this coming week. I mean poor Billy hasn't even got his calendar yet, and the whole thing was designed with him in mind. Le sigh.



I put this lil' lunch bag together the other night. It's for a very special person who will be starting off on a new career soon, and will now have an incredibly fashionable snacking accessory to bring to work. It's just a simple tote bag, with an unbleached cotton lining. I think I'll make a few more with bits of velcro inside, or maybe add a little ribbon tie to fancy it up. Amy Butler fabric, lovely to work with of course.

I decided to pick up an easy knitting project to stave off complete crafting despair, so a couple nights ago I started knitting a hot water bottle cover. I'm making it with a thick, soft, felting wool, and am rather looking forward to the finished product. Hot water bottles are so cozy, and mine will no longer have to be wrapped in an old pillow case, because it will have it's very own fuzzy sweater.

In other news my life has been changed forever by the arrival of a Bamboo drawing tablet. Did I mention I'm the luckiest gal around? Steve picked one up for me last night, but couldn't get it working until this morning. Not that he didn't try to make it work for I dunno, 5 hours or so. In the end he had to do some reinstalling of OS blablabla and SO ANYWAYS it works now

AND I AMSOEXCITED!

I made that lil' header up there just now. It's just the first step toward making this place into what I had in mind when I began bloggin'. I kinda got side-tracked by all that xmas jazz, but no excuses now. I have about a million plans for how this tablet is going to help me along the artsy path, and so far it's been a real pleasure to use.

inanycase, I need to sleep. it's like, the 16th or somethin'. darnit.

Rest, Relaxation, and Resolutions

Eating dirt out of potted house plants is way more interesting than Christmas gifts, apparently.

Home at last! Got in around 9, and we're so glad to be here. It was really nice to visit with everyone, and to eat all the delicious Christmas feasts, but there really is no place like Home.

There was a huge rush of crafting and calendar printing before we left for town, down to the wire as always. Most of the pot holders were finished and given away, though there are still more yet that need finishing up.

On our trip home I was feeling quite relaxed about the coming weeks. I have a few major things that need doing, (passport applications, getting my learner's license, conquering my lifelong fears of driving cars and flying in planes... etc.) but not many projects that feel very urgent. In short, I was looking forward to a few days 'off.'

Then I got home. Steve and I unpacked our things, started the laundry... Tried to cram the stuff we brought back from Costco into the storage shelves. I need to re-organize. Again. But that's all good, 'cos I've been meaning to rearrange the kitchen into a more baby-safe environment. Anyways, I started a little mental list of things to pick up tomorrow.

(Side note: NEW VAN. We will pick things up tomorrow in our NEW VAN!!! Yay! It's like, 10 years old or somethin', but it's new enough for us!)

So I'm all unpacking and planning my day tomorrow...
- Recycling trip
- Don't forget it's garbage day
- Empty all your cupboards and reorganize them
- Wash duvet cover
You know, the usual.

Until I caught a glimpse of a bag of fabric scraps in my closet, and was reminded of those scrappy quilt blocks that I saw here. I've been wanting to make something like that for so long, and now I can! Eeee! Also looking forward to making Sully's big quilt, and finishing up his room. I'm thinking I'll make some little birds to hang about the room, and put up some shelves.

So I guess those 'days off' I was looking forward to will be more 'on' than I was anticipating, but I'm glad for it. There's a New Year about to start, and I'd like to head into it with a positive, energetic feeling. So much to do! So many resolutions to work on, and yes, a few big hurdles to get over. Exciting times, my friends, exciting times.

Tonight though, I'm going to maybe just jot down a few notes and drink my glass of wine. I've got a double issue New Yorker to get through and a couple books as well, including a new slow cooker book that I read a good review about. Yup. My life rocks. My cozy house has stuff strewn about it, the to-do list keeps growing despite my best efforts, and I'm not sure how many more hours my 9-monther will be sleeping for tonight, but who cares? Right now I'm feeling pretty blessed.

Happy New Year, everyone. Love to you n yours,
-C

And First Place Goes To...

Steve Hazel. For your achievements in the field of excellency.
Seriously, though, the guy deserves some kinda trophy. He stayed up all night with me finishing the calendar. All night. We're both zombies now, but all the files are at the printer's, and I might even get em tonight!

It's amazing how much time everything takes. I knew it would be a long night, but didn't think it would take until 8am! And of course after staring at the same simple little line drawings for hours on end, they start to look, I dunno, not spectacular. Whatever. It's done. Out of my hands.

Late nights early mornings

Last night at... Oh I dunno what time. Early, like midnight or something, this was the "finished" pile:



Around 2am....



3am.



I've finished about 15 pairs of pot holders. So about half of what I want to make, which means I'll be sending out a lot of mail in January.

Tonight I'm drawing. Drawing!! This was around midnight:


This is now. (2:30am)


I'm waiting for the ink to dry, then I'll be erasing all the pencil, scanning stuff and arranging it into a calendar. I'm lucky I have friends who force me into doing this art stuff, 'cos otherwise I'd be sleeping right now. And sleeping is for total losers...