Finished!

Do you think it needs more pins?

The quilt is done, the quilt is done!   Unfortunately it wasn’t a triumphant moment as there were so many weeks ahead of it that I thought it would be finished by.  As soon as I did the last stitch, I let out a dull whatever and folded it into a large bag.  I didn’t tweet it, or Instagram it or even text the bride that it was done.  It’s done and ready to go to it’s new home so I’m happy.

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What’s great about it being done is that I was able to re-arrange our living area a bit.  The dining room table had turned into the quilt display table and my desk area was a mess.  There was a record player, step ladder and other items in the way and it was difficult for me to craft in that area.  Now it’s organised (just need a shelf for a few items on the side) and I should no longer be using the dining table to sew while watching Netflix.  And we can now eat at the dining table on a regular basis.

Now that my sewing area is set up (I have moved 3 times in the past 5 years I think – and this is the first place in 5 years that has enough room for me to sew!) I have been much more interested in sewing instead of knitting.  It’s partly due to the lack of quality clothing produced today and also due to the abundance of options.  Maybe I’m just getting  old, but I’m looking for more classic fits instead of in style right now and I’m not interested in spending hours trying to find them in stores.  Yes, making these items will take hours and they may not fit exactly right, but I’m excited for it.  The more I do the better I will get at finding the right patterns and material.  My patterns are here, first off is the Belcarra blouse!

Driving Mr. Doggy

Mr. H and I recently joined modo car sharing.  Neither of us ever wants to own a car for many reasons that I won't get into.  This adorable beast came into our lives though, and what does this beast love as much as food?  Off leash walks in the bush.  Shame we live just outside of downtown Vancouver and there is only one off leash area within a few kilometers of our home.   If Josh were under 20lbs, I would sneak him onto busses or put him in my back pack and ride to the beach, but 95lbs is difficult to hide and impossible to carry.

A few weeks ago we headed up to Cypress Falls in West Vancouver.  An off leash, quiet trail.  It was a cool day and Josh had a blast.  The trail is short but all three of us were tired from it.  I highly recommend it for dog owners, quiet, tons of shade but if your dog is a water lover like ours, keep your eyes on them and for access points to the creek.  There are lots of steep drop offs and Josh almost took a serious tumble trying to get a swim in.

Tomorrow, we are off to Macdonald beach near the airport.  Another dog friendly area with great reviews!  It'll be a sunny, hot day and Josh will appreciate every moment of it.

Ex-squeeze me? Baking soda?

While reading the highly educational site buzzfeed.com, I came across a page with 27 DIY, 2 ingredient beauty supplies.  Most of them I don't ever want to try (lipgloss made with crayons?, yuck).  But a few of these caught my eyes and I have decided to experiment.

The first one I tried is the baking soda deodorant.  I maybe use deodorant two to three times a week, I seem to sweat the same amount if I'm wearing it or not so I don't really like using it that much as it ruins my clothes.  Years ago when I gave up the couch for regular exercise, I noticed that I would sweat more when active (not so much when inactive) but it was a cleaner sweat if that makes sense.  I also had my pits lasered quite a few years ago due to a never ending case of ingrown hairs and some armpit acne from waxing them.  There is much less smell now as I don't have hairs grabbing onto bacteria and holding it in (have you ever noticed a stronger smell when you forgot to shave for a few days?).

The obvious reasons for change is chemicals, a lot of chemicals that I don't know much about and don't want  them on my body.  There are the natural alternatives at stores but when I tried them it seemed like I sweated even more.  Plus, they are expensive for more trial and error.

My first batch is with lavender essential oil (partly because I had a lot of lavender, I'm really excited to try lemon) for the past week.  Applying seems a bit tricky, some of course falls on the floor, but since it's just baking soda it's not that big of a deal, it'll be good to get some on the feet.  I shower at night and apply it then and then once again when I wake up.  The lavender smell doesn't seem to transfer to my skin or clothes and it feels really fresh right away.  I'm still sweating a similar amount, but my pits feel cleaner, fresher.  They don't feel clogged like how deodorant can sometimes do that. 

I'm enjoying this alternative, cheap and healthy version (because even the health stores have ingredients that I can't understand on them).  If after more time this disagrees with me, I'll let you know.  After this week , I'm sold on it.

Update, I recently found this article, 101 uses for coconut oil.  Coconut oil is a product I have thought about introducing into our kitchen for a while.  Now seeing that it is a great binding agent for the baking soda, I will finally purchase some for our home.  I expect the application to be even easier.  PS, I'll let you know if it sucks.

July Long Weekend

Hi Meghan, thanks for reading :-)
Mr. H and I packed up our car (we joined Modo.com car sharing program to save money from renting cars and we also don't want to own a car), grabbed the dog and headed to the Okanagan for the weekend.  Canada Day was a Tuesday, so we took the Monday off and had a super long weekend.  It was a cloudy but hot and we sat around doing a whole lot of nothing and relaxing and chatting with the family.  We also picked a ton of cherries, 2 grocery bags full to be exact.  I have finished pitting them and putting them in the freezer - about 3 hours work.  Ma fingahs hurt, but they were free from my Grandma's tree!  We also got a few pints of raspberries from my mom's yard on the way out.  I will have free fruit smoothies for months!

The dog was stressed during the drive which sucked.  He was happy to see mom and dad but was even happier to get home.  It was like he started smiling when he recognised our apartment building.  He jumped out of the car and just walked/pranced in circles on the front lawn.  It was great for him to realise he's home - with us.  He's had a tough six months and I think the trip away for the 3 of us was great, we are a little family.

As for Mr. H and I, it was so good to get away.  It was our first time away since we moved in together 4 months ago.  Although we stayed at my parents we could feel our spark coming back (not that it went away really).  It was great for us to get out of our home for more than an evening and it rejuvenated us.  We talked about the past four months - Mr. H admitted the dog annoyed him for the first few months which made me happy that he could be so honest - and had a good ol' fashioned drunk talks about our future.  It's exciting and I can't wait for our next weekend away.

Two low blows, one weekend

Have you tried this beer?

It is amazing, I thought it would be super sweet, but it's like grapefruit pop.  Do you remember Western Family Pamplemousse?  It takes exactly the same.  It doesn't taste like beer but it is beer.  I finally found may tall can love.  After almost downing two of them last night, and boy did they go down fast, I thought to myself "you will be drunk soon" and right after that realised I had no buzz at all.  All I felt was not so thirsty and a need to go to the washroom but I still couldn't help but drink more.

I went to grab my 3rd and wanted to see how much empty tall cans give to the can collectors in Vancouver. Saw they would get 20 cents in Quebec and suddenly felt ripped off -  2% alcohol, 60% lemon juice and 40% beer!!!!!!!!!!  Yup, wasn't really drinking at all.

If you aren't in the mood for much alcohol and still want a drink, I highly recommend bringing this to get togethers, you will not have a hangover the next day.

Low blow part deux.  Laptops die on me, I'm like some of those who kill houseplants.  I think I go through a laptop a year these days.  I get viruses, it just happens.  I always go and back up important documents and all my photos to my external hard drive, but these days I hardly save anything to my computer and a few important (but not super personal) items are kept in google.  My current laptop became heavily infected a few weeks ago (thanks to Windows 8 not having a great virus protection program).  I quickly put all of the family photos that I scanned this winter onto my hard drive and made sure everything was taken care of.  A few weeks later, Mr. H restored my computer with Windows 7.  It's running perfectly and I worked on some blog posts.......

Where are my 2012 photos???????  Buh-bye Karl and Becky's wedding (thankfully some were saved on Facebook), Buh-bye Toronto, Kristen's wedding and Chicago digital photos (these were recently deleted from Facebook because I just don't want all my stuff up there anymore) and BUH - BYE to whatever the hell else happened that year (in digital photos).

Big blow weekend.  To soften it, I'll open my remaining can of beer juice and think of the new happy memories to build, such as apres walk cuddle time between my two guys :-)

quilt

Another project I’ve been working on is nearing completion. It’s a wedding gift but it’s almost 2 years late - that's right, their 2 year anniversary is almost here and I'm not done. I suck at completing something in time, even if I start 6 months in advance it won’t be done in time. I am the queen of slow, man. Anyway, I do have a few valid excuses, such as full time work with evening classes for 4 months then looking for new work and meeting Mr. H right away and becoming a teenager for one year. What's funny, I had two weeks all to myself before he moved in to our huge 2 bedroom apartment that was suppose to be put aside for finishing the quilt. HA, Ya right! Unpacking????? Buying new house supplies??? Those two weeks were over in a minute!

 My plan was to have the quilt done last Christmas but I was too hasty, I screwed up big time. It was time to start sewing all of the layers together and with my first row width wise I had already made my damage. I totally didn't look to see if the seams had lined up - sewing one oh one, me=dumb. It doesn't stop there, I started sealing that puppy up! I started even doing the half circle designs which was taking forever but I was so close to being finished. What made me realize that I had made a massive mistake? The fabric fiiiiinaaaalllly started puckering. It took near completion for me to see my mistake. Many hours (and many episodes of Friday Night Lights) followed with me bent over the quilt removing stitches. Not all was lost because I finished all 5 seasons pretty quickly and was able to focus on both tasks equally. Now it's pretty much summer and I haven't touched the quilt since. H and I finally have our home set up and I even sewed the other night, so I do believe this quilt will be touched very soon by human hands, seriously.

Buuuuuuuuut I have come to mistake number 2. Quilting one-oh-one, I sealed the puppy up, that is the last step! That made the puckering even worse :-( I figured this out while reading a quilters for beginners when I had nothing to read. Now I am back to undoing a lot more stitches and I decided that I am going to make the edge a different colour, so I went off to the quilting shop and picked up a blue.
 I think the quilt will be much better in the long run.

 

 I did show the blanket to the not so fresh bride and groom right before Christmas, they loved it. I then lied through my teeth to the mother of the bride about my fantastic attention to detail (she's a quilter as well) but how this time it just got me. Ha, and now because of Josh there will probably be a few dog hairs sewn into this quilt! I have learned my 2 big mistakes, go back through the instruction book if you haven't done something in a long time. And here is the blue that will go around the edge.

 

New Years

I think this might be the best new years ever, and who am I with? My bestest friend in the world:

I'm a bit done with New Years, for the past 3 years there has been a "just get through it" smile on my face, our family has either had severe illnesses and actual losses on New Years (and close to the date) for 3 years in a row. On top of it, I can't say no to friends and I'm helping co-ordinate where we'll go while all along I just want to do nothing. Friends falling out, putting on fake smiles as well when, ugh, it's so boring and I'm trying to get home as soon as possible. So I'm spending it with someone who loves me more than anything - except for food - and we are going to be just happy enough sitting beside each other. I was afraid that I would regret this decision but I've never felt better about it. Done scanning family photos, back on to knitting socks :-) Happy New Year, so long 2013.

Squares

I found a new charity for knitters! Knits with love, where you knit 6inch squares in any colour or design and bring them to Wet Coast Wools (that is only 4 blocks from my house) and get together and knit blankets for women in the downtown east side of Vancouver. I LOVE THIS, I love it as much as I love this, a charity where you donate warm clothing to school children. I can't seem to find the exact working link but it is through Vancouver Sun Children's Fund.

It’s nice to take a break from the mittens. I’m realizing more and more that I love knitting so much but I have very little interest in designing new items and making something flashy for myself. My poor Jane Richmond sweater has been at only 2 rows for almost a year. I get so much more joy out of someone else wearing something I made to keep themselves warm. Plus it’s less “stuff” that I have laying around waiting to be worn. I’m happy to meet other knitters who enjoy the giving aspect (I believe that all knitters are givers, how could they be selfish with it), but I’m an introvert so I have that excuse. Here is the finished item, but we need more knitters!

Tasha

We said goodbye to our darling Tasha this summer. She was 9 and 1/2 years old. She was a mix of collie and retriever with some other mild mixes in there too. We noticed over the past few years that her hips were going and signs of hip dysplasia were showing. Our hearts broke because she loved nothing more than running through the bush. Unfortunately it was lymph cancer that shortened her life. She was sick for about 2-3 months, wasn't eating that much and then became very antisocial with her brother and best friend Joshua. We all knew I'd be visiting in early August and she was getting really sick the week before I returned home, I hoped she would eat some food when I visited as her and I have a special bond and I thought that would help. She was so happy to see me and even jumped up a few times. But she didn't eat, just some grass here and there.

So we did what we loved, we went for some walks. She could only walk around the block and would have to rest halfway through. She was always so excited to go for those little walks but as my visit came to an end I would find she wouldn't want to go home, she would want to sit in the park and lie down. That was really difficult as when animals are dying, they try to find a spot a bit further (but not too far) from home to rest. Cats are especially known to do this. Tasha at one point walked into a flowered area and layed down. My mom mentioned "you know what this means" and we held the tears back. We got her home and then I flew home. It was such a heartbreaking goodbye, for both her and Joshua as we had decided that the next morning Tasha would be put down. It was even more difficult because her brother Josh from the same litter (but he was part retriever and labrador) and they had been the best of friends since they were 10 months old. Tasha came to us at 10 months as her former owners didn't want her anymore, which was a blessing as they had treated her badly. Josh was a lonely dog and drove us nuts with his neediness and when Tasha appeared all of his needs were met. For Tasha, she was nervous and scared we would hit her but she had Josh to look out for and take care of, it was a perfect match. We always felt that when one dog leaves, it would probably be better if Tasha was on her own as she wouldn't be as lonely. It's so tough now to know that Josh will have a few years without his best friend. My heart breaks for him, but he will be fine.

When I showed up the poor guy wouldn't leave my side the entire visit. Tasha slept in the corner but Josh was always watching my every move and was always inches away from me as he knew his sister was sick. I've decided to go home for a few extra days this Christmas mainly for him as he is going to get lots and lots of walks with me. It'll be hard but I can't wait to hug his big head. Lots of people say when some dogs die they can't have another one for years and years. There are just so many puppies out there, and although Josh lives far away and with my parents, I know I'll have my own dog after he goes. There is just so much love and there are so many unique dogs out there. I know my own little guy is right around the corner and we are going to have a blast, even if it's only for a short time.

Signs that you are at your mom's

Home for the summer holiday. I seem to catch myself doing odd things, such as eating brown sugar off a spoon, buying kraft dinner, putting on my 'give the dogs an outdoor bath' outfit - realising I need to finish a few errands and not changing out of the dog bathing outfit before heading out. I'm only wearing mascara, not doing my hair, waking up and eating a cup and a half of garden raspberries because that sounds great and I'll deal with the digestive consequences later. And finally I went to Wolverine with my dad and actually liked it. Life is simple in their in a small town, kind of miss it. I crave Harry Potter almost all the time and with all this time on my hands I've re-opened my Pottermore account. Oh what fun! I love reading the extra bits that J.K Rowling has written about her characters and I really love completing all the levels to the fullest. I was late on the Harry Potter craze but I am a full fledged fan. The only part I'm procrastinating on is the book in French, it's just so much faster to read in English ;-) Yay, a fan who tries two languages! It's been a nice visit but a tough one. I have to say goodbye to my darling puppy. My dad brought her home when she was over a year old but her first year wasn't that great. She grew into a loving a loyal dog but her final days are stricken with cancer. She still has some time left and I'm just so happy I get to spend one more visit with her. She taught me so much about companionship and I can't wait to adopt another dog in the future. This is going to be one of the toughest goodbyes. It's been a long time since I've been on here, I've made a new boy best friend and almost all of my time is spent with him. I haven't been up to many crafts as I've been riding my bike and becoming comfortable at my new job. I'm trying though, trying to get some charity gifts done, it's just so tough with Harry Potter's lego video game calling my name. Haha. This post has no pictures due to my computer dying during a thunderstorm at my moms :-(

Ticking off the boxes

Okay, I am doing it! I am getting items done, no more lazy knitting for me - although I don't feel that bad as most of my knitting over the years was charity knitting or gifts for friends. First on the list is socks for my cold tootsies. I made a pair from an intermediate level book but I didn't like that it left 2 seams along the heel, I can't imagine that being comfortable as the day goes on. So I searched and found a pattern on Ravelry that I liked and went with it. I'm almost done, just need to finish a bit of the ankle and go up the leg a bit and I can see where I may have made mistakes and I can try the fit of it. So far I'm extremely happy with this pattern. This is the heel:

There are no odd seams on the heel and a special stitch is used (I really need to learn the technical names) on the bottom of the heel to strengthen it. PLUS this turn that goes up the back of the foot is gorgeous and surprisingly easy. I have a feeling that I didn't make the foot long enough and I'm thankful that this was a test round with cheap, acrylic yarn. I became a little too impatient and just started the heel :-) The pattern isn't made for all sizes, it was a free pattern and her specific measurements are too her foot which seems to be a few inches larger than mine, which isn't surprising as I'm only a size 6 and 1/2 foot. I just made sure to read the pattern thoroughly as I don't want to bother making ANOTHER practice sock. So that is why the heel starts way too soon, I needed to knit the foot part a little bit further past my arch (no need to show pictures at this point).

I went to Urban Yarns near UBC last week to get some supplies and information on making socks. For someone who has been knitting their whole life I sure sounded like an amateur to them. I'm really happy I'm taking this next step and teaching myself the advanced techniques of a skill that I already kick ass at. Plus my feet are cold, getting older doesn't bother me that much except how easy it is for me to get cold, each year it gets worse. So I need wool socks and why not make them myself. My first real pair will be done with this gorgeous merino wool from Spud and Chloe yarns which probably just looks dark. It's a wonderful brown that has a hint of metallic in it. I'm so excited and I know I'll be working on them this weekend! After that it will be fun, colourful, patterned SOCKS!

Shirt into a Skirt

I went to the Plenty warehouse sale last year and picked up a tank in red and white stripes.  I already owned it in black and white but I couldn't pass up the $3 price for a good quality shirt.  Yes, it was a medium with a sewn on bra look to it but I didn't care, I thought it would be great under cardigans and sweaters.  I haven't worn it once, even under closed tops it makes my chest look hilarious and awkwardly spread out.  I tried it on again last fall and noticed that it was very long and thought why not turn it into a skirt!

This is the original black and white (and I really hope the stripes aren't showing up on your screen all warped, it's doing it at my work computer but not at home).  I took the shirt, cut it in half (making sure it wouldn't be a micro mini of course) and took the top half, folded it (took off the straps and made the front cleavage area into a straight line) and sewed it to the bottom half.  I used this American Apparel skirt as the pattern.  And voila!

A simple skirt for all seasons that cost $3 and an hour or 2.

This weekend I'm going to turn a vintage full length dress into a mini-dress.  I feel a bit bad for cutting up a vintage item but it's also going to look so great.



Ugh, I really hope these aren't all squiggly on other computers, a bit difficult to see the details.

Finishing Projects

I'm starting the year off right. I'm working on projects that I've thought about for a long time and I'm just going ahead and making them. First off, here is my Christmas gift from my mom and it was well needed. A homemade knitting needle case! I've been using rubber bands but keeping them organised to see the different sizes just wasn't working and it doesn't help that rubber bands disintegrate over time. Gross.

It's absolutely perfect!

So, Project number 1. For years I've had issues with my feminine products, as in I have to make sure they are hidden in my purse, make sure I have some and how do I carry them in my gym bag because I'm always riffling through it and they are getting damaged. It's at the point where I'm throwing out more unused damaged ones as time goes on so I started carrying them in a ziploc, I know, just so pathetic AND they were still falling out of their individual plastic protective cases. During class this past fall I came up with the perfect idea, a little pouch made with fabric that is also lined with cotton batting so the products aren't getting damaged. I was changing my bags everyday, going from school one day to the gym the next and the ziploc really wasn't cutting it anymore. I measured the fabric to the size of the zipper and made sure it would be able to hold the larger pads and a few at a time. This is what I made:

I'm really happy with this as it didn't cost me much and it's sized specifically for the products that I use. I knew that if I looked for something like this it could have taken me months and it just wouldn't be right. The only problem is that I didn't use a pattern and I haven't worked with zippers in YEARS so it took an extra hour, and there are a few little bumps in it. But at the same time it's getting thrown around with my gym shoes so it's the perfect "back into the sewing game" project.

Next up, knitted socks!!!!!

Knitting Machine

These are the few little projects I was able to do on the side while working full time and going to school part time. Simple knitting projects. The first one is a tea cozy that I made for a new friend, it looks a little baggy but it fits her taller pot very well.

These are the many of mittens that I made for the Vancouver Sun charity. I have one more pair to finish and hope to drop them off next week. Looks like we have some clear skies coming up which means COLD. Perfect timing!

Oh and the weird purple squiggles are yarn that attaches the mittens to each other, I just tied them in a bow and since the yarn is crinkled it looks really odd.

And finally I made a circular scarf (that doesn't need to be twisted twice around the neck) that's chunky and GREY! I needed a darker one in my accessory pile. I wasn't too keen when I finished this, the first time it looked like a neck brace, the second time it still didn't look that great but now that I've worn it more than a few times it's relaxed and it's so cozy. It was the easiest scarf to make but I love that it's totally unique and no one else out there has it.

I also chopped the bob off but this picture was taken post workout/shower, have to show it when it's not flat on my head. It's the most amazing cut for my wild, thick and wavy mane.

After finding local wonderful knitting blogs, such as Nook, Sewaholic  , luvinthemommyhood and Miso Crafty Knits I've decided I need to challenge myself even more for this next year. I'm going to perfect the hat, finish a sock and make a cardigan or sweater, in that order. I have done all three but I'm impatient and just haven't been motivated to master them, but now more then ever I want to take the time to really see what my little hands can do.

New Year

The new year is almost here!  New projects, new job (when I get one), recently single so I can look for a new boyfriend, and a new gym, brand new fancy gym in downtown Vancouver that looks out onto the water and towards North Vancouver.  I'll get a picture of it when I go there in the daytime.  I finished my classes at the beginning of the month, had Christmas events to go to, then flight prices went down so I was able to get an affordable flight to my parents, and I go home tomorrow and get all this newness to myself.

Do these heels (that I won at a female adult secret santa party) make my head look big? No, well, they still aren't enough to have me eye-to-eye with my bestie.

Some shots near my parents and mittens I've been working on. My belated gift to lower income families of Vancouver. Found this lovely organisation here and will be dropping them off about 10 pairs to a school in January. In other quick new NEWS, I will be selling some of my knitted items. Still not sure how I'll do it, right now it's order it and I'll make it, but I'm hoping to have it well organised for next winter. Have a happy new year, y'all.

UPDATE ;-)

I have had a bit of a social life over the past 8 weeks but not much of one. It's hilarious looking at the few pictures I've taken over this time (I usually have tons of pictures sitting on my computer), but there is only 4 more weeks to go and I can start job hunting! And I'll be able to go to the gym on a regular basis!

First off - Halloween. Spent the evening with my wife, bumped into the boyfriend and then her and I left him and went back to being fabulous. The best part of our costumes is that I'm 10 inches shorter than her (I'm Batman).

Topshop opened up in Western Canada, apparently it's the biggest one outside of London which is weird. I've been to the one in Manhattan and ours seems smaller. The layout is different than most stores, it does seem like you are going through an odd maze of medium sized rooms. I like their clothes, they look like a better quality then most brands but I don't know, it's very trendy. It looks like a higher end version of Forever21, which just opened up in Downtown Vancouver as well, so I don't know how much I'll spend at Topshop. But it is fun to walk through. Right across the street from Topshop is my fave, HandM, and lucky me I walked in during their $15 sweater sale, 2nd year in a row that I've caught it!

I'm very proud of myself over these past few months, my school is located exactly one block from these shops. I'm trying my hardest to not over-consume as it's not only hard on the wallet but also hard on the environment. Yes I donate as much as I can but what's the point of buying more so the companies have to make more clothes. There are too many shopaholics on this planet and I'm going to distance myself a little bit more from it.

I've invented a new meal during this busy time - the effortless omelet. I don't get to eat dinner that often (evening classes) and it's hard for me to keep food in the house when half of my week is only spent sleeping there. I really miss dinner, I really do. Eggs keep a bit longer than other proteins but sauteing and preparing vegetables can take away precious moments sitting with the tv. Simply whip up some eggs in a bowl, add a few chopped veggies of choice to the raw egg, maybe a bit of cheese and any spices you may like, pour it into a heated mini frying pan and you'll have an omelet in under 5 minutes. If you put a lid over the pan, keep it on lower to medium heat the egg should cook almost through and then flipping it over is no problem. No folding or tucking required with this guy, it's a college boys dream come true!

If you slice the veggies a bit thinner you don't really notice that they aren't fried, they still get nice and warm and the cheese melts and even gets crispy in some spots.

Wow, I can't wait to be done school. Accomplishments include not shopping and easy omelets?!? Haha, at least my relationships with friends and loved ones aren't being affected, they've actually improved and have become even stronger.

Well then,

I just started my first full week of evening classes (right after work) and it's what I expected. I get home and have enough time to breath and get organised for the next day. Lists to help with my organisation will be my best friend until December 10th when I finish the course. So here is a lazy post to keep things going.

AAAAAaaaaaaand I just burnt my tongue while waiting for this picture to upload. That is the wife and I having a coffee before our flight over to Victoria for her sister's bachelorette. Then a quick shot of me reading Joel Stein's new book (had to tweet it to him and he got back to me, still a little starstruck). And finally downtown Victoria was closed off and it was a pedestrian madhouse party with lots of chalk and artwork.

I got to hangout with little Miss Myra for a bit and then it was party time. Lots of events, food and drink to keep us going all night, I didn't go to bed until 4 am and I have no idea how I've survived this week. The bride to be ended up hungover and tired from the drinks and volleyball and still had a smile on her face, job well done!

This is me today, trying to fit in some studying so I can catch up but this mini bottle of orange nail polish is really distracting me. Must keep control until I watch a movie tomorrow night! Also, I've come up with a new project for ladies only, I'm really hoping I'll have an hour to make it this weekend.

Bridesmaid dress done!

I've finished altering my bridesmaid dress!  I just have to finish up the inside stuff that no one will see, a few loose threads, etc. I have to send out a thank you to Suzannah from Adventures in Dressmaking.  Her posts have taught me how to get back on the sewing machine and to just fix the clothes you already have.  Here is the original post and here is the dress in it's original form :

While working on it, I couldn't see the changes that I made, but now looking back at the pictures it was like a tent on my body!  And here it is now.  I got my friend to take a quick picture before we ran off for more accessories, sorry for the bad lighting:

I shortened the dress by 2.5 inches and I brought in the 3 seams that it has.  It also has a side slit that will be lengthened a tiny bit more, time to show off the gams!  And here is one last shot that was sent to the bride and the other bridesmaids - my strike a pose.  I wasn't planning on posting it here but it has better lighting and really shows how cute the dress turned out! (mind the loose threads)

The wedding is less than a month away, no traditional (Canadian) Thanksgiving for me this year, but it's so exciting now that it's all coming together. 

Tonight is back to school for me, it's been a couple of years since I've taken a course and it's time to upgrade.  In 3 months I'll be ready to work administration in dental offices.  No more ordinary administration jobs for me, and no more competing with thousands of other girls with the same skills.  The next 3 months will have very few crafts, oh so sad, but I'll still have the rest of the winter months to get my fill of knitting and sewing!  So I'll be around, just not as much, as I also have to find a bit of time for a handsome guy I've been dating - who will also be super busy with his 3 month intense course.  He's lucky he's handsome, considerate and polite, or I'd be a goner ;-)

Air Fresheners

I love essential oils and I usually put them in those special candle holders with water. It's great, but the intense smell does go away. I've been scouring the thrift shops lately for the perfect oil burner and after going through a few (thankfully they are only $3 when used as apposed to $18 brand new) you end up realising how poor the designs are. I'm currently cleaning up oily water that has splattered on my desk *grumble*. While reading through Free People's site I saw that they had a DIY air freshener and I decided to give it a try! This way I get the long and softer, lingering effect of the oils without the constant watch over the candle, water level and little bits of splattered oil.

I grabbed my essential oils, some glass jars from the dollar store, baking soda and a glue stick. I used Lavender for under my bed to help me relax during my sleep and peppermint for my closet.

The jars are a bit smaller so I pretty much filled them up with baking soda and poured 10-12 drops of oil on top. I just shook the baking soda around a tiny bit to cover the oil and made sure that most of the oil stayed on the top. This way, when the oils lose their power I will just remove the top part of the baking soda and dispose of it, stir the remaining powder to freshen it up and then add more drops. I kept the safety seal that was included with the jars and punched holes in it with the pencil.  I then glued the safety seal to the top of  the jars.

And there are my air fresheners!  I didn't bother making them too fancy and cute as they won't really be seen.  I made these last week and wanted to test them before posting about them and while looking for something in my closet last night I did get a light lingering peppermint smell, SUCCESS!  I ended up realising that the glue to hold the seals down did nothing and that the holes were much too small, so I cut them larger to be the size of a pencil and I just used an elastic to keep the seal on (for the time being).  I live in an older, wood home that has it's old, wood home smell and I've been trying to figure out how to help keep it fresh during the winter months and I'm sure this will help.