thoughts on raising a family and making things
This place is making me want to move to New York. Not that I needed another reason. I’m really enjoying the online collage tool (create button). For our part, Vancouver has this, this, and this so I’m not completely deprived of rainy day kid friendly places. As the rains set in I’ll be trolling the internet for other fun things to do. I’d love to hear what you are up to.
Some garden shots to end the week. It’s been fun!
Some blurry, dark, angled shots from the Ace hotel in Portland. We had something on the rollers and it took a few shots to figure out what was going on. The results are the white lights that appear on some of these.
I’m not able to post both of these to the group due to a flickr glitch but thought I’d share them here instead. Despite the nature of the food in these photos we did eat rather well in Portland. Our camera has trouble with the light meter (and maybe I do too) so our inside shots tend to be quite dark and brown. I think it adds to the seventies feel and I’m learning to be patient with my polaroid skills.
Portland eats II
Donut shoppe on NE Alberta St
taken on polaroid 600 with expired film
Portland eats I
Fuller’s Diner
taken on polaroid 600 with expired film
Some blue skies for polaroid week:
Near NE Alberta Street in Portland.
An intersection in East Vancouver.
We’ve been playing with our 600 over the last few weeks so I was excited to see that polaroid week has begun! I need to sort out some scanner issues (finding the cords) but once I do, I’ll upload some shots from our recent Portland trip.
In the meantime, here are some shots from the archives. My man in his youth. Love ya baby!
A while back I posted about a quilt I was working on. Goodness, it’s been over a year and not much progress has happened since then. I have to admit, I am more than a bit intimidated by making something that large and permanent so I decided to make something a little smaller in scale to give me the courage to finish off that quilt.
I also wanted to use up some scraps that I had lying around. So I started cutting three inch strips and sorting them into colour groupings. Then I cut out a piece of cotton batting to the size that I wanted and started laying bits on it to see how they would work together. Then I sewed strips from the three inch bits and made them about as long as the height of the batting. I made enough to cover the width. Once I had enough strips, I started sewing them all together until I had a piece of fabric the same dimensions as the batting. I stitched along the vertical seams to attach the pieced fabric to the batting and used a piece of cotton muslin for the backing. A quick top-stitch around the edges and voila! A cute little quilted mat for my kitchen sink.
True, it is not exactly a traditional quilt, through all the layers and with a binding but I think that it’s small enough that the backing fabric shouldn’t slip too much. And it was pretty easy and quick to make. I think it took maybe 2 full days of cutting and sewing overall. I’m pretty happy with how it turned out. If I were to make another one, I might consider using more neutral fabrics to crate a calmer feel. For a busy family kitchen this one works just fine though.
Turns out I’m not the only one thinking of ways to use up fabric scraps. Sew Mama Sew is hosting a scrap busting month with lots of tutorials for scrap fabric projects.
I’m loving this cute little alphabet from chez beeper beebe
and this drawstring bag from momonmo
The life of the second child seems short-shrifted in so many ways. The change of the seasons bring hand-me-downs and second had toys. Photos are not as frequent and time is limited. Cuddles usually involve the whole family and less attention is paid to the little things.
And so with the second child’s second birthday, the cake is from a box, the gifts are wrapped minutes before opening and the party is a little smaller and a little simpler.
I am so lucky that my little two-year-old is such an amenable guy who really sees the positive side of things. He loves wearing his big brother’s old clothes. He has no idea that the toys he is playing with have been much loved before him. And he loves our family dog-pile cuddles in the mornings.
Last night we celebrated the eve of his second birthday with a crackling fire and hot chocolate in the living room. Plenty of quilts and snuggles were on hand and despite a few spills we had a lovely, quiet time. Earlier in the day, my oldest reminded me that we need to slow down a bit when he hollered after many tears that our house was too busy and it was all too much for him.
And so things are simpler and quieter and that’s okay. I’m so grateful for the lessons that I learn from each of my young men. And so happy to be celebrating this special little second birthday. This little guy has brought so much joy and adventure into our lives and we are all the better for it.
Happy birthday my little man!
Wow! What a city. I had an amazing trip to Portland. Two full days however, is not nearly enough my friends. Plan for at least three or four if you can. Thought I would share some of my favourites from the trip in case anyone is planning to go. Of course, this list is not exhaustive by any means. I wish I had more time for hiking and exploring the outlying neighborhoods and parks.
Where to stay:
We stayed at the Ace. Super comfy, reasonable (we were upgraded to a bigger room), a great cafe just off the lobby, yummy food next door and right in the heart of the city.
Where to eat:
We never really had a bad meal while we were there. Even a basic diner turned out to have great food. There is a strong happy hour trend going on where most places have cheap snacks and drinks between 3 and 6. And a lot of places have great local fare. Here are some of my faves.
Clyde Common is a great casual place with shared tables and delicious charcuterie and other casual meals.
Fuller’s was our breakfast choice day one. It’s exactly as you would expect. Yummy, casual, honest and big portions.
Pearl Bakery: We picked up some pastries here for our breakfast the next morning. Delicious even the second day.
Cacao: as good as anything I had in Paris. Great place for an afternoon pick-me-up.
Helser’s: The most amazing scotch eggs and creme fraiche. Really. This is the kind of place you can take the kids and have a delicious meal.
What to do:
Go to the Doug Fir for happy hour. Crafty Wonderland is here once a month too. Sadly, we just missed it.
Watch the sun set over the city from Mount Tabor Park.
Go to NE Alberta street. Really, you must. There is just too much goodness there to capture it all. Some of my favourites here were Bolt, Tumbleweed, Grasshopper, and Ampersand. This may be my spiritual home. I was sure to pick up lots of lovely fabrics for the spring Owl+Pussycat collection, and crayon rocks, a model boat, wooden play food and a recycling truck for the boys. All the things that are hard to find here.
Have dinner and a movie at the Living Room Theatre. We enjoyed the Baader Meinhof Complex while munching greens and cheese pizza in loungers with our very own coffee table to rest our food on. I tell you it was a great way for two tired, over-run parents to get out for an evening of entertainment in a foreign city without trying to navigate the lounge scene. It’s too bad that we left before Art & Copy started. I would love to see that.
Powell’s really is as amazing as you can imagine. We came home with so many wonderful volumes for ourselves and the boys. We must have visited various locations at least three times, including the technical store which had wonderful science books and toys for kids. I came home with a laminated Gulf Island field guide for our next visit to the islands.
Take the streetcar in fareless square just for fun.
Visit the farmer’s market in the park blocks for some lovely local snacks.
Now that I have scoped it out, we will definitely be going back with the boys. I can see some great family Portland trips in our future.
As a family we are pretty tight. We tend to move about the house in a herd with no one straying too far from the group. We do not sprawl or separate often. Last weekend was a departure from our usual connectedness and we all felt it. The boys headed off for a weekend at grandma’s and I stayed home for some catch-up and rest. I did manage to get a lot done but it certainly felt strange to come home from errands to a quiet house with everything exactly where I left it. I even went the whole weekend without picking up the broom!
One of my projects was this little basket of goodies. Peter and I are leaving today for a four day trip to Portland to celebrate our tenth anniversary. Grandma will be here keeping the routine going. The boys just love her so it will be a nice little vacation for them too. While I am super excited about going I am so going to miss the boys. So of course some therapeutic crafting was in order.
Using an old copy of a children’s encyclopedia, I made little notes for each of the days that we are going away. The idea is that each day, the boys will have a small token to remember us and to remind them how much we love them.
Today’s token were these little owls that I made from some upholstery fabric samples. It sure is nice to have an interior designer for a friend! Sacha immediately tried to put his in his pocket. He is all about collecting and pocketing things these days.
For one of the other packages, I made some stamps out of more pictures from the encyclopedia. I used the recipe from Salt and Chocolate to make the glue. I also made on of the boy’s favourites – mommy’s homemade pants and for the last package I put in a book and a puzzle to share. It was really nice to get back to some personal crafting after working so hard on making things for the upcoming holiday craft show season. I’d almost forgotten how much fun it can be to spontaneously come up with an idea and watch it come to life. It was a good lesson in keeping the joy in the work.
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