A little popcorn on the hook

I tried my hand at crocheting with a popcorn stitch.

Verrrrrrrry forgiving and fun.

A little Xmas gift for Futchie.

She mentioned grey...





It's got three big buttons so can be worn at different heights

And since she's in the Yukon, cosy is key.

Uh oh,

someone found a photo editing program with lovely basic filters!

Maybe the next one will have to be blueberry.

Off to see some Creative Spaces at Kirsty's

Etsuko Furuya meets the Peasants

A Peasant Dress

For the little Feudal Lord

I think it would be far more fun to be a Lord than a Lady

back in the day.

The back is oatmeal linen, like the sleeves.
I do love the scooters.

Pu is all for making weird faces for the camera these days.

See the anguish on her face as she sorts through
her peasants concerns?

Phew.

 Better take the scooter to the fields.

Today I'm linking to Skip to my Lou

There's This Place in Our House

Not even a place really.

More of a spot.

It's not pretty.

Nor romantic.

Not even whimsical.

It's usually filthy.

The dirtiest spot in our house by many definitions.

However,

it is also the Dream Catcher,

the evidence,

the confession of a day here in Kidtopia.

You see,

it lies beneath the little creators when they do some of their fiercest work.

They make art above the spot.

And,

the most amazing things trickle down.

Here, in the spot lie the entrails of all the day's activities.

If you were to swab it and put a sample in a Petri dish

from it might spring:

A sticker fight, a costume explosion,

and a vegetable jello tree.

You might grow

a  partially gagged up crayon

and part of the rainbow coloured on the inner walls of a stomach.

You might spot a fur ball tumbleweed laced with labradoodle and sprinkles,

(all traces of incidental cheese snacks dropped by toddlers

so lavishly devoured by dog as to leave not a trace,

microscopic or psychic)

Puzzle pieces, beet juice stained play dough,

buttons and thread

and all number of evolving bits.

It's really quite the spot.

In the past,

I confess that with an air of curmudgeon

I have swept this spot away each night when the sighs are of sleep

and the sky is mulberry.

In the day I have pruned it and plucked various choking hazards

both willy

and nilly

from the vortex of the spot.

It's only lately

that I have begun to mine the spot for the tales it tells.

It's only lately that I have begun to read the poetry on the floor.

Serial Killer Baking

A kin to the craft blog is the artful chef,
classy cookery
and eye candy edibles blog.

It is only fair to warn you,

don't get your hopes up here.

Instead,

my best effort to bring glee and sugar to the hearts and teeth of the shorties

 typically leaves
quite the gruesome crime scene.

Look at the CSI trail on this guy.

Of course, I had a few accomplices...

Look at the evidence all over her face!

The weapon of choice.

The above, nameless gingerbread person didn't stand a chance.

I mean really,

crushed to death by an excessive amount of candy sprinkles,

then smothered in icing.

The Indignity.

The Horror!

No remorse here.

Just a plea to do it again.

Sorry Ging!

Just in case you thought the other one was innocent,

this is her get-away outfit.

(OK, not really she was napping.

This was her lets make snow creatures outfit.)

Gotta run the sugar out of the original model.

Colour Me Good Times

Sweet Crayon Rolls

I'm trying to stock pile for the holiday

So full of posibility



All that untapped creativity just ready to be set free.

I command thee: Go forth and colour!

Baby it's Cold Out Here

There's a chill in the air

and I'm in cozy mode

One scarf for Nu.

One for The Sweetie

& one for Pu,

who is really proud of cutting with scissors these days

Oh Yah!



A Presto Chango Refashion

Pu goes to a little preschool and for one of their fundraising efforts they sell t-shirts.

So it started like this:

an x-large men's t-shirt.

And then with a little Clickity Click Barba-Snip

it turned into this...

Which turned into this!

I used the Warhol Pattern from MADE

Thanks Dana!

New Friends

Here's our new resident.

I'm trying out some Xmas gift ideas.

I think she's a little unsure of herself,

 but she seems really lovely.

She offered to share her cookies.

I can't always do that.

I made Pu some little leggings that match the above doll.

A little matchy match, but who doesn't love

purple and grey stripes?

Besides, Life Lesson:

 it's nice to be wearing comfy pants when you're making new friends.

Speaking of friends...

Owyn has a birthday coming up...

And because friends gotta fly,

this owl is heading to Whitehorse.

Then lastly,

a few more buckets,

these one's are the round Mayamade version,

And the above photo is meant to illustrate

that no creature has ever been so unimpressed!

Purr

I love corduroy.

My love is deep and true and full of history.

Full of chocolate brown flare pants at 8 when I got my first dirt bike

(one that made the boys on the street quake with envy).

Full of pencil cases,

and the perfect pre-teen tote bag before 'tween was a word.

So when I had some scraps left from a kid project

(Earl the Chicken)

I was forced to make them into pants.

 verrrrrrrry ridiculously short pants that need some bottoms

'cause despite my hopes and dreams

it's COLD here now!

I have a love also for super tactile upholstery fabric.

So basically these pants are one big invitation to give me a pat.

All raised velvet and strokey cord.

Basically I'm screaming out like a house cat.

This is another version, only a semi sensible length.

Off so see more Creative Spaces & The Train to Crazy

Gratitude & Remembrance

As Remembrance Day approaches I feel grateful.

Explaining war to a 3 year old is just one of the many oxymoronic leap frogs of parenting.

My Dad fought in WWII and my Uncle died in it,

so for me, it's a significant day.

This year I found myself spontaneously going with:

 "Remembrance Day is about feeling grateful

for others who have fought for peace,

so we don't have to."

Fighting for peace...

the dichotomies stagger the imagination-

but a three year old is very accepting!

Wait till she's eight !

So I made some poppies

The plastic ones, are

A) plastic, so bad for the environment and inevitably lost

B) attached with a death sabre that either comes off or stabs loved ones in the eye

So felt seemed right.

We'll use them again next year, and the year after.

I'll be sure to put some money in the Veteran's box every year too.

I wonder how much the poppies contribute to their fund raising?

If you have fought for us or for someone who couldn't,

or if you supported someone who has.

Thank you.

It's much easier being a pacifist from my vantage point of safety and freedom.

Out! You little destroyer!

I spend too much of every day wading through kid toy chaos.

If I'm not loosing the battle between the kids wooden puzzle pieces and the dog's mandibles,

I am swimming through a sea of wooden toys.

I slide on a surf of board books

And I've had my hair parted on more than one occasion by the wrong end of a miniature mop.

Lately Nu thinks its fabulous and hilarious and wonderful to varying degrees

to pull all the DVDs out of their shelf and yank out all innards of the cases.

Over

and

Over.

A pox on this pastime!!

I carefully measured...

But if you've read this before, you know how THAT goes:

well it was too short

(I couldn't read my own writing, a new way to vex myself)

So here is the cover, that almost covers the DVD shelf.

(except for the top two inches where I had to add a trim.

I'll fix it later and scale down the frilly factor.)

A little Velcro opening and freedom from the top

But from the bottom it's Velcro versus baby

and Velcro will win

(maniacal laughter)

Such small victories here in smallville.

A Girl Needs Support

Not support hose,

(though I relish the image of quilted

control top panty hose.)

Not supporting the rocks in socks,

(there are lots of bra technologies and anti gravity machines for that)

But the neck people,

the neck needed some love!

I made a pillow that fits just right.

It's attached to the back of the nursery chair with an elastic,

so it's always where it ought to be.

It's understuffed so I can squish it just so.

The number of nights I have been up with a little one

and staggered out bleary eyed with a kink in my neck

Well NO MORE!!!

(she bellows triumphantly)

Draft dodger

Here's the wee draft stopper I made.

Our house is older and so there are lots of gaps, & creaks.

This blocks the light under the door to Pu's room

and muffles the sound of the bottom stair at nap time.

It also keeps out the chills.

Significantly, it also keeps the cat from reaching her paws under the door in indignation

when she is not invited to participate in bedtime.

All I need now is a kitty muzzle.

I'm thinking about brocade....



Who? You?!

A new feathered friend has come to roost.

I was happily accosted at the playground yesterday by a 5 1/2 year old girl.

Unhappily,

she informed me that she was really

really

really

pretty.

And, that at Show-and-Tell this week she was going to bring a

really

really

really pretty

(b)arbie.

My heart sank.

(Trying no to be SUPER pretentious and trying to find the teachable moment)

I asked her if her barbie was a Dr. or a Marine Biologist?

And she said no, just pretty.

I asked her if barbie could do anything?

Nope.

Or what she might "tell" about her barbie.

The little girl said she would tell her class what store she bought her in.

Um....?!?

I'm going to call that a full blown Yikes!

I'm not COMPLETELY down on barbie.

I remember she taught me that dolls hair didn't grow back

after a bit of a radical clip and snip

during those formative years.

I know it's a tide that will wash over our girl house eventually

resistance is futile

we will be assimilated.

But when we talk about this gal

we'll talk about her as though she's full of possibility and potential.

 This girl just might be

 a Marine Biologist,

a United Nations Peace Keeper

a Martial Artist

A Poet

A Cardiologist

A Geneticist

An Ecologist

 or a CEO of good times.

She's also equipt to carry messages to remind my girls of who they are

and what they are capable of.

What to Wear at an Echolocation Party

Halloween has passed but I can't let go of ...

the Bat Cape!

It's fleece and super cozy.

It's an extra 1/2 layer if you're one who can't commit.

However, it's also an armpit emphasizer.

And what girl doesn't want people to admire her freshly shorn armpits???

It's so odd we don't see more armpit defining designs on the runways of Milan!

(to be read as Meeeeeeeeeeeeeeelan!!)

Today I had on a tank top, threw on the bat cape and a down vest

and was snug

until I put an arm up for an armpit spotlight and 

 cool breeze.

My body was very confused.

At least it found solace and likemindness with it's friend

 my brain.

Off to see some Creative Spaces
and linking to My Backyard Eden, Brown Paper Packages, & Make it & Wear It