Anita Lobel
The Seamstress of Saltzburg is a beautifully illustrated story about a young seamstress, pushed beyond her limits to make beautiful dresses for the wealthy women of Saltzburg. As a kid, I would check this book out of my school library over and over again.
I found a copy a few years ago, while working as a Librarian at UBC. It appears that the UBC Education Library has an amazing collection of children’s books, untouched by the public masses. One of these days, I would love to find a copy of my very own. They do exist, but cost a zillion dollars via the rare book sellers.
I found these books at the North Vancouver District Library yesterday. Sven’s Bridge:
and On Market Street:
Lobel’s stories are simple, thoughtful and so beautiful to look at. She also wrote a book called Potatoes, Potatoes, about two brothers going to was against each other.
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the workshop
over the weekend…
Remember the canning in September? Totally worth it. These are my favourite presents to give. And people genuinely seem to appreciate getting a jar of pickles… or at least they laugh about getting a jar a pickles. So, that’s something.
The girls are getting so good at making stuff. I am so looking forward to school ending so that we have more time to play Santa together.
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new rink
Robson Square has reopened for public skating.
We’ll find our legs eventually. E has her heart set on learning to hockey stop.
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grasspaper
Most of it has now been scraped from the walls… except for the two walls we are leaving and all of the grassy bits sticking out of the baseboards (Anyone wanna come over to pick at the baseboards for an hour or three??). The drywall guy comes today. YeeHAww!!
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etsy
So I made a real Etsy sale! Little Mae the Shirley doll was mailed to Rye, New York this morning. It was very exciting! So, of course I had to update my shop to catch the Christmas shoppers….
No more Shirley dolls for now… but lots of hats. The cold weather is coming. And I had a bunch of half-made hats organized as I waffled over whether to participate in a craft sale.
I did miss the boat on the chance to do an Etsy promo thing. Ah well. At least I posted at the right time of year this time!
Buy handmade everyone! Etsy has some beautiful gifts for sale.
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library party and some excuses
E and I had a party at the library yesterday. She came home with the Little House Cookbook and Lemony Snicket DVD. I came home with this:
Do you remember AZ’s Golf Shpants? Look, real ones:
And where can I wear this? Is there time to make one before Christmas festivities start?
And another thing – I have been feeling a bit bratty since my post about how slow it has been getting settled into our new place. I blame the Swine Flu for my whiny behaviour. Of course I appreciate how fortunate I am to have a living room (even one piled with stuff). I don’t want to come across as spoiled. In my defence, even if I lived in a cardboard box, I would want to make it a nice one. You know… pretty, comfortable and with a shelf or two.
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endless entertainment
Giant boxes from Ikea (more on cabinets later):
And from the recycling:
Tape, scissors and cardboard. I am not feeling ambitious enough for this at the moment, but my babies are… and I guess that’s the important thing.
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making spaces
Little by little, we claim corners of our new home. Though we really have to save our pennies for the basement reno, I couldn’t resist the temptations at IKEA yesterday. This lampshade looks like the woods outside our house. Nerdy, perhaps, but I love it:
My dad made this lamp for me when I was little. The lampshade is new…. as are the candles…
and maybe we didn’t need the throw pillow quite yet, but it is pretty. Yes?
Just forget that I should have sewed it – out of recycled pants or some such thing. W and I had a party: ballroom, meatballs and fries, chocolate milk and shopping. Neither local, nor sustainable. I am hiding my car keys.
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Quick update! We got hit with the flu. I am pretty sure it was THE flu, though we weren’t offically tested. The day after returning from Yellowknife was spent in a feverish haze. I think I passed out (I woke up on the bedroom floor after a treacherous trip to the bathroom)…. It was ugly – and pretty much knocked me out for a good week and a half. Nobody else got it. Well, W and S might have had it, if coughing and vomiting without a fever counts. Not sure. Regardless, I am keeping my fingers crossed that we stay in the clear until my lovelies can be immunized.
So… my creative efforts have been limited. I did manage to start a toque for AZ. We picked up this yarn at the Whistler Farmer’s Market over the summer. I love it. Impulse of Delight yarns are inspired by the Whistler landscape. AZ chose “Emerald Forest”. Appropriate, because we used to ride our bikes in Whistler’s Emerald Forest trails before our babies were born (you know, when we could spend 4 hours riding our bikes together and not worry about impaling ourselves on branches and falling off of wee cliffs – and follow it all up with beer and nachos at the pub. Ahhh… one day… we’ll get back there). I want to pick up some Blackberry next.
Filed under: Knitting, Traveling near and far | 1 Comment
like a giant art project…
Our old house was a well-oiled machine. We had built-in cabinets, a simple layout and a place for everything. The silly thing is that I keep forgetting it took us nine years to get to that point. It takes a while to build infrastructure and settle into a place.
We are still in boxes. Big time. I refuse to unpack the little bits and pieces until the infrastructure is built. Thankfully, we have a wee budget for a cabinet or two. That, and we are planning to finish an unfinished basement. The girls will get their own rooms and we will all get a second bathroom. It is all so exciting! I just have to be patient. In the meantime, I have unpacked my sewing machine. It sits in the middle of the living room, ready for a project or two.
Did I mention that our new house is brown? Very brown. There is grass wallpaper on most of the walls. I do like it. Except I don’t like it on every wall. I have been steaming some of it off. And guess what? It’s brown underneath. Wood paneling. In beautiful condition! So, do I wallpaper this? Or paint over it? (ie. change it forEVER). My girlfriend made the best comment of all. She said that the house is “like a giant art project”. I suppose it is. And I should look at it that way.
Taking deep breaths, heating up the steamer and pouring over decor magazines…. design ideas most welcome.
Filed under: Nesting | 2 Comments
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