snippets

lots more stitching to go on this one, but i am beginning to see the final product in my mind's eye. whereas the last piece was largely a monochromatic affair - as many days on the coast can be - i am trying to incorporate more shades into this one. i'm also having fun experimenting with further materials. remnants from my yarn stash are perfect for starfish and mussels, and raw fleece from a friend's sheep is working well as wave foam (and fog, not seen here).



after i took these shots i started incorporating some barnacles into the mix (of course) and am debating what other creatures can join the melee. above these rocks i am building the forest edge; the raggedy, wind-beaten west coast trees. an eagle might find it's way up there, but it's currently just sitting in my thoughts.

more to see soon. the recent, tenuous reprieve from all the rain we've been getting has given me the opportunity to sit outside after work and do some stitching, which my eyes appreciate compared to my dark living room. until then, let me leave you with a shot of a recent delicious meal: shrimp, chickpea and avocado salad. yum.

a simple dress...and pancakes!

a couple weeks ago the new j.crew catalog arrived, and on the cover was a perfect, easy summer dress. I would probably have ordered it immediately, but for the prohibitive price tag. i wanted to capture the vibe of the dress though, and had recently purchased some linen/rayon blend in this blue. and here's what i ended up with. not quite the same, but a comfy (and hopefully still stylish?) dress for long summer days.



with the solid fabric instead of a print, i tried to add some subtle details to add interest to the dress. the centre seam down the neckline and front, along with sleeves and side seams, are top stitched with silver thread for a touch of sparkle. there is a bit of pleating along the shoulders. and i left the raw selvedge unhemmed at the bottom of the dress.

this was also my first experience sewing with elastic thread, but after a bit of internet browsing and sewing machine tweaking, it worked just fine. i've got other elastic projects in mind already.



i meant to post this on the weekend and then the pancakes would seem more appropriate, but in case you are looking for a delicious sunday breakfast idea, the (sort-of) recipe for these yummy danish pancakes is over on my flickr.

oceanic...

layers of blue, originally uploaded by westcoastcreative.

layers of denim, linen and shimmery nylon. a landscape in development...

fresh bread for dinner...

heidi's recipe for six seed soda bread jumped out at me as soon as i saw it earlier this week. today i was also craving homemade buttermilk ranch dressing, which gave me the perfect excuse to pick up buttermilk for both.

i made a quick salad with romaine, avocado, cukes, mango, sunflower sprouts and crab. top with dressing, butter bread, and a yummy meal was born.

nice and summery, but still hearty enough to help with the fact that it sure doesn't feel like summer around here. oh look, it's raining again...

{this moment}

mixed bunch, originally uploaded by westcoastcreative.

inspired by soulemama.

her words: {this moment} - A Friday ritual. A single photo - no words - capturing a moment from the week. A simple, special, extraordinary moment. A moment I want to pause, savor and remember.

i love nature...

staking claim, originally uploaded by westcoastcreative.

hope the photo of the dead seal doesn't offend you, but seriously, how awesome is that eagle? we happened upon this scene last weekend on the west coast of the island, and i managed to get remarkably close to the eagles (they were about 10 circling overhead and plotting their move) and their scavenged meal.

it was actually a nature-filled weekend, with river otters, sea lions, seals, eagles, grey whales and a humpback whale, a sea otter, and many other birds. not to mention tidal pools full of life. is it any wonder i love this place?

point holmes

it's finished. ...and i want to start on another, right away.

this first attempt at landscape quilting was a big experiment in every sense for me. i didn't buy any new fabric for the project, and large parts of it are recycled items such as denim from old jeans, cotton from an old sheet. the other parts are a mix of cotton, linen, wool and silk, all scraps from other projects; hemp and cotton yarn that i had on hand. okay, the quilt batting is new - i did buy that just for this. it's not really that i was specifically trying to make this without buying new items, but i do have a lot of random fabrics lying around and finding a use for them was definitely rewarding. i am always happy to be less of a consumer, and the rough, worn appearance of reused fabrics lend the perfect textural quality to a landscape recreating some of the rough, worn, west coast. the piece itself is only 2 feet by just under 3 feet, but i thought it was good to start small.



quilting all these different fabrics together does have its challenges though, which can be seen in the above pic with assorted puckering (especially in the water), and i have made some mental notes for next time. this piece was mainly machine stitched, but i would like to incorporate a lot more hand stitching next go round. only the small accents are hand stitched here - the barnacles, the feathers, and the sailboat, and my appreciation for those little bits reinforces my plans for more work by hand. as well, thanks to Caro's great tutorial as an addition to Heather Bailey's binding tutorial, I think I did my best hand-sewn quilt binding yet.

the name for this piece comes from beach close to my home, with beautiful views of the strait of georgia and the coast range mountains behind. while my quilt is not geographically correct, a view of what inspired me can be seen here. i am constantly inspired by my surroundings here on the island, but to translate it so literally into a piece is new, and i am excited to explore this more. this weekend i am headed out to the real "west coast" on the other side of the island, and i know i'll be taking lots of photos (what's new?) that may become ideas for new pieces.

building barnacles

building barnacles, originally uploaded by westcoastcreative.

another sneak peek at the progress on my landscape quilt. i have finished the background structure, as it were. mountains, water, rocks and sand. the fabrics are a pleasant tactile mix of denim, silk, linen, and a bit of corduroy and flannel. i'm just enjoying the process, without thinking about the final product too much. right now i am using some rough yarn and making french embroidery knots, in the hopes that they will resemble barnacles on the rocks.

exploring at home...

having recently returned home from a week away, i took a little stroll around the garden to see how things were developing. spring started out coming early, but has then been cold and wet these last weeks, so in some ways we seem a bit behind. glad to see flowers in bloom though.

we moved into our basement suite just shy of a year ago, and then over the summer i sadly discovered that this yard is much to shadowed by large evergreens to grow much in the way of a vegetable garden. so this year i am feeling a bit resigned, and have not started anything so far. hoping to rely mainly on the farmers market and friends, unfortunately. but these little bits of colour around the edges of the yard lift my spirits, and i'm hoping that all the flowers on the cherry tree are a sign of a good harvest of fruit to come.

inspiration on a beach walk...

on saturday A and i went for a walk at point holmes. A was hunting for driftwood (he has big furniture plans) and i am always happy to mosey along the shore, beachcombing, exploring, absorbing everything around us. we were greeted as soon as we got out of the car by the enthusiastic barks of sea lions just off shore. the herring are running right now, and the seals and sea lions were driving the fish in to the shore for a feast. feasting too were the gulls, swarms of them eagerly snatching up the fish and roe that washed onto the beach. above us, quite a few eagles were surveying the scene, floating easily on thermal currents high in the air.

there was a slight haze overhead, and the wind was light, leaving the world around us in soft shades of blue and grey. i've been thinking about trying my hand at building a landscape quilt for some time now, inspired by the ones my mother has created over the years. recently i've also been inspired by the use of recycled materials and hand stitching, creating organic pieces that stray from the perfect cotton quilts in modern fabrics that populate my flickr faves (don't get me wrong, i still love those quilts too!).

so the beach got me thinking, and a few pieces of debris gathered in my big straw basket at the beach - two small dried crabs in near perfect form, a few feathers, a small piece of driftwood or two - got me started once i got home.



i cut a rectangle from a piece of grey quilting cotton, and began to add layers of denim from old pairs of jeans (lovely the many shades of blue you get), scraps from an old blue bedsheet, and strips of silk and linen. the dimension and texture from the different fabrics is pleasing so far. some of the fabric is new, admittedly, but all of it was already sitting in my stash, leftovers from other projects. and i'm liking where it is going. once i have the basic scene, i'm hoping to add layers on top with additional machine and hand stitching, incorporating yarn for more texture and possibly adding on my little beach finds to really give it life.

stay tuned...

ack! i love it so much!

meet my new cardigan. my new RED cardigan. sorry, just think it's slightly odd that red is my favourite colour, hands down, and yet i don't have a lot of red clothes (oh, except for the umpteen pairs of red shoes). but i'm working to correct that lately.

hmmm, okay, back to the main subject. this cardi has been a long time coming in a way. see, many years ago i bought a red poncho, and enjoyed wandering around looking just like little red riding hood through the woods. in the end though, i didn't wear it as much as i hoped - it was really warm, and yet not suitable for the rain and wet, which is what usually happens around here when it is cold enough to wear a thick wool blend poncho. after carting the poncho through a few moves, and just not being ready to part with the pretty cranberry colour, i decided to unravel it for a new use. however, once the yarn was in several large balls, i still didn't know what to do with it. so it has continued through another move, and sat in the yarn pile for another long wait. i have started and stopped several other cardigan patterns with it, a few of my own invention, a couple of someone else's. still hadn't found it's proper use.

i think, though, that i'm starting to get the hang of proportions and making my own pattern. i really like the style of my forestry cardigan (rav link), but in the end it stretched out a bit and is quite floppy and shapeless when loose. i still get a fair bit of use out of it, but it's not what i'd hoped it would be. i also get a lot of use out of my garter yoke cardigan (rav link), and loved the top down structure. but the shaping around the neck bugs me a bit (i should have made the front dip lower) and i think it looks its best all buttoned up, and kind of floppy when open.



so this cardigan that i finally made is almost a cross between the two. i wanted cabled fronts (and up the back), raglan sleeves, and a shawl collar like the forestry. but i love the ease of knitting from the top down in one piece, the assurance of being able to try it on as i went. in the end i think it worked out pretty well, don't you? it may in part be the yarn (and i'm really not sure of the blend, but i believe it's a wool-acrylic (and the smell when wet blocking confirmed a fair bit of wool there), but this cardi has the perfect amount of structure to hold its shape while unbuttoned. the sleeves ended up 3/4 length due to running out of yarn, but actually they are probably more useful to me that way. and i'm loving the toggles i picked - had never tried that before but i think they work well here.

so are you tired of me tooting my horn enough? needless to say i think i've found a formula that really works for me, and has me plotting future cardigans sooner than later. but maybe i'll try a different colour than red, you know, just so my red cardi collection doesn't start to rival my red shoe collection!

slow sewing...

slow sewing, originally uploaded by westcoastcreative.

i've been inspired by lots of hand stitching lately, from the wonderful works of jude over at spirit cloth, to the clothing of alabama chanin, so i've been experimenting with a bit of my own. this is a square of interwoven denim strips from an old pair of jeans, slowly being sewn together by leftover red merino from my beautiful red hat. i haven't quite figured out what it's going to be (pillow cover? bag?) but i'm enjoying the meditation of stitching it together. plus i'm glad to be using up scraps, the best sort of recycling i suppose.

yesterday, today, tomorrow?

yesterday, today, originally uploaded by westcoastcreative.

tomorrow now being today, since i didn't get around to posting yesterday. the weather on saturday was wet, pouring all day, with a southeast gale bending the trees. i ventured out briefly, but you can trust me when i say it wasn't pretty. complete wet (err, west) coast february weather, and i love it (although i suppose many an olympian was less than thrilled).

sunday, on the other hand, was the complete opposite. bright blue sky met me through the window when i woke up, and stayed all day, including a lovely trip down to the beach to explore what the previous day's storm had washed up.

now if that sun could reappear this week for a few days, i might be able to get out on my bike for a forest ride without fear of being swallowed by an enormous mud puddle...

socks to make me swoon...

oh yes, they're finished. these socks have been in the works since october, but they didn't actually take that long. many a gift project or other crafting distraction got in my way, but finally i've got rainbow striped socks up to my knees. knitting details can be found on rav, as usual. i increased up the leg as i went to fit, but then did a bunch of decreases in one row before starting the ribbing. unfortunately, they don't seem to have been enough, as they don't quite want to stay up all day, so i may still frog the cuffs and redo.

the noro silk garden sock (the white blend) made for a very thick and cozy sock, so they are perfect for cold days this winter, possibly tucked inside boots. despite the rain though, i couldn't resist wearing them with slip-on shoes yesterday to show them off.

by the way, that's another thing that has been occupying me lately, but you won't see much of it here on the blog. i have been really enjoying reading a lot of streetstyle/fashion blogs of late, and felt that i might give a little try at posting some of my own outfits. i'm definitely not ready to go full-on style blog, but it's been fun posting on the wardrobe remix flickr pool so far. i was feeling a bit of a fashion slump late last year and looking at other people's outfits has provided great inspiration and also pushed me to make a little more of an effort lately. living in my laid-back town, with my casual work environment, and an outdoorsy lifestyle, make it pretty easy to fall into a rut stylewise, and i want to step it up a little. not to mention, turning 30 this past year has made me willing to be a bit more "adult", dare i say it, and not dress in the same old stuff in the same way i have for years. so if you're interested in checking out that side of me, please follow it here, but for the most part it won't be featured on the blog.

i am sort of interested though - does anyone else enjoy the current profusion of street style online, and is it inspiring you? it certainly inspires my crafting as well as my wardrobe (okay, even if that crafting then ends up as part of my wardrobe!).

peanut for a wee nut, er, nephew

nephew #3 turns one tomorrow. for those keeping track (what do you mean, you weren't keeping track!), my oldest sister has nephew #1 and niece #1, and my next oldest sister has nephews #2 & #3. nephew #3 is a quiet guy so far, pretty mellow, which seems only fitting since his older brother is a non-stop, on-the-go, gotta-keep-moving kinda guy. what does a little guy need, when he's hanging out watching his brother run to and fro? why, a little elephant to keep him company.

i've been wanting to make peanut, the elephant from joelle hoverson's book since i first got it, but this one took a while to finally get to my to do list, and for a perfect recipient. he turned out actually quite a bit bigger than i expected, as i had only looked at him in pictures, without really checking out the instructions and pattern pieces until construction was underway. pretty cute though, this little guy. just like my nephew, actually. he is made of quilting cotton, plus his ears and underside are soft corduroy.

despite my best attempts, i'm not doing very well at posting regularly - sorry for the silence. i do have some more projects to post, and hopefully some finished knee socks shortly (so sweet!). if you were here, i'd distract you with some warm cookies, but i guess me and the boy will have to share them amongst ourselves!

have a seat...

gift knitting continues in all it's madness. thankfully, i seem to be getting on top of it, but then again christmas isn't here yet, so i shouldn't get all cocky about yet, should i?

these seat cushions were requested by my sister after seeing some of my string quilting experiments. i hope this is what she meant! handily, we have the same style of dining chairs, so that helped with the measurements, but i think in the end they are a bit smaller than i would have liked. should still work though. the backs are a lightly patterned blue, and make the covers easy to remove from the foam for ease of washing. i did quilt the tops to one layer of batting as well to give at least a slight "quilted" look.

i also finished two toques this weekend, which you can check out here and here. both quickie projects for my nephew and dad, respectively.

we are gearing up for our first real snowfall of the year tonight - a light dusting covers the ground outside my office right now, but we should get quite a bit more tonight. definitely helps the christmas spirit, even if i did end up having to come in to work instead of having the day off to go snowboarding as was planned...

breath of fresh (arctic) air

the days are clear and bright here, but the temps are hovering around 0 and below (celsius). monday to friday i head to work in just-barely daylight and come home as the sun is making a run for the hills (or behind the hills, as it were), so despite the beautiful light peeking through my office window, i myself have not been getting a lot of vitamin D. i also have a bad habit, especially this time of year, of getting caught up with crafts and baking and just plain cleaning the house on my days off, and before i know it it's dark again. so yesterday i thought i better get outside.

i took a walk at the airpark, which runs along the courtenay river estuary. the air was filled with gulls and geese flying back and forth, and hundreds of them lined the water's edge. the dry grasses rustled busily in the arctic breeze whistling along. and the sky was oh so blue. perfect for a solitary walk, and then to come home to a warm house with cheeks nice and rosy.



i also managed to finish off one more gift that had been languishing for a bit. this is my interpretation of pebble, a sweet little vest for my littlest nephew, in tweedy brown ravelled here. the actual knitting went quickly, but then it sat waiting for ends to be woven in and appropriate buttons to be picked. i omitted the buttons on the side, possibly out of laziness, but also because my nephew is getting a bit bigger and i think it will still be easy to get on him, plus the buttons at the shoulders should still help.

not sure what has possessed me this december - my house looks like some sort of craft bomb went off - balls of yarn, bits of felt, fabric, paper...i keep adding more gift projects to my list before i am finished the ones i already started.

trying to be unselfish...

the new toast catalog arrived, and has me dreaming of being wrapped in woolens and tweeds and traipsing around the scottish countryside, or at least some ideas for new clothing to make. i want a new toque for snowboarding next weekend. and some new fingerless mitts to wear in my chilly office. and a new scarf...well, you all know how it goes. but i heard there's a little holiday fast approaching. not to mention a birthday in a week. so i am pushing aside (for the moment...) what i want, and trying to do a little gift projecting.

my sister requested some medium serving bowls for her birthday, which was easy to take care of, but they needed a little personal touch. so i made these quick potholders for her, out of assorted green cottons with a natural linen binding. i was impressed how fast they came together - just an easy evening project. now who else needs potholders...?


second up (hey, they get compiled until weekends when i can take photos, daylight being such a scarce commodity around here) is probably my biggest holiday project, which is happily completed nice and early. i have been planning this quilt for my niece since the summer, and had originally planned it for her birthday in october. when that didn't come together, i was determined for christmas, and thankfully it came together pretty quickly this month.

i kind of want it for myself...but A is not so hot on us putting a pink and purple quilt on our bed. hmph.

i've got a few more projects in the wings, maybe more photos for you tomorrow. i'm working on a cute little sweater vest for my littlest nephew (aka nephew #3) and i've promised myself if i complete it this afternoon i can spend the evening on something for me. if you're looking for projects for yourself or a quick gift for a stylish friend, martha is very kindly offering a free pattern for a cool origami wrap, i haven't had a chance to take photos of the one i made yet, but it's quite cozy. i also like to wear it wrapped in front and belted.

as always, more pics to be seen on flickr

sunday under a quilt

sunday under a quilt, originally uploaded by westcoastcreative.

hand sewing the backside of a quilt binding is not exactly a thrilling way to spend my sunday. but spending it sewing the binding while snuggled under said quilt, catching up on last week's episode of house, eating popcorn, with the smell of baking bread and simmering chicken stock on the stove wafting through the air? perhaps not thrilling either, but not a bad way to spend the afternoon.

instant gratification and the gift slog

yesterday (i know, i started writing this last thursday!) i had a day at home for remembrance day, and after a trip downtown for the ceremonies, i had some precious daylight in which to craft and take photos. this shot is actually something made on sunday, as part of the silly fun that was craft weekend at my house.

yes, craft weekend. see, last fall a few friends and i started having craft nights, once a week or every couple weeks, a night to get together and chat and eat, and hopefully, work on some of our crafts-in-progress, which covered a wide range of knitting, sewing, art, etc. those nights have not yet been resurrected for this year, but hopefully soon - see, many folks work in the great outdoors all summer and aren't available for summer crafting, not to mention that drizzly, windy fall nights are of course perfect for this kind of friend get-together. but i'm getting a bit tangential here... so this year i devised the idea of a whole weekend of craft. not that that's not my usual weekend, really, but i thought it would be great to have a bunch of folks over, and include many who live far away. i had also been inspired by suse and her escapes to sewjourn (so jealous, why do we not have this in canada?). i think it worked out well, although any actual crafting that happened may have been accidental - we might try to be more productive next time. you see, there was wine, and snacks, and wine.

but i did show some folks how to strip quilt, and i ended up with this pretty neckwarmer. my friend amanda showed up wearing one, and then very kindly provided fabric for me to make my own. a nice little shot of colour for these dark days. just a quick rectangle of cotton on one side, fleece on the other, and a little loop and button to hold it together. instant gratification accessory.

hoping this weekend to have some shots for you of my first pieces of gift crafting, as that seems to be my focus right now...and probably till Dec 24th!