MY ROSEWOOD BOOKCASE

Today I took photos in my my sewing room to post on the NING group I belong to and after I looked at those photos, I started to think about the things I have in this room and where they came from and how much they mean to me. Most particularly, my rosewood bookcase.

The rosewood bookcase where (funnily enough) my needle-related books are was one of the first pieces of furniture Frank and I bought when we moved to North Vancouver after living in Prince Rupert for five months when we were first married. It's about 34 years old. I still think it is a lovely piece of furniture.

Stored in the bookcase are:

Recipes collected and and saved in a 2lb chocolate box by my mother-in-law, Cora Abeling. A lot are written in Dutch or cut, very carefully, from the newspaper. Aunty Mary Richmond's recipes are in a plastic file card box. Most of hers are low-calorie and low fat or are for Colonel Blimp Chutney. One day I will make a collage for each of them. Just because.

A little book called "Little Sally Mandy and the Shiny Penny" which was given to me in 1956 by Mrs. Dorthea Fountain - a friend of my grandmother Ada Georgina Shoemaker Richmond. Mrs. Fountain was one of the first female doctors to graduate from the University of Toronto. Sadly, both of her sons were killed during WWII. Mrs. Fountain used to send us scratchy socks and Barley Sugar Sticks for Christmas and a $2 bill for our birthdays until we turned 16.

A small pink cup and saucer that Donna and Rob Laydon (Leighton?) gave me when I was born - way back in 1951. My father Charles Herbert Battison and my cousin Sydney Carol Dean broke it when they were throwing a rolled up sock around the house many years ago. It is held together by imbedded Scotch Tape residue and is one of the very few things I own that came from my life with my father and mother. Another item from my life with my father and mother is my father's camera which he left with my mother (Ada Margaret Richmond Battison Smith) so she could take pictures. She didn't bother very often, so there is very little documented evidence of my existence between the ages of 7 and 25 and even then, its spotty!

A handcrafted pottery bunny that my sister Ann Margaret Battison gave me. A cat pushed it off a shelf and broke its ears which have been Crazy-Glued back in place. I know Ann won't mind that a cat broke it, because she likes cats too!

A little Grecian villa, two stuffed desk ornaments, rock bookends, an 'earthquake indicator' and three Russian figurines that were actually purchased in Russia by a Steele & Co. client and which remind me of some of the finest men a girl could work for!

A plaster of paris carving that I made for Aunty Mary when she was Director of Nursing at Vancouver General and I was in Grade 10 at Royal Oak Junior High. A piece of driftwood that either Ann or I cleaned and varnished for Aunty Mary for Christmas back when our mother was feeling 'artsy crafty'. Ann says she made it; I say I made it. Doesn't really matter. I have it.

Framed petit-pointed pansies made for me by my friend Kass who also made the framed cross-stitched butterfly and my own silk-on-silk embroidered flower kit that Frank gave me for Christmas the same year he gave me a calligraphy pen and some Henkel knives - which was the same year his sister got gold-plated faucets for a house they don't live in any more. I still have the knives and I can do calligraphy.

Pieces of decorative china and magical, wondrous sewing things that belonged to Dorothy Peacock and her half-sister (my father's cousin) Kay Peacock Little. Decorative bone china sent to my mother by her uncle George Richmond (Nr. Swindon, Wilts., England) for Christmas over the years.

My precious collection of thimbles - gifted to me by my husband, a former employer, friends, family and Aunty Mary (Helen) Battison Dean who gave me some of Dorothy's and Kay's sewing treasures.

Not one, but TWO cases containing the feet and some other (but not all - by a long shot!) attachments for my Bernina Artista 200 sewing machine that I bought just for me in memory of my mother who taught me to sew and my Aunty Mary who encouraged us in everything we did. (My old Bernina 830 is stored behind my sewing table and my new Pfaff is under the stool that Aunty Mary bargello-ed.)

My rosewood bookcase is a very special piece of furniture.

And look - I have a project underway on the ironing board! It's a scrappy log-cabinish type of quilt and I have actually used some of my stash, including one spool of thread!

And another look!! I have another project in waiting - the floor needs to be vacuumed!

I'll do that sometime.

Stay tuned for things mentioned, but not elaborated on, in this blog! May be tomorrow - may be next week!

UPDATE: Because of this post, I was contacted by relatives of Mrs. Dorthea Fountain's! It's a small cyber-world! Thanks Leslie!

Sick - of Colds and Snow!

Winter has returned. On Wednesday night it snowed again! The remaining patches of December and January snowfalls had only just melted and the pond ice had started to thaw. We had even managed to spend a few spring-like days in the yard, cleaning up winter's debris. The snowdrops were blooming and crocuses starting to show colour. Tulips and daffodils were erupting. Now they are all covered in SNOW. AGAIN. 

However, since both of us have had colds for the past week or ten days, it doesn't really matter. We have been lolling about on sofas, sleeping, watching cooking shows and CNN and sleeping some more. It is the first time in nearly 35 years that both of us have had colds at the same time. My brain is still not functioning properly, we are both still coughing, sneezing and nose-blowing, but both of us are feeling a bit better and coffee is beginning to taste better than tea!

The Black Prince (Rosie's Boy-Toy) has returned for a ten-day stay while his mother is on a Caribbean cruise. He has had some obedience lessons since his last stay and tries so hard to please. He and Rosie decided to wake us up at about 6 a.m. today. Frank managed to settle them down for about half an hour, but the excitement of a new day was just too much for them and we all got up.

This miserable cold and the few days of nice weather since my last post have meant little or no time spent in my sewing room. The time I did spend in here was re-enacting the definition of insanity - doing the same thing over and over and expecting a different result.  (Refer to comment regarding brain function.)

However, I managed to spend a good deal of time looking at fibre art sites yesterday and found stitchinfingers. I explored their website and oohed and aahed the different groups' work, so I decided to join. It seems that I should now be adding a link to this blog to my page. I am not sure it is ready for the public domain (or perhaps I should say I am not ready to expose myself to the public domain ...). 

An Artsy Quilty Melty experiment from a few weeks ago. The base is Kunin felt topped with several layers of fused sheers, then melted with the fine tip of the Walnut Hollow heat tool. The turquoise areas are a metallic ribbon attached with fusible thread.

Life's a Peach!

Now for something completely different ... all about My Life! I have been married to the same great guy (Frank) for nearly 35 years. We have no kids, three cats (Josie, Cassie and Haffy) and a Chocolate Lab (Rosie). We are transplanted sort-of-retired city folk who choose to live in a rural area of Vancouver Island. We have learned that the very best eggs, chickens and turkey come directly from the farmer and John Deere tractors are pretty much a must-have on nearly 8 acres. 

Our property was once home to grazing animals that decimated a lot of the native growth which we hope to regenerate with native plants we brought with us from our former home in Lions Bay. We want to create a park-like atmosphere throughout the whole property so we can meander about with Rosie and a nice glass of red or white (bottled at The Mission - I highly recommend the Muller Thurgau and Amarone!) and realize how truly fortunate we are. We have a large pond and an island which is not accessible without a small rowboat. I don't "do" small boats so I have not set foot on the island, but Frank has created a secret garden using HIS stash of saved and repurposed items. He is a very talented designer and has envisioned and created some beautiful outdoor spaces. Of course, I added my two-bits worth and helped ...

We are privileged and (still) delighted to share our space with a lot of wildlife - deer, mink, beavers (well, maybe we could have done without the beavers who chewed down 6 trees when we first bought the house and which have moved across the street to continue their "damn" building), squirrels, river otters, jack-rabbits, various and assorted ducks, a Great Blue Heron, eagles, hawks, California Quail, Great Northern Flickers and the occasional pheasant. 

And frogs. Many frogs. Indigenous frogs and introduced frogs. We love to hear the indigenous frogs at night in the spring and autumn when, as we say, it's "frogging" outside. At times, the frogs are so loud they wake us up.

The introduced North Amercan Green Bullfrogs - not so much. The bullfrogs remind me of Jabba the Hut and sound like sick cows. Apparently if one is saving-native-habitat-minded, one can catch these frogs, put them in Ziploc Bags and then place them in one's freezer where they go into "permanent hibernation". 

I have some problems with this process. Firstly, the catching. These frogs leap into the pond at the slightest shadow or vibration. Secondly, the bank of the pond area can be extremely slippery. Thirdly, Beaver Fever has been caught by people (an 8 year old boy) who have purposely or unwittingly gone into ponds in this area. Fourthly, and I don't know about you, but our freezer contains tasty, appetizing food. Butter tarts. Lasagne. Pork chops. A 20 pound farm turkey. Apple pie and frozen fresh peaches from our trees. Frankly, I don't think adding dead - ooops - "hibernating" frogs stuffed into Ziploc Bags sounds all that appealing.

There's a local person whose name is Ketcham (not kidding) who will pick up the HagenFrogs and take them to Vancouver Island University for whatever it is university students do with frogs. (I don't want to go there - not VIU - the frog possibilities.) I was in Grade 12 when it was still apropos to dissect frogs. My science lab partners (yes I remember their names) decided that I was best-suited to do the dirty work. On the last day, before we had to say "goodbye" to Mr. Frog, I announced (quite loudly), that I had done enough dissection and it was someone else's turn.

In addition to the forest, pond, secret garden, frogs, cats and dog, we have 2 hazelnut trees, 8 apple trees, 3 cherry trees, 1 yellow-plum tree, 1 peach tree, 1 pear tree and 2 butternut trees. When I was very excited about rural life (and a few years younger), I planned to make tasty preserved jams, jellies, salsas, pies, sauces, etc. and would grab my basket (or "panier") (after hanging out laundry on a clothesline for that fresh, outdoorsy smell) and prance gaily about the orchard, singing folksy songs ... sparrows and bluebirds perched on my left shoulder, kittens, bunnies and baby bambis dancing and frolicking about my feet. 

Apparently, no matter how tasty and delish, the canned/jarred/bottled comestibles sit in sterilized Mason jars in the cupboard - uneaten. So, next year ... apples will be stored in boxes. Pears will be stored in boxes. Nuts - yep. Nuts to the nuts! Peaches will become smoothies and whatever is left from the fruit crop will be fed to the deer when it snows. I love being an earth-mom kinda girl, but I hate spending my time over steaming kettles and boiling cauldrons making stuff that no one eats.

I hope Ree Drummond at thepioneerwoman.com forgives me.

Love to my family and friends. 

Three-Dog-Day

We had a three-dog-day today. Dianne and her friend Mary came by on their walk with their dogs Rosa and Molly respectively. After they left, Becky and Kae-Lee came for a visit with their new Chocolate Lab Cain who just moved in with them yesterday. He is two years old and very rambunctious. Rosie is exhausted after a sunny, blue-sky play in the yard with her new dog friends. 

Official Gardening commenced today! Not only was it a sunny, blue-sky day, but it was also warm enough to spend some time outside doing yard work. Frank pruned the peach tree and the wisteria while I started raking amongst the trees.

We had our trip to Duncan this morning.  While Frank got what he needed at the marine aquarium store (and what he "needed" included two fish!), I wandered off to Fabricland, but left empty-handed. On the way home, we bought some halibut for dinner tonight and scallops for dinner on Friday.

I poached the halibut in water with a glob of Meyer Lemon Chutney and some lemon pepper and sprinkled spinach and asparagus with soya sauce, rice wine vinegar and sesame oil and cooked it in the microwave. I had made extra Thai black rice last night, so I heated the leftovers and added a dash of chili oil. I put some fresh cilantro and Thai sweet chili sauce on top of the halibut. We both had two servings. It was delicious and colourful!

I added some beads to one of the trading card pieces last night. I will take more pictures of this experiment in a few days. In the meantime, this is a picture of the other side of my altered book.

Another ArtsyQuilty Melty Experiment

I really liked the blue/green/rust Melty Experiment from the other day, so last night I decided to make another one. Although I did not take any pictures last night, I took this one before I started to do anything with the piece. There are several different colours of red, orange, teal and yellow scrap pieces of sheer fabrics placed over a foundation of black Kunin felt covered with a scrap of some slightly metallic gold cotton/nylon blend that shrinks badly and is quite heat-reactive. The gold fabric has been fused to the felt with fusible web and the sheer fabrics have been fused either to the gold fabric/felt foundation or to each other - just enough to hold everything in place. At this time, the piece measures 9"x12" and the only non-scrap piece is the felt. Now, on to some free-motion embroidery and embellishment.

In the second photo, I have added Kreinik braid and blending filament, Fiesta rayon floss, Cresta D'Oro metallic yarn (which I used up!) which I twisted together and stitched with Madeira metallic thread (purple and overdyed brown/rust).

Before I stopped for the night, I added some copper Fyre Werks and some copper foil using Bonash powder and did some melting. Then I cut it up to make trading cards, post cards and two little teeny-tiny pieces that will probably end up in the garbage!

Today we ran some errands - which included taking the power head from the vacuum cleaner to the fixing place and having lunch at The Cactus Club, some grocery shopping, a trip to the Age of Aquariums to indulge Frank's hobby, and home in time for tea. Since neither of us were particularly hungry, we had nachos for dinner. Age of Aquariums did not have what Frank needed so we are planning to go to Duncan tomorrow. The marine aquarium purveyor in Duncan is right next to Fabricland!  How very convenient.

I finally saw one of our formerly-invisible barn cats today.  Oh lordy!  It is absolutely ginormous.  I did not see it, but the other cat was further back in the barn. Frank says they look like litter mates. I think we will try to live-trap them and get them spayed (spaded???) or neutered and then they can live happily ever after in the barn.

ArtsyQuilty Melty Experiment

I started to write a blog on January 25 and lost interest ... this actually all happened on January 26 ...

A scan of my experiment (8 3/4" x 7 1/4") with sheers, Textiva, Angelina, Walnut Hollow heat tool, metallic threads and free-motion embroidery on a piece of Kunin felt covered with a green metallicy fabric I bought to make something with for Christmas a few years ago. I am not too pleased with the colour, so I shall try the camera and see what happens to the colour with a photo, rather than the scan.

It HAS occurred to me that if I continue making small items, my stash will NEVER get used! I really must try something a bit larger.

Frank and I went to Qualicum Beach today to the Old School House to see the surface design exhibit. I liked some of the work, but I came away feeling like I am creative and do good work. We then went to an art supply store/stationers. At both places, I was spoken to as if I were an artist. It was just great. Then on to a quilt fabric store for a look-see. Lots of notions and fabric, but nothing I needed!

I have spent the evening in artsyquilty mode with the above piece doing a little more melting with the small pointy tip from the Walnut Hollow tool. It is a neat little gadget, but one needs to take care with the amount of pressure used as it gets very hot and melts the fibres quickly. Next to be added - beads I think, and maybe some hot-fix crystals - then a backing. I was originally planning to cut it up to make ATCs or APCs, but have decided against it because I like it the way it is.

I went for my walk today before we went to Qualicum Beach. The swans were in a different field and there were not as many as there had been. I love to watch them on these wonderful, bright, crisp, sunny days. Apparently we are expecting more snow tonight and tomorrow. 

The dining room is almost back to normal and even though I said I wouldn't be cleaning the glass and mirrors in the china and curio cabinets, I did and put the cleaned and dusted china, glasses and curio stuff back. The room now has a warm, rich look.  

Frank has put two coats of paint on one wall of the sun/living room with the vanilla-y/ caramelly colour. The remaining walls will  be the same orangey as in the dining room. It would be great if we could paint the windows too! They are old double-pane with broken seals with crud between the panes. Oh, and if we could paint the ugly carpet too ... 

The First ArtsyQuilty ATC

Back again after skipping a day or so.  Had dinner at Dianne's last night.  She lives in a trailer and had never had more than one person over for dinner before.  We had wine, shepherd's pie and lots of laughs.  She sent us home with leftovers for tonight.  

Frank painted the wall in the dining room that I tore the ugly wallpaper from about a year and a half ago.  It looked better with the wallpaper gone, but it looks even better with a coat or two of paint!  Next project - two walls in the living room.  We have more orange in the house than most people find in their Christmas stockings, but both Frank and I like it and it matches our chairs. 

Above is my favourite ATC. It is made from fabric paper (white glue, muslin, torn white tissue paper), painted with two or three Golden acrylic paints (I forget which ones), a line of assorted beads, ending in a butterfly. The pink/mauve area is rolled to the back. It is made from orange (there's that colour again!) polyester chiffon, white painted (more Golden acrylics) Misty Fuse, Textiva, and turquoise metal foil with two dangly strands of more assorted beads, one ending in another butterfly and the other in an opalish oval bead.  Not only is this one my favourite so far, it is also my first and I have used it in place of my own photo, since it is so much better looking and is not fussy about lipstick and hair.

I played for while tonight in my sewing room, made another ATC.  I now have five lined up along the bookcase. They are fun to make and oddly enough, not all that easy, due to their small size. One of the Yahoo groups I belong to trades ATCs. I am not ready to put myself 'out there' just yet. I need to do some more experimenting which is fine by me, but may limit the amount of time I can help with painting the living room! I need to set up a photo-spot to take pictures since the ironing board is usually occupied by a cat.

I thought I was using my stash, but one of my three cats decided the spool of thread in the sewing machine was a cat toy, so she pulled the thread and emptied the spool for me.  I think she ate about a foot and puked it up on the cream-coloured carpet ... Also, one of my gold-leafing pens was dry so I had to throw it away.  I don't think that counts as 'using' my stash.  I have, however, used a few beads ... a bit of fabric ... some paper ...

This past summer, my friend Becky and I made fabric paper. Fun and messy, and definitely a warm, sunny day, outside on the table with a plastic drop-sheet, with a glass of wine project. Next warm, sunny day, I shall make a lot more. When I was quitting smoking, I bought a roll of rice paper, brushes and ink to try brush painting. I never got around to it, because I went back to re-teaching myself italic calligraphy (I am left-handed which makes calligraphy difficult - especially since the hand drags through the freshly applied ink).  So, while experimenting with something else a week or so ago, I used some of the rice paper. I am anxious to try it for fabric paper instead of using the torn white tissue that I used last summer. I would love to have some more of the fabric paper to help me through the long winter days - it paints beautifully (Golden acrylics) and can be sewn, both by machine and by hand.

I had planned to go to the surface design exhibit in Qualicum Beach with Marjorie, but Marjorie's fourth grandchild (a girl) was born last night, so we have put our road trip off until next week. Everyone is fine, including the grandmother!

Prince has been returned to his castle after two days of playing with Rosie. Rosie is exhausted!

PONDERING:  Five free hot wings with a 15-piece KFC bucket.  Five?????  How many wings does the average chicken have?

The Beginning

I decided at the beginning of the year that my life was so interesting that I wanted to be reminded of it regularly and the only way I could think to do that was to have a 'rewind' button or read about it after it happened!  

The person who makes my life the most interesting is my husband, Frank.  We have three indoor cats (Haffy, Josie and Cassie) and a Chocolate Lab named Rosie.  We also have two outdoor cats (Barney and Barnet) who moved into the barn earlier this winter.  We feed them, but hardly ever see them.

Anyway .... Frank had been called to Jury Duty today.  Turns out that his services were not required which is unfortunate since he recently took up knitting and calling out "guillotine" Very odd indeed, since he is of Dutch heritage.

And another anyway - my brain has been in  a creative mode for the past two or three weeks.  I really want to be spending my time in my brain, creating things to satisfy my soul.  I joined several Yahoo groups - but I don't yet know what contribution I will be making to these groups. Some of them - nothing.  Others - I am not so sure.  It looks like there are groups for almost any interest. 

My interests include fibre art, canvas work, mixed media, paint, glue, reading.  I have a whole room which I share with the cats' dish so Rosie can't get it, three sewing machines, a serger, a terrific selection of books and magazines in a rosewood bookcase (one of the first pieces of furniture we bought after we got married), a great collection of antique sewing notions and equipment, a cedar chest full of fabric, shelves of paint, pens, pencils, paper, Rubbermaid containers full of stuff, a cd player, a tv and my MacBook and I use Aunty Mary's wonderful teak desk as a sewing table. 

Tomorrow is a day that we should all remember where we were when ... like the Kennedys' assassinations ... John Lennon's death ... Elvis ... Chernobyl ... Vancouver bars and pubs will be open on Sunday .... mother announces that father is remarried and not returning ... and where one was when any other earth-shattering, life-altering announcements that change one's life forever are made.

Our friend Helen is bringing her Black Lab Prince over on Wednesday for one sleep so she can go to Vancouver and he can play with Rosie.

So, we (as in Frank and I) will be watching CNN all day tomorrow.