Learning

Everything about this quilt made me frustrated.
It went from a simple machine quilt to simply horrible and I couldn't stop it.
I was happy with the initial topper but once I put on the backing and started to baste it in place, it all went down hill.
I wasn't concentrating and had changed bobbin thread for another project.
This left yellow lines in amongst the red thread.
Not really a big deal and I thought I could pass it off like I meant it that way.

I then started to baste but adding the channels created more problems because I didn't have a big enough work space.
At this point I tried to cheat a bit to recoup my losses, (hiding the flaws with secret techniques only known to the really bad sewers like myself).
No such luck.
I then had the epiphany to add satin edging to add flare to this desperate excuse for a quilt.
Well that just stunk.
At this point I didn't care anymore, I just wanted to get to the end as fast as I could.
Maybe this is where I should have just stepped away.
No!
Instead I said to myself "this will make such a beautiful beach blanket," and continued on.
I managed to complete it and carelessly tossed it by the front door, on it's way to hide in the summer bins.

That was till E spotted it and screamed out in delight, "Is This For MEEE??!!"
I was a bit taken aback by her reaction, here I had discarded it and for her it was the nicest thing she has ever seen. (Her words, not mine)
She has nestled and cuddles with it all week, carrying it all through the house like a Linus blankie.

What has this taught me?
That an open heart and all the love in the world can see past imperfections.
I will never point out the mistakes in that quilt to her, in time she will notice then on her own.
At this moment she feels the love and warmth that quilt has in it and that fills my heart with more satisfaction that making the best quilt in the world could ever have done.

Yes, I have learned from my mistakes.

Completed Salmon Lesson

Using card stock, I drew and cut out salmon the best I could.
Then the girls wrapped each fish in tinfoil and marked eyes, fins etc with a dulled pencil.
Coloring with felts made these sweet fish seem to come alive.

Creating a 3D life cycle was something I wanted to try and I think this really captured the essence of how it all works.
Pasting gravel shaped cut paper down first was helpful to understand the life below water level.
She then covered it with tissue paper to show river and ocean waters.
Labeling each phase with a brief description completed this project nicely.


K loves her lap books and seeing just how much stuff we can pack into them is a certain goal of hers.
We were able to get a lot of literature and hand outs form DFO and the fish hatchery as well.
This is an inside view of it, but I realize now looking at here on the blog it needs a bit of color.


We had taken out 2 whole salmon to have to BBQ on a fire for dinner as a celebratory end but time got away so I guess it will be tomorrows dinner instead.

Art Du Jour!

Seeing an idea to glue salt to paper and paint it after it is dry sounded so neat...in theory.
I envisioned the watery paint following the salt trails as they soaked up the paint.
Neat sounding...not so neat working.
Maybe I need more salt.
Regardless the ladies thought it was fun and that is the main thing.

Salmon Hatchery

Salmon is an integral part of our landscape.
They are woven into the rich culture of the west coast natives.
We are fortunate to be able to have a freezer full each year after J does his family fishery on the Frasier River.
After which we spend days canning, filleting and processing 100's of fish for the year to come.

Living on the Queen Charlotte Islands I learned a lot from the Haida about their special relationship with salmon through art, stories and family.
I also learned many recipes and tasty treats.

I think we are super lucky to have such a close relationship with salmon, in turn our food.
The girls are very interested in fish in general but are aware of the fact that salmon is close to our heart.
I figured at this time of year it would be a great opportunity to do a unit on the life cycle of salmon.
It is proving to be a fantastic learning field, one the girls are very keen on, which of course makes my job much easier.

The other day we headed to the local fish hatchery.
It was nice to look around but they gave us a heads up that they were having an open house on Sunday..today!!

So we took full advantage of the sunny day and headed out to learn.

The hatchery was full of eager visitors and knowledgeable, helpful staff.
Initially we went into the incubation room and they took us through the process of storing, sorting and raising salmon eggs.

Then we spent the remainder of the time outdoors checking out the facility and the many booths dedicated to stream keeping and conservation, learning about salmons.

I especially loved the crafty project that they had for the kids.
Fish prints, how cool.

I think these are such a unique idea and one that can not easily be replicated.

They held tours and shows for people to see first hand what it is they do and just how they do it.

The held a captive audience at all times.

Here a group of hatchery workers are removing milt and eggs form the fish that have made it upstream into the pens.

The milt goes into a sample bag and stored until such time as it can be mixed with the eggs.

They bonk the fish before they slit and let them hang to bleed out.

Sounds sad and a bit barbaric but it is the way it is, and it has helped to preserve this species of fish.

So thank you.

Full bellied Coho's.

The eggs are then removed from the female in a rather quick and precise method of split and scrap.

This gentleman has obviously done this thousands of times before, with quick movements and a huge sense of humour he joked with the audience and explained the process.

One through check over before discarding the egg sac and onto the next fish.

One female can have upwards of 5000 eggs.

The eggs are then stored at the same temperature as the fish they were just extracted from and brought to the incubation room for fertilization with the extracted milt and future sorting.

The hatchery had a open flames BBQ preparing salmon in true native fashion.

Filleting the fish first then staking it open faced on cedar or alder sticks.

They had Coho, Chinook and Sockeye to sample.

K devoured her plate.

She loves salmon and was pleased that the trip ended with such a great snack.

I feel this rounded up a great week for learning the salmon life cycle.

I will share with you the lap book we created to keep the knowledge accessable in a fun way.

K is so proud of her work and her learning.

She loves to share her booklets to show and tell what she has been learning.

Things Have Gone Halloweeny Around Here

Without fail, Martha Stewart has so many excellent ( but expensive) Halloween crafts and decorations.
I don't buy too many seasonal decorations unless it is the end of season mark down.
It seems ridiculous to pay when you know it will be less than half the price in 2 weeks time.

For me it is equally ridiculous to buy things that can be made.
In the end they may not look quite as good but the idea is there and the kids don't really care, plus it's fun.

These blood dripped candlea are a perfect example.
$8.99 in a store.....$3.00 for a pair homemade.
The effect is there and I saved $5.


Again Martha, this months magazine showed how to make Halloween better with a tutorial on pumpkin carving usuing a lino cutter.
Well I grew the pumpkins and in all my crafts supplies had a couple lino cutters, so I gave it a go.
My first attempt went well, although I do not recommend doing it while prepping dinner, and bathing the kids.
None the less it got done and it is rather cute.


E cleaned out the pumpkin and saved all the seeds.
She washed them and helped flavour and cook them.
Then she ate them all herself and wouldn't share with her sister.
She quoted the Little Red Hen......what do I say to that?
Smart Cookie!!


K has been asking for over a month to decorate for Halloween.
I finally gave in this week.
They danced around all the boxes and were so excited.
You would swear it was Christmas day.

Now we have skeletons everwhere.

And rats nibbling on severed fingers.
K just loves to try to scare people and gross them out.
She really has a thing for this holiday.

We cut out bats and plastered them through out the house for a creepy effect, but they look to cute.

I need to find some more real looking ones.

There were some great printables from Blue Cricket Designs.

This vintage bunting is adorable.

I sewed it to some ribbon and it looks great added to the gruesome decor.

Some crafty site had this printable too.

Love it.

K's Pear Smoothie

I have always let the kids in the kitchen.

I remember being booted out when I was young and it always irked me.

I allow them to learn and experiment.

This can, and does, create messes but that too is part of the learning.

Recently the ladies have taken to creating their own special smoothie recipes.

Each one has theirs down pat and re-creates them nightly for snack time.

E's has dairy in it so I haven't tried it but she devours it.

Ironically K has made her in true Raw style even though she claims to hate Raw (unless it is desserts of course).

With her permission I would like to share her smoothie with you.

Try it soon, it is really worth it.

K's Pear Smoothie (in her words)

In a blender add:

1 pear cored and in chunks

1 Tbsp fresh peeled ginger

4 pitted dates

20 cashews

4 leaves of kale

splash of vanilla

smidgen of honey

1 cup ice cubes

Blend and enjoy immediately.

Quilt Squares

This square was inspired by a vintage skirt I found long ago.
I saw a pillow with a similair image on it and knew the two had to meet.
I am pleased with the results but have much more fine detailing to go before it can be put into a quilt.

Speaking of quilts...... can you believe I have 5 on the go, all at once.
Birth quilts for a friends twins, one boy and a girl.
2 for me (and the couch).
And one for a friend...plus a repair on a baby quilt she had from when she was a baby.

It feels so seasonal to be working on them all.
I hope to be done soon and post them for you to have a peek at.


This square is a outright copy of a card I saw.
It is so cute for a youngster, but I think I may end up keeping it for myself.
The question is, a pillow? or a quilt?

Raw Pum"mmmmm"pkin Pie

As a rule, after a huge turkey dinner with all the favorite fixings, I used to un-do the top button on my pants and start in on a piece of pumpkin pie.
There was no exception to this rule, it was a must.
No Thanksgiving was complete without it.

Today I ventured a try at Raw Pumpkin Pie.
It worked!!

I made a vanilla cashew cream to top it off.
Delicious.
Come on over and have a try.
Better come quick though, the kids love it too.



Next time I would use a different crust instead of the pumpkin /sunflower seed crust I made.
It was not bad but not great.

And a Happy Thanksgiving to you all.

My First Grey Hair

I tried to crop this picture and do the fancy writing and circle it but the weather shut the computer off and I lost all my hard blog work.

Here is the un-cropped version so it is hard to see but yes in the middle there it is.
My first grey hair.
I found it glowing like a beacon atop my head yesterday, catching my eye, screaming my name.

I never gave it much though about how I would feel finding my first grey hair.
I actually was fine, proud even.
I am distinguished now.
In some ways anyways.

What to do now that I am going grey.
Me?
I grabbed my bucket list and started with something I have talked about for years.
I keep saying I want to do it but still haven't.

I am no stranger to hair adventure.
I have been fortunate enough not to have too many miss-adventures with all that I have done.
It has been every length, colour and style imaginable.
I feel that it grows back so have some fun with it.
I like to change with the seasons and something decorate it for the holidays.

But never have I bleached it all out and had it white.

Till tonight.
We knew it would take a while, 3 hours to be exact, to transform my short virgin, dark brown coiffe but my hair guru Kim at Raw Hair was ready to take on the challenge.

This missed the marked by miles.
I am holding a picture that has been on my billboard at my sewing centre for over 3 years and it is not quite what the first process accomplished.
Next level please.

Nor the second.

No peeking.

The third time stripped all the colour out and then Kim applied the magic colour serum.

YES!!!

I am now a white head.

Hah!! on you grey hair.

I beat you at your own game.

I am swooning over this, like you have no idea.

Drastic?...possibly.

Fun?....most definitely.

I see candy cane stripes for Christmas.

I can't wait to see what the kids think in the morning.

And because of my hair adventure, far be it from me to say no when the little ladies want to express their freedom of hair choices.

Go Girl!

E had her hair cut last week and simply hated it.

Then her sister said she looked like Ramona (the pest) and that was it.

She was having no part of it what so ever.

She was determined to have short hair.

I made her sit on it for 3 days to be sure and she was sure.

Sure enough to wake up in the middle of the night screaming "don't you see that I just want it short mom!!"

OK, I get it.

It so suits her.

Now we are the family of Mohawk ladies.

Boy what people must think of us!! He he.

As Requested

(Excuse the same picture)

There are still a few things that I miss eating from a "regular" diet and this was definately one of them, along with ripple chips.

This recipe is a close second to the real thing.

Anni Phyo's Recipe for Raw Apple Crisp

Combine 1 cup raw oats and/or grouts with 1 tsp cinnamon in a food processor until small pieces.

Add 1 cup pitted dates, mix well and place in bowl.

(this is a basic crust that can be used many ways especially if you replace the oats with nuts)

For a filling combine 3-4 apples, 1/4 cups agave syrup and Tbsp vanilla together and process till desired chunks.

Add to crust.

You can layer it or just mix it all together and enjoy.

I found mine tasted better the next day as the oats were softer.

Enjoy!

Harvesting in Fall

Hooray For Fall!!!
Leaves of all colours are strewn about the lawn.
They make for marvelous fun.

A cup of lavendar smells so amazing I want to just drink it up.

Nature as Our Teacher.

We have had so much chaos around us lately I am having a real hard time winding down in the day.
I can't seem to get my breathe.
There is construction debris everywhere and a constant layer of sawdust and dry wall dust covering everything we own.

I have to avert my eyes when I go outside or else I start to clean, which is absolutely futile.

I did notice a neat branch that had been knocked off a nearby tree as I was averting my eyes and it reminded me of a crafty project I saw not long ago.

I asked the nearest worker if they could help me for a moment with the table saw.
They obligingly cut my branch into tiny rounds.
I then drilled holes into each one.
I love how they turned out.

I had thought I would like to varnish them but reconsidered once I saw how cool they look natural.
Then I had the urge to make our own rope from cedar bark.
When we lived in the Charlotte's this is something I saw a lot of.

The girls ran to the closest tree in the yard and started to peel a long strip off.
It was already shedding so the girls had no trouble getting a 3 foot strip in a matter of seconds.

K wanted to use some as paper.
I think a poem or drawing would look beautiful on a strip of soft cedar bark and hung on our wall.

Each girl shredded the strips into thinner strips.

Once we each had a handful we began braiding them.
This is a great medium for learning to braid.

The rope ended up being a bit thicker than we could use for the beads that we had made .

I know we will have no troubles finding other uses for it.