protagonist handmade

über practical

2011-10-18T17:42:00.000-04:00

I'm not a fancy knitter. Truth be told I tried to be and have found that I despise following other people's instructions (knitting patterns), and generally want to make things that are as practical as possible. It's taken me a couple of years of lofty, futile attempts to knit with multiple yarns at once, cables, and other projects that took more out of me than anything else to learn this about myself. Which I choose to see as no small feat! Grasping for some way to soothe myself after drooling over a whack of complex patterns on Ravelry I knew I wouldn't be able to tackle with Baby O at home (and aware of my own pattern stubbornness), my mind wandered back to a William Morris quote from my Intro to Visual Culture course from my Art School days:

Have nothing in your house that you do not know to be useful, or believe to be beautiful.

Morris was a man who was focused on design and how it effects our daily lives through the objects we choose to surround ourselves by. As someone who shops carefully and more importantly who defines herself as a Maker of Things, I think this is great advice. Similar is the slightly less articulate adage: K-I-S-S, or Keep it simple, stupid!

So I've endeavored to simplify here:

Little socks for Baby O, pattern from The Expectant Knitter

...and here:

MAN Mitts, for my man, my own pattern

colour theory

2011-10-12T18:46:00.002-04:00

Here's a glimpse of the colours and textures inspiring me so much this fall.

Grey and white fading in a natural ombre.

Image from Matatabi - http://www.etsy.com/people/Matatabi?ref=pr_profile

Gloomy mustard maritime landscapes.

Image from BlowUps - http://www.etsy.com/people/BlowUps?ref=ls_profile

Anything yellow, and especially hand-drawn polkadots.

Image from CreatureComforts - http://www.creaturecomfortsblog.com

Old School Charm with a lot of exposed lady arm.

Image from Colette Patterns - http://www.colettepatterns.com/shop/sencha

Shiny, shiny shoes.


Image from Pod - http://www.pod.bigcartel.com/product/metallic-pewter-clogs

Remembrances of Spring.

Image from Babetteworld - http://www.etsy.com/people/Babetteworld?ref=pr_profile

For a stroll through more of the same, check out my Treasury Yellow Loves Grey, on Etsy.

it's harvest time, part 3

2011-09-28T13:07:00.000-04:00

Remember my post on Annelino Giallo beans? Well, this morning while tidying up in the garden I gathered a few errant bean pods and cracked 'em open. What I saw was a feast for the eyes, my very own Andy Goldsworthy-inspired natural gradient scale! These beans, (two kinds: Scarlet Runner and Annelino Giallo) are in different stages of drying out, which is why they're different shades of pink. Lovely, no?

it's harvest time, part 2

2011-09-28T12:55:00.000-04:00

Considering the long time it's been since my last post, you'd think I was busily knitting entire outfits for my family for the winter or harvesting an acre of food, but truth be told our family was just plain SICK. That cold did it's rounds and knocked us on our butts for around 3 weeks solid. We're now back on the mend, and into enough of a schedule that I can get back to this blog o' mine.

This past spring I planted Chioggia Beets, never having grown any kind of beets before, simply because they looked pretty on the package. I'd seen a post somewhere on the internet saying beet greens look nice as a border for a garden. Since I knew I wouldn't be getting to hand-installing the bricks I'd set aside to polish up my garden border (based on my inability to focus more than a few minutes on anything because of baby-induced sleep deprivation), I planted them and hoped for the best. Well, I had no idea they needed to be thinned after germinating! So this I what they looked like when I harvested them:

Basically, all green and no beet. The beets that I did try to eat tasted like soap. But there's always a silver lining in the garden: the greens were absolutely yummy. To test them I did a poll of my buddies on facebook to see the best way to prepare beet greens. This recipe, from my old buddy Marla MacLeod at the Ecology Action Center in Halifax, NS, was the clear winner because of it's ease, simplicity and down-home tastiness:

Lemon Love Beet Greens (from Eating By The Seasons)

     1 bunch beet greens
    2 tbsp butter
     juice of one lemon
    1 tbsp local honey

1. Wash and stem the beet greens. Steam briefly in a covered pot.
2. In a separate pot, melt the butter. Add the lemon juice and honey. Cook over moderate heat to a light syrup.
3. Combine the beet greens with the syrup and heat through. Serves 2.

That used about 1/6 of the total amount of beet greens I had, so then I did this to add some veggie-based iron into Baby O's diet:

I triple washed these greens to make sure O wouldn't eat any snails or slugs or dirt.

They shrank to 1/10 their size, easily.

beet greens post-steam

beet greens post-puree, stored cosily in the fridge with other baby food

A Liter of Light

2011-09-18T08:25:00.000-04:00

Yesterday my sister in law told me about a project underway in the slums of the Philippines which uses the simplest of technology to have a hugely significant impact on the poor. Isang Litrong Liwanag, or A Liter of Light, is..." a sustainable lighting project which aims to bring the eco-friendly Solar Bottle Bulb to disprivileged communities nationwide. Designed and developed by students from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), the Solar Bottle Bulb is based on the principles of Appropriate Technologies – a concept that provides simple and easily replicable technologies that address basic needs in developing communities." (from website http://isanglitrongliwanag.org/)

A pop bottle filled with liquid installed into the corrugated aluminum roof of a home in this area can harness sunlight shed the equivalent of a 55 watts bulb! People who couldn't stay in their houses during the day because of the darkness have found a new place in their own homes. Inspiring to see what can come of available materials and a little ingenuity. See the video that describes that project and it's impact on these residents of Manila:

<p>&amp;amp;amp;lt;p&amp;amp;amp;gt;&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;br&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;br&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;8 &amp;amp;amp;lt;/p&amp;amp;amp;gt;</p>

lac pink

2011-09-11T12:22:00.000-04:00

One day last week the three of us (S, O and I) were feeling a little cagey, so decided to head out to do a baby-friendly hike in nearby Gatineau Park. What we discovered when we go there is that Lac Pink is a very unusual lake in that the bottom of it is completely devoid of oxygen - due to a type of bacteria that live at a depth of 15 feet that exist in such great numbers that they block all light and use all the oxygen so nothing below it can grow or live. This captured my imagination because all I can think about is all the cool fossils and unseen bits of history that must be down there! The algae that growns in the lake also make it a really beautiful shade of green, as you'll see below.

O and I taking in all the fresh air and greenery. Sigh.

it's harvest time

2011-09-09T16:53:00.002-04:00

With the shift into September brings with it hot days, cool nights and a GLUT of yellow Annelino Giallo pole beans needing to be harvested from my garden. For an idea of what my garden looks like in our "new" Ottawa backyard, check this out:

As you can see, the beans are what's covering most of my back porch, not to mention the one (measly but beautiful) sunflower that survived the 60 seeds planted and eaten by the demonic local black squirrels... not bad for a first-time bean grower, eh? And so, O and I set out to harvest some beans...

Objects shown are scaled true to life!

neck and neck

2011-09-05T15:33:00.000-04:00

The past year and a half has been one filled with learning and never having enough time to finish anything...until now! Here are images of a cowl I started for myself in April...yes, it's taken me 4 months to knit what's essentially a neck-sized tube. But I DID knit it, which is really the point, and doing so has truly done wonders for my confidence and for establishing an identity separate from being a Mama. Plus, the delicious earthy tones of the Manos Del Uruguay's Maxima yarn match my chocolate brown winter parka.

Detail of custom stitch pattern. Click image for link to my Ravelry page.

Below is a picture of the infinity scarf I sewed in about 1 hour, based on this tutorial. When I set out to make this I had no idea how these scarves were taking the world by storm, but I guess this is what can happen when you have a baby! My lovely friend Rita agreed to model it for me, and as you can imagine its neutral tones and sheer volume have me wishing the cold weather would hurry up and arrive already. Combining shades of grey, yellow and cream has been inspiring me lately, I think thanks to this fabric by designer Naomi Ito at Nani Iro Design. My fiance bought two yards of this for me at Miss Matatabi's shop on Etsy. I'd love to know what colour palettes protagonist readers are thinking about these days?

a green walk

2011-07-31T07:35:00.005-04:00

On Thursday O and I escaped the heat of the city for the heat of the marshes. I think he was tired of doing the same old things, and I needed a dose of nature. He slept almost the entire time, allowing me to linger over flowers and views as long as I wanted. It was heavenly!

This last picture was taken after he woke up - Mama's eye view of Baby O in the carrier.

perfectionism is a dish best served cold

2011-07-29T18:57:00.007-04:00

At St.Vinnie's today I found the ultimate self-guilting tool... Try serving up a heaping portion of perfectionism with this:

red zebra

2011-07-28T17:15:00.005-04:00

This crazy heat we've been having In Ottawa has ripened some of my veggies about a month sooner than last year, namely the beautiful Red Zebra tomatoes I've got growing out back in our porch-top containers. These lovelies were juicy and a little sweet in the salad we ate them in last night. Feast with your eyes:

fresh sounds from saharan africa

2011-07-26T09:42:00.011-04:00

If you're looking for something completely new to delight your ears, please please check out Tinariwen. They're a group of contemporary Touareg musicians from northern Africa that have combined their traditional Malian sounds with American rock and blues influences with what I think is stunning success in their new 2011 release Tassili. Check out the intro to their new album where you can also get release info.

Their previous album Aman Iman has been playing in my car and livingroom nonstop for the past 2 weeks. Below is a short documentary on the making of the album from 2007. Enjoy!

baby kimono

2011-07-25T13:14:00.010-04:00

Last year I posted that I was working on making myself a summer dress that wouldn't break the bank...and then the reality of pregnancy, moving provinces, starting a new job and being bone-tired sank in. The dress has yet to be made, and since then I've vowed never to post on something half done, just so I don't feel on the hook if you know what I mean. As a nice compromise, I've returned to Heather Ross' book Weekend Sewing to take on a more manageable project (something that can be made in 1-2 hours, while baby O naps): a Baby Kimono! Turns out a number of friends and relatives have decided to pop out some kids this year too - and these make great baby gifts.

I'd never worked with bias tape before, and even though I was a little intimidated the instructions were really clear. For anyone wanting to develop their sewing skills beyond a beginner level Weekend Sewing is a great book to use. I bought this fabric and bias tape at the Fabric Flea Market here in Ottawa last fall before O was born and was happy to find a use for it. I like how the different sized dots compliment one another and I think look very Japanese. Just to get a sense of sizing, here's a photo of it worn by it's brand new, beautiful owner:

keep it clean, people

2011-07-19T17:10:00.006-04:00

This project is quite possibly the most extremely eco-nomical thing I've done in a while...it definitely covers the bases between being the best choice for environment and so thrifty as to be a bit over the top....I made homemade baby wipes and soap! If you think about it, the wipes you buy in the store are just paper that usually can't be flushed, covered in some kind of solution that helps remove the yucky stuff from your kids' bits. Rather than keep shelling out for more paper products to just throw away, I figured other people had done it before and looked it up.

I found this website, which listed so many recipes for homemade baby wipe soap I was kind of shocked. The recipe I decided to use is:

2 Tbsp. Dr. Bronners Magic Baby Soap
2 Tbsp. olive oil
2 cups water

I shake them up together in a spray bottle, and spray the soap on a piece of cloth made from my fiance's old jersey knit undershirts (FYI jersey knit doesn't fray when it's cut) when my little one needs some bum cleanin'. Super easy, mild, and made from stuff I already had around the house. When baby and I are on the go I just spray some cloths in advance and take them with me in a re-usable wipes container.
For those of you unfamiliar with Dr. Bronner's, here's a picture of the bottle. Cool design huh? It also makes for excellent toilet reading, as it's creator (yes, that's "Dr. Bronner") was somewhat of a nut, as well as being religious, eco-friendly and a proponent of Fair Trade. Insanity + righteousness + cleanliness = an awesome soap for your baby.

productive

2011-07-08T09:10:00.008-04:00

This is the first food ready to harvest from my backyard garden this year! These Golden Girls promise to be productive, and so I've decided that's the theme of this summer at The Protagonist Studio. After a 7 month hiatus focusing all my creative energy on being a mama to my baby boy Oliver, I've found a bit more balance with parenting and life and have so much more to share.

I'm currently looking for new ways to incorporate my new found identity as a mother into my creative work, and have turned to my Mama peers for their insights on that brief and special time we have at home with our babies: Maternity Leave. While the clock ticks for me to return to my so-called real job, I have all kinds of mixed feelings and even more mixed ideas about how to best use this time. Check back for updates on this topic, and in the meantime:
image from: http://t-shirtguru.com/2008/04/14/men-s-stay-golden-t-shirt-palmercash/

my x-mas picks

2010-12-23T17:09:00.009-05:00

This is a list of things I would love to make, do, buy or eat during the 2010 Holiday season...but since my priority is getting in sync with my new son and his needs, I figured I'd show them here and possibly take them on next year when the timing might be a bit better. Check them out!

Cinnamon Buns Recipe care of 101 Recipes, my absolute favourite food blog! This image is also copyrighted by Heidi Swanson, who adapted and made this scrumptious treat!

Candy Cane Bath Salts Recipe from Momadvice.com! This would make a GREAT homemade X-mas gift, not to mention something I'd like to use myself!

Candy Cane Bath Salts

12 tall jelly (12-ounce) canning jars with lid and rings
2 bags of Epsom Salts, 4 pounds each (approximately 16 cups)
4 lb kosher salt (approximately 6 cups is needed, buy two boxes and cook with the rest)
1⁄2 teaspoon glycerin, divided
16 drops eucalyptus peppermint essential oil
15 drops red colorant

Empty one bag of Epsom Salts into large mixing bowl. Add 3 cups kosher salt, stir well. Stir in 1/4 teaspoon glycerin and eight drops of eucalyptus essential oil. Mix well. In second large mixing bowl, empty one bag of Epsom Salts, and add 3 cups kosher salt. Stir well. Add 1/4 teaspoon glycerin, eight drops of eucalyptus essential oil, and red colorant. Stir until completely blended. Color should be even. Using a 1/2 cup measuring cup and fill canning jars at an angle, layer salts in jars, alternating white and colored mixtures.

Jade Beaded Necklace from Martha Stewart (of course). This super simple design would ALSO make a delovely gifty for a friend or loved one. Just sayin'.

Nordik Adventures Dog Sledding! This is something I've ALWAYS wanted to do, and to be honest I don't think I'll be able to this winter. How Canadian! How Quebec! Next year, it's on.

my newest creation

2010-12-18T17:22:00.003-05:00

The much anticipated arrival of my firstborn kiddo has come to pass: welcome Oliver! I'll likely not be posting as much as I'd like to as I'm occupied with this latest creation. While I learn how to be a mama I have a bunch of new ideas and projects gestating, and when they're ready you'll see them here.

things to do when heavily pregnant and not working

2010-11-30T12:26:00.005-05:00

I've officially been off work for a week and now find that the bloom of unlimited free time has fallen off the rose, so to speak! The pace of my life at work was a little too much for me, but being at home while most folks are busy all day means I don't get as much face-time with real people. It's also a reality that at this stage of my pregnancy (exactly 8 and 1/2 months - 2 weeks 'till my due date!) that I don't have a lot of chutzpah or get-up-and-go to get stuff DONE. It's a weird limbo, to be sure, but I've decided to publicize my attempts at being busy and taking care of what's really important while I have the time to!

Things To Do When Heavily Pregnant and Not Working:

read about breastfeeding - and imagine your boobs being used in a completely new way
hem the homemade curtains in the dining room and baby's room
bake, bake and bake some more
call and e-mail long lost peeps, long distance
wear stretchy fabrics at all times
take numerous baths
knit X-mas and Hanukkah prezzies
drink herbal teas, and snack, snack, snack
blog
call your fiance at work 3 times a day
cook 'n freeze food for the midwives and doula
get the house ready for the Homebirth
make playlists on iTunes for the Homebirth
lunch with local friends
call student loans....ugh
read Radical Homemakers
don't get discouraged by your lack of energy, be "in the moment"

body massaaaaage....BODY MASSAGE. GO!

2010-11-28T13:52:00.004-05:00

Never thought I'd be making my own cosmetics...but here I was this morning, mixing up a few batches of these delicious and delightful Organic Cane Sugar Body Scrubs and marveling at how much fun they were to make. With only four ingredients they were quite possibly the easiest bit of homemade Holiday prezzies I've ever made! The recipe, adapted from Martha Stewart, is as follows:

1 cup Organic Cane Sugar
1/2 cup carrier oil (I used olive oil because I had some on hand)
4-6 drops of essential oils
1-6 drops of organic food colouring, depending on your preference

My fiance Shaun was my test subject for this product, and his response was, "oooh! It smells so nice!". He tried the pink grapefruit body scrub. I made multiple small batches to try out different essential oils. Now you can make your own and have a:

handmade for baby

2010-11-13T13:31:00.002-05:00

Despite my ambitions of making EVERYTHING for my new baby while pregnant these past 8 months, this is the only project I've been able to actually finish: a newborn baby hat. Made out of 50% merino wool/50% silk yarn I won in a draw months and months ago, I think it's pretty darn cute (and as my fiance says looks a bit like a juicy breast)! With the cold winter and baby's arrival imminent, I feel like I've accomplished a solid, "motherly" task here.

the charm of everyday things

2010-10-30T15:19:00.004-04:00

While we're in the final, waiting stage of my pregnancy, everyday objects in the house take on a new interest and significance......all the new objects coming into the house seem to be yellow:

museum of bad art

2010-10-14T04:47:00.008-04:00

DOG BITES MAN Vlademar Cher, Sweden, 8" x 12", tempura on cardboard

This here's some BAD ART. Love it! Just a few samplings of my favourite pics from a little internet goldmine I discovered this week: MOBA, or Museum of Bad Art.

Anonymous, 18" x 24", oil on canvas, Purchased my M. Frank at a Boston thrift store

HEATHER COME HITHER, Bianka, 30" x 24", oil on canvas, Salvaged by M. Frank from curbside trash in Boston

WOMAN RIDING CRUSTACEAN, Anonymous, 12"x16", Oil on canvas, Donated by Linda L. Carrubba

Sunday on the Pot With George, Acrylic on canvas by Unknown, 22" x 37", Donated by Jim Schulman

making a nest

2010-10-05T17:51:00.004-04:00

Lately my partner Shaun and I have taken on the task of acquiring "baby stuff", and feeling pretty overwhelmed by all the choices we're supposed to make. On one hand it's exciting to imagine our new little on actually using this stuff and inhabiting our world with his or her very own toys, clothes, sheets and especially needs. On the other, we've become acutely aware of all the expectations there can be for having all the right "stuff" for baby, how much we should have, how new it should be, and how virtuous/low-enviro footprint/politically correct each receiving blanket and onesie should be! It's kinda nuts, actually.

In response to all this "should" I've been choosing to knit without a net and just see what happens...turns out I knit a nest. It has no other purpose than to be beautiful, and gosh it sure looks like a mama and baby, doesn't it? Makin' handmade stuff freestyle lately has really opened me up to picturing having this kid my own way, and to take the focus away from the stuff that doesn't matter.

i walk the line

2010-10-03T19:09:00.004-04:00

Janine Antoni is a contemporary artist with a knack for touching that tender spot both in her viewers' hearts and minds. Here she is in an excerpt about her work from an awesome Contemporary Art series called Art:21 that features artists of all stripes, the work they do and how they do it. If you've ever been moved by the metaphor of the Tightrope Walker, check this video out!

the value of handmade

2010-09-28T19:20:00.006-04:00

This is a simple and wonderful video of Renate Hiller, a Waldorf educator and craftsperson, on the value of making things by hand. It has a bit of a didactic bent because she's clearly a teacher, but I think her message applies to everyone. It's short, and well worth a watch.

furoshiki, or fancy wrappin'

2010-09-25T13:28:00.004-04:00

There's always a more beautiful way to do everything, and so I thought I'd share a new "thing" I'm into: furoshiki, or the Japanese art of wrapping objects with fabric. I found this image, originally from the website for the Ministry of the Environment on Japan, designed to show folks furoshiki basics. As far as I'm concerned you could do a Master's degree on the philosophy and impact of such a simple design choice....sigh. Aesthetics and practicality wrapped up in one.

great mama reading

2010-09-25T08:52:00.006-04:00

As a pretty voracious non-fiction reader and a huge advocate of Public Libraries, I've managed to come across some books during my pregnancy that are have been really helpful and inspiring for me as a mother-to-be. Above is Living Simply With Children, which encourages families to cut down on the static and focus on what's important in family life together.

This next gem is a personal favourite (you can tell because it's overdue at the library and I have no intention of returning it even after 4 weeks!), and has simple and beautiful knitting patterns for things babies could actually use without destroying them with their various bodily fluids. I'm knitting Baby's First Blanket, from Natural Nursery Knits, which I chose a Kelly green pima cotton for. Follow my progress for this project on the link above to Ravelry.com.

The Baby Book has been recommended to me by some dear friends who've recently done the first baby thing and swear it's the best. The bums on the cover alone are pretty great, but after some perusal it look chock full of help. Since baby's not here yet, we'll see!

This book was given to me by my Mum's oldest and best friend J. who's a La Leche League leader (lots of "L's") and breastfeeding pioneer of the 1970's and 1980's, when many women had stopped breastfeeding and common knowledge and wisdom of this most womanly of arts was scarce at best. Her wishes for me to do what's best for my baby rather than what's socially acceptable are an inspiration, and so is the book The Womanly Art of Breastfeeding.

Being a parent and a Mum have figured prominently in dreams (and nightmares!) I've had recently, and so I thought I'd check out some of the feelings I've been having with the book Breaking the Good Mom Myth. So far it's reminded me to take on new tasks with the courage and ego less-ness of a toddler learning to walk: they get up every time they fall because they want to master walking, not to be "perfect" at it. Great advice.

organic heirloom tomats ripen (almost)

2010-09-07T17:59:00.003-04:00

This here's a Red Zebra tomato plant that has a ton of green ones, but nothing ripening yet.

I got the seeds for this Montreal Tasty heirloom plant at the Seedy Saturday event put on by the Canadian organization Seeds of Diversity this past Spring...I love that it's a local heirloom variety!

These Golden Cherry tomato plants aren't an heirloom, but it's seeds ARE organic, and from my favourite seed supplier in the Maritimes: Veseys.
This is likely my favourite tomato of all time: the Lemon Boy tomato, also from Vesey's. Low acidity, fleshy, golden, and sweet, it's the bomb in salads....yumm.

i'm not on 'my high horse' if i'm on a bike

2010-08-18T19:38:00.008-04:00

This summer has been a particularly crazyy one - mainly due to my fiance's freak bike accident the day before Canada Day (also his birthday!). We'd just moved to Ottawa three days before and were expecting house guests that night, when his bike chain popped off his bike and threw him face and shoulder first onto the road. Even though he broke his shoulder in four places, which really sucked (and continues to suck) for him, he managed to only get a small eyebrow cut that required a few stitches because he was wearing a BIKE HELMET.

If he hadn't worn one, we would have had much bigger problems than him not being able to work for 3 weeks, needing routine surgery, not being able to unpack anything for a month and taking 3-4 months to recover use of his arm. I've been grateful for his choice to wear a cycling helmet everyday since!

This post is dedicated to promoting bike helmet safety for anyone riding a bike, and especially for those who ride their bike in a city. Like so many cyclists who don't want to wear a helmet, you probably love your hairdo and don't want to mess with a good thing (which I can relate to). Because of the unexpected and uncontrollable factors of motorists, small bike malfunctions, or just plain bad luck, it doesn't hurt to love your head even more and put on a helmet. For the fashion-conscious, I've compiled a list of sweet-lookin' helmets that will help you maintain your look and still be safe, as seen below:

This helmet, made by the Danish Design company YAKKAY, combines a helmet with a bit of panache.

This is the Roof R06 Bamboo motorcycle helmet from French designer Claude Morin, which has become the prototype for up-and-coming bicycle helmet designers' use of sustainable, inexpensive, and beautiful materials.

The last helmet is one produced by NYC and designed by Yves Behar, with the intention of promoting bike safety and awareness in the city. Sleek, highly visible, and awesome!

Links and Information:

~For current information on how to fit a helmet to your noggin properly, visit this link to Ontario's Ministry of Transportation website on Bike Safety.

~If you're in Ottawa and want to find out more about cycling safety in our fair town, check out this link to Ottawa's Citizen's for Safe Cycling.

~General Information on Safe Cycling best practices

the key to (pregnancy survival) success: BRAN

2010-08-12T04:10:00.004-04:00

I hate and love to tell you all that BRAN has become my best friend in the past few months: hate because of how dependent I've become on it for reasons I'll only imply, and love because it happens to taste pretty awesome in muffin form! Allrecipes.com is my go-to website for recipes made and tested and rated by real home cooks - and it's where I found the recipe for Classic Bran Muffins. This recipe has saved me more then once these past couple of months (ahem...), and I've found I'm able to adapt the basic recipe in multiple ways.

I've added at different times:

~walnuts (1/2 cup)
~shredded carrot and zucchini (1/2 cup of each together)
~blueberries (1 cup)
~cinnamon and nutmeg and cumin (I like a lot of flavor)
~raisins and other dried fruit (1/2-3/4 cup)

Try this recipe and let me know how you've adapted it - the fiber alone will make you sing and dance for joy, but the flavor will keep you coming back to try new ingredient combinations. I swear.

Image above by: this Allrecipes member

pickles, non-stop

2010-08-10T17:46:00.003-04:00

This is an image and recipe I found on the website for the awesome magazine Mother Earth News: Quick and Easy Non-stop Pickles. Apparently you can pickle cucumbers indefinitely and continuously with a jar of good vinegar, some herbs and cucumber slices all in the fridge - this, to me, is a revelation! Where have you been all my life, Non-stop Pickles?!

some backyard action

2010-08-08T17:13:00.005-04:00

Today a couple of friends from my weekly Stitch n' Bitch came over to do some dip and tie-dyeing...some of them brought rather extravagant gloves (Fiona, on the left), others kept their white shirts spotless the entire time (Elena, in the middle) and I tried to focus on dyeing and not compulsively/pregnantly consuming all the food within arms' reach (me, on the right).
We used Dylon's Tulip Red, Ocean Blue and Tropical Green.

Sometimes even the most extravagant of gloves can't protect you from dye!

The 'reveal' won't be revealed just yet though: I'll post images of the finished products after they've been washed n' dried. Soon.

getting away from it all

2010-07-25T19:51:00.004-04:00

This weekend we went to some friends' cottage in rural Ontario. It was relaxation personified! We BBQ'd some delish-kabobs...
...BBQ'd some corn in the husks - they look inedible here, but when you take the husks off their smokey flavour in unparalleled.
Lots of knitting and reading was done, as well as some boating:

A local rock face 500 feet tall had some really neet petroglyphs make by Iroquois people hundreds of years ago.
Even though I normally prefer to be self-propelled, the speed boat was AWESOME!

a little bit of help goes a long way

2010-07-20T19:55:00.004-04:00

Thanks to a little help from my visiting Mum...

and from my (temporarily) one-armed fiance...

My tomatoes and new wee garden are getting established.

Time to rest.

in a bit of a pickle

2010-07-11T14:55:00.002-04:00

What does one do with pickling cucumbers this size?! This summer I decided to use my Topsy Turvy Planter to grow mini-cukes rather than chocolate cherry tomatoes in the hopes of producing my very own batch of heaven: Dill Pickles. DP's have always been and continue to be my favourite food - and now that I'm pregnant I'm experiencing something close to a love affair with any kind of DP I can get my hands on. While these bad boys continue to proliferate on my back deck, I need to find the ultimate DP recipe. Suggestions or your favourite recipes welcome!

Some possibilities I'm exploring:

a summer dress that doesn't break the bank

2010-07-10T18:22:00.007-04:00

This is my first post in almost a month - and what a month it's been! I started a new full time teaching job, moved from one province to another while in the 2nd trimester of my first pregnancy(!!), and my fiance broke his arm, all within 5 weeks. When I type it out it looks pretty nutty, and it has been.
So today I want to remind myself of my personal creative goals, and commit to making a dress I started almost 3 months ago: the Heather Ross Kimono Dress. There's a great group in Flikr just for folks who've made the projects in her fantastic book Weekend Sewing, to which I hope to add some pictures when I'm actually finished. This dress isn't technically a maternity dress but should fit me for the rest of the summer and into September (months 4-6) if I make it without the obi sash, with lots of room in the skirt and a reinforced bust-line seam...I'm mostly excited at the thought of wearing blue linen and having something I made just for me.

and now...some pictures of wild roses

2010-06-12T19:35:00.002-04:00

so practical it hurts

2010-06-06T20:12:00.004-04:00

Last weekend I picked up an uncovered ironing board at the biggest garage sale I've ever witnessed, for the reasonably low price of $2...and tonight I undertook to cover it with some cool n' cheap fabric I got last year at a fabric yard sale for $3! It took 1/2 an hour, and now I can iron my sewing projects on a proper ironing board instead of on a towel on my dining room table. DIY at it most practical.

coming out party

2010-06-06T12:35:00.004-04:00

Just so you know, a very important knitting event is almost upon us: World Wide Knit In Public Day, conveniently happening in your local area sometime between June 12th and June 20th! According to the website "www.wwkipday.com", you can find a KIP close to you just by throwing your country and city into their handy Find a KIP Tool, and then join other like-minded knitters in showing the world the joys and comforts of knitting. If you're a novice with just one ball o' yarn and one set of needles or a seasoned aficionado, come out of the knitting closet and join us!

interview with creator Alexandra Yanofsky of Glassiette

2010-05-27T14:10:00.006-04:00

Today's post is *the protagonist studio*'s first interview with a fellow creator: Alexandra Yanofsky of Glassiette. Alex makes beautiful tiered trays that can be used in multiple ways, or just to make a room snazzy. Introducing the creative people I know and admire in *the protagonist studio* is one way I'd like to contribute to the discussion about the role creativity plays in people's lives. Information on Alex and her works are found in the links below.

What was your original inspiration to make glassiettes?
on holiday in amsterdam with my husband and daughter, we wandered into a shop selling all sorts of things made from older things. like notebooks with covers made from old hardcover book covers. really cool wallets and purses fashioned from older purses (i think). throw pillows covered in vintage fabrics. things like that. and there were these sort of wine glasses, made from the old wine glass stems with teacups glued on top. super cute. and cake trays made from a mug and plates. back in montreal, i was strolling by the salvation army store near my house and some dishes caught my eye. so i brought them home to see what i could come up with.

Where do you find all those great dishes? (without, giving away any professional secrets, of course!)

there's a salvation army store right near our house, so i wander in when the spirit moves me. and these days, tiz the season for yard sales. also i've been getting kind offers from folks wanting to clear out their cupboards. i really have to like the dish though. it doesn't have to be bone china all the time, but, there has to be something particular about the dish that i find special, or some combination that occurs to me that i want to see. i'm very excited because my aunt is giving me some nice pieces to work with that were my late grandma's...so those will stay in the family as a new sort of heirloom.
What role does being environmentally-friendly play in your design process?

first, we live in a disposable society, where things are built NOT to last, so that we will go out and buy more. secondly, personally, i like things that hold a bit of history. as you know, dear protagonist, i can't get enough of good second-hand stores, yard sales or clothes swaps.*

(*caveat/confession: i have been found on more than one occasion wandering that maze we call Ikea with glazed eyes and a lot more in my cart than i'd planned. no judgment here.)

all that to say, re-purposing dishes that previous owners no longer wish to have in their cupboards is definitely part of the allure for me. as well, i became a little obsessed with finding the right glue. luckily, i did. strong enough to hold, and non-toxic for serving food.

What other types of other creative things do you do? Do those things inform how you make glassiettes, or vice versa?

these days i am enjoying being creative with cooking. if there's something i'd like to make, i look up several recipes in my books and online, and then make some approximation of my own. i've been known to dabble in playing guitar, singing and songwriting. i went through a phase of making textured string paintings (don't ask). i've knit a few scarves here and there. i've written my share of heartfelt, embarrassing poetry (that's right, i said it)! before the baby, i worked for more than a decade in television, film and web content, where creativity is a job requirement...not just for the stories we'd tell or document, but also in terms of strategic planning and problem solving.

the way creativity works for me is, i decide it would be fun to (*insert idea here*). then i see about getting my hands on what i need to make it happen and giving it a go. if it turns out that said idea IS, in fact, fun, then i keep going as much as time allows or motivation persists.

i don't know if all this is connected to the glassiette project. glassiette is fun for me right now: walk with the baby, go on a little neighborhood quest for fresh materials and then when she naps, make something pretty and useful where once was something kind of rejected and not living up to its full potential. and then blog about it, which is also a nice creative outlet.

On your blog you show pictures of your (very cute) baby - what is it like being creative when you’re a new mother?

creativity for me as a new mama is a necessity and an inevitability! babies change constantly and quickly. well, mine does. so something that works (or fits) like a charm for 3 or 6 weeks is suddenly so OVER and you have to figure out the next new thing.

it requires what i think of as all the components of creativity - learning, conceiving and executing new ideas, flexibility, adaptability, motivation, momentum, finding your own way to do things (in the face of a whole lot of unsolicited advice and critique)...and oh yes, fun!

but i will also say parenting is creativity geared toward someone else's needs. once the the first little while whizzed by in a consuming, confusing, sleep-deprived blur and i came up for air, i rediscovered creativity geared toward my own interests. and that's necessary too. very!

Where can *the protagonist studio* readers view and/or buy your work? Do you take commissions?

a lot of my pieces can be seen on my blog: glassiette.blogspot.com. email ayanofsky at gmail dot com to inquire about buying. in montreal, go to co-op la maison verte or fuchsia. and so far i've only done commissions for friends but i'd be glad to for anyone who might be so inclined.

Alexandra in her home studio in Montreal, 2010.

one of these things is not like the others

2010-05-25T11:49:00.013-04:00

Vincent Van Gogh, Irises, 1890

*the protagonist studio*, Backyard Irises, 2010

tough love

2010-05-17T10:43:00.008-04:00

Yup...it's time to "harden off" my babies for the gardening season. These seedlings have been at times a delight, at others like an albatross around my neck, as it's taken many of them almost 10 weeks to grow to their current size! Sweet Basil, leeks, parsley, Lemon Boy and Golden Cherry and Montreal Tasty tomatoes, and the leggiest bunch of pickling cucumbers imaginable. They're ready(well, I'm ready for them) to leave home and tough it out in the real world. May 24 weekend is soon upon us, and Hardiness Zone 5a gardeners like myself will be doing the same across this part of the world. We'll see how they fare overnight.

of Montreal

2010-05-17T10:13:00.007-04:00

Great, great times were had this weekend past in the fine city of Montreal! Rather than focusing our time on finding that PERFECT summer dress or vinyl pressing on Son House, we focused on QT with some of our loved ones and reaped the rewards. Only in Montreal can shabby be so very chic! (see below)

We hung out with my fiance's bro and sis n' law out in the 'burbs. They know me so well now: I unwrapped their prezzies to find Yarn Bombing, by the author duo Mandy Moore and Leanne Prain. Just last week I heard they're doing a Call for Submissions for their new book on contemporary embroidery called Hoopla: The Art of Unexpected Embroidery. Not to mention the connection with the Winterlude Tree Cosy Project from February of this year, it was a synchronistic sort of gift and tres cool. Favourite project in this book: Knitted Poster Frame.

Not only did I receive a wack of knitting inspiration, my sister in law C. knit me a gorgeous, cosy scarf in a star-kind of stitch whose name I don't know. Lovely!

Time on The Mountain watching Capoeira, licking Popsicles, napping, eating fancy vegan food and holding friends' babies is good for the soul.

the kindness of strangers

2010-05-10T14:23:00.004-04:00

...is something I rarely depend upon, but last week my self-made independence was softened just a bit by a friendly, "Hello? Neighbors?" from across our backyard fence. To put this in context: We've lived here for 2 years now, with not a peep from next door all this time. My (extremely) limited French, and Shaun's shy inclinations had prevented us from reaching out, not to mention a threatening letter we received from that neighbor shortly after we moved in about tree branches left in his yard by previous the tenants in our house.
After exchanging pleasantries in English he offered us 3 types of Iris and a Bleeding Heart from his gorgeous garden ~ basically a dream come true for me! I said yes, and have planted them in an empty flower bed that was just waiting for something to happen.
It's funny, I didn't know I needed more perennials or a neighbor until I recieved them. Bleeding heart, indeed.

fingerless mitts

2010-05-02T02:59:00.004-04:00

Not the fanciest pictures on this blog, but I thought it worth posting that my first and second pairs of fingerless mitts are officially done. Well, they were actually done in March, but it took me this long to track down photos of them. I love wearing them - these red/pink ones are by far my favourite because they match everything I wear, and they have a fancy mohair cuff. I knit these ones my preferred way: freestyle, without a pattern! I just increased and decreased stitches to fit the dimensions of my hands. Knit with the wool I won from Canadian Living Magazine's Make + Do Crafting Blog, I'm now a convert to super soft fair trade alpaca.
These purple lovelies came from a pattern I found on the web that included a ribbed cuff (good for a snug fit) and ribbed top (which I think looks a little funny with the bind off I used). I can't find the pattern anywhere, but I know cast on with 30 stitches and knit 2/purl 2 for about 6 rounds at the cuff. The rest was just knit, knit, knit. The wool I used was much more blue-lavender to begin with, so I dyed it in violet to make it a more palatable pinky-purple. Less old-lady, more fabulous. Here's another fingerless mitten pattern that has no ribbing if you want to give it a try: Fingerless Mitts from KNoon Designs

new perspectives

2010-04-28T16:59:00.009-04:00

Today I tried to see differently; I shrank myself down to a new size and just looked at everything from this new perspective. I forgot how much I love to just be in my garden, hear the wind blow through the trees, and just watch everything being alive. Arugula and garlic, lamium and grass, daffodil and sweet cecily...all growing like crazy right now.

black gold

2010-04-25T15:36:00.005-04:00

Today we set out to harvest some of the sweet compost we've been compiling and well, putrifying, in our bin since last fall. We dug out the most rotted stuff and put it through my new garden sieve twice (this thing was cheap and works SO well, with one wide mesh and one fine mesh, both removable!).
As you can see I have no wheelbarrow or tub trugs, so we improvised in the good old 'Maritime Way', and used biodegradable bags and cardboard boxes for sorting the compost at different stages.
We kept only the finest compost -the stuff with the colour and consistency of a very delicious chocolate cake - and put the rest of the partially decomposed food and the larger soil bits back in. We layered them with this great organic compost accelerator made by Green Earth, which happens to be a Canadian company (I used this product last spring to great success).
In the end, we made a huge bag of first-rate, organic compost for my little plant-inis. Black Gold!

square foot gardening

2010-04-11T18:30:00.003-04:00

After a long day in the garden, I can finally sit down and take in all that we accomplished. Raked all the dead leaves and started a compost pile just for leaf mold, amended the raised bed from our own aged compost, and planted green onions, garlic, arugula, red onions, chives, and these really cool seed tape of spinach, all in a square foot gardening style! For those of you unfamiliar with SFG, the idea is you maximize limited space to grow crops in raised beds in squares, rather than rows. You waste less space, it looks all very organized, and you can grow more grub.

I'm trying to take things up a notch this year, which I why I'm rocking the earlier crops as well as the midsummer classics. My fiance was kind enough to cover my hard work with some chicken wire to dissuade the squirrels from exploring too much - crossed fingers it'll work.

what makes a good gardener

2010-04-09T12:55:00.004-04:00

According to Gayla Trail of You Grow Girl fame, a good gardener needs among other things, experience, in order to know their way around a patch of dirt. Well, with nearly 2 years under my belt (not including a few tomato plants on the balcony during my Fine Art degree back in the day), I'm finally starting to feel like I know what I'm about in the backyard department. If you're wanting to get a little more "into" gardening, the best way really is to just go for it: pick some plants, do a little reading, talk to your local hardware guy for advice, and just grow them. I have made and continue to make lots of mistakes. But the cool thing about gardening is that you always have next year, and that slow yearly cycle gives you a lot of time to change your approach. If you're lucky enough to have your own green patch of earth you can grow your own food - imagine the $$ you can save! For more insight on what makes a goog gardener, read Gayla Trail's article by the same name: What Makes a Good Gardener, seen below.

elf socks

2010-04-05T08:00:00.003-04:00

From what's turned out to be an incredibly useful library book, Knitalong: Celebrating the Tradition of Knitting Together, I recently chose to make my first pair of socks. A friend of mine and I decided to do a knitalong with the Socks 101 pattern from this book, and have both found it to be pretty easy. I think we surprised ourselves with what we could do if we put our heads together, and now we each have a solid sock "recipe" in our knitting repetoire.

26 kilometers of pure joy

2010-04-04T14:35:00.003-04:00

The sights, smells and sounds of our 26 km bike ride today left us breathless. It's April 4th, and we're already on our bikes and in our shorts! What happened to spring?

i'm not a sucker anymore

2010-04-03T16:26:00.006-04:00

You know those things you buy every week with your groceries that make you wonder: "How hard it would be to make this myself?" Today I came home from a friends' place in the country with two such household products, AND the means for them to reproduce themselves! Behold: the Liberte Organic Kefir (fermented effervescent milk product) I used to buy, and next to it a small colony of my very own kefir grains, working their magic on some local milk!
Not only were my wise country friends generous with their fermenting grain colony, they also gave me a huge root ball of their already prolific rhubarb for my very own backyard garden. Total. Score.

the force through which the green fuse drives...

2010-04-02T11:12:00.005-04:00

...the flower...*

...the flowers...

...the garden. (Revealed after raking way leaf mulch, with bulbs and perennials reaching towards the sun) Mornings in my garden have started a month earlier than last year - sigh. * stunning Dylan Thomas poem

down east

2010-03-19T13:22:00.007-04:00

We just got back from visiting the East Coast, and we're full of sweet memories of our time there. It had been 20 months since we were home and we were so curious to know what it would be like to go back: What would be the same? What would be different? And especially we wondered how much we'd changed living in Quebec all this time. We saw beautiful places, watched the winter shift into spring, and spent some quality time with our closest loved ones, having little aha! moments all the while. We have changed. So has our hometown, and so have the people we love...but the ties that bind us there are as strong as ever.

winter's last gasp

2010-02-25T23:16:00.005-05:00

Sitting in front of the tv just chilling and knitting on a late February night, we looked out the window to see it was SNOWING.

Big, juicy, fluffy, white snowflakes all lit up by the streetlights just begged us to go outside and play.

Walking through the park we saw what was left of the outdoor rink, which was somehow more perfect after the snow.

We (almost) felt like the city was far, far away.

let me tell you 'bout...

2010-02-20T18:45:00.009-05:00

...the Birds and the Bees

This time of year all I can think about is getting ready for winged visitors of all varieties, and the inevitable shoots and leaves that emerge from the 100 bulbs I planted last fall. This is a collection of new products I covet, going clockwise, including Gump's Bienvenue mat, Original Rain Boots by Hunter, Perch!'s Plantorb, the Eva Solo Luxury Birdbath, Gump's Cachepot, Terrarium by Anthropologie, an absolutely amazing item by Gaiam: a Bee Condo, and finally another Birdfeeder, this time from Perch!.

There are a few gardening plans simmering right now...

1. the seedlings for my veggies have just been started: cucumbers, leeks, 2 kinds o' tomatoes, basil, and parsley - for eating, and hopefully to make some preserves in the Fall

2. for the very first time I'm starting Pink Pampas Grass (whoa!) and pink n' white foxgloves from seed, with the intention that they go at the end of the driveway to hold the soil and be lovely

3. the compost pile is twice the size it was last year at this time because we had a bunch left over from last Fall and we haven't stopped adding to it all winter - I may need to give some away or swap a pile of it for some BEES.

4. BEES. I wanna attract honeybees to live at the far end of my backyard, which is where the bee condo comes in

5. building/sewing a canvas shade to go over the back patio with a post we can string patio lanterns to ( this was actually my fiance's idea)

superbowl hat

2010-02-08T18:11:00.006-05:00

Late Saturday night my fiance announced he would be watching The Superbowl - at our house. Most folks wouldn't bat an eye at this seemingly normal occurrence, but seeing as though I've never seen him do this in 4 years, and that neither of us has watched our TV in 6 months, I balked. It was a freezing cold winter night, and a Sunday at that, so I decided to join'im. I took a skein of the Mirasol yarn I won in the Make + Do giveaway, my one set of circular needles, and I knit a hat. The colour I would describe as popcorn, with a heavy emphasis on the corn. Not the best colour for us pale northern types...

...so upon completion I popped it in some Dylon French Navy fabric dye and waited to see what would happen overnight. Ta-da! Blue hat for Him.

tree cosies, you say?

2010-02-03T21:12:00.012-05:00

This year at Ottawa's Winterlude Festival my as of yet unnamed Stitch & Bitch and I have hand knitted and crocheted cosies to warm a tree in Confederation Park as a part of the Urban Cosy Project! Our excitement cannot be underestimated at the thought that we're showing typically domestic work in a public space - let alone that we made something for the first time as a Collective. The idea is to take a non-destructive form of graffiti - ever hear of Yarn Bombing? - and use it as a collaborative method for making installation sculpture... or something along those lines...Below are picture of our group cosy, as well as other, lesser cosies.

the seeds are here

2010-02-02T12:15:00.007-05:00

Yesterday my heirloom and organic seeds arrived from Vesey's! Sunflowers, leeks, chioggia beets, salad greens, two kinds o' tomatoes and pickling cucumbers...all to add to my existing stock left over from last year's garden. This will be my second year as an urban organic gardener, and the plan is to expand my repertoire and grow food that's suited to the soil, temperature and light I have available around my tiny house. If the tomato and pickle crops work I may have enough to pickle and can for the winter - we'll see. For now, I'll just post last year's garden pictures, seen above.

i won!

2010-02-01T19:19:00.004-05:00

Thanks to the fine folks at Canadian Living Magazine online, the Make + Do Crafting Blog chose me (randomly, but they still chose me!) to win 4 skeins of loverly yarn by Mirasol plus Book One of the Mirasol Collection books by Jane Ellison! I enter contests now and then, but this is the first time I've won anything in years. I'll be sure to post an update of what I end up making with this beautiful stuff.

antiquing for canadians

2010-01-24T13:14:00.007-05:00

antiquing for canadians

brings quiet time in the bright sunshiny cold

some really great grates

some heads light our way though the junk to the real finds

to frozen smiles on unlikely faces

and the most beautiful decay.

ruching - to the max

2010-01-21T12:10:00.002-05:00

shibori, not tie dye

2010-01-20T09:20:00.005-05:00

After tying, elasticizing, knotting and sewing I put that little ball of wonder into the green dye vat and it came out like this - it's a kind of classic hippie tie-dye with a bit of polish. Next time: indigo!

dyeing to be different

2010-01-12T13:01:00.006-05:00

This is a fairly elaborate example of Japanese shibori tie and stitch resist dyeing I'm making to show my art students for our class this week. First I used elastics to make cylindrical gathered bits in a regular pattern across the square piece of fabric. Then I hand-stitched with a running stitch between cylinders and gathered them into ruffles to create another type of visual texture. I think it ended up looking like a sculptural piece on its' own - like a sea urchin.

These are other simpler examples of tying and the corresponding result after it had been dyed for 2 hours in an over-the counter fabric dye. My students really enjoyed the vibrancy of the colours, and the mystery of how their tying would create design elements. Basically, it's been a blast!

nature and human-made grey scale

2010-01-07T15:29:00.002-05:00

feminism and the new domesticity

2010-01-05T09:31:00.006-05:00

This post is dedicated to exploring what's called The New Domesticity - women choosing to spend their time making things by hand that they used to buy at the store: takeout is now a balanced organic sit-down meal, time spent hanging with friends now involves a ball of yarn and a hat-in-progress intended to warm the head of a loved one, and hours once spent on Messenger is now spent poring over websites and blogs dedicated to finding the perfect spelt bread recipe...You may be like so many young women of the x/y generation raised by feminist mothers who have a conflicted relationship with being "domestic". When you have a world of choice your mothers fought so hard to provide for you, why would you then turn around a choose to bake bread on a Saturday night? These questions and more are explored in a thought-provoking piece by Jean at getcrafty.com. Click Link for the full article.

corgi worship

2010-01-03T15:42:00.004-05:00

Let's face it: any time of year is perfect to worship corgis - but this time of year is particularly well suited to show your love and devotion in sculptural form. As you can see here all the forces of the Season conspire to show corgis in their best light. Sigh...

pretty darn good

2009-12-31T10:22:00.005-05:00

One of my goals, to bake an awesome loaf of bread, can be ticked off my Upcoming Projects list. Organic whole wheat bread from the best bread recipe I've come across yet. For those of you who are "into" bread, you may appreciate this discovery: it's all about paying attention to your ingredients and being aware of what the bread needs (if it's too dry, too wet, to crumbly etc...) to make it right. To be present to the task. And I love kneading it by hand. As Ed Brown says in his poem in The Complete Tassajara Cookbook, "Cooking is not a mystery...The mystery is that it is possible to do what we don't know how to do."

i am the LOG LADY

2009-12-30T16:55:00.010-05:00

Wanna know how to make your own edible log for the Holidays? I thought so! First of all, you bake the batter on a jellyroll pan (I've never heard of a jellyroll pan before either...), otherwise known as a cookie sheet with edges.

Then you roll it up with some almond and chocolate-infused whipped-cream inside.

Finally you cut a piece off, attach it to the side and ice it with dark chocolate frosting to make it look like an actual log! Here in Quebec it's called a Bûche de Noël, or as Anglos say Yule Log. When I was taking it over to my friends' place for their Reveillon (francais pour Stay Up Late) on X-mas Eve, my cab driver said only old Quebecois folks make this recipe these days. I felt proud and ashamed at the same time...which pretty much sums up being a non-French speaker in Quebec!
I wanted to say, "The owls are not what they seem...", but didn't. Merry X-mas David Lynch!

plant a bulb and let it grow

2009-12-30T12:55:00.006-05:00

We planted 4 narcissus bulbs Dec 1st and watched them grow until Christmas - here's the Bulbs' Progress. It's my pleasure to give full copyright and props to Sufjan Stevens for his soundtrack Jingle Bells, from the album Songs for Christmas Vol. V - Peace, recorded in 2006.

mum's banana bread (with bonus recipe!)

2009-12-30T10:31:00.004-05:00

My Mum's banana bread is iconic in my family - and hers is a no-fail recipe for moist, banana-y flavour. Mystified by my stashing brown bananas in the freezer for the last two months, my fiancee now knows the glory that is the following recipe:

Dawn's Infamous Banana Bread
Preheat oven to 325 F

1. in one bowl mix:
1/4 c. veggie oil or butter
3/4 c. brown or white sugar
1 egg
1/2 tsp. vanilla extract

2. in another bowl mix:
1 1/2 c. whole wheat or unbleached flour
1/2 tsp. salt
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 cup walnuts or sunflower seeds

3. mix wet ingredients into dry ingredients bowl, adding 3 mashed very ripe bananas until just mixed.

4. pour mix into greased loaf pan or 12 muffin cups, and bake 40-50 minutes until golden. eat.

possible inspiration for doing an MFA

2009-12-21T09:19:00.004-05:00

I picked up this book at the Ottawa public library yesterday when browsing though the stacks in the traditional craft section. Little did I know the power it would have to blow my mind! The use of found and natural materials to package/present/complete everyday objects elevates the mundane to small works of art. Just the thought that there was a time and place when this level of aestheic appreciation existed among everyday people is incredibly moving. Highly, highly recommended.

mittens of glory

2009-12-18T09:32:00.003-05:00

My first completed pair of mittens! I chose lemony-lime green so I won't get run over by the crazy drivers here in Quebec...these were knitted freestyle, without a pattern, and turned out better than expected. Special thanks to Seema at Yarns Etc. in Ottawa for moral and technical support - cheers!

hot sour salty sweet

2009-12-17T12:46:00.006-05:00

Last night I made a very special and authentic (ie: uses a lot of raw ingredients) Pad Thai for the BF and I. Based on how he's shoveling it in and his eyes are glazed over in the image above, I think it was a grand success! The recipe comes from a gorgeous cookbook I was given as a gift, called Hot Sour Salty Sweet, and it's by a Canadian couple (Jeffrey Alford and Naomi Duguid) who have spent years traveling through Southeast Asia collecting recipes from those they meet, all the while taking stunning images of the food, people and landscape.
The Pad Thai is awesome the next day, which is what I just finished eating about 10 minutes ago! The recipe is incredibly long, but SO much better and more developed flavor-wise than any other Pad Thai recipe I've tried that it's well worth the extra effort. YUM.

it's that time of year again....

2009-12-17T12:40:00.003-05:00

...when I'm mildly underemployed and I'm mildly ambivalent about that fact. The (obvious) reason being: I get to MAKE MORE STUFF! This week I busted up 26 Christmas/Hannukah cards for (most) of my beloved peeps. If any of you who receive one of these cards would like to take picture of it and e-mail that pic to me, I'll gladly post it here for all to see!

a little weekend sewing

2009-11-29T14:40:00.004-05:00

With the holidays fast approaching, I've been beavering away at some TOP SECRET x-mas prezzies - the only clue I'll give it that the pattern I'm using comes from Heather Ross' fantabulous book Weekend Sewing, which she designed and illustrated with her unique and lovely style. I love this book! Stay posted for more X-mas prezzie updates...

Euro-Canadian Sewing Summit, 2009

2009-11-05T15:25:00.004-05:00

Earlier in October my friend's mother, who is an accomplished costume designer for the (big T) Theatre, came all the way from Malta and ran a one day skirt-making workshop in my livingroom. Based on my waist, hip and waist-to-knee measurements, I made a tailored skirt in 2 hours. I know, it was amazing! And with Elvia's instruction it was amazingly easy to make too. Made out of a 1970's bedsheet, I think she's a real beaut.

10% inspiration, 156% perspiration

2009-11-05T15:16:00.004-05:00

Albert Camus was a right-on kinda man. This is an embroidery project I started nearly a YEAR ago, and I'm still at it. This one has been a real labor of love...but I'm determined to finish the bugger. Baste it, sew backing on it and hang it. Perhaps the original inspiration will come back to me when I see the finished piece hanging on the wall in the house.

the NEW domesticity

2009-11-05T15:02:00.006-05:00

Been knitting up a storm lately, most likely due to the shift in the weather. This is a scarf I promised my BF I would make for him, and after ripping it out 5 TIMES, I finally found the right stitches to match the red alpaca wool and bamboo needles I bought in Toronto. I'll show the final product (hopefully with a certain lovely male model assistant...) when it's done!

First Garden - a year in pictures

2009-09-28T09:44:00.006-04:00

With full props and copyrights to The Beach Boys for their soundtrack "Wouldn't It Be Nice" from Pet Sounds (1966), here's a visual journey through a year of my first garden. A lot of work, but SO worth the effort, lemme tell ya!

september in a nutshell

2009-09-27T22:22:00.002-04:00

It's harvest time, when all our hard work is rewarded by tomatoes, carrots, beans and herbs! It's the time of year for morning walks with thermos coffee, new knitting and sewing projects and thoughts of how we're going to get through the long Quebec winter ahead. In the meantime we'll just enjoy the fall colours (namely red) and hoard root vegetables for roasted dinners...

the first harvest

2009-09-25T15:37:00.003-04:00

creativity as a marinading metaphor

2009-03-30T08:07:00.004-04:00

post-christmas

2009-01-08T09:03:00.003-05:00

mid-winter diptychs

2009-01-06T20:47:00.007-05:00

what i've been doing in this new land

2008-08-26T16:25:00.001-04:00

waking up in soft focus

surveying the landscape

trying, really trying, to be patient

adding fuel to the fire

lusting after another time and place

noticing the light as well as the shadows

and keeping things as informal as possible.

This and That

2008-08-20T10:32:00.001-04:00

in the beginning...

2008-05-05T12:40:00.001-04:00

Spring is here.

Time to tune the bike,

eat a healthy breakfast,

and head out into the world.

It feels so good to see life everywhere,

and the colour yellow figuring prominently

and pink.

Spring fever.