Curling up with a good book

There is nothing better than curling up with a really good book. Something that wraps you up and takes you away into another world. A story that keeps you up late at night because even though your eyes are tired and you know you should turn off the light and go to bed... you-can't-stop-turning-the-pages. Recently a friend lent me the book 'The book of Negroes' by Lawrence Hill. This is exactly the book I had been craving. Something to whisk me away to another world. I've started keeping a list of 'must read books' that I will share with my kids someday. A list of books I hope they'll read when they are older. This one is going on the list.

Sometimes when real life is shit, reading a good book helps (thanks Tamawa).

Creative Sewing

I am loving my new hobby. Mostly I spend my time surfing on etsy.com looking for beautiful fabrics and imaging the beautiful things I can make.

My next project might be this quilt which I absolutely adore:
http://www.ohfransson.com/oh_fransson/2009/06/how-to-make-scrappy-hedgerow-blocks.html

Quilting is relaxing and it feels so good to make something from nothing. It is creative and fun. The idea of giving handmade gifts feels good too.

The Elodie Quilt

Here is a quilt I made for a little girl I know's b-day. It was so much fun to make!

The print fabrics are from the Heather Ross 'Mendocino' line. the blue squares are from fabric I already had on hand.

Sewing

I've been taking a basic sewing class at a local shop near our home. Loving it! It is so much fun to learn a new skill. We made a tot bag in the class which turned out pretty nice. My next project will be a quilt for a special friend's baby.

I bought the material here: http://www.etsy.com/shop.php?user_id=5757671&section_id=5637909

Etsy is my new favourite website. So many beautiful handmade things. My new favourite shop is here: http://www.etsy.com/shop.php?user_id=5064563

and of course the fabric shop up above... so many projects in my head, so little time and energy!

Ian's going to be two!

It's been.... a LONG while. Time flies when you are busy, busy, busy (so friggin' busy). I can't believe Ian is going to two in a few short weeks. Every day that goes by it seems he loses his 'babyness'. Learning new words, counting, singing songs, correctly distinguishing between a pooh and a fart (those are the moments it makes the craziness all worth while). I don't suppose anyone reads this thing anymore (hi Tamara) but I just wanted to say 'hey' and we're all doing well... except for the business and craziness, but you know, it's all good!

Happy Birthday Coco-bear!

"New" Toys

I responded to an ad on Kijiji recently and brought home some 'new' friends for Ian (is it wrong that I want to play with them too?). You may be acquaintances with them yourself. What would the world be without Fisher Price Little People? These are the ultimate in green toys. I have so many fond memories of playing with these little guys. I'm happy Ian will get to share the joy (when he's older and stops putting things in his mouth!). I was lucky enough to snag both the complete sesame street playset and the tudor family house with all of the accessories. Those new fisher prices little people don't compare to these guys. They just don't make things like they used to...

Back on track.

I'm happy to report that things are getting better around here. The proof is that the cloth diapers are back in action again after several months of being MIA.

I started a new job this week. I'm managing a team again after two years and although it is somewhat daunting, it feels good! Strangely, although I now have more responsability at work I'm also being more productive at home too... Not sure what you call that phenomenon but so far so good. Granted this week was only week 1 of the new job, so who knows what things will be like once I have a full workload but I can honestly say that I'm in a good place. I love the team. They are all very nice. My walk to work is a little shorter which is nice. It means more time with Ian in the mornings and in the afternoons.

So back to our challenge. I'll have to count down how many weeks I've missed.... since mid to early August I think. We have been doing green things despite not blogging about them.

1. We got a rain barrel that is hooked up to our downspout.
2. I recently bought Ian a new toy from plan toys (wooden toys made out of organic rubberwood).
3. We brought all of our recycling (paper and cans) back from our vacation in Maine with us because we couldn't find a place to recycle our stuff there... which is pretty crazy.

There is more but I'll leave it there for now. Hope all is well with you!