Collection of recent drawings for a resurrected papercutting project. A crafty collaboration with friend and papercutter(ess) extraordinaire, Su.

Tracing paper templates are transferred on to heavy drawing paper. The hand cut and etched pieces from these particular drawings will be arranged in a shadow box to emulate Québec City’s Place Royale.

A baby shower present already two years overdue. Following some embarrassed correspondence and profuse apologizing, we were thrilled to find out that the recipients still want the finished shadow boxes to decorate their home.

Scheming, sketching and scoring up a storm to move this project forward in a big way. We’re determined to hang our handmade gift on the walls of our friends’ home before their tot goes to college. It’s Plan A or bust.

Yep, finishing stalled projects is another facet of my intention to release clutter. File this one under “obliteration of mental and emotional clutter”.

Yellow bias tape reclaimed from my late grandma’s sewing stash.

Week 2 (or Week 3 if you count the Bonus Week) of life coaching. I love the program. The principal assignment of the course is to set an intention for what I want to gain from the seven weeks of coaching. I could have effortlessly written down 45 intentions in a single sitting – and I almost did. There is plenty I wish to transform, change and begin anew.

As I stared at my lengthy list of brainstormed intentions, one item stood out as the key to unlocking the clarity I’ve been struggling so damn hard to find in the last three years:

Release the clutter.

I’m betting that those who know me offline are rolling their eyes and muttering, “Well yeah. Dude! What’s taking you so FREAKIN‘ long?”

I dunno. It’s complicated. And the reasons don’t particularly matter anymore.

So I set my intention to let go of the physical, mental and emotional clutter weighing me down.

What does setting this intention mean exactly? Well, for now it means that I show up every day for a couple of hours (minimum) to let go of clutter. Starting with the obvious. If you’ve followed previous incarnations of this blog, you may have already guessed what I’m alluding to.

Yep, the Scary Basement. (Which evolved into the Not As Scary Basement after I made a huge dent in the cleanup prior to our Hawai’i vacation in 2009.) Once again I’m chipping away at the floor-to-ceiling stacks o’ stuff  living languishing in our basement since 2002.  These days it’s more accurate to dub the space as the Increasingly Organized Basement. With the strength of my intention behind me, I’m now on a mission to attain a Triumphantly Clean and Functional Basement by the end of the summer.

Process, progress. Yesterday I cleaned my subterranean art space and took an informal inventory of supplies. Not so bad. Invigorating even. Today I delved into my Montessori course notes and teaching materials, realizing with a heavy heart that it was time to find a new, loving home for all the cute and pretty things I rediscovered in the boxes. Unravelled by fond memories of children and imaginative hours spent dreaming up and creating activities, it was difficult to let go at first, albeit a huge relief when the decision was finally made.

Confronting clutter isn’t the sexiest summer activity on the block, but I trust my intention will lead me to a better place. At the very least that place will be clutter-free, right?

Paw portraits series one: Canis lupis familiaris.

Grooming touch-up between shots.

Post-session nap.

Peaceful, idyllic scene of the Museville mammals at rest.

You’d never know that a 5.0 magnitude earthquake was about to shake the city of Ottawa, as well as much of southeastern Ontario, parts of western Quebec, and the northeastern United States.

Yep, an earthquake. I can count the number of times that I’ve actually felt a quake in this part of the world on one hand. Tangible tremors are rare ’round here.

The quake hit as I was drifting off to sleep for a short power nap. The earth rumbled, the house shook, and I immediately shot out of bed startled and disoriented. My heart was beating a mile a minute and I honestly thought I was having a nightmare (daymare…?). Or hallucinating. (But on what? My lunchtime salad?) Until the dog came dashing into the room. Then I was wide awake. Something was definitely amiss. Time decelerated into that weird slow-mo warp zone that accompanies fear and confusion.

A million strange thoughts whipped through my mind as I mobilized to get myself, and as many pets as I could grab along the way, out the door:

• “Holy crap, why is a transport truck wrestling with the foundation of the house?”
• “A plane/space shuttle/alien ship is about to make an emergency landing in the dog park – or on the roof! Oh God, why did we get a home so close to the f$#%* airport?!”
• “Does life insurance cover apocalypses? Curses, I knew I should have read the fine print.”
• “Hey, it’s been a great life so far. I intend to survive. And I’m also ready to go if it’s time.”

Embarrassing. Selfish. Human. Funny in hindsight. The mild quake lasted maybe all of thirty seconds (tho’ it felt waaaay longer), leaving the house intact and its inhabitants unscathed.

Sobering to know that this was only a tiny tremor in the grand scheme of things. It could have been much, much worse. Like the devastating quakes that tore through Haiti and many other parts of the world already this year.

I’m counting lucky stars and viewing this “baby quake” as a sign to put a survival kit together and make additional donations to ongoing earthquake disaster relief.

Compelling reminder.

Seconds after shooting this photo I threw these pure wool sweaters into the washer’s hot/cold cycle along with a clean towel. My inaugural foray into sweater felting!

So excited about the (post-felting) fabric potential of these garments. Always loved the colours and warmth of these woolly pullovers, originally thrifted from Value Village many years ago. Unfortunately the sweaters developed holes and emotional weight. Acquired and worn in a past lifetime when I was chronically ill, severely depressed, and 30 pounds overweight, I felt it was time to dig these sweaters out of storage and give them a positive, radical makeover.

In anticipation of beautiful, reclaimed wool felt coming my way, I’m gathering project inspiration from a stack of fresh books from the library: (from botton to top) Warm Fuzzies and Sewing Green by Betz White, and Sweater Surgery by Stefanie Girard.

Seriously fixated on making this “Bomber Hat” (page 22 of Warm Fuzzies) pour moi for winter. Long walks on sub-zero evenings with a dog built for cold and snow require warm head gear! Since I can never follow directions exactly, I’ve got a cute twist in mind for my bomber hat. The variation involves adding handknit elements to the piece, inspired by a film, and potentially rendered in sock yarn. Hopefully my idea won’t add excessive weight to the hat and will flow well with the structure and design. Only way to find out is to go for it. Nothing to lose since I’ll still end up with a pretty sweet bomber hat – with or without flash of inspiration.

Wondering about the fate of last week’s jumble of letter beads and tiny crochet stitches?

Ta daaaaa!

A crochet cuff inspired by the complaint free contract I signed this morning to kick off the next 49 days of life coaching. No complaining, whining, gossip, or unconstructive criticism for the next seven weeks – and (preferably) indefinitely after that. Easier said than done when starting out. So I created a fun reminder of my commitment to go complaint-free.

I’m wearing the contract. And it’s binding. Literally. But comfortably. Even somewhat fashionably, I daresay!

“Everyday dishcloths”. Pattern from Melissa Leapman’s Cozy Crochet.

Featuring Bernat Handicrafter Ultrasoft cotton in summery “Green Dream” and “Swimming Pool”. In celebration of juicy hues and all things deliciously June!

Since getting hooked on crochet two and half months ago, I’ve been obsessively working on small projects and experimenting with stitches and techniques. What I once dismissed as an unlikely creative outlet for myself, crochet has become one of the most satisfying crafts I have ever pursued. The “crochet aesthetic” has grown on me and I always get excited about the sculptural possibilities of the fabric. I’m inspired by contemporary crocheters who are pushing the boundaries of crocheted work beyond stereotypical preconceptions. Like British artist Shauna Richardson‘s jaw-dropping ‘crochetdermy’. Amazing.

With loads of orphan granny squares, tunisian swatches, and three finished amigurumi under my belt, I suddenly realized that I didn’t know how to crochet NOT in the round. In other words I had NO idea how to make a basic, flat piece of fabric with a plain ol’ (non-tunisian) crochet hook.

Ummmmm. Duh.

Hence the dishcloths. Back to Crochet 101 for this overzealous misfit.

On Saturday night I popped BBC’s Sense and Sensibility into the DVD player and spent three hours crocheting one dishcloth. I kid you not. Accustomed to creating the intentionally firm fabric for amigurumi, I encountered issues with the tension for the dishcloth. After several failed attempts, I succumbed to creating the foundation chain with a hook 1.5 mm larger (!) than the recommended size to relax my stitches from the outset and tame the fabric to lie (more or less) flat in subsequent rows. Perhaps washing and gently pressing the cloths may convince them not to pucker and curl? I’m on a mission to find out if I can beat my tension into submission.

2.25 mm crochet hook.

Filatura di Crosa’s Millefili Fine in basic black.

Imperceptible foundation chain.

Inconspicuous rows of snug single crochet to ensue.

A penny for your thoughts.

And a toast (not pictured here) to terrible free verse poetry.

Scrabble aficionados, how many words can you make with these letters? I threw in a bonus heart for sport!

Grounded for two weeks with an injured shoulder, and then a cold, left me itching for a field trip. A quick jaunt to the Sassy Bead Company took precedence over folding forlorn piles of clean laundry this afternoon. It’s been ages since I’ve visited a bead store – and what a treat! – dazzling colour, shimmering colour, radiant colour (did I mention brilliant colour?!) ..freakin’ everywhere! A beautiful sight for bored eyes. I got in touch with my inner crow. Hell, this bird hit the jackpot.

No fancy beads for me today. Not well versed in jewelry craft, I wouldn’t know what to do with such treasure. (Other than admiring the pretty stash while muttering “my preciousssssss” in low, gutteral tones.) However I did score a small collection of inexpensive letter beads for an experimental crochet project. Dare you to guess what I’m making!

In other breaking news, I bit the bullet and signed up for an 8-week online life coaching program. To be honest, I was initially skeptical and found every reason in the book not to commit. But a tiny nagging voice -call it intuition – kept pressing me to reconsider. Not the same manic motivation that drives me to research or pursue new ideas. But rather a “quiet inner sparkle” gently pushing me to go forward.

Day one. A coaching video and companion worksheet are served up daily for the next 8 weeks. So far, so good. The content is high quality. (*sigh of relief*) No clue how this program will play out for me. All I can do is be open to the possibilities. What I know for sure is that I’m stuck and need help. Clear, concrete guidance to help me navigate my trouble spots consistently, and with greater ease and success.

Not to worry, I won’t weigh down the Museville blog with excessive navel-gazing, or “woo-woo” ideas over the summer. Plenty of private self-reflection, journalling and inner work to do. The internets at large aren’t an appropriate place to share the constant and vulnerable flux of my deepest thoughts and feelings right now. Perhaps I will divulge more after completing the program, when I’ve had a chance to assimilate and fully digest the experience. Creativity is one of the guiding principles of the course. So I may feel inspired to post tidbits of things that I’m working on in relation to my journey. Art? Craft? Sketches? Possibly some writing? – I have no idea how the upcoming weeks will unfold. But most of the fun lies in the surprises ahead no?

…on the blogging train once again.

Welcome to Museville.

If you are visiting our fair e-town for the first time, we’re thrilled to be your host! Drop in to the tourist bureau for your favourite complimentary refreshments and meet the friendly staff. We hope you enjoy your stay, whether it be 5 microseconds, 5 minutes, or 5 hours. Heck, we’d be tickled pink if you want to settle in for 5 days, 5 years, or 5 decades even. But we know you have a life.

And for those returning to Museville, it’s so nice to see you back in town. Don’t be strangers now, y’all hear?

Winter’s early departure from this corner of the world sparked a dramatic increase in offline activity around downtown Museville. Spending plenty of outdoor time in the warm sunshine shot to the top of the daily agenda, leaving blog maintenance in the dust. No more! If the townspeople can come together to complete languishing renovations, create jobs, and achieve quotidian expense tracking within a few short months, surely we can get a handle on consistent blogging as well.

Stay tuned for more frolic, fun, and friendly fracas.