On vacation...

Perhaps I should have warned you, we were on vacation for a couple of weeks!
Can you tell where?

Bean mirror/cloud gate?

Intelligentsia coffee, mittens, building with gold on the peak?





CHICAGO!

Envelope Clutch Tutorial!

This is the project I sent to Mara in her care-package. I typed it out on my old typewriter ($.250 at a church garage sale 9 years ago- still works perfectly!), which looks great- but unfortunately I forgot to type it out on the computer as well, so she had to send me the instructions... oops.

So, first, cut out your pieces.

1. 3 envelope shaped pieces- 12" along bottom, 18" high (think on folding it in thirds, so the peak should be 6"). Lining, interfacing and denim or something stiff.

2. 14"x 2" Strap

3.  Pocket

4. Strips, varying widths, 18' long

All the pieces

Next, fold your straps as shown in the photo, then fold in half and sew closed. Leave the short edges raw. Fold the pocket in half, right sides together, and sew almost all the way around the three open sides,  leaving enough space to flip it right side out. Press and top stitch just one long edge.

Folding the strap, preparing pocket

 Pin the pocket to lining.  If you put on middle third, top of pocket points up to peak.  If on bottom third, top of pocket points DOWN!  Sew pocket to lining, leaving topstitched side open.

Place pocket

Sew pocket on to liner. Mind the direction!

For the front of the purse, we will use the string quilt method.  Place your first strip right side down on the denim, just off center.  Sew, leaving 3/8" seam allowance.  Flip it over and press.

Starting the strip pieced quilt

 Take your next strip and place right side down, raw edge aligned with raw edge of first strip.  Sew, then flip second strip right side out and press.  So now your first strips just be neatly sewn under on both sides, and your second strip has one neat, one raw edge.  Repeat these steps until you reach one end, then go to the other side from the first strip.  You could also just start on one end, I was just taught from the middle....When all your strips are done, trim the excess, using the lining as a template.  Optional extra would be to topstitch the strips down.  I find it just looks a bit more polished, but it isn't structurally necessary. 

Second strip

Third Strip

Fourth Strip. Continue this way.

Trim the edges

Almost done!  Place your lining right side up.  Place strap so the raw edges are about 1cm past the raw edges of lining (strap is on top of lining, not hanging outside).  Place the main part on top, right side down.  You now have a purse sandwich, with the folded strap as the filling.  Pin around the edge.  Starting at the strap, sew all the way around the edge, 3/8" seam allowance, and finish about 3-4" before you get to the strap.  Clip the corners so that they are not bunchy.  

Purse sandwich, how to add the strap

again!

Flip right side out. Press.  Topstitch just the shorter side.  Now fold your envelope purse into thirds, and sew starting at a bottom corner, going up the side, around the point, down the other side.  Don't topstitch the very bottom of purse though.

Top stitch the bottom (short straight side)

Fold, sew up sides and topstitch around peak

Take a ribbon long enough to wind around the purse a few times, and sew just about the peak.  Sew a cute button on top of those stitches and Voila! Vous avez fini!

Add button and ribbon, rickrack, lace etc.

The only problem with this purse is that as a stay at home him, I generally have way too much stuff to carry around. It's fun to make though, and sometime I will use it!

what to do with these toilet paper rolls?!

Toilet paper rolls have to pile up in everyone's house (it can't just be us, right?).  I have a dazzling array of them sitting on a shelf in my bathroom awaiting the promise of being transformed in some super fun art project.  Most of the time they don't...but alas, this time JP decided to take charge and initiated this crafty session with his girl.  (I even saw the idea up on pinterest on his computer - he would deny it though).

They began with making monsters using up our scrap paper, felt-y bits and ribbon.  It was a use your imagination-go-crazy sort of session.  The second thing they created were owls.  JP depressed the top middle of the paper roll, which resulted in two little owl ears.  They coloured them in, added eyes and glued all sorts of accessories.   

Voila!  The fruits of their artsy afternoon together while I spent a glorious hour knitting on the couch, dropping in on their conversation.  Of course, we have many more rolls to make a whole village of owls or monsters....

Enburi Festival

While JP was in Korea this weekend coaching hockey, Szerafina and I made the most of the winter weather and local festivities.  We did a lot of this, walking and digging our way through the snow piles.

Here are some photos of The Enburi Festival.  Enburi is a well know celebration, distinctive to this north eastern region that we live in.  In traditional Japanese folk culture, people believed prayer and dance performance brought a rich rice harvest.  This is a modern rendition of the ancient ritual of honouring the sacred rice crop - the most important crop in the country.

Horses are also important figures in this region.  Thus, the dancers wear decorated horse head caps to symbolise rice harvests where peasant and horse become one.

The dancers and costumes were quite spectacular, and I found myself becoming overcome with emotion.  I felt the sacredness of the movements, the drumming and chanting of the people.   Rice is still considered to be the most important self sustaining crop of the country. In fact the word for meal is 'gohan' which literally translates to 'rice'.

Szerafina and I hung around as spectator for about an hour before the snow made its way into our boots and mittens.  We opted to find some lunch and hot tea, and ended a lovely day by finding some vintage cashmere scarfs (score for Mamma!!).  

Vintage Kimono Love

Kimono in Japan are magical, ceremonial and worth thousands of yen.  There are many different types of fabric and detailing, but the real deal is always costly. These here lovely pieces are second hand, purchased for the equivalent of 5 Canadian dollars.  They were probably worn as 'everyday' kimono because they aren't very fancy, but i love the prints and feel of each of them.

My big scheming dream is to learn how to transform these beauties into summer frocks or otherwise wearable dresses.  There is also a lot of room to play with extra fabric (the huge sleeves and the bottom) so I can use the extra pieces for purses, quilting....who knows what else!  The creative possibilities are endless and it has me reeling for more, more!  But i'll hold off (promise) until I can figure out what to to with them.

Firstly, I'm using some of the fabric on the clutch that I'm working on (from Nicole's tutorial).  I'll take pictures and post on that soon.  Thrifting in Japan is such a goldmine, as everything is so well made and Japanese typically enjoy turning over their wares frequently.  I'm just beginning to learn about where to find nice fabric and collect ideas on what to do with it.

We Got Mail!

And trust me, that's exciting in these parts.  All those Japanese flyers are tough to read, you know.  This was a perfect little package made for sweet little us with love - from Nicole and Lena!  I was totally stoked to find something in there for me too, a sewing tutorial!

I'm a total novice when it comes to sewing (like I just pick something and go at it, youtube as I go). I'd love to take a proper course or class some day when I'm in the 'Big City' and opportunity presents, but in the meantime, I'm happy enough to muddle my way through and see what turns up.  It takes me a while to figure out the lingo and get the project going (all that cutting and ironing?!) but once I do, I feel pretty smug.  This tutorial is for a 'Entirely Impractical Purse', as Nicole calls it, but i'm super excited to use some of the fabric from the vintage kimono I scored a few weeks ago (more on that in another post).

Szerafina received a Cafe Alphabet game.  It's really versatile and can be worked on in so many ways.  It began as a cutting extravaganza, then morphed into matching the first letter of the pictured word with the upper case alphabet letter.  The activity also comes with the lower case letters, so we worked on matching the 'big' and 'little' letters, because 'They're not all the same!' don't ya know.   It was good practice since Szerafina doesn't recognise all the lower case letters yet.  In the future, we could use the letters to spell out the words attached to the picture.  She (this daughter of mine) was also eager to create the 'healthy!' version of the cafe game, where we draw or cut out our own whole foods.  I like it!

Here I run the risk of veering off into tangent land (because we mentioned the topic of food...and you know, i'm kinda into that). Especially food and children.  If I haven't said it before, i'll confess it now, we're kinda food snobs around here. We like to eat local, seasonal, whole-from-scratch and organic when humanly possible grub.   My day revolves around what I cook for breakfast, lunch and dinner.  Add in the time to eat and do dishes...and well, that's a fair chunk of my day.  I believe in it, we live it and it won't likely change. HOWEVER. We love to travel, try foods from all over the world and would never turn something down made with love and soul.  Just the other night we had a hankering for Japanese noodles and these delectable dumplings called Gyoza...and it was the night before our organic delivery box, so fridge scraps were running bare.  What am I saying?  That we do keep an open mind and open heart and don't 'shut in' to live an idealistic life in a bubble.   I think it's all about perspective and thinking 'big picture'.

Another example (because you asked, right?) is that I accompany Szerafina to a parent and child Japanese preschool two mornings a week.  It's fabulous, she loves it undeniably and blows me away with her ability to interact and pick up the Japanese language like it's nobody's business.  The kids, teacher and social interaction (for both of us) is desperately needed.  The catch?  Snack time.  The worst possible cookies, cakes, donuts and crackers are served.  I spent the first two months in quiet anxiety as my 'perfect' girl gobbled it up and everyone wondered if I fed her at all.  I've been able to make some peace with the idea that...a few sugary treats will not spoil my loin fruit.  And the reality is, she eats so darn well at home that the occasional 'fall off the wagon' or 'real life eating' may eliminate later food issues in life related to what's 'good' and what's 'bad'.  All this to say...that the cafe game is based on sweet treats :)  But we love it and it's great for play, a wonderful teaching tool and a reminder to keep it 'real'.

A big THANK-YOU to our girls Nicole and Lena!! We will have so much fun returning the activity love real soon.

Something to look into

I've been checking out this site, and it makes me feel awesome:

http://www.bettymeansbusiness.com/about-betty/

Don't worry if you don't get there...

...nothing happens if you do.

This is something one of my yoga teachers said in a class, as we reached behind us towards the floor.  I laughed, but it's so true.
Though we should always reach, there really isn't any point to reaching to the point of injury. Nobody will notice the split second you looked like a perfect model of a pose before your body said STOP. It's funny, I've been thinking of this idea for a week or so, since the teacher said it- and just today I pulled a ligament in my hamstring. I wasn't even doing anything fancy- I was just at work, bent forward slowly to release my back and "POING! ZIP! SEEEEAR!" there went some deep tendon that had been whispering to me for weeks.

I know from my anatomy class (taught by Dr. Baxter Bell  http://yogaforhealthyaging.blogspot.ca) that our muscles have a natural resting point, and regular life often shortens and tightens them. Through regular asana practice, or other stretching, we can come back to that point, but there will always be limitations.   For instance- I am fairly certain that my heels will never ever touch the floor in Adho Mukha Savanasana (downward dog). My hamstrings (as evidenced today) just do not have the natural flexibility.

So, once your muscles reach that natural state, you start getting into ligaments and tendons. Guess what? Ligaments and tendons only have 3-4% stretch! I will just repeat that for emphasis- 3-4%. What's more- due to poor blood flow (in comparison with muscles or bone, which heal miraculously quickly), they heal from injury very slowly. Ligament and tendon injury is probably one of my biggest fears in doing a lot of asana practice. I've actually been babying that hamstring since the first whispers, but maybe not enough. Hopefully with some ice and rest and drinking lots of water, I will be back at normal practice soon, but I'm certainly not going to push it. Reach, but with kindness.

In life, as in yoga, we need to respect our boundaries.  How many of us have reached blindly towards a goal, without keeping a broad view of all the elements of our lives? Tried to cram ourselves to fit within our idea of perfection in a role instead of kindly reaching towards improvement in all the areas of our lives? It may seem like slower progression to do it that way, but I believe it is a healthier way to grow.  To put it into asana perspective once more- if you are in warrior 2 (virabadrasana B), you reach your arms dynamically, that is, apart. If one hand is reaching as far forward as possible, you are compromising the reach in your back hand and most probably the reach of your spine upwards and your hips downward. You need to think equally forward, backward, up and down. That is how you can find a beautiful balance.

So have you been reaching too far one way? Can you try to reach with kindness and compassion for yourself?

Books 2013, updated monthly!

January
The Idiot- Fyodor Dostoevsky
Mostly, I am glad that now I have read it. So I can move on. Sadly, Dostoevsky just didn't click with my brain.

Whole Foods to Thrive- Brendan Brazier
A gift from my brother-in-law and sister-in-law, we've been cooking/ not cooking with this quite a bit. Trying to be mindful that we, unlike Mr Brazier, are not ironman athletes, and perhaps our nutritional requirements are slightly different. Nonetheless, I find the nutritional, environmental and ethical issues discussed are intelligent and incredibly well researched and calculated. A very informative and accessible book to anyone considering a plant-based diet.

The Invention of Hugo Cabret-Brian Sleznick
I got this for christmas, and read it on a slow morning at the cafe. Beautiful illustrations, and feels very much like a movie- which explains why it is now also a movie! 

Some Favourites of Lena's this month:
Stella! - Marie-Louise Gay
A feisty know-it-all redheaded big sister explores an ideal world with her little brother, Sam. I love the stories, and some of the lines "Do Butterflies eat butter?" "Yellow ones do". 
But I find there is a LOT of Stella said. Sam said. Stella said. Sam said. Which interrupts the flow a bit. WE've taken to improvising the reading a little.

A Day with No Crayons- Elizabeth Rusch

Lena is confused by the notion of not being able to draw on walls. I wonder why?

Liza has her crayons taken away after drawing on the wall. Obviously, her dad isn't a painter who covered a whole wall with a mural!

February
Seven Days in the Art World
This has been on my to-read list since it came out! I enjoyed it, but it also gave me a funny feeling- the flash, the trends and the random dumb luck in the big-money art world nauseates me just a bit. Combined with watching some of Robert Hughes' "Shock of the New", I've got some feeling about the art world to sort out... Good thing I just do little crafts. I don't expect to ever sell something I make for a million dollars!
Me Talk Pretty One Day- David Sedaris
Having listened to David Sedaris on This American Life so much really made this book extra hilarious. When read in my own voice in my head, it didn't seem quite so hilarious, so I'd switch back to his voice and literally have tears springing to my eyes!
The Storytelling Animal- Jonathan Gottschall
All about how/why humans have such an affinity for stories, but I felt it could have used a little more... fleshing out...
Louis Riel- Chester Brown
A great graphic novel about the life of Louis Riel, this was on my to-read list since it came out several years ago. I wasn't disappointed.
The Playboy, and I Never Liked You- Chester Brown
When we were couch surfing in Chicago, one of our hosts had a great graphic novel collection- I read these two about about four more by other others who I unfortunately can't remember! 

Some Favourites of Lena's this month:
The Sound of Colour- Jimmy Liao
This book is insanely beautiful, each page more poetic than the last! The illustrations are great too!
When We Were Very Young- A.A Milne
Poems by the famous author of Winnie the poo, before the publication of winnie! 
Alexander- Harold Littledale
We got this at an antique store- a little boy detailing the 'naughty' things he did that day, but blaming them on a red and green striped horse named Alexander. His dad puffs away at his pipe (which is how you know it's not a new book!!) and decides Alexander just had a bad day- and everyone can have bad days!

March
Paying for It- Chester Brown (yes, again!)
This graphic novel has also been on my list since I first heard about it- it's a memoir of paying for sex and it was very interesting!
A Casual Vacancy- JK Rowling
Due to JK Rowling's ability to keep me up way past my bedtime, I have her to blame for a couple of sleepy days :) She is quite an adroit story weaver, slowly peeling layers away at just the right pace.
A Place of My Own- Michael Pollan
I can't wait to reread this book when we plan to build our own house. Well researched, and beautifully written.
Teach your Own- John Holt
Nurturing the Family
Breathe by Breath

Shirts Made!

I got pretty excited when I saw the free patterns at Shwin & Shwin (http://shwinandshwin.blogspot.ca/2013/01/free-pattern-round-up-18-patterns.html) and had to download a couple. But I forgot that as Abbey grows, so do the patterns (though when you buy a pattern it comes in different sizes). So I first made the "Fallen Top".  In a 3T/4T size.  For a 2 1/2 year old. Oops.

This is huge, mom!

In fact, it makes me feel ridiculous!

But Lena had been so excited about getting a new shirt, and loved the fabric so I had to go back to my area the next night and the next to put together the "love birds top":

 My first project with pintucks. Also I was pretty pleased with the zipper in the back, though upon reflection I wish that I'd changed thread for the top stitching on the navy part. 

 She really likes it, I'm sure it will be stained in no time. I'm not sure where she got the impression that one should pose like this for photos.

 The tulle poking out isn't part of the shirt- it's her friend Olive's dancer skirt. Actually, any skirt is called a 'dancer skirt' or straight up tutu. 

So when she grows out of this, she'll have a back up in the same fabric waiting for her!

I really like Shwin and Shwin patterns- I find them really easily to follow, with photos for all the steps. Hopefully I will get that good at tutorial making! If you are thinking of trying to make kids clothes, it's a great place to start.

Sweet Potato and Black Bean Stew

It's been so insanely cold here lately, and our building is old and barely insulated. Plus we are on the ground floor with a dirt basement. So we feel the cold- I feel it in my bones, despite wool on wool on wool.  It's just the season for hearty soul-warming stews!

This stew has a nice sweetness, which Lena loved, and is a little tangy too. I would have liked it a little spicier, but thought I should keep it pretty toddler friendly.

Black Bean and Sweet Potato Stew

Soak about 1 cup of black beans over night, and in the morning rinse well, and boil. For tips on digesting beans, check out this article:
http://www.choosingraw.com/10-tips-for-better-bean-digestion-a-few-announcements/
When your beans are boiling- do NOT go into the other room and have a dance party with your two year old to the muppet soundtrack. Unless you WANT the smoky taste. Let's assume I did, very well- dance up a storm then run frantically to the kitchen to save the beans from utter ruin.

Scrub your burnt bean pot ( setting beans aside first of course. I didn't have to tell you that, because you are intelligent... but this is the internet after all so you never know what someone else might do)

Finely chop a bunch of green onions and a handful of brown mushrooms, and fry on medium with a bit of olive oil.

Cube a sweet potato, in toddler bite size, and when the mushroom are aromatic, add the sweet potato to the pot.

Add a dash of each: cinnamon, cayenne, garlic, pepper (I save salt for the end, because slow cooking condenses the stew and can make it too slaty)

Open up a jar of either canned diced tomatoes, crushed tomatoes, or if you are lucky and have a tomato press and canned 150lbs of tomatoes in the summer then one of those.  Add it to the pot, lower to simmer and cover. Add the beans. If you'd like to add some diced carrots or celery, this is a good time to do it. When everything is nice and hot, throw it in the crockpot on high.

Stir periodically through the day and add water if necessary. About an hour before serving, dice some red, yellow and or green peppers and add them to the pot. Just before serving, finely chop some black kale, or chard, or any hearty green. You can even add that to each bowl and mix the stew in- I really like it just wilted.

To serve, I made some basic corn tortillas, mixed some avocado with red pepper, tomato, lime and salt and we ate it largely with our hands (which is how Lena eats anyway, might as well embrace it)

This morning we had it again, but this time added some scrambled egg to make it more brunchy.
Also, I find corn tortillas have a hard time staying together and not crumbling, so we've gotten into wrapping a leaf of chard around the whole shebang.
Happy mama, Happy daddy, Happy toddler!

A new year feast.

A few months ago I discovered the only local yoga studio in the city, and to my surprise, the owner spoke English!  He is an American who has been living in Japan for 18 years and is married to a Japanese woman.  When I contacted him about attending classes at his studio, his response was warm and friendly, and I felt instantly grateful.  When Barry and I got to chatting, we arranged to offer a healthy vegan cooking workshop and feast, along with yoga classes, for a day of learning and retreat.

The workshop day was this weekend, and unfortunately the cooking portion had to be cancelled because Barry came down with the flu (and we were doing it all at his house).  However, I still got to teach my yoga workshop and had lots of fun!  I had planned to take photos of the food and post the menu, and while I don't have pictures I might as well share the recipes here.

I typically don't use exact measurements in my cooking and go on taste, creating the magic as the food cooks (it's magic, right?)  Please use these recipes as a guide and adjust for your individual preferences and number of servings that you would like.   Most of the ingredients I chose are local and in season right now in Japan, but many of these foods are available in other cold climates right now too.  Hope you enjoy!

MENU

~ Creamy Turnip Soup
~ Baked Maple Cinnamon Pumpkin
~ Curried Chickpeas
~ Ginger Carrot & Cabbage Salad

Creamy Turnip Soup

2 bunches of small japanese turnips (7-8)
4 leeks
2 medium potatoes
3-4 cups water or veggie stock
1/2 Tbsp coconut oil
White or yellow miso to taste

Roughly chop and saute the leeks in 1/2 Tbsp of coconut oil in your favourite soup pot.  Quarter the turnips and cube the potatoes, adding those in once the leeks are soft and flavourful.  Add your water or vegetable stock, careful to just *barely* cover your vegetables or else your soup will be too watery.  Bring to a boil, then gently simmer until turnips and potatoes are soft and cooked through.  Use a hand blender to make your soup smooth and creamy, turn off the burner.  Gently stir one tablespoon of miso into the soup at a time, adding more as it fits your taste.  Most of the saltiness and flavour will come from the miso, so keep testing as you add.

Baked Maple Cinnamon Pumpkin

What can I say, I had to add some Canadiana to the meal!  Use only the best Canadian Maple Syrup for this recipe.

1 small pumpkin
sea salt
cinnamon
cumin
maple syrup
coconut oil

Slice your pumpkin into crescent moon shapes and evenly spread them out in your baking dish.  Sprinkle some sea salt, a touch of cumin and cinnamon to taste.  Drizzle a thin layer of melted coconut oil and a medium layer of pure canadian delicious maple syrup.  Bake in the oven at 350 until pumpkin is soft and mushy.

Curried Chickpeas

I use a Japanese curry powder for this recipe, and Japanese curry is a fair bit sweeter than other traditional kinds.  If you don't have access to an asian grocer selling this particular spice blend, I would plan to sweeten your curry dish with a bit of honey or maple syrup to get a similar flavour.

2 cups of soaked and boiled chickpeas
1 Tbsp fresh ginger
2 cloves of minced garlic
1/2 a medium onion, finely chopped
1-2 Tbsp coconut oil
2-3 Tbsp Japanese curry (or any type of curry with 2 Tbsp of honey)
Sea salt or soy sauce.

Saute your ginger, onion and garlic in coconut oil, careful not to burn.  Once the lovely aroma hits, time to add the curry, getting the powder nice and wet.  Let it warm for a minute on low heat.  Add the cooked chickpeas and a tiny bit of water if things start to stick to the pan.  Add sea salt or soy sauce to taste. It will only take 5-10 minutes for the flavours to blend.

Ginger Carrot & Cabbage Salad

2-3 medium carrots, grated
1 head of cabbage
1-2 Tbsp fresh ginger
1 small onion, thinly sliced
1/2 cup raisins
1/2 cup toasted sunflower seeds
2 sheets of nori
1 Tbsp honey
1/2 cup rice vinegar (without sugar) or apple cider vinegar
1-2 Tbsp sesame oil
1 Tbsp olive oil
sea salt

Cut the cabbage in half or quarters and thinly slice into long strips, place into salad bowl. Add the carrots and onion.  This is an important step!  Sprinkle sea salt onto the salad and drizzle about 1 tbsp of olive oil into the bowl.  Vigorously massage the cabbage with your hands, the salt and oil will help to soften and wilt the cabbage.  On the side, mix together your dressing (ginger, vinegar, honey, sesame oil) and pour over the salad.  Add raisins and toasted sunflower seeds, garnish with thinly cut up strips of nori seaweed.

And that's it, a perfectly healthy and balanced vegan winter meal made to share with friends!

Right Now...

I really enjoy the writing and blogging of Amanda Blake Soule (www.soulemama.com), and sometimes she does a "Right Now I am..." post. I am having one of those moments worthy of capturing. So without further ado... Right Now I Am...


...knitting... I just cast of a robin's egg blue hat for myself, which will probably completed right around the time it is no longer needed. It will be my first project involving cabling- cross your fingers that I can cross my knits...

...listening... To Miles Davis, Kind of Blue. An album I've heard a bajillion times- but how often do I really listen?

...feeling emotionally... kind of blue, as Scott is off to Toronto. Only for 24 hours, for which I am thankful in so many ways... But still...

...feeling physically... Strong, and very flexible after practicing four and a half hours of yoga, in three separate segments today. Also, remarkably energetic- yet calm. I could easily stay up and knit for hours, but if I lay down now, I'd fall asleep very quickly.

...touching...  A sleeping Roscoe with my toes. If two pairs of socks won't keep me warm, the furry beast will

...anticipating... A quiet day tomorrow. Still in the -20s, so we will be pretty much hibernating. A short trip to the library (Lena really wants to find Petroushka, the book),  some rolling in hard snow, some dancing, singing, reading, drawing... Making oat milk and black bean stew!

painting stones and telling stories.

We are getting into more storytelling around here, the kind that you make up as you go along.  It seems to agree with long winter afternoons, a cup of tea and a warm wool blanket.   Painting stones to use to tell stories is probably more of a spring or summer activity, but on one particular clear day in the park we spotted some perfect rocks for painting and we seized the opportunity.

All you do is prepare for an outdoor adventure with a crafty 'treasure' bag (we always have one at the ready!) and hunt for smooth rocks.  When you return home, wash the rocks and let them fully dry.  Next, it's time to paint.  I chose to use acrylic because it sticks well and the colours are vibrant, however it is tricky to paint in detail (at least for me it is) so I would use small paint brushes, toothpicks and Q-tips.  You could use a theme, like farm animals or winter, and paint objects that remind you of that theme.  This time, we chose to freestyle and paint whatever came to mind.  Here's a sample of what we came up with:

A sun, heart, moon and stars, rainy day, fall scene, bunny rabbit, dog, tree, snow storm and a few more.  I put all the stones into a drawstring bag and randomly pick one at a time, alternating story telling between myself and Finny.  She had to see me do it a few times alone before joining in, but after that she was letting her imagination run wild.  I would definitely do this again, maybe grouping the stones into themes or subjects, according to what we are focusing on.

I'd like to come up with more ways to encourage imagination and creative expression through unplanned activities such as this, it's great fun for both parent and child!

"Vegan" and the battle for pancakes

We've been moving towards plant-based eating for a while, and though I would definitely not call us vegan, we've been trying to adapt more and more recipes to make them vegan. Suppers and lunches are easy peasy, as we hardly ate meat anyway, so we are mostly switching butter for olive oil or coconut oil.

But PANCAKES! Scott has always made the best pancakes. I can't tell you how many lazy sunday mornings have commenced with coffee and pancakes. Sometimes blueberry, sometimes banana, even chocolate for special occasions- but no matter what, always delicious. Less so on days that we had no eggs on hand, and he used flax instead.

So for the past months we've been experimenting. And experimenting. Eating subpar pancakes- gooey sticky quinoa pancakes and their ilk.  Such a rough life. Ahem. This week I found a banana oat pancake recipe (http://mylittlecelebration.com/vegan-banana-oat-pancakes-revisited/) and I thought the oats might be the trick to not having soggy pancakes.  I made a couple of alterations, so here is my version. I will have to post pictures next time- I didn't take pictures because I didn't think they would work- and by the time I realized they had, they were nearly gone!

Preheat your griddle or pan. We have a griddle and set it to 350.


First put 2 TBSP of ground flax in 5 TBSP water. Mix and let sit.

Next, in a separate bowl add the dry:
1 cup Oats
1/2c Whole Spelt Flour
1 Tbsp Baking Powder
1 hefty dash of cinnamon
1/8 tsp salt

Add to the flax bowl:
1 tsp vanilla
1 mashed banana
1 mashed avocado (I'm not insane, I promise)
1 Tbsp coconut oil, warmed to liquid
3 Tbsp milk of your choice( hemp, almond etc) or water.
2 Tbsp maple syrup

Gently fold the dry and wet together, Add more liquid if needed, you want it to be able to pour off a spoon. I found they needed to cook about 5 minutes per side to feel cooked through.
Please feel free to comment if you make these, I'd love to hear how they work for you!

Where I Sew

Tea party being set up, dog asleep on couch, boxes of fabric I try to ignore

Sometimes I really wish I had a whole room to make things in. Not necessarily because I need a ton of space, but because sewing requires a lot of pointy things, and can get messy. If I had an entire room, I wouldn't require such careful organization and cleaning throughout the process of making- which would free me up to be the whirling-dervish-maker. As it is, I can work on one project at a time, with space to maybe store another project. Maybe that's a good thing. I do have a tendency to get to 85% and call a project done so I can start the next. I've had to force myself to finish things because I don't have space for a ton of works-in-progress.

But before you feel sorry for me :), or I feel sorry for myself, I will point out some great things about my space:
1. Sometimes, when the planets are aligned and Lena is particularly occupied, I can sew while she plays in the living room. We chat, she plays, I get stuff done. It's heaven.

Wine box fabric storage

2. In the evenings, I don't feel shut away in my sewing cave. If we are watching a movie that is light and interruptible, I can putter away behind the couch.

Vintage needles, finished quilt pic, cheat sheet, Lena's hand,
block with transparent photo on it (thank you Scott!)

3. I have an area! A whole space just for me! I have had places where sewing happens on the kitchen table, and everything has to be put away in order to eat. I will probably have that situation again, so I should really enjoy what I have.

Sometimes I buy tea because I love the tin.

4. And it's grown! It used to be about 4' deep, a straight line across which meant a lot of shuttling back and forth. We recently reorganized and shrunk the living room to accommodate my sewing lessons- it's pretty awkward sharing 4'x9' with another person!






So now you can can more easily visualize me working away when you see projects I post. Which I am sure you've really been struggling with- desperately trying to picture me and just not quite getting it.
You're welcome.