The start of a beautiful friendship (or a broken back)

Last night, my friend Jenn took me shopping for hockey gear. I'm starting hockey lessons next Thursday. That's right. Hockey lessons. So off we went to Play It Again Sports in Scarborough to see what we could find. I already bought great skates last winter, so we needed everything but the skates. I wanted to get most things used, because though I like to watch hockey on the telly, I cannot say yet whether I actually like to play it, never having picked up and skated with a stick.

But actually I ended up getting most stuff new anyway. It proved tricky to find used stuff that would fit me. It was either tiny or huge. But it didn't turn out to be too expensive anyway.

So, I picked up hockey pants, shin guards, hockey socks (which, as I learned, should be called "hockey leg warmers" but are not, for obvious reasons), a women's jock (a.k.a. a jill), shoulder pads, elbow pads, a jersey, a cool helmet, some tape and a stick. Yes, at 32, I have my own hockey stick. The ideas I get into my head.....

I just need a few other things, like gloves, and I'm good to go.

I'll probably spend some time with "Hockey for Dummies" this weekend.

Thanksgiving craftiness

As you saw last week, I started working on mosaicking our bedside tables. Well, after my visiting in-laws left yesterday afternoon, I dove right into grouting. As usual, I can never wait to see what a piece looks like when it's grouted.




So here they are! I think the grout colour looks great. It was Chad's idea. I was planning to do a very dark brown, so the top would look very uniform, with the gold of the tiles winking out from the dark grout. But Chad thought the little tables might end up looking like two black holes in our bedroom. And he was absolutely right. So I picked a sandy coloured grout, which turned out to match the colour of the wooden legs perfectly.

So this morning when we got up, I gave them a quick polish with some vinegar and put them beside the bed. They look all sparkly and nice, and they'll look even better when our bedroom isn't baby blue anymore.

And now when we set a glass down on them, we get a 'clink' instead of a 'thunk.' Very satisfying, for some reason.

The Prototype Syndrome strikes again!

(The Prototype Syndrome always applies when I make a gift for Cheryl! I usually attempt something I've never made before, a prototype, and it usually turns out great!)

Ok, I can post this now. The pillow above is Cheryl's birthday present, and I'm meeting her shortly to give it to her. I didn't want to post it earlier in the week and spoil the surprise.

I hope she likes it. As you can see, it is orange. Very orange. Orange vinyl. I've never seen Cheryl wear a stitch of orange. Oh well, I'm not gonna lie. I'm on an orange kick, so if she doesn't like it, I'll keep it!

This little pillow was really fun to make. The fabric in the middle is hand-stamped with fabric paint and...wait for it....old-school POTATO stamps! Yes, like you used to make when you were little! I was experimenting with my new fabric paints, so I cut up a few potatoes (and carrots, which make perfect little circle stamps!) and tried them out. And after the fabric paint has dried for a few days, you iron it from the back, which sets the paint permanently. You can even hand-wash it.

So, I cut out a little window in the orange vinyl for the fabric piece and sewed the panel in. I've never worked with vinyl before. In a way it's very easy to work with. It doesn't fray and you don't have to sew any edges. You just cut the shape you want and it stays that way. But, if you screw up your line of stitches, you're kinda screwed, because any mistakes really show up, and you're left with visible holes where your stitches were. But I really had fun working out how to make this, and how to insert the offset zipper. It's not at the seam of the vinyl and white canvas, so I had to use all of my limited sewing skills to make it work. I'm really pleased with how it turned out; just like the picture in my brain.

Now, anyone else want anything in orange vinyl? I've got lots left!

Happy birthday, Cheryl.