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...a glimpse into life on Vancouver Island, needle felting, photography, food, gardening, etcetera...etcetera
"Happiness always looks small when you hold it in your hands, but let it go, and at once you learn how big and precious it is."
Maxim Gorky

Friday, March 1, 2013

Song for Friday...fun fun fun!

When I heard this song on the CBC today, I thought it was an old one but...
turns out it's this young guy with a lot of soul-rockin' r&b in him!
JD McPhearson from Broken Arrow, Oklahoma...
So sit back, turn it up and have a great weekend all!

Thursday, February 28, 2013

Morning walk...

Yesterday morning we had a reprieve from the soggy skies and, dare
I say it, the sun even tried to come out!
Griffin and I took a walk on the Government Wharf to take advantage
of this and the extra low tides because...well...
you never know what you're going to find.
Down the steep staircase...
The water was very calm...
Not like the day before where we had extreme wind and rain.
The wharf was pretty quiet at this time of day.
Just me and Griff and the Buffleheads...
I love that name!
Looks like these mails are in high demand...go get em girls!
The fishing boats were gearing up to go out on the sea for another long trip...
I was thinking of the 5 fishermen that were lost at sea a week ago off the East Coast
and how this industry is such a fragile and dangerous life.
Griff and I went down under the pier next to see if we could find any treasures...
Sometimes you see things like this after a big storm...
 A big chunk of someones dock...garden netting anyone?
Free for the taking if it's washed up on the shore!
Ahh, the lovely bones of the alder trees...
Today we didn't find much except for this old bucket...
...and a worn but pretty, old button...
All in all though, a relaxing walk to start the day.
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

Tuesday, February 26, 2013

Something new...

I've been working on a new bag for a bit now and finally finished it.
Imagine that a beautiful and tough piece of fabric starts out as tufts of wool!...
My first attempt was much too big and that along with a few other factors,
 like not paying attention and not reviewing my process before I started,
resulted in a bit of a failure...BUT...I persevered and decided to go much smaller
and not be in such a hurry to get to the finished project.
Oh, I can hear my dad's words echoing from my childhood...
"Patience is a virtue, Kerry!"
Anyway I'm quite happy with the final outcome...
The spring flower pattern was a bit dull when the bag dried so I went
over bits of them with some needle felting to give them and the green stems more depth.
The inside is made from some alpaca that was too itchy for use in anything
wearable and I love how the colour is darker on the inside...
The strap was made up from the same colours as the outside of the bag,  
some gorgeous, soft merino-silk blends and strands of pure, died silk from 'Knotty by Nature' wool shop in Victoria...
Yesterday as I was working on the strap, we had a wicked wind storm and
at a few times during the day it hailed quite heavily.
So in keeping with the spring theme, I needle felted little white dots
to represent how crazy the weather can be at this time of year...
After I took this photo, I realized that I had been secretly inspired by the very couch I was sitting on!
Funny how the size of the bag is just the perfect size to fit my wallet and a Lindt chocolate bar!
Hmmm, I wonder how that happened?!
 
(p.s I just noticed this is my 800th post! who knew!)
 
 


Sunday, February 24, 2013

Eyes wide open...

I'm always on the look out on my walks with Griffin, for what, I'm never quite sure.
Last week was full of pleasant surprises several days in a row.
One day I found this beautiful brown velvet fungus on the forest floor...
 They're quite tough to pull off a tree so either someone pulled it off or it was
knocked off somehow.
 It's hard to see how soft the dark side is the photo but I thought
I might take a lino cutter to it and carve out a design into the velvety surface...
Later that same day on my afternoon walk I found this...
Yes that would be a wild rabbit tail.
I've found several of these throughout the years and I'm never quite sure
what to think. There is no sign of blood or a struggle.
It's just as if it's fallen off for no reason.
To my knowledge, bunnies don't shed their tails.
Any ideas?
A few days later I went down to the beach and it was such a beautiful
spring day that I ended up walking for a few hours, scouring
the shore like a proper mud lark looking for treasures.
About 10 minutes into my walk I found this...
An expertly carved arrow head.
Worn from the decades of wind and water and rocky shore.
I've found several on this beach in the past and
it's such a thrill. The light was just right and
there it was, just sitting there on top of the stones.
The beach was a popular spot for the natives to make these
long ago. There's always evidence of the flakes (bits of stone chipped away in the making
of arrow heads) and once in a while, the storms and the tides toss up one
of these beauties that was lost by who knows who many years ago.
Down into the mudflats, below the site of the old cannery, I found this...
After much research, I found this image on the web...
The same font of this company who was only in business from 1912 - 1915
so that was a pretty cool find.
Oh and an old marble and a piece of old glass...
Just some of those things that I wish could whisper their tales
to me if I put my ear close enough.