Baby quilt, all done!

My quilt recently came back from the quilter's, leaving the final (and very enjoyable) step: adding the binding. I made a double-fold binding as per the method described in my cousin, Mary Elizabeth Kinch's excellent book, Small Blocks, Stunning Quilts. I can't speak to other techniques, since this is my first completed quilt, but I found this worked so well, and really made for a lovely finished edge. And had the added benefit of requiring some very zen hand-stitching, which we all know I love!

I am so thrilled with this bright and summery quilt; now just to wait patiently for the little one to arrive, so I can swaddle him up in it!

There are two bits of "charm" (two same fabrics accidentally adjacent) in the quilt, but they're hard to spot!

Guest feature over at Life with the Crew!

Today I'm being featured over on the blog: Life with the Crew. Every Wednesday, Katie has a Hump Day Give-A-Way, and this week's contest is for a set of my Farm Animal Finger Puppets! I'm so honoured to be featured on her awesome blog! So head on over and check out the full post!

Huge shop update!

I've recently added a bunch of new items to my Etsy shop: finger puppets, hand puppet kits, itty bitty wooden houses, and so much more!

Bear Hand Puppet

Fox Hand Puppet

Raccoon Hand Puppet

Hand Puppet Kits!

Itty Bitty Wooden House

Another Itty Bitty Wooden House

The Barn and Friends

Farm Animal Finger Puppets

Urban Craft Market: tomorrow!

I've been busily preparing for tomorrow's craft show, and am looking forward to premiering my new designs! I'll have Gnome Homes, Barns with farm animal finger puppets, some new puppet friends to introduce you to, and some brand new itty bitty wooden houses (a mere inch wide!).

So if you're in the Ottawa area, escape the heat (not that I'm complaining, it's been a long time coming!) and check out all the talented vendors! It's going to be a fantastic show. It's all happening at the Glebe Community Centre, from 10am to 3pm, and admission is free! Can't wait to see you there!

A good old-fashioned barn raising, except much, much smaller.

One end of the barn's exterior.

Farm animal finger puppets! Each barn comes with a set, but I will also be selling the sets without barns.

Gnome Homes being sewn and assembled together.

Three new puppets to introduce you to: Fox, Raccoon, and Bear!

I've hand-painted a series of itty bitty wooden houses — just an inch wide!

Weekend in Montreal!

This past weekend Mark and I went to Montréal for an ultimate tournament, and Mark's team placed first! They won the whole thing! This is a big win for Glide, and will hopefully contribute to a good seeding position for Regionals in a few weeks.

I watched the games on Sunday, so I got to see their epic win, but on Saturday I went into the city and spent the day walking around the Plateau neighbourhood (my favourite area of Montréal, and where I did my Prenatal Yoga Teacher Training in the fall): café hopping, lunching at Aux Vivres, and just enjoying the day! It was glorious! And when I was walking back to the metro, I happened upon a street festival celebrating all the amazing murals along Boulevard Saint-Laurent. Only in Montreal :)

Buddha and bike.

Some murals were in progress.

Glide, tournament champions!

A year ago today: we came home

Exactly one year ago today, Mark and I arrived home after our epic backpacking adventure around Asia. So happy to be home and to have had such an amazing time away, we were filled with hopes and plans for the future. And now, a year later, my Etsy shop is a reality, I've been teaching yoga for a year, and we're expecting a baby in less than two months. My gosh, what a difference a year makes. Life is so good.

Then: wearing our possessions on our backs and having daily adventures.

Now: a new adventure is about to begin!

A walk in the woods

On Sunday afternoon we went up to Gatineau Park to go for a walk in the woods. It was lovely, the undergrowth still low to the ground, making a lovely carpet for the towering trees above. The hoards and hoards of mosquitos on the other hand... 

So when we crossed one of the secondary roads in the park, we decided to take it on the way back instead. And on this short stretch of road we saw more wildlife than we did in the forest! A stunning swallowtail butterfly, a deer, a beaver, and a turtle laying eggs!

It's hard to see here, but she had dug a hole and was filling it with so many soft-shelled white, glistening eggs.
I sure hope she goes back into the forest after, away from the road!

“We need the tonic of wildness... At the same time that we are earnest to explore and learn all things, we require that all things be mysterious and unexplorable, that land and sea be indefinitely wild, unsurveyed and unfathomed by us... We can never have enough of nature.” 

                                                         ― Henry David Thoreau, Walden: Or, Life in the Woods