the ocean

There are times in my life when my soul craves the mountains, and there are times when it craves the sea.  In one month I’ll be storm watching on the west coast of Vancouver Island with some great friends.  Nature is a calming presence in my life, one of the few.  Being surrounded by the towering, majestic peaks of the Canadian Rockies is a feeling I wish I could describe accurately.  Although the mountains hold my heart, the sea sets it free.  I have had some breath-taking experiences on the Pacific Ocean, which is what inspired me to design the above quote.  I plan on sharing a few of these experiences over the next few months, while hopefully creating new ones.

First up, Tofino.

a new member of the family

Our darling Harlie has quickly become our baby girl since we picked her up in November. This new responsibility/playmate has eaten up a lot of our time lately, thus the lack of recent posts. Not that I mind though. I’ve wanted a dog of my own for years, and now that our wedding is over, and our lives have calmed down a bit, it seemed like the perfect time. No one can imagine the incredible love that emanates from that of a pet. It’s the best feeling in the world and everyone should have the chance to own a dog at least once in their life. I have been lucky enough to have three, so far.

cloth bag pillow project

During the summer of 2012 we attended the wedding of some good friends of ours in Maui. Their favours for the guests were wonderful cloth bags filled with a local bottle of wine, coffee beans and lovely treats. I came across the cloth bag again this fall and it gave me an idea. Although super cute, seeing as it had our friends’ names on it, we thought it would be nice to gift it back to them for Christmas as a fun throw pillow.

The project was quite simple to do, but I think produced a great outcome. I simply took off each of the handles, turned the bag inside out, and sewed across the top opening leaving a small hole in which to fill the pillowcase with stuffing. After googling a how-to video on the ladder stitch, and redoing it three times, I finally nailed it.