Cutest Pepper Mill Ever!

I was looking around the web for gift ideas when I came across this. It also makes a boring object fun. You squeeze its ears to make it grind, refill it by taking its tail off and you can even adjust the coarseness by twisting the bottom. Just a quick post because I had to share this.

Christmas... A Month Away

Im continuing to work on my Christmas presents. Can't believe Christmas is only a month away. Looking forward to going home and seeing my parents. Also end of term is near  and tomorrow is American Thanksgiving which means more stuffing. Love stuffing. I am not enjoying the rainy weather here in Vancouver. It has been wetter here for this time of year then it was last year and it is also more unrelenting. I hope it lets up a bit and I also hope that all this rain means it wont snow this winter like it did last.

Finally a Bonsai I Can't Kill

Yes finally a bonsai I can't kill. As you may or may not know I have tired many times unsuccessfully to grow and create my own bonsai. Sadly every tiny tree in my possession had ended up dead. But This is the solution. This felt bonsai was almost as fun to make as bending and pruning a real bonsai.
I got this idea from a picture I found on the web. It was relatively easy to do. And it was inexpensive since craft felt and embroidery floss is only .50 cents a sheet/color and I used stuffing I already have and a cool Korean spicy tuna can leftover from eating the contents. I drew my own trunk template and cut two trunks from it. As I sewed them together I realized one of the sides was slightly different then the other and this was causing a very bonsai like twisting of the trunk. I was expecting it to come out straight but it leans backward in  avery natural way. I filled the trunk then sewed in on to a different brown and created a sort of pillow to fit into the can so it would stand up properly.

The leaves are very stylized. I modeled them after the way some trees are represented on kimono fabric I had seen and used while taking Japanese doll making class. I used 3 different shades of green and a green floss that was different. I think the leaves came out really well. the two smaller leaves are 5 layers of: light green, blue-green, forest green, blue-green and light green. This way the leaf looks identical on both sides. the large leaf id the same pattern but doubled so on each side you see two layers of each color but there is only one of the largest forest green layer. The stitching is also the same on both sides and that is all thats holding the layers together.

The final product is so cute. I really like it. This project took about 5 hours most of which was spent sewing and cutting the leaves. I am proud of my efforts and think it was weekend time well spent.

Nothing New... But Bunny Is Busy

Haven't done much that is interesting. Just going to classes, crocheting, finding patterns for the gifts I'm making, cooking for myself and sleeping. Bunny on the other hand is busy. He is currently borrowing my US cell phone (I have two a US one and a canadian one) so he can receive calls from agents, directors and other people who want him to act for them after his stunning debut film. Oh Bunny you are going to be famous... Hehehe. For a while I have had the idea of making a photo book like a story book about Bunny visiting different places. For example Bunny at the beach, Bunny in Philadelphia, ect... I got the idea from thinking about how Bunny used to go absolutely everywhere with me and now he lives mostly on my bed. I want to give Bunny more adventures like we used to have. I am going a make this book but it is going to take a while.

Crochet Weekend

It was a crochet filled weekend. That is pretty much all I have done in the last 48 hours. Can't say what I was working on but I did a lot of it. I think my brain has been replaced by yarn. Even when I took my ritual weekly grocery store visit I had yarn and hook in hand while on the bus. I didn't attempt to crochet while walking around the store though, too many people and I'd probably end up walking aimlessly instead of picking up the things I need. In the past few weeks I have found that the bus is a good place to crochet and it is a good use of otherwise wasted transit time. I have never stuck to a crafty activity as long as I have with crochet. That is a good thing because I always sort of felt bad when I wasn't interested in something anymore. So thats pretty much it.... I will probably go back to crocheting now.

What My Parents Went Through To Find Bunny

When I was between the ages of 3 and 5 I lost Bunny. We couldn't find him anywhere and my parents ripped apart the whole house. They even called my grandmother ti see if he was there even though we hadn't been to her house in months. That was how desperate they were to find him because I had become extremely depressed. Now everyone who reads this blog already knows the story has a happy ending because Bunny wouldn't have been doing his lion dance if it hadn't. The ending is after he had been missing for almost 2 weeks I was sitting on the floor in out family room and Dad sat down in his big reclining chair and put the foot rest up and there was Bunny hanging upside down wedged in the mechanisms of the chair. I was so excited that I started shouting incoherently and honestly my parents though that because of my depression over Bunny and the stress it was causing me that I had snapped and gone completely crazy. They finally calmed me down enough so they could understand that I was shouting "I see Bunny's face!". Still thinking I had snapped they skeptically looked and there he was. I had claimed at the beginning that i was sitting in Dad's reclining chair with Bunny before he had gone missing and the conclusion was that Bunny had gotten wedged down in the crack between the seat of the chair and the arm and was undetectable when the cracks in the chair had been checked multiple times. Once again I had Bunny and the horror was over. This was meant to be a short post because I found this short video. I am certain that if they had had to my parents would have gone to these length or much greater ones to get Bunny back for me. Only I wouldn't have reacted like that kid what a brat.

No Crochet... What The #$%*!!!

These benches showed up a few weeks ago in the lounge area where I sit every Wednesday and wait for my 7 to 10pm class. I have been meaning to take a picture and post about them since I saw them but I kept forgetting my camera. I finally got over there with a camera today after reminding myself to bring it and to make a special trip to the lounge. I understand the concept is to say that this bench is nothing special and just a plain old bench but that there is supposed to be irony in it because the words be come the decoration that the bench claims it lacks.

But... no crochet, thats not cool. As a crocheter I take offence to this even though it says it is "just a bench". Well last night, which was  a Wednesday night, I stuck it to that bench and sat on it for a good hour or more crocheting. Take that, crochet hating bench, take that! And I stuck it to it again when I took a picture of the crochet hook I had with me on the bench. To be honest it is a pretty cool looking and modern bench and here is where you can find them. They are super expensive UBC must have gotten a huge discount to be able to buy 7 or 8 "Just a bench." benches and 6 to 8 of the side table size with the flower on the side.

I want to blog about my crochet too but haven't been able to because most of what I am working on are going to be gifts or are secret projects that have a specific time to be revealed. I will post more about my crochet adventures and my fiber addiction (addiction to yarn) later when I am not working on classified projects. I will say this though when you use the time you are on the bus to crochet your projects get finished really quick.

For Further Reference.

In reference to Bunny's lion dance watch this, which is an example of the type of lion dance Bunny is imitating. In North America this form of lion dance is rare to see what we normally see is kids from a karate martial arts class (I have been corrected by and anonymous commenter although karate is still a martial art. Jeez I never claimed I was an expert on this stuff) in a lion costume. The kind of lion dance they do is more for parades and celebrations where as the style in the clip is able to stand on its own as an event. I had never seen this until I got Bunny's costume and decided I wanted to make a video of him lion dancing.

Halloween

Had nothing to do this Halloween and nothing to go to (not that I ever do). But I decided to invite the boyfriend over and dress up anyway. It was a total losers Halloween for the both of us with Pepsi and homemade hummus. So Colin dressed up as Dr. House... Dr. House Cat (Hahaha... Yeah I know I'll shut up now but I do think it is funny). I was a flapper. I found the fringe dress on clearance for $10 at a store called H&M there was a lot of them so I guess I was the only person in the world who would but a teal fringe flapper dress. And Bunny who is smack dab in the middle is a Chinese Lion. I found this lion dance tchotchke in Chinatown that had a solid roundish base and a spring up to the top of the inside of the head so it bobbled. Well I saw this thing and realized it was just right for Bunny's size and snatched it up for a couple of dollars. All I had to do was pull off the spring and base and pad it with paper towels. So to help combat the boredom Colin, Bunny and I made a special video. It's your treat for Halloween. It can also be found on YouTube which will give you a bigger better picture.