i'm sentimental, part 438.

yesterday, being that it was a rain-a-thon, i pulled out my trusty raincoat, which i haven't worn since the camping trip out west two years ago:



this is me standing on a glacier (the athabasca glacier, to be precise).



anyway, i found a lighter in the pocket of that coat yesterday, and it is this very lighter:



this is in jasper national park. i am doing what i do best, which is lighting a fire. (really i am very good at this and love doing it, so if you need a fire lit, you know who to ask).



that would be the last thing it was used for. COOL.


ps:

it is happening

get out your sweatercapes and head wraps





WINTER. IT IS HERE.

you may remember but probably don't

back when i went to the royal winter fair i saw this mug:



ok, i realize this is not even close to being a photo of a mug - you can just barely see it poking out on the left there. i wrote that i had regretted walking away from it. there are many things i wished i had bought that day. anyway, a very special lady friend of mine GAVE one to me. this is because she is the sweetest ever. i have wanted a ceramic travel mug for ages and have hummed and hawed over ones i don't really like. but no longer. the one of my dreams is mine. MINE!

here is a terrible picture of me enjoying it at work. it actually made my day yesterday. it was a long and stressful day, full of many, many spreadsheets, and many, many, MANY mailing labels (AKA the bane of my existence, our stupid printer always messes up the margins and they're always off and then i tear my hair out. i'm basically dilbert). despite this it was also a day of copius amounts of tea that stayed warm. it's the little things, yeah?

DIY tote bag!

so i've had a curtain panel in this amazing fabric sitting around forever. as part of project "get rid of it" i wanted to finally make something out of it. i had planned on making throw-pillow cases with it but i am pretty happy with my current pillow situation and am moving towards a more minimal aesthetic tapestry-wise anyway so i thought i'd do something different. i also have this leftover mustard fabric from pillow cases i already made. you've seen those in pictures IF YOU'VE BEEN PAYING ATTENTION (you haven't).



i wanted something slightly bigger, sturdier and more functional than this old The Sounds tote, so i used it to eyeball the size. i started with the liner and basically sewed two rectangles of the liner cloth together on three sides. if you are using fabric that is not reversible, sew it so that the good side of the fabric is on the inside (facing each other).



please note that i am not measuring, or using a pattern. i am doing what you call "half-assing" it. also known as the "hope for the best" method.

a word on corners. this is a lazy corner:



come on now, you can do better than that. you want your stuff to fit in the bottom of the bag, not have to squish in sideways to fit. so. turn it wrong-side-out, take the corner, and squish it so that the side seam and the bottom seam line up. pin across to make a triangle. i did it just over 2 inches from the corner-pinning it will help you figure out how "big" you want to make the corner.



test your favourite items that you will be carrying around. ahem. this is my tupperware. WHAT? i never said i was cool.



unpin and sew. see how the corner looks when you turn it in? just do that.



so then do the exact same thing with your outer material, only then turn it the right way out. make it just a tiny smidge bigger than your lining. TINY SMIDGE. the lining would likely fit inside even if it were the same size.



figure out how "tall" you want your final product to be, cut it an inch or so longer than that. fold a small hem over, and sew it under with a small margin.



so what happens is, that when you take in those corners, the top looks bigger than the bottom. i decided at the last minute to reduce the size of the opening at the top, so i just measured in about an inch from the edge and sewed diagonally down to the corner. ideally you could do this when you originally make the lining/outer but i didn't because, as mentioned, i'm not planning ahead, just doing.



allow cat to dance and play all over your work.



fold hemmed edge in so that it's the height you want it. pin but don't sew!



stick in your lining and fold over the edge so that it comes up as high as you want it. pin it (separately from the liner) and sew it.





now pin your liner to the outer.



admire your work so far.



strap time. i was going to make straps out of the fabric (annoying SO ANNOYING) but have decided it will last longer and look better with leather straps. so now i'm on the hunt for an old belt or something that is long enough to make two straps out of. i was going to go to VV after work but i feel like garbage from being stressed all day so i'm putting it off. expect to see this thing finished sometime halfway through 2012. ok i sucked it up and went but didn't find anything i'm crazy about. to be continued!

we walked around till the moon got full like a plate

wednesday afternoon, long shadows. there is no actual bike in this photo.



i definitely need to bring in a lamp. flourescent is terrible, but the afternoon darkness cannot be good for my eyes.



thursday night felt like it should have been the end of the week. i treated it accordingly. i am undertaking the arduous project of drinking more red wine. arduous because red wine makes me tired and woozy. i'm convinced if i just drink more of it my body will stop reacting that way. it tastes so good, especially in the winter.




friday night was really fun but i took no pictures. had a few glasses of wine at natalie's new amazing place. seriously, her place is so nice. if you are ever so lucky as to be invited over, go. i didn't take full advantage of the shag rug by rolling around on it so I WILL BE BACK.

saturday was Holden's birthday party, but the only picture i took was this one:



so cute! mini monkey cupcakes! there was an actual photographer there so i left the rest up to her.

then some drinks were had at this lovely table in the front window of terroni.



this beer was recommended by the server as essentially Large and Inexpensive but also Delicious. sounds good. did not disappoint. actually really liked it.



i caught a moment being caught. how meta. the result of the picture being taken in this picture is on instagram, and is very cute. AW YOU GUYS!



also, these guys are also pretty cute.



earlier this week i picked up the "box of cds" from my moms house that i know ALL OF YOU have somewhere. you know the one. the one full of stuff that was on your old computer and you never bothered to put on your new one and pretty much forgot about. here is the best gem of them all:



here's a word to the wise: just because you like a band, does not mean you should buy the orchestral version of their greatest hits. i don't think i ever actually listened to this the whole way through, but it's pretty funny that it exists and that i own it (at least iiiii think it is). i threw it on for kicks, and took it off pretty quickly. it's exactly what you're imagining.

i spent a while working on a craft today, and i'm excited to share it. it's not done though because i have to source something for it. just you wait.

casually pepper spraying

i know it's old, but this is still one of the funniest things the internet has to offer right now.

a few favourites:













at least we can laugh about it.