Autumn as it should be (and other splendid things)

Since coming back to B.C. after a wonderful Ontario Thanksgiving, Autumn has really made a full and beautiful appearance here. It seems that all the sunshine and colours that we were promised are true after all (and not just figments of some great imaginative scheme).

I couldn't help but stop and take some photos of the gorgeous colour today as I made a trip to the local independent grocery store for fresh fall fruits and vegetables. Because Autumn comes so much later here, there seems to be more home-grown veggies in store until later in the year. Where Ontario would be seeing the last of its squash, pumpkin, and apple crops straggling into the farmers markets, B.C. seems to have an abundance of these, not to mention fresh spinach, red leaf lettuces, the last of the vine-tomato crops, radishes, potatoes, gourds, and so many more. My grocery bag was packed full of fruits and veggies (and ziplock baggies so that some of the greens could be frozen for later use).

I was thus inspired to take home some of these beautiful coloured leaves and collage (ha, is that even a verb? oh well, it is now) them into a collection of things that have made my weekend happy.

Aren't these leaves just incredible?! The candle is pumpkin spice, and the nail-polish reminds me of the
green bushes and the leaves still to change in the previous photos... 

I've also been spending a bit of time on Pinterest (okay, a bit is a HUGE understatement, I've basically been living on there), and have compiled a collection of some of my favourite photos and pretty things that have come across my visual path and wishful thoughts these last few days. I had a bout of the flu, so finding a little bit of beauty to balance out the icky was delightful.

via
Gorgeous spring colours that make me want springtime.

So. Much. Joy.
via

Christmas comes soon. Quebec, Canada.
via

So, so true.
via

I really like the last picture in the collection. It rings entirely true after the last year and a half. One thing about adventures is that, if you don't find yourself longing for the place you call home while you're on it, then it wasn't really your home to begin with. 

I guess I have found the place where I belong... and it's with this guy: 

Happy weekend, readers! 

xox

Ocean Ripple Afghan (pattern by Bernat)

After much work, I present to you my Ocean Ripple Afghan. 

This afghan was quite the undertaking. I started working on it in the summer after the family camping trip and successfully finding colours that I thought would work well together (and also match my boyfriend's taste). 

I loved the pattern by Bernat (which was one of those freebies you rip off of the stash at craft stores) and I wanted to create the blanket. I just wasn't too fond of the colours in the picture. It was too much blue (though, I suppose for an Ocean Ripple, the blues make sense...)

So I decided, instead, to go with the beige, cream white, and navy that I purchased at a tent sale at a country market in SouthHampton, Ontario in mid-July of this year. The wool was wonderfully soft, and the navy matched the colour on my boyfriend's bedroom walls. 

The blanket's construction began in during my final weeks in Kitchener-Waterloo. I got quite far on it over the course of a month. Many episodes of Star Trek, Stargate, and Doctor Who went into this - which, I figured, my man would love since he's a bit of a science-fiction nerd (all the best ones have their nerd streaks, no?).

There may even have been a few episodes of Dawson's Creek too...

When I got to BC (and yes, I took it with me because I had to finish it) the blanket was just a few rows away from being finished. So I buckled down one (rainy) Saturday afternoon and completed it. 

I also embroidered a wash tag for it, just in case.

I apologize for the terrible quality photo, but this was the finished tag, which I sewed to the bottom
of the afghan.

I brought the afghan home with me and gave it to my boyfriend this Thanksgiving weekend.

He loved it, which was wonderful. I couldn't help but take a picture of it against the backdrop of my parents' old park bench and the wonderful falling leaves. I do miss Ontario in autumn.


Blanket Materials:
- 5mm hook
- seven 100 gram balls of beige/brown (one more ball than the pattern called for)
- five 100 gram balls of navy
- five 100 gram balls of cream white
(all wool used was acrylic. use the softest wool you can find, this is a heavy blanket once finished.)

Once upon a quilt..

Back in October of 2011, I began a spontaneous DIY project. I started making a quilt.

Hundreds of squares, and yards of thread later, I am 3 rows away from having the face of the quilt finished.

It's about the size of a double bed, and has absolutely no pattern other than the alternating colours. The fabrics have all come from my mother's basement. Many of the fabrics have childhood significance: old drapes, barbie clothes, or leftover scraps from mom's quilting days. It's been really cool to see them all come together into this. 

I plan on putting a thick cotton-fleece backing on the entire quilt, preferably a vanilla white with stripes on it, but I can't be picky since I really can't afford to get something super exciting. I do like the vintage look of the fabrics together, and once I figure out how I want to do the actual quilting part. I am considering stitching it diagonally. I also don't intend on putting any badding in between the layers of fabric. I am pretty sure that a cotton-fleece backing will be warm enough. 

After this one is finished, I plan on starting an Irish-Chain patchwork quilt. And after that one is finished...

Source: project-nerd.com via Brittany on Pinterest

The 'never-winning' tetris quilt - which I think is about the coolest quilt I have ever seen. Perhaps it is about time I invest in a sewing machine.

The Pursuit of Happyness.

We've all seen this movie. Will Smith took us to new lengths of rising to the top, along with the beating question our society just can't stop struggling with, 'What makes me happy?'

I've found that in the past few years, Hollywood has taken a new turn on the movies they produce..at least some of the times. Sure, we still are confronted with those psychotic thrillers and zombie-scary movies that make us jump, and whether we like it or not, there is always going to be release of the 'dumb jock movie' and the 'chick flick'. However, those aside, take a look at those movies that have recently hit the cinemas and video stores. We seem to be on a fast track for the true pursuit of 'happyness.'

Will Smith portrayed the bitter truth to working up in the world. We watched him and his son battle through the harsh realities of corperate promise and compromise. Through homeless shelters, bad jobs and miserable divorce. We watched him lose it all to regain a sense of meaning in his life and ultimately a reason to smile.

A few weeks ago, I was confronted with a different film, dealing with the same sort of question. Stranger than Fiction, which casted Will Ferrell, Emma Thompson, Dustin Hoffman, Maggie Gyllenhaal, Queen Latifah and Kristen Chenoweth, deals with an entirely different pursuit of happyness. Although the main line of the story was that Harold Crick (played by Ferrell) was hearing the voice of an author in his head, and feared that this author (Thompson) would kill him off, and sets out on an adventure to save himself, the real point of the story served in the act of saving himself from the mundane. The mundane was, ironically, a corperate life, where he counted the number of brush strokes it took to clean his teeth, counted the number of steps it took to get to the bus, and the number of seconds it took to ride the bus. Of course, by the end of the film, we've watched Crick find happiness, fall in love, and make life worth living.

And then last night, I went to the theatre with the intention of seeing 'The Curious Case of Benjamin Button'. It was sold out, so the consensus was to see 'Yes Man' instead. Despite a few scenes which were crude, and could have been taken out altogether, the movie was incredibly well done. Again, we see a character who is unhappy with his current life, and is told to embrace all the little opportunities. In so doing, Carl (played by Jim Carrey) would not be allowed to say 'no' to anything. Instead, he would agree to do everything that anyone asked him to, and thus learned to live a better life.

And then, we take a completely different spin on all this Hollywood Happyness stuff. Sure, we've seen the very depths of poverty and the overcoming story of a man against the world. We see the 'Bartleby, the Scrivener' reference come through in the mundane fighting comedy as depicted by Smith and Ferrell. But then, we are also faced with a multitude of dramas, sitcoms, documentaries in the comforts of our own home. Everyone is looking to be happy. Whether its the gang from DeGrassi trying to figure out how to find joy, or the latest soap opera, where the ultimate and unattainable goal is to make everything 'okay', or even Oprah or Ellen giving away extravagent gifts in the name of charity, it is all about the pursuit of happyness.

There are lyrics in the song 'Soak up the Sun' by Sheryl Crow. They say 'its not having what you want, but wanting what you've got.' These are incredibly profound. I look at these as a perfect summary of the desired happyness that our society longs for. We are a post modern world stuck in the cubicles we created for ourselves in the name of progress, and all we have to show for it is bigger TVs and smaller smiles.

Happyness and joy are two different things. Joy overflows, and wells up and just can't be held in, it is a way of life, a gift from God, and a pleasure in all things. Happy(i)ness is temporary. It seems quite based on material things, the flash of a smile, the quick fix. It leaves us wanting more. Joy is fullfilling. It is a lifestyle.

In this pursuit of happyness, it is so evident that our world is screaming out in pain. Screaming out for a savior. We are winding down the Christmas season, we have made our New Years resolutions, in the effort to make our lives better. The only One who can change our life is Christ. He's already come. Joy comes through him. In living for Christ, we are charged to spread the news about his coming, to share the Gospel truth, but at the same time, to be content, whatever the circumstances. 'It's not having what you want, its wanting what you've got.'

So where is your pursuit for happyness? Are you escaping a mundane existance? Because if that's the case, you should be looking for joy.

On which note, I feel I should inform you that each of the characters in the movies listed above found a joy, and not just 'Happyness'.