Toopy - A One-of-a-Kind Toy!

Life has been hectic lately, and the needs of two elderly parents have largely taken over.  Actually, we are getting settled in.  We have doctors, dentists, eye specialists, other specialists, new wills for British Columbia and all those "moving" things just about completed.  It's only taken six months!

Through all of this my creative muse has been on hiatus.  I've struggled with wanting to do some artwork, but most times end up just getting through the necessary and not getting to the art! 

However, as they say, I digress.  I have been busy with something creative.  My youngest grandchild is a boy, age 3.  His dad, my son, called and asked me if I would make him a stuffed toy of his favorite TV character because they couldn't find one anywhere and they had been looking everywhere!  He got me with the plaintive words....."you know Mum, like you made me a big stuffed Gumby when I was little?"  Oh all right, I'll try.  Who is this favorite character?  A distorted looking mouse whom I've never seen either!  So I had to google for an image. 

I got several and set out from this picture to create the toy.  I made a prototype body and didn't like the shape of it so re-designed that part.  The legs, arms and feet came out perfect first try.  This picture includes the rejected body shape, and the stitched feet, ears and hands.

This photo is of the finished pieces. I sent it via phone to my son for approval and he loved it....but his suggestion was to send it to them just like that to see what his son said when he opened the parcel. Needless to say I  desire to freak the kid out with a decapitated Toopy!

Then there was the head connection. The skinny neck caused considerable deliberation on construction techniques.  It went together the first time with a piece of flexible PVC pipe inside, but I felt it wasn't cuddly enough and didn't like it.  So I took it apart and tried a different approach.  At this stage a friend of mine came to visit and she told me "Put it together and call it done!  It's for a 3 year old and it will soon be covered with bodily fluids and bits of food!"  Good point!! 

But I got this far, Mum knitted his little sweater and then the head got attached.  But there was one more detail.  See that little tail in the photo above?  I couldn't figure out if it was a twirled tail or a "stack of donuts" or what!  I decided the best way to solve that problem was to try to find the show on TV and actually watch this guy.  I didn't know what channel it was on or what time. 

And at this point I had to go to Victoria with my Mum for several specialist appointments which we grouped into one week.  Victoria is a lovely city and the weather was spectacular.  We went to each appointment, shopped and wandered around a little, and in the afternoon came back to the hotel room for Mum to have a little rest.  Some days I walked to the used book store, others I was reading.  Mum likes to rest with the TV on.  She was surfing through the channels looking for one of her favorite shows and what pops up?  Of course...."Toopy & Binoo".  So we watched it.  We watched TWO episodes!

 I had the most spectacular view of his tail when he turned around and wiggled it beautifully so I now knew what I had to do!  But....I must admit to wondering what my life had become when I am in a hotel room in Victoria, watching "Toopy & Binoo" AND being excited about it! 

Here's the finished product.....going to the post office today.

And there's a label where his heart would be that says "Made with Love by Grandma".  The sweater also has a label inside it that says "Made with love by Great Grandma".  I am hoping that my daughter-in-law takes a video when my grandson opens his parcel!

The "Up Side" of a West Coast Storm

We've officially reached autumn, my favorite season.  But it has come in like spring.....srain, rain and more rain!  Strangely warm temperatures, but strong winds and the sound of the rain on the skylight is constant patter, with the odd interruption when someone up there dumps a whole bucket right over the house!  Or at least that's what it seems like! 

However, remember the back yard that was all dirt in my last post?  It's since been hydro-seeded.  We watered for three days and the rains came.  We haven't had to water since and the yard is such a lush brilliant green everywhere!  How lucky is that!!  Here is a photo where you can see the green if you look past the carpenter's saw on the deck!  He was busy putting trim in the addition as I was going around catching up on my "progress" pictures. 



But we had a break in the rain and our dog needed a long walk.  Without his exercise, he turns into a bad dog.....or should I say a worse dog!  He makes the cat's life hell wanting to play with her and she's a cranky old lady so it's all bad.  Off we go to the beach.  What a delight it was to be there on this post-storm afternoon with the sun shining! 

First of all, I really do prefer the beach during or just after a storm.  It is so much more interesting and beautiful.  This walk was no exception.  As we walked down the path, there in the field were a group of Canada Geese.  They were just standing there and I stood there and watched them.  I wished I had a better camera for this picture, but I took this one with my phone, and then just stood and admired them.  Even the dog snuffling around didn't bother them.  And my error, I was so entranced just watching the geese that my picture completely cut off the mountain range in the background!


When Tuffy and I emerged from the park trails and came out onto the beach it was absolutely breathtaking.  The sky was whipped clouds with feathers on them, the water had all kinds of whitecaps, the sound was delightful......water lapping on sand, mixed bird calls, wind in the trees.....just generally a stunning day at the beach.  My favorite birds are the sandpipers.  They dart about so quickly and usually if you move they pick up and fly off in a cloud of feathers all together, travel 5 feet and settle on a new piece of sand until they feel the need to flit away again.  But this day was not calm enough for them to be darting around on sand and they were playing in the updrafts at the edge of the water.  My walking there and them squeaking and enjoying their play allowed me to be closer to them than I've ever managed, but of course no picture as they are just too fast for me to capture.  The sandbar a few feet out from the beach, actually at the mouth of the river, was literally white with seagulls just sitting on it!  Usually they are up and floating and diving in the wind too.  Here is the view from where I was walking along the trail at one point. 

Even tho I haven't had a chance to be creative in my sewing room for quite a while, I'm still able to appreciate the beauty in our corner of the world.  But I have to admit to looking forward to getting back behind my sewing machine!  

Liquitex Playtime on a Rainy Day

Rain.  More Rain.  We've had enough Rain!  But there's a pleasant side effect.  Even here on the coast where we are supposed to be used to rain, we get tired of it....and then we stay inside and do something else that pleases us.  My house is clean, the floors are washed, I baked, and then decided I'd do something in my studio. 

I perused the situation in there.....had a look at a number of different projects on the go.  Several quilts ready to be quilted, but I didn't feel like getting the table cleared and set up for quilting.  One project on the design wall, which is arguing with me so I didn't want to tackle that one.  Some dolls I could finish.  Some mending to do.  Some hand stitching to do.  And amongst all these started projects I couldn't find anything I wanted to do so I started something new!  Well....it's better than retail therapy isn't it? 

So I decided on a journal page.  8 1/2 x 11 for size.  I've had an idea percolating at the back of my mind after seeing all the eclectic funky houses in my Mum & Dad's neighborhood (see my post of March 2, 2011).  I thought why not do a small version of it and see how it works.  Well....it wasn't long before I was buried in scraps and having scads of fun with my machine. 

I had a piece of fabric that I scrunched up, dampened and painted with Liquitex Inks.  The experiment was to see how much differently/the same it worked like fabric paint.  Here are some photos of the results.  It seems it worked very much like fabric paint in this method. 

This piece seemed like a good choice for the background as I wanted to portray bright sunny skies but with lots of snow and ice on the ground.  I used it so that the darker green areas got covered and the white/pink/light blue areas showed.  It has a little bit of Liquitex pearlescent medium in parts, and I hoped that would be the sparkle off the snow. 

Next to the houses.  I used only scraps and most of them in the shape they were already, just trimming here and there.  These were glued down on the background with a bit of UHU glue stick (I'm not a fan of fusing).  From there I proceeded to stitch the pieces down with satin stitch.  It wasn't long before I was trying out the variety of stitches my little machine offers as embellishment.  Here are the results so far.  I should iron things before I photograph them!


I have another piece of fabric done while I was playing around with the Liquitex Inks.  This one was a "mono print".  The inks, thickened a bit with the opalescent medium, were painted onto a big ceramic tile.  When I was pleased with the arrangement of the colors, I put a dry piece of pfd cotton on it and rolled it with a little brayer.  It was left sitting there for about 5 minutes and then lifted.  Here is what came of that experiment: 

I plan to cut this piece and use the brownish red piece on the bottom to add a "sidewalk" to the bottom of my little "cityscape", and then will quilt the little journal page.  When that's done,  I will do a bit of hand embellishing with beads and buttons and whatever else I can find.    All in all, great fun on a rainy day! 

2009 in Review - The Good, The Bad and The Experiences

January & February 2009


Winter was memorable in that we had so much snow we wondered if it would ever end. I grew up with snow on the ground for months, but snow on Vancouver Island is different. It doesn’t blow around in drifts and is NOT light to shovel. It’s heavy and wet. It seems Bob and I were shoveling snow every hour for days on end!

But there was a sparkle in all this. I was taking care of two of our granddaughters one Saturday and it was very snowy in the park close to our home, which has a hill in it. Alexcia and Faith were 10 and 6 at this time, so I took them to the park with one garbage bag each to go “tobogganing.” Alexcia, the oldest, obviously thought Grandma was a little loony taking them out with garbage bags but I explained that she would understand once she had tried it. They loved it and had so much fun on that little hill that we were out there for 3 hours. I didn’t toboggan, but I was kept busy getting them set to go and holding onto them until they were ready. The favorite picture in my mind is Faith at the bottom of the hill, trudging upwards for another ride, holding her garbage bag out to the side, and calling out “Gramma, this is SO fun!” But her garbage bag had dropped and she was holding nothing but air. Why oh why didn’t I take my camera!

March 2009

The only thing that stands out in this month is the fact that I went to visit my parents on spring break.  Mum and Dad had worked on some cross stitch squares, all snow man faces....haven't we had enough snow?????  However, while there I assembled all these blocks into a quilt which Mum will bring out for decoration at Christmas.  I was amazed at their stitching.  Dad is 94 and Mum 81 and silly me.....I didn't take a picture of it before leaving! 

April 2009

My first book “Embellishing with Anything” was released April 1. This month was filled with book signing engagements which were fun and very rewarding as everyone was really supportive and complimentary.

It was rewarding to see this come to fruition after almost two years of writing and sewing and proofreading, mailing parcels and emailing and, and, and......a lot of work and time invested, and finally, the results! 

May 2009

The highlight of this month was my trip to Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania to attend the Spring Quilt Market followed immediately by a week in New York City with two good friends. I was hosted at the convention by the publisher, and shared a room with Jan Krentz, another author with C&T. It was a wonderful, head-in-the-clouds kind of dream time for me and the best part was meeting and getting to know Jan.

I read somewhere that having "stuff" is not nearly as rewarding as having "experiences".  This trip was an affirmation of that .... the sites I saw, the people I met, the food I ate, the different cultures I witnessed, all added up as far more valuable than any possession I might buy at home.....except of course my books and sewing machine!

And then there was New York City. What can I say except I would go back in a heartbeat and I’d do it with the same two people! It was spectacular in so many ways I’m still absorbing some of the details!

June 2009

Coming back to home and the reality of a person's life after an experience like this could be an anti-climax.  But my home, my husband and even his dog were welcome sights too.  It was nice to be in my own bed, and here's what happened in our yard while I was gone....not Central Park, but pretty nice in it's own right! 

July 2009

July was highlighted by the birth of our 8th grandchild, Crüz. He won our hearts and our summer was very special because we saw him and his parents every single day for a couple of hours. We did not have this privilege with our other grandchildren as they did not live in the same town when they were born. Bob delighted in cooing over this baby on a daily basis! To the point where his dog showed obvious signs of jealousy! Nothing like a new and cheerful baby to bring out the silliness in us!

August 2009

In August my Mum came to visit from Edmonton. She is 81. She was only here for three days and we turned around and drove back to Edmonton. I had promised my 14 year old granddaughter I would take her with me this year and she booked the time off that fitted best at her work. Mum booked her flight on bonus points without calling first so it was a little unfortunate that she only had the three days on the island. That time was filled with visits from our children and grandchildren. An exhausting three days, but totally enjoyable.



We headed out for Edmonton, stopping and spending a night in Vancouver to visit with our son who lived there at the time. That was fun….we had dinner together, lots of laugh and a walk at English Bay….beautiful to say the least. A magical evening ended with a stop for gelato at a sidewalk table.

The next day we headed out on the drive, stopping at my friend Judy’s to stay overnight before finishing up the trip to Edmonton. Melissa loved West Edmonton Mall. First we went to the rides and she did all the adrenalin-rush ones…..I took pictures. Then we went to the pool. I love to swim so this part was easy for me. Melissa enjoyed laughing at her grandmother on the slide! She went on every one of them and some more than once. We swam in the waves, lay in the “beach” chairs and just generally had a great time there.


Our evenings were spent with Mum and Dad. It was great to see them and visit with them in a more peaceful environment than I was able to offer at my house!

On the trip back, we again stopped at Judy’s house. It was hot, hot, hot! We both enjoyed time at the lake close to where she lives. We played with fibre, she taught me to do silk fusion, and we visited late into the night. Melissa seemed to enjoy our stories as well. I would have loved to stay longer but Melissa had to be back at work so we had to leave.

The month of August is usually one in which Ionne McCauley (ionnequilts.com) and I usually arrange a “retreat” with all our quilting friends and a teacher. This year it didn’t work out so in retrospect, it was a good time for me to do some “finishing”. It’s an amazing thing. I’ve discovered that when you finish projects, it creates SPACE! So I’m trying to do more….I won’t even tell you how many UNfinished projects I have in my studio!


September 2009


Back to work. We have a new principal this year, who is working out well in that he is pleasant, dedicated and outstanding with the kids. After several years of leadership turmoil, this is a good thing. Nothing like working in a school to teach you to adapt to change.....the leadership changes and shifts about every three years. 

The outstanding thing about September this year was the color in the leaves. It was absolutely spectacular and lasted well into late fall. My window in my office had the most incredible scenery with mountains behind the colors and the green field. I caught myself several times gazing out the window and appreciating that!  But best of all, the sunflowers I planted were HUGE and rewarding.  I loved watching how their 'face' turned with the sun throughout the day. 



October 2009

Did anything happen in October?  It must have.  I can't think of anything outstanding that happened in October of 2009 in my life.  Wait a minute.....Is that the month when my son decided to take that beautiful grandchild and his wife and work out of town.....thousands of miles away.....so that the little person they brought back at Christmas was a different little person?  What a difference three months can make!  This is who left.

And this is who came back.....









November 2009

The highlight of November is always our retreat at Tamagawa.  The same group of people meet there twice a year to quilt, eat, inspire and just generally reconnect with each other.  We usually take things we have to finish or need input on.  This year I managed to finish quilting THREE quilts in the three day retreat.  What a sense of accomplishment.  I've posted a couple of these pictures before.  I felt SO accomplished!  And....the lesson learned is that "finishing" projects actually creates space!  What a concept! 

December 2009

This winds the year up at Christmas of course.  A time for family and friends and overeating.  Ours went really well and there were some touching and rewarding moments this year.  But I have to say that I was almost relieved to go back to work so that I could quit eating.  That tells you a part of what my New Year's Resolutions are!  One of the delights of our season was our youngest grandson....home for a visit.  We got to babysit.  Amazing how two people with aches and pains and disabilities can suddenly be on the floor being silly with a baby and not feel any of it!