New favourite project alert. These beeswax sandwich wraps are dead easy to make AND replace my most hated nemesis – plastic (wrap and sandwich bags). AND they help me put my vintage fabric scrap collection to good use.

If you were to buy these, they might be made of organic cotton/hemp – mine are cotton (I think). If you decide to make your own, all you need really is cotton fabric, beeswax and an oven. All of which I happen to have – on hand. I learned how here.

Shout out to Gordon, who drew my attention to this, and clearly, gets me. I go back to work very shortly, so I’ll be using these to pack my lunch on the daily. SO cute.

Guys. I made this all by myself.

It’s the Wiksten tank! I had been thinking my sewing skills weren’t quite up to par with this pattern, but my great bud Emily was very encouraging, so I tried. Another shout out to Emily because she gave me this sweet fabric one year for my birthday. Side note: If you ever want to make my birthday, give me vintage fabric. Everyone should try to make this tank – it’s versatile and hip. But beginner sewers beware: did you know that curved hems are really hard to sew? After I botched my first attempt (big time), I went online for tips. I ended up making slits in the fabric to try and get a smooth hem line, and even that only sort of worked for me. This part of the pattern alone would have made a course like this one worthwhile. I very well might still take it. For now, I love my new Wiksten tank and can’t wait to wear it with jean shorts this summer. YES!

It. is. -30. So it’s a good thing I’ve finished this huge wool scarf. It’s crocheted using a stitch that looks a bit woven. For the crocheters: (sc, ch, sc) across, then (sc in previous row’s ch, ch, sc in previous row ch) and so on. Clearly, I am biting Yokoo‘s style big time. Thanks for modelling EmBEE! St-t-t-tay warm friends.

I had dreams of making my new baby a quilt, all by hand, with hand dyed fabrics over the course of my pregnancy. That did not come close to happening, because a) I was working full time b) I have a 4 year old and c) I was nauseous for 7 months. I didn’t even really go outside the whole time. Like my first pregnancy, I watched a lot of television, horizontal. But I was able to get it together and make a baby toque for just after the birth. I picked up some alpaca yarn from our local market, made sure it was the softest they had, and made two similar toques – one for a very wee baby head (above) and one for a larger baby head – just my luck – our baby had a great big head (below).

Annika was 9lbs, 6 ounces and born at home – by accident. The labour went a lot faster than we expected – I was only in active labour for about 2 hours. We didn’t have enough time to call the midwife and necessary people and get our 4 year old ready to go before I could feel her head. It was nutso. When the baby was coming out (without pushing – what?), it was just my little family there, Alnis on the phone with the 911 operator. Shortly after, we had about 12 people in the house (ambulance first responders, our great buddies who were meant to be at the birth, Alnis’s Dad, and the midwives), and the vibe was celebratory. Annika was making so many sweet little noises that the midwives said she would be a singer.

Welcome back Me! I’m BACK ON MAT LEAVE, so I have time to journal again. Here’s one of my first projects since new li’l baby was Annika was born. I’ve been spending a lot of time in my room, nursing new baby and looking up at a previously blank wall. I thought i’d make it more lively with some mix matched frames with some cool graphics I’ve had lying around. The big one is a print from a 2012 calendar, the bear/birds/squirrel are cards given to me by great people, and the bottom one is an illustration of yours truly done by my good buddy Scotty McFadyen. It’s based on a photo of me headed out to a questionably themed party in university to which I decided to wear a blonde wig. Isn’t there an old adage about blondes? That’s probably what I was going for.