Connor's first ATC trade

and I'm sure it won't be the last

Connor traded with Lorraine's son Luke, who is 5, after discovering that they both share a love of Dr Who and Wall E :)

Connor's ATC was based on the photo below, that we found on the net - of Wall E sitting atop a pile of rubble and gazing wistfully into the stars

Luke's fab collaged ATC has a Dr Who Top Trumps card as its base, and a cheeky little pumpkin to remind us it's nearly Halloween :)

Both boys were really excited to receive a special gift in the post just for them, and I'm sure they will be trading again soon

One of those ideas that worked better in my head....

I really can't work out whether or not I like this

Half of me is really proud of it, as it's my first ever attempt at embroidery (although, to be fair, this is more darning than embroidery...) and I think it turned out pretty neat and tidy.

But on the other hand I was aiming for an arty mini quilt. But it just looks to me like something you'd expect your granny to make. Not very edgy :)



Anyway - it doesn't really matter if I like it, as long as the CJ recipient (Efemera) does :)

One thing I am pleased with is the silk that the embroidery is sitting on - I dyed that myself and I like how it came out.

The flower was hand drawn and then filled in with variegated embroidery threads in a darning stitch (a bit like weaving over the surface of the fabric). It took forever! But at least I could do it sitting in front of the TV.

And there's even a bit of machine sewing on there too - I'm slowly getting less scared of the machine :)

Friday Five 18th October 2008

a bit late

1.) What is your favorite pasta dish?

Spinach and ricotta cannelloni, I think, or maybe a nice veggie lasagne.

2.) Where was the last postcard you got from?

From Crete, where my chappie had most inconsiderately gone on holiday without me, pah :)

3.) Can you name all the state/provincial capitals? How about just all the states/provinces?

No fair - I'm a foreigner. Can I do the English counties instead? (not that I could do that either, there are way too many of them)

4.) Which new iPod color is the coolest? http://www.apple.com/itunes/

I quite like the green one, but to be honest I prefer stuff like that in plain black.


5.) How many pairs of jeans do you own?

about 8 that fit :O

Feisty!

So - we had a bit of a chippy game at the Link last night!

Penalty minutes: SWI 118, WIG 129

eeek!!!



But in between all the fisticuffs we managed to pop 8 - yes 8 - pucks in the net :)

Wightlink managed 2

Result! :)

What happened to the Wildcats of old who go one ahead in the first, then collapse in the second, and struggle back to a one goal lead in the third if they're lucky?

What happened to the Canucks who can't score or come back from behind?

Whoever woke up my teams over the summer - THANK YOU!!

Oh - and those 8 goals? Joel didn't have a hand in any of them - so we're not goalless when we're Joelless, oh no. Poor bloke only lasted about 5 mins then then took a stick to the face and had to go to hospital for stitches. Ouch.

But to prove he was there:



I took my posh camera along for a change and am glad I did as I am pleased with how the pics turned out.

The full set is here

But here's a gratuitous shot of Sitko:



Sing song part 1 - let's all do the conga:



and part 2 - they'll be comin' round the mountain:



And Connor and his heeeeeeeero:



I was going to write more about the game, but it's already been discussed to death on THF anyway, and, well, it can be summarised pretty succinctly: "naughty Gareth, WTG Jamie, that wasn't boarding, lots of goals whoot, Ryan is entertaining, we won"

My new career as a sports journalist is beckoning, huh?



Footage of all the major fights, not for the fainthearted!:

Further proof that the Wildcats and the Canucks are actually the same team leading a double life

just like Hannah Montana!

6. Brothers....both teams have brothers

7. Both teams seem most vulnerable at the hands of recently departed ex teamies who couldn't score FOR us but don't seem to have any trouble scoring ON us. Addie Brittle got a hat trick??? wha???? Nathan McIver gets past Luongo???? what's going on???

Luc Bourdon's tribute - not a dry eye in the house

RIP Luc - we miss you so much

I just have 5 mins before hometime to knock out the Friday Five....

1.) What is the number one thing that you just can't help but whine about?

Ummm. I'm not a huge whiner. Well, I don't think I am. I'm more of a bottle it up for a month then blow spectacularly person, than the kind that releases the pressure little and often through whining. I do moan at the kids for the state of the house every now and then, though, not that it gets me anywhere.

2.) Have you stopped wearing flip flops for the season yet?

You can tell this question wasn't written in England :) Honey, our summer has been more wellingtons than flip flops :)

3.) If you HAD to chose one, would you get either the baby blue or the pink NHL sweater?

Oh please - don't make me! It would have to be the blue, because you would have to kill me before I'd don the pink.

4.) What movie will you always stop and watch if you flip by it on TV?

West Side Story, or pretty much any other musical I know all the words to. If I was a boy I would be SO gay :)

5.) What's the best Halloween costume you've ever had?

Sadly I don't think I've ever dressed up all out - we kind of don't so much over here. I do have a Morticia wig though that I put on when I open the door to the trick or treaters, and a cool top with dancing mummies on it that I got in Florida one year....

Separated at birth?

First of all. Spoiler alert for anyone who hasn’t seen last night’s Canucks game yet.

Wow! WHAT a START to the season!

It’s a lovely feeling to be PROUD to be a Canucks fan for a change, knowing that my team has truly impressed out there, rather than mildly apologetic :)

And I for one am not at all surprised that Roberto and Burr played out of their skins after their central part in Luc Bordon’s very moving tribute – they did it for Luc. And what a way to honour him!

But the point of this particular post isn’t to “whoooooooooooooooot” for my Nucks (you can assume that I am doing one big “whoooooooooooooooooooot” all day in the background though)

It’s more to document, while it’s fresh in my head, something that struck me as I was driving into work this morning.

This is a long post and will be of *zero* interest to anyone who isn’t a fan of both the Vancouver Canucks and the Swindon Wildcats. And I’m pretty sure that this particular cross section of the population is a sample of precisely one :) So , basically, if you’re not me, stop reading now!

What it was that struck me, is that, just as most women have a “type” when it comes to men (you tell me yours and I’ll tell you mine :)) – I also seem to have a “type” of hockey team.

You could argue that I didn’t really “choose” either of my teams. I inherited the Canucks from my Vancouver-crazy best mate and her hubby, and Swindon by geographical accident. But, again, just like with a man, having fallen so hard in love with these two teams, I can’t imagine choosing any other even if I could go back and start with a completely clean slate.

Comparing the two teams, literally leagues apart, feels a little like pitting a minor actor who just got their first walk on part in Holby City up against Johnny Depp. But my struggling actor and my movie star are so similar in personality, I don’t know how I didn’t notice it sooner:

Both teams......

1. Have a miracle worker between the pipes. Luongo. Kudrna. Yes, I know they are at very different levels in the game, but I will stick my neck out and say that both are the best in their league. Neither are likely to be sitting out many games (you gotta feel sorry for Curtis and Oli). Both can pull off impossible saves. Both want to WIN and neither is averse to back chatting the ref! (Captain Lu of course is now almost allowed to)


2. Have added a LOT of grit this year to address softness issues. You will remember that awful game last season where the Flyers came to GM place, beat us 8-2, and beat us up physically too. There was nobody to stand up for Kesler when he took that vicious cross check to the face from spit Boulerice spit.
   The twins and Lu got pushed around too. We were like a class full of 5 year olds attacked by teenage bullies. It was absolutely horrible.
   Swindon’s equivalent could well be the game away in Essex last year which left us down two of our best players, Kaminskas went out to injure us and there was barely a big or willing body to stop him doing just that.
   Contrast that to last night’s Canucks game – not only have we added a traditional enforcer to the roster in the shape of Darcy Hordichuk, but also the toughness vibe seems to be rubbing off across the whole team. Bernier took on Phaneuf when Dion pushed Hank about a bit – when is the last time you saw someone really standing up for the Sedins?? Think of the freedom to produce that protection will give them!!! And Hansen responding to the shove on Luongo? Go Jannik!!! Kes and Burr were in everyone’s faces and still found the time to pop a couple of goals past Kipper. Are you getting the message Western Conference? You can’t just bulldoze through us any more.
   And as for Swindon – Braiths can’t be on the ice for every shift, but finally he doesn’t need to be. We have added so much physicality this season, it makes me go weak at the knees :) First up – the psycho twins – as long as we can keep the Watts under an element of control, I think they are an excellent addition to the line up. Can you imagine someone taking liberties with, say, Joel, and the Watt bros letting them get away with it? Nah, nor me :) Then you have Sitko. I’m going to restrain from making comments about what it would feel like to look up (from the puck! the puck!) and see him bearing down on you (on skates! across the ice!) :D But – seriously – you get ridden into the boards by this guy, you’re going to be in a world of hurt. Even some of our carry overs from last season have bulked up – I barely recognised Jamie Hayes. And we have kept hold of the other members of our squad who are happy to rough it up from time to time – Wheats, Moore etc. Someone on THF said something about us going from a total soft touch to the “Swindon Wildgoons”. We haven’t gone that far, and we won’t, the difference in the team’s attitude on the ice since the Telford debacle is evidence of that, but we sure are going to be harder to play against this year.


3. Have a history of struggling offensively, and have won more games by stopping the opposition scoring than by getting lots of pucks in the net ourselves. But *touch wood* both squads are addressing that problem. Swindon by getting Joel back AGAIN and also making other good additions to the team who can chip them in. Or in Sitko’s case, slap ‘em in from the blue line. (You know even THAT looks like a double entendre to me lol). And Vancouver – yes, maybe it's too early to tell – but it looks like we might have FINALLY found a good linemate for the twins! (and if Bernier doesn’t work out is it too late to get Anson Carter back??). Add that to the return of serious secondary scoring from our D, and the Kes-Burr-Hansen line on pace for a stellar season. Even our 4th line guys can score – even short handed – take that!!! I’m yet to be 100% convinced by line 2 but on paper they look good, and we’re only 1 game in to the season, I am hopeful….


4. Are going to turn heads this year, I can feel it in my water


5. Rock. My. World!!!!!!

I love my teams.

I love my game.

This is going to be a good year.

WTG Kes!

Number one in Sportsnet's Top 10 Plays of the 2007/8 Season

cool!

That was one sick goal though, huh? huh??? :)

This appears to be my 600th post

Is "blog candy" traditional? I think it is. OK, please feel free to comment on this or any other recent post. I'll choose someone at random from anyone who comments on anything at all over the next 2 days, and send a little goodie bag of nice things :)

It's always cool to get a handle on who out there is actually paying attention.... :)

Anyway - here's a badly photographed CJ entry.

The theme for this journal is "the story behind your tattoo", so I've homed in on my most recent one (my backpiece of the mother and baby orcas) and explained what it means to me.

Rather than being a double page spread this one has the "why orcas?" page on top, which then lifts up to reveal the page with the tags. So, no, I don't have the binding holes on the wrong sides :P

I went a bit crazy with my new sewing machine on this, just because I could :) So the big orca on the first page is a little "quilt", complete with wadding. I stamped my beautiful Michelle Ward original onto denim, and then painted over the top with Lumiere paint. Then I machine sewed BADLY around it a few times.

The smaller orca is the same stamp on clear shrink plastic with gold ink. I punched the holes before shrinking and hand sewed it to the page.



Oh and the background is three colours of Ranger pearlescent acrylics scraped onto cheap watercolour paper using an old credit card.

On the second page there is a naaaasty photo of my flabby back. I would have preferred not to expose my extreme chub to the world but I can hardly do a CJ entry on my backpiece without a photo of my back! :)



The tags explain what the tattoo means to me - freedom, motherhood, Canada and the most beautiful sport on god's earth.

The little tiny acrylic picture frame (1" square) holds a photo of the tat in progress:

And I made the embellishment below by embossing a thin sheet of copper over an Orca pendant I bought when I was in Vancouver (and highlighted it with acrylic paint and alcohol ink)



So, hopefully, now everyone knows - that's why orcas! :)

If I wasn't already very much spoken for, I would propose to this man :)

And, to the best of my knowledge, he doesn't even play hockey!!



So there I was, having a natter with an ex boss of mine on Facebook - who it turns out is a huge Husker Du fan, as was I back in the day - and the whole time we worked together we never realised we shared a love for a relatively obscure corner of the music world.

This got me in the mood to listen to some of the tracks from Zen Arcade, as I don't have that album any more (all my music was on vinyl and that's one of the ones I haven't replaced yet)....

....which sent me off to YouTube to see what I could find....

and I found this super cool video of this guy dancing to "Something I Learned Today"

I love it!

YouTube is so cool :) and this random guy is even cooler :)

I'm still loving this song :)

Striiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiipes

You've got to play it at the games

Go on, just for me, pretty please :) :) :)

Just the bit that goes W-I-L-D WILDCATS COME ON COME ON, during a very short face off break, maybe? :)

Of course, personally I want the full on Gabriella and Troy duet segment so I can serenade Sitko as he prepares for an important shootout or something lol (not that he'd probably be taking the shootout seeing as he's a D man, but why ruin a perfectly good daydream with reality? :D)

McIver scores the winning goal in O/T....

... so that means we're 7 for 0, right???

ah - no - he's a Duck!!! I tell you, you blink around here and everything changes!

We put Nate on the waiver wire on Saturday, Anaheim picked him straight up and he flicked one past Luongo on Sunday to ruin our perfect pre-season record.

B-Mo scored on us too.

Hey, at least we were beat by Canucks :) We must be training 'em up right :)

Funny thing is McIver reckons he never once got one past Luongo in shootout drills - talk about pulling it out of the hat!

To be honest, I'm almost glad we're not going to start the season with a perfect pre-season record. Over confidence can be just as damaging as lack of confidence. And it's not as if it was a total drubbing.

In other news - check out Lu rocking the C on his mask - class!!!

Can't wait for Thursday - REAL CANUCKS HOCKEY!!! WHOOOOOT!!!!

Friday Five 3rd October 2008

I'm sure that somebody somewhere asked me recently if the Friday Five is a hockey thing?

The answer is that the one I do nowadays does indeed come from the fab hlog blog (Hockey's Ladies of Greatness) - a really cool site by and for female fans of the most-beautiful-game-on-earth. It's based over the water, hence the dodgy American spellings :)

But I did used to do a non denominational one too, which unfortunately disappeared off the internet a few months ago, like things do, without so much as a bye bye

Even the hockey one though, isn't usually all about hockey. In fact this week it isn't about hockey at all :)

1.) What is your favorite gemstone/jewelery type?

Gemstone, lapis lazuli maybe, because it is such a beautiful intense blue. Jewellery type, probably chain maille, in copper. But I like all sorts of jewellery really - anything that's interesting and not too blingy.

2.) Do you like camping?

Despite Bestival, yes, I do :) In fact, at Besti the only time I was happy was inside the tent. It was all the mud OUTSIDE the tent I wasn't too happy with! But yes, in reasonable conditions, I enjoy camping.

3.) Can you see the surface of your desk?

Not when I'm in the thick of working, usually, no. But I do make a token effort to pile things up and clear a bit of space at the end of the day.

4.) Do you have a plant?

I'm the opposite of green fingered - death to all house plants - so in the interests of cruelty prevention, no, I don't keep any plants in the house. The weeds in my drive are absolutely thriving, though.

5.) What is your favorite fall treat?

The hockey season starting, of course :) the biggest treat of the year!

Getting alternately excited and depressed about the weekend

THE HOCKEY SEASON IS STARTING!!!!

But - sob - I was supposed to BE there :( :( :(

I hope the nice Canadian chappie and equally nice German girl who between them bought my five tickets for the Stockholm Pens/Sens game have a really good time.

Sob :(

So I have been cheering myself up with this:



Max Talbot is soooooooooooo funny!!!

Thank the lords above that those boys can play hockey because (Maxime potentially aside) they sure don't have the skillz in the acting department :)

So, who are you rooting for this weekend? For me it's the Pens in Stockholm, and, purely for Naslund (and the fact that Hollweg was in New York when he did his funny little dance that still makes me chuckle), the Rangers in Prague.

God, I wish I hadn't sold those tickets :( :( :(

I mean, who needs a car???? I could have walked the 50 mile round trip to work every day. Sigh.

Five for Oh, baybeeeeeeee!

Oh if only this was the regular season, what a start!!

(and Anam would have lost our bet already :))

A 3 point night for Kes in a confidence pumping 6-1 victory when Calgary came to GM Place last night

5 games into the pre-season and still unbeaten

Sweeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeet !!!!! :) :) :)

How smug does my boy look rockin’ that A? eh?

:D

(no Bert on the Flames roster last night, we’ve still got the spectacle of OUR Todd turning up at GM in THEIR jersey to come……)



And yes, we'd ALL like the regular season to start already!!



(edited to add - 6 for 0 now! eeek! Am getting worried now we might use up all our luck!!!)

Wow! I genuinely didn't see THAT coming!

The new Canucks captain!!!

screw NHL Rule 14-D :O

(and KESLER, Mitchell and Ohlund get the A - yay!!!)

I'm gobsmacked :)

But I say it's a GREAT choice - I just didn't realise there was a way they could!

Congratulations to Clare!

We have a winner over at the Art Raffle, and look at what she won!!!


What a prize, huh????

Please visit the site and check the September 08 gallery for a close up look at all of the individual entries.

And if you want to be in with a chance of winning an equally if not more amazing prize next month, then you need to play! This month's theme is going to be a fun one.

The hockey gods move in mysterious ways

So here was I, lamenting another horrible away result for my beloved 'cats.

I looked over at my hockey shrine, and wondered why it wasn't working.

It's not doing too bad for the Cauncks - granted - unbeaten in the pre-season baybeee!!! GO VANCOUUUUUVER!!!!!

(and I know, I know, they're just exhibition games and they mean diddly squat, but boy, the view's good from the top!!! :D :D :D )

But for Swindon? Well, my prayers didn't seem to be having the same effect :( Sure we looked great at home last Saturday against Guildford - really great - I loved watching them out there putting so much pressure on arguably the top team in the league. This season's Wildcats have got some real presence and some deep talent.

But we just didn't make enough offensive chances, even playing to our strengths, to get that win.

Chants of "bring back Joel!!!" came from the stands, but the word was he was Edinburgh bound.... sigh.....

And then the following night? A horrendous loss at Peterborough, hot on the heels of the equally depressing loss to Telford the week before.

Oh woe was me, and the rest of Wildcat nation. :( Hockey gods - why had you forsaken me????

But then the rumours started to weave their way to the surface about a certain prolific point earner re-routing his plane from Scotland to Wiltshire... could it be true??

And sure enough, this morning, it's official - JOEL PETKOFF IS BACK!

Those HGs, they are clever deities indeed!

How better to persuade Wildcats management to dig deep down the back of the team sofa to find the cash we needed to secure the return of #23 than by dishing us some real low blows?

And now - what do we have? A team that has me salivating!

I just hope that the pressure of being welcomed back like the Messiah doesn't affect Joel's play.

But if he is on form - a team like the Wildcats we saw taking on Guildford last Saturday - defensively sound, intelligent hockey, coupled with Joel's scoring and playmaking abilities - especially once we get Matty back - oh wow - let's GO Swindon!!!!!

This could be our year.

Someone out there is in for a treat and a half....

... as they are about to receive the UK Art Raffle September prize!

We had 40 entries this month - each one amazing

There will be a gallery on the site any day now so you can judge for yourself

Or if you are the mystery winner, you can see them up close tomorrow morning :) :) :)

The new theme will be announced on Wednesday

Our new baby girl

We went to pick up Darby's African Pygmy Hedgehog this morning - isn't she adorable?

Lousy photos as they were taken on my phone in the back of the car on the way home - she is just in her little carry box here - but has since settled in to her whopping great big vivarium-type-thing.

She doesn't have a name yet - Darby is waiting for inspiration to strike...

She's soooo lovely :) And so friendly, she just climbs all over you :) By far the friendliest and least shy of the three we went to see.

Proud daddy :)

Friday Five part 2

and here is today's :

1.) Roughly how many all nighters have you pulled in your life?

Gosh. Lots :) For different reasons through the ages. Plenty of through the night partying when I was younger. And the ocasional student all nighter for the last minute finishing of assignments. Nowadays it's much more likely to be hockey related (when you are stupid enough to support a team on the Canadian west coast whose games start at 3am UK time, sometimes sleep takes the back seat) - or I've got on a roll with an art project and before I know it the sun's up. It certainly catches up with me more nowadays than it used to though - I have to have two insanely early nights to recover from every insanely late one.

Incidentally - this pillow thing (in the pic) is called an All Nighter. HOW comfy does that look???? I want one!!! It's supposed to be for pregnant people but I'm sure that bit's not compulsory...

2.) Do you ever write letters or cards to people?

Not as often as I should. I keep meaning to get back into mail art, as I enjoyed dabbling in it a couple of years ago when I belonged to a mail art group on Yahoo. But as with most things, it's finding the time... I do usually send birthday cards though, if I remember.

3.) What is your all time favorite computer game?

Hmmm - I enjoy Guitar Hero, Mario Kart and Mortal Kombat, despite being fairly rubbish at all of them. I think probably it'd be one of the games we used to have on the PS1 that used a dance mat - I got so addicted to them... in fact I ought to treat myself to a dance mat for the Wii, it's a great way to get in shape without realising you are doing anything other than having shedloads of fun.

4.) Do you ever investigate the random things on Google's home page? (You can click on whatever is changed, and a Wikipedia link is there)

Um, nope. Should I?

5.) Would you rather have 4, 10 hour work days, or 5, 8 hour work days?

4 10 hour days without a shadow of a doubt. I would kill for a 3 day weekend.

the Friday Five is back!

well - it is Friday, just :)

I used to do the original Friday Fiver every week.... but it just stopped without explanation back in June. I miss it!

I have a godawful memory - always have had - and I figure it will only deteriorate as I age - so I like doing stuff like this, because I figure it will help the future me understand what made the current me tick.

So, in my upsetness at the disappearance of the "proper" Friday Fiver site, I forgot that the hlog girls still post Friday Five questions! yay!

So I'm going to do the last few weeks-worth now, until I run out of steam or fall asleep :)

Friday, September 19, 2008
Friday Five

1.) Do you like fruit snacks?

Yup - who doesn't like fruit? (except my 6 year old) Bananas are a particular favourite for a snack - but I also have a real thing for summer fruits like strawberries and raspberries - and peaches and nectarines, yum :)

2.) Has your favorite TV show come back yet?

My current favourite is probably Dr Who - and that won't be back until 2010!!!!! sob!!!! but Heores starts again next week, and that will do.

3.) What song is stuck in your head right now?

*embarrassed smiley* The Pussycat Dolls "When I Grow Up"

4.) How important is it for your team to have entertaining commercials?

Not as important as the winning. But - two words - Swedish Twins :)

5.) Do you fold your clothes or just hang them up?

ummmm - neither??? :D

Friday, September 12, 2008
Friday Five

1.) How many pillows do you have on your bed?

Four. It's a double bed, 2 each side.

2.) Do you like to swim?

I <3 love <3 swimming. It was always my favourite exercise. And now I go with my little boy as often as possible.


3.) Have you ever donated blood?
Kind of :) well I tried to! but I have really bad veins. Whenever I have to have a blood test it takes them about 20 attempts to get a drop. So my donation attempt basically just involved lots of frustration all round. They still gave me a glass of OJ and a biscuit though :)

4.) Do texts or phone calls in the middle of the night wake you up?

Nope. Once I'm asleep I'm dead to the world.

5.) Hot or cold showers?

Fairly warm

Friday, September 05, 2008
Friday Five

1.) Do you color code things when organizing?

Organising???? what's that????
(the answer would be no :))

2.) Do you like to be warm or cold when you sleep?

Definitely cozy tucked up warm

3.) What summer/fall fashion trend can you do without?

Ummmmm - I'm fairly blissfully ignorant of fashion trends, to be honest. I doubt I've even noticed any summer ones, mainly because we haven't really had a summer this year. The last fashiony thing I noticed was girls wearing smart shorts to work. I won't be joining in with that particular trend :)

4.) Do you have your ears pierced?

Yup - three holes in one ear and one in the other. I actually wore earrings in them last month, as I went to a wedding and wanted to dress up a little. I think that's the first time I have worn earrings for at least 10 years.

5.) Where have you not been in forever that you want to go back to?

Depends on your definition of "forever". I am dying to go back to Canada.

Friday, August 29, 2008
Friday Five

1.) What is your favorite kind of fruit juice?
Pear, I think, if we can only pick a single fruit - or Apricot. If we are allowed a combo, it would be a mango and pineapple smoothie - or maybe pressed apple and raspberry. I love fruit juice.

2.) Any labo(u)r day weekend plans?
Well, we don't do labour day here. But I think it's around the same time as our August Bank Holiday weekend. I didn't do much, to be honest, just enjoyed the extra day off work.

3.) How dark do you like your toast?

Not dark. Definitely golden. Barely sunkissed at all.

4.) What's the best part about summer being almost over?

HOCKEY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

5.) How many email accounts do you have?

A few - one at work, one at home, a Hotmail account I never use, one for my Kesler site, one for the Art Raffle, one for the Little Boxes swap and one for Alison's charm bracelet

Friday, August 15, 2008
Friday Five

1.) Do you make countdowns to upcoming events?

Absolutely. You have to have something to look forward to. I have a little countdown ticker on my siggy of the forum I use most - it counts down to all my major events. At the moment it's just showing till puck drop this Saturday as that's my most exciting imminent occasion right now.

2.) What is your favorite comfort food?

Umm - something warm and stodgy - maybe cheese on toast all melted under the grill with BBQ or Worcester sauce

3.) Which TV commercial is funny every time you see it?

Hmmmm, good question. Can I go for the Swedish Twins again?

4.) How often do you wear a watch?

Never.

5.) Do you make to-do lists?

Sometimes, purely out of necessity. It's that dodgy memory I told you about up there ^

Hockey gods, have mercy!

Those of you that know me well know that I make little appeals to the hockey gods on a regular basis. And it usually works - they gave us nice weather for the Wildcats BBQ, they gave us a lovely home win to start the season, and they gave the baby Canucks the opportunity to stick their tongues firmly out at the Oilers' starting line up :)

I need to make sure they remain appeased, however, so that results like a 4-0 loss to Telford are few and far between - and to this end I've been meaning to make this little shrine for ages...

And as luck would have it - a new challenge blog was launched this week, with a shrine-making competition for starters - and a nice prize too.

So that was all the incentive I needed. That and the fact that I was doing some work-work from home (in the evening I hasten to add, I wasn't slacking off during the day, oh no siree), and it involved me running queries that went off and thought amongst themselves for 20 minutes at a time. I SHOULD have used those 20 minute breaks to do housework, really :) But making my little hockey shrine was MUCH more fun.



The shrine base is a little masonite kit that I bought from the Retro Art Cafe - a lovely little online shop that I can thoroughly recommend as, not only does it have a super cool range of products, but also Kristin who is the head honcho there, is very nice indeed.

It makes a nice dimensional shrine with various layers to add interest.

Unusually for me I have used patterned papers to decorate it rather than paints and inks and stamps - they are all Basic Grey from the Archaic range. I did use a bit of gold and copper leaf and pearl ex too though.

The rusty star at the top is also from Retro Art Cafe, and the sprocket thing is Tim Holtz.

And the skates stamp is one of my huge collection of hockey related stamps that I feel compelled to buy whenever I see them, but never actually use, so I'm glad I got to use them on this :) The skates were stamped with dark brown ink, watercoloured, and then clear embossed a few times, and adhered to the shrine raised on foam squares, above a gold leafed halo.

And the stand for the shrine? Yes, that's a real puck :) And the inscription reads "hockey gods have mercy!", on olive coloured dymo tape from Around The Block, scuffed up a bit with olive Stazon ink applied with the edge of a credit card.

I enjoyed this a lot - I think I shall keep this on my desk at work, for lunchtime prayers :)

I'm sorry Anam.... I'm trying not to gloat, I really am

I know, I know that the pre season don't mean diddly squat, but boy does it put me in a good mood when a virtually full strength Oilers bench can't beat our rookies!! :D :D :D



I have decided I have some sort of weird mental condition whereby my mood is entirely dependent on hockey results.

Yesterday I was in a total strop because what I had read about the Swindon/Telford game sounded like a totally undisciplined embarassment.... it really got to me .... although to be fair having now seen the footage on Telford's local paper's website, I don't think it was anywhere near as bad as some were making out.... (in fact I've pretty much come around to the idea that all that testosterone and passion that our new squad have in buckets is a GOOD thing, as long as Pete Russell can channel it for the greater good)

Today in contrast I am skipping on clouds because the baby Canucks had such a great result last night - and it's just so good to have my NHL hockey back, even if it is only half strength so far.

I wonder if there is a recognised psychiatric term for hockey induced mood swings? I definitely felt more mentally balanced in the off season :)

The only thing I'm a little worried about is Kes's bladder control:

Don't drink too much of that water, mate



Because you might get caught short:



hee hee

Guess who's back (back, back)
Back again (gain, gain)
Nucks are back (back, back)
Tell a friend (friend, friend)

Whhhhooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooopppppp!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Blimey - I'm SEWING - like a GIRL!

Working with textiles is something I have wanted to do for a very long time - but simply didn't have the cojones to give it a try.

But, spurred on by some of the lovely fabric pieces arriving for the raffle, I rather impulsively signed up for a pure fabric CJ on UKS a couple of weeks ago, when I noticed that one of their members had dropped out and they needed to fill her space.

There are 12 of us taking part, and so, rather than making a traditional book, I am simply asking each participant to make a 6" x 6" quilted square, and I will assemble them into a patchwork type wall hanging (4 squares by 3) when they come home.

Boy oh boy, though, did I ever feel out of my depth during the making of this piece!

The design was simple (in fact too simple - I wish I had done something a little more adventurous as it feels almost like a Flo-by-numbers composition) - I decided to do something "typically me" - in the hope that the other players will also do something very true to their own styles. So I used my current top colour palette of red, blue and purple - and my favourite Green Pepper Press tree rubber stamp.

But it proved so difficult.

First of all - HOW do you cut fabric straight???? I kept going off course and ruined loads of pieces of material.

Then why doesn't stamping with black neopaque paint work? And, talking of paint, you have to use so much because it absorbs.

And colour wash comes out so much darker than on paper.

Anyway - it's done now, and I am pleased to have overcome my mental blocks about textile arts and given it a go.

A quick how-to. I dyed all the fabrics for the piece (except the brown velour) using Ranger colourwash sprays in denim, cranberry and eggplant. All I did was spray, and let the colour pool and drip in places.

You can see it closer on the back:



Like I said, everything came out a little too dark so I lightened up the fabric used for the centre panel with pearlescent pink and lavender inks sponged through sequin waste, and a bit of silver ink stippled here and there, and I also gave it a good spray with irridescent gold Glimmer Mists, which has given it a lovely sparkle.

Then I attempted to stamp the tree, but it came out really patchy, so I freehanded most of it in with black acrylic paint.

Rusty tin stars were sewn on to the front panel, and little seed beads also. And then I sewed it onto the full front panel and some quilters' wadding.

The chocolate coloured velour fabric at the bottom was cut with a heat tool (the one I use for cutting stencils - it went through the velour like butter), and applied with fabric glue.

Faric certainly is a challenging medium for me to work in - especially as I don't own a sewing machine :) - but I am really looking forward to the next 12 months and making pages / quilts for all the other players. I hope I will have come a long way past this very basic effort by the end of the year.