Birthday Lists – Page 3

A Triangle Quilt

August 9, 2016

Yesterday night, I pulled my last few border stitches tight, tied it off, cleaned up loose threads, and finished a beautiful quilt. It is, hands-down, no question, my favourite thing I’ve ever made.

I think “make a quilt” has been on my bucket list since I first saw this post – holy moly, I just checked the date on it – in 2012. Back then, I had a sewing machine and I was in a real DIY phase, but I was also in school, and didn’t want to spend lots of money on quilting tools and fabric (well I did want to, but I felt that I shouldn’t..). Fast forward to a couple months ago, when I came home for the summer. I’m staying at my Dad’s house, and lo and behold, my stepmom has boxes and boxes of fabric pieces she’s not using and every quilting tool a person could dream of.

I set out on my quilting journey with very little guidance and a one-step-at-a-time attitude. Those steps added up to something, and I could always see my progress right there in front of me. I always focused on getting to the next little step without worrying about the steps after that (things I had no idea – yet – how to do). I could take each one as it came, and cross bridges when I came to them. Making a quilt might seem hard, but cutting fabric isn’t hard. Sewing together two pieces isn’t hard. None of the steps on their own is really that hard.

Along the way I realized something: it had been a long time since I’d worked with my hands to make something real, tactile, and non-virtual. When did I stop making stuff?? Why did I stop making stuff?

It’s crazy how much joy I got from even just looking at my quilt at each stage of its development. And I was amazed at how much mindfulness, peace and flow I got from an activity that took up my attention and focus for minutes or hours at a time, like this process did for me.

Not only that, but I’m very proud of myself. I’m excited to give this as a precious gift. I’m so, so happy that I created something special with my own two hands. There is literally no downside to this equation! It’s just something that brings me Good Vibes Only.

Don’t listen to the many people who will tell you quilting is impossible and that it takes years. Those things are true for some (beautiful, hand-sewn, impossibly stunning!!) quilts, but not for a quilt like this one. My workmanship is probably laughable to more serious and more talented quilters, but I’m just proud that I made something warm and cozy and lovable, and that I didn’t even need a quilting foot for the sewing machine. It’s more than doable, and it only took me about a month.

I used this tutorial loosely – I changed the size of my quilt, but followed all the other steps. My finished quilt measures 28 by 33 inches, which is small for a crib-size quilt, but it’s perfect for a baby.

And yes, in case you’re wondering, I have already started cutting fabric for the next quilt.

The 26 List

April 25, 2016

Every year around my birthday, I like to make myself a fun list – things I’d like to do or try before my next birthday. These are usually experiences I think I would be nice, or skills I’d like to learn, but not necessarily goals that need to be measured. I’ve never finished everything on my lists, but just having the list keeps me inspired and focused and gives me things to think about when I’m not sure what to tackle next. When I was 24, I checked off about 17/25 things, which is a ratio I’m pretty happy with.

This year, I took many of these list items off of a larger list I have, my list of 100 dreams that I came up with in February. The list of 100 dreams is an exercise I borrowed from Laura Vanderkam and I think it’s such a fun thing to do.

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The 26 ListRead More »

Easy Sticky Buns

December 8, 2015

One of my new favourite things is taking our mixing bowl down from the cupboard, peeling back our red-striped tea towel, and seeing a yeasty dough that has doubled in size from when it went in and has lots of little bubbles on top. It feels miraculous every single time, the fact that yeast and time actually worked their magic and created something new.

My second-favourite new thing is watching the dough expand even more as soon as heat gets involved, through our tiny toaster oven’s little window. I made these sticky buns at night, far too late for sweets really, but that didn’t stop my boyfriend and I from sharing two, warm from the oven with one plate and two forks. Our original plan was to split only one, since it was 10:30PM after all, but they were just that good.

Bread #3: The World’s Easiest Sticky Buns by Minimalist Baker

Changes: We aren’t able to get vegan butter, so for this recipe I used the regular kind. I switched out soy milk for the almond milk. We were low on butter so I fudged the measurements for the filling and glaze a little bit. I also didn’t include the pecans because we didn’t have any.

Notes: The glaze definitely needs all the recommended butter in order to actually get sticky. Our glaze was kind of absorbed into the buns and so these didn’t have that lovely sticky glaze on top of them. Thus, these were not-so-sticky buns. I also think they would be nice with the pecans but were good without them.

Review: Really great. I think these would be such an impressive and delicious thing to make for a brunch. They’re simple to make but have great results.

The Holiday Jar

December 7, 2015

I love the idea of advent calendars as a way to celebrate each day of December, but I don’t like the waxy chocolate that comes in them or all the waste they create. I was so thrilled to see this version of a simple, clutter-free advent calendar and got to work on mine the very next day.

We’re on day 7 of December and thanks to this jar we’ve already made a special effort to make mulled apple cider, sit by the fire, dance around to Christmas music, take a yoga class together, and sing and play Christmas songs on the guitar. I’m always amazed at how just a little bit of intention can make such a big difference in my happiness. Even though the weather here is (blessedly) far from seasonal or Christmassy and I’m far from home, having these lovely little activities slotted into our days makes everything feel more festive. And even though it’s December 7th, it’s not too late to make your own! The process couldn’t be simpler.

Find a big jar, some paper, a few pens and maybe some washi tape.

I cut my paper all into the same size rectangles by hand – I traced them all to be (about) the same shape and then cut them out while listening to music.

Then I brainstormed a list of 31 fun things to do over the holidays. This was really the hardest part! There are some nice ideas in this post if you need some inspiration. I wrote one on each slip of paper. I separated the papers into things we can only do in Canada (ie. ice skating) and things we can do in either place and marked the two piles with different-coloured stars (silver and gold).

I sealed them all with washi tape and stuck them in a jar. Every day, we’ve been drawing out a card, taping it to the wall, and making sure we do the activity at some point during the day. It takes some work sometimes, but breaking out of our routines and adding in some Christmas cheer is so worth it. In fact, we might start making a jar for every month, not just December!

I hope your December is merry and bright.