"Home" or soon to be!

This tiny little town on Kootenay Lake (the largest natural lake in BC) is such an unbelievably stunning place. There is so much beauty in so small a place that it is hard to know where to start..but here is a taste of some of the lovely that i have found..

wall art..

All you need to make these ridiculously cute and simple wall hangings is fabric that you love and wooden embroidery hoops.. i added buttons to mine because, well. i LOVE buttons.

It is such a fun way to display special fabric and a really wonderful way to add something to a space without spending any money (the hoops are thrift shop finds.. and the fabric i already had around the house..)

These circles adorn our eating area in the kitchen.


These ones are in our living-room in a corner above a play area.. The pink one is made of a sweater that i found at the thrift shop. i loved the print but i rarely wear pink..or prints for that matter.. so up on the wall it went! Im making little pants with the sleeves..

Elwynn made this painting on earth day and i plan to reproduce it on a hoop using cloth and embroidery (something i have discovered i enjoy very much!) because it is just so incredibly beautiful, and i want something that will last forever. "i will take care of worms" *sigh*

And button tacks! i saw something like these on ETSY one day and thought..we have tacks and buttons. lets make some! here are the results.. i couldn't find very many different sized or coloured buttons(because i still have yet to sort out my mountains of craft supplies...)
but the little ones had a great time with this craft anyways!

First Harvest!

The little ones and i picked our first harvest of rhubarb today!

I am ever so happy. It seems like just last week it was only starting to show itself to the world, and now it is overflowing with delicious red stalks.
It grew very quickly with the recent spring rains and warm sunshiney days.





Now the yummy part! what to make with it.
The options are endless.
rhubarb Upside-Down cake....or Stewed rhubarb..
rhubarb Crisp....Sorbet?
Or i could cut it up and freeze it for another day......

A piece of Bright!

This wee daffodil flower was a lot of fun to make!

Its been a long while since i did much in the way of making beautiful things, unless you count the bread that ive been baking a few times a week. its beautiful in its own right, but not quite as sweet or bright as this.

The stem is a pipe cleaner wrapped with florist tape, then wound with green wool yarn. The rest is wool felt (brown, green and two shades of yellow) and a piece of wool batting for the inside.
SoOoO incredibly Simple! There is a flower girl who goes with the flower...i'm working on her..but i may make a few more flowers first!

The pattern can be found in the book Making Flower Children by Sylvie Adolphie

Spring!

With bated breath & some tiny bit of uncertainty, because you never can tell what mother nature will do next, i can say that i really truly think that spring has finally decided to grace us with her warm and green presence!

Clearwater is for the most part free of snow (with the exception of a few sunless patches here and there) and slowly but surely growing springier ever day! robins are out in force, green buds are popping up and even some leaves are slowly showing their tiny selves to the world. my rhubarb is budding out all ruby red and sweet! and Ive discovered a huge patch of raspberries which I'm itching to get to. they need to be pruned back and thinned a wee bit...but it looks like we will be drowning in raspberry jam & other yummy things come summer!

Easter came and went in a fury of cut-out-cookies and icing, dyed Easter eggs, chocolate and sunshine.. our Easter tree is still adorning out kitchen window and in leaf too! we chose a piece of red willow tree and sure enough its doing its springtime thing too, just in our kitchen.

Seedy Saturday was amazing..the ski-lodge where it happens every year was full to brimming with friendly, smiling faces.. seeds and plants and good things to eat and smell and touch were all around. it gave me more than a bit of nostalgia, thinking of leaving this town..and i may even be re-thinking it. it is hard to know why my feet get so itchy every spring, but i may try to talk myself out of leaving just now. not only that but it looks like Kaslo is a bumping place and there is nothing available in terms of homes for us there. it wouldn't be so bad staying here, planting a garden..maybe getting our chickens finally! i dint know for sure, but i think for the summer at least i can safely say that we will be staying put. i kind of dread spending another winter here, but on the other hand Kaslo has just as long and cold a winter as here. maybe we just need to find a house with a wood stove!
i bought a bunch of new varieties of tomatoes to try and and some wild Italian arugula! a few new house plants..a wandering Jew & an angel wing begonia. Ive always wanted one!
mm..and some vanilla goats milk soap. divine.
I'm so looking forward to the farmers market starting up again so that i can see all of my favorite folks again. winter gets lonely!

Yesterday we spend a beautiful day visiting a local sheep ranch with Elwynn's school. Aveley ranch has been in Vavenby for 103 years! and you can feel the wisdom and love for the land when you step foot there. I was completely and utterly (hehe!) taken with the place. something about hundreds of tiny lambs does that to a person.

Our day was full-to-brimming with information about sheep and lambs, and how wool is processed.. the kids got to try out hand and drum carders and spinning wheels and what-not. we watched a lamb being born out in one of the fields, right up close! it was a very new experience for some of the children! we had a hayride all around the land, which is vast and stunning..there were scones and tea in this neat old pioneers shack, a museum of sorts all about the history of the land and family and then they all make sweet wooden boats and raced them down a fast flowing little stream. it was such a great time! i think that the favorite of all was the snuggling and feeding of the newborn orphan lambs. i could have stayed there forever!
here are a few photos of our adventure..

Spring Cleaning & Thoughts On Moving..

Since we have been away from home (visiting family is far off places) i have been thinking a LOT about "home" i love my home. no other place feels just right for us..but what is home?.. its not the place,at least not for me..its what anhd who is in it..that is what makes it cozy and homey and yours. we move a lot and are thinking of moving again..well not thinking. we will move again. how soon and where is still up in the air. right now we are really strongly considering Kalso, BC. Not all that far from where we are now..i thought a few months ago that i was here to stay. that i had found my home sweet home..but a lot has changed, if only in my head, that makes me feel like this is not so. there is a lot to desire in a small town like clearwater, and honestly im getting restless and bored here. but the home part is something i can and will take with us everywhere we go. i visit family & friends and their homes are theirs.. and it makes me long for mine. I guess im not the dusty foot traveller that i once was. its hard being far from home with 3 little ones and all of the things that go with us. and now that my head is in moving mode im thinking of all of the things that need to be done before we pack up and fine a new place to make ours..things to fix, things to sell, things to give away. things to paint and mend and burn. its exciting and gives me butterflies in my stomach thinking about doing it all over again.
and we need to find that place too! im trying to manifest the perfect place..close to town, spacious with wood heat.. clean & bright with a garden for veggies..someday soon we will find our next home..and with all of these words on my mind is this..“Have nothing in your house that you do not know to be useful, or believe to be beautiful”

Im on ETSY!

I finally Opened shop a few weeks ago!
Im not having much luck selling yet, but i'm slowly working on new things to stock the shop with..
It is exciting though, none the less! I feel like even getting up the courage to do it, seeing as i'm mainly single parenting my 3 small children, is an accomplishment. I'm trying to be positive about it all, which isn't always easy.But who ever said the easy way is the best way?

There are so many wonderful sellers on ETSY. If you have not checked it out yet, you should!

Here is the link to my shop. Check it out. Heart me and feel free to buy something!
All proceeds go towards getting our Pup Finn neutered!

ApatchWorkHeart

Love & Revolution,
Fern