Back in July I posted about how I was in the process of renovating my computer/craft/family room, and the room was finished by the middle of August. It was a simple reno with very few snafus but it took a while because I had to work around my daughter's schedule. Outside of parts packing the room up at the start and dressing it again at the end, it was much too dangerous an environment for a crawling baby. Slowing down the pace even more was the fact that it took nine coats (yes, NINE) of CIL Dulux paint in addition to a coat of primer before the colour was even. Those nine coats translated to three gallons of paint. Ridiculous! To compare, the red walls in my living room took four coats of paint and no primer (of a different brand, obviously) to cover a wall that originally was white. Needless to say, I'm never buying that brand of paint again.

Despite the snail's pace of the renovation it finally was complete, but only the other day did I realize that I never followed through to show you what the finished room looks like. Bad blogger, bad! When we first moved in, the front hall leading into the craft room looked like this:



Note the five (five!) different wallpaper prints that you could see from the front door, and curtains in yet another print. That obviously wouldn't do. We stripped all the wallpaper -- and what a chore that was, since it was all vinyl and couldn't be steamed off -- and repainted, so that it looked like this:



It looks much cleaner and larger, no? Of course, once we added all of the furniture we needed it got a little more crowded.



Four years and one child later, the clutter was beginning to take over and our suddenly-mobile baby didn't have anywhere on the floor where it was really safe to play. The bookshelves were rickety, the carpet was as old as the house and some stains wouldn't come out no matter how often we shampooed, there were cables running everywhere... Well, you get the idea. So here's what we did with the space:



The colour that we chose for the walls is Spice Orange by CIL. Despite the issues with the paint brand, I love the colour. It's a warm, friendly room now even when it's nasty outside. Of course, someone pointed out to me after the fact that it is kind of a Winnie the Pooh colour, which hadn't even occurred to me. We ripped up the old carpet and installed much more easily-cleanable laminate. At the center of the room are interlocking foam tiles which provide both comfort underfoot and insulation from the laminate-over-concrete floor beneath.



If you're a regular follower of my blog you might have noticed something familiar: a picture frame re-purposed into a bulletin/cork board. I spotted Lisa Tutman-Oglesby's tutorial way back around the time that the room was ready to be moved back into, and I thought that it would fit perfectly. (If you're wondering, this is what the original painting in the frame looked like.)



One of the nice things about this renovation is that we didn't end up spending any money at all on the furniture. We'd scored the bookshelves from hubby's parents earlier in the summer when they did their annual junk purge. The couch was from our living room, and while yes, we now need a new couch for that room we do have three comfy chairs and an old oak church pew (of all things, but I love it!) standing in. My desk is one of the pieces of 1950's office furniture that I picked up back in April, and my hubby's desk is my old one. Oh, and the Pack 'n Play is a hand-me-down from a friend who doesn't intend to have any more children. Granted, it doesn't get used so much for the munchkin to play in as somewhere safe to set things that we don't want her to get into, but it's still darned useful. To conserve space, we installed TV tuner cards on our computers and got rid of the television and its table. We also took down the French doors leading to the room (although we saved them just in case we move, since while they're impractical in this particular layout they'd probably look good when showing the house).



You may have noticed that in the new version of the craft room there isn't a whole lot of storage space. The bookshelves fit my craft books, some everyday supplies, and my camera gear, and that's about it. The loss of storage space, due to fewer bookshelves and the complete destruction of the closet that I had built for the room, meant a lot of purging, cleaning, and reorganizing. The closet under the stairs and shelves in the laundry/furnace room now house most of the supplies that I don't use daily. It may not be pretty, but it is organized and surprisingly easy to access. Now, there is still the issue of all of the baby clothes/gear and larger craft projects in progress that are stored in the spare bedroom... I think that will be next summer's project.

My parents have been buying me a chocolate-filled advent calendars every December for as long as I can remember. You know, the ones that you can find up near the cash register at any grocery store, and that seem to still use the exact same cover art that they have for the last thirty years, if not longer. When I was about seven years old and my little brother was about four, he was diagnosed with a sensitivity to refined sugar, which totally ruined this tradition for him. There wasn't a single candy company out there who put out sugar-free advent calendar, although we did manage to find a calendar that the little doors opened up to reveal pictures. I always felt that my little brother got the short end of the stick.

Last holiday season my daughter was only four months old, breastfeeding and not at all interested in Christmas traditions (although she did appreciate all the twinkly lights). This year, at almost a year and a half old, Eve has some appreciation of gifts even though she still has some difficulties with the concept because, as a toddler, everything is hers. Still, I wanted her to participate in my family's Christmas traditions. Now, although my daughter isn't allergic to anything so far as we know, but we're trying to keep concentrated sugar out of her diet as much as possible... I didn't want her to get the short end of the stick, so I made this advent calendar.

This advent calendar can be put together in a single evening, provided that you have all the materials on hand. As a bonus, if you can't find enough treats to fill the entire thing right away, so long as you stay one day ahead of the actual date, you'll be fine!



( Full picture tutorial behind the cut... )


Step 15
Hang the covered magnet board on the wall -- you can hang it vertically or horizontally, depending on the place where it will be displayed -- and then put up the containers in numerical order. You're done!

I spent pretty much all day this past Saturday shuttling around from one craft fair to another. Oh, what a wonderful way to spend the day! I had such a great time perusing local handmade wares that I totally forgot to take any pictures. So you're going to have to be satisfied with pictures of my purchases instead. These items will mostly be Christmas gifts for people who I'm pretty sure don't read this blog (or at least profess not to). Of course there were many other pieces that I ooh-ed and ah-ed over, but they were either out of my budget or I couldn't think who would like them for Christmas (other than myself, of course, but this is supposed to be a season of giving).



These two items were purchased at the St. Joseph Church Annual Craft Sale. Coco's Treasures (Les trésors de Coco) had a booth showcasing a wide variety of jams, jellies, and preserves, and I had a chance to try most of them (mmm, samples!). I immediately fell in love with this wild blueberry jam, which to me tasted just like going berry picking down home during the summer. The 125mL jar cost $3.00. You can reach Coco's Treasures at (613) 834-2641. I also picked up two hand-turned wine stoppers at the St. Joseph craft sale. I know a number of wine lovers who could use these. And if they've received too many stoppers over the years as gifts, well, these were only $3.00 each, so it was worth the risk.



The rest of my purchases came from the Cairine Wilson Christmas Craft Sale. The Santa Clause riding a bicycle is hand-painted onto a cross-section of a tree trunk (or a particularly robust branch, I guess). I think that I will give it to my road-biking and spinning father-in-law. I'm not sure who will be the recipient of the lovely green and gold Temari ornament, and it just may end up in my personal collection just like the lovely quilted ball I couldn't bear to part with last year. (As a bonus it's unbreakable, which is a desirable quality when there's a toddler in the house.) The Raggedy Ann I bought for my daughter; my brother and I each had a Raggedy Ann/Andy when we were little, and I fully intend to let my daughter play with those dolls, but I thought that she should have one that was her own. The new doll has the I love you tattoo as well -- I checked. These purchases were $5.00, $7.50, and $10.00 respectively.





Of course, there were people I knew personally who were exhibiting their work at the weekend's craft fairs. This lovely little dress and pinafore was made by friend of the family Lorraine Norstrom, who also made my bridesmaids' dresses, as well as this jumper for my daughter. The pinafore is separate from the dress so it can be worn after the dress itself is too small, and, just as importantly, it can be removed during dinnertime so it doesn't get stained. A close look at the embroidery reveals the shape of a tiny Christmas tree and garland. I'm pretty sure that this will be the dress that Eve wears for our family Christmas pictures. I didn't actually buy this; my mother bought it for my daughter as an early Christmas gift. This dress sold for $35.00.





Speaking of Lorraine, this quilt was not exhibited at a Christmas craft fair, but she does intend to enter it in a quilting competition -- and I do sincerely believe that she should win in every category. Lorraine made this quilt as a gift for my mother. It fits my parents' queen-sized bed. The quilt matches the colours of the room (which I re-decorated as my parents' anniversary gift in 2006) as well as the Japanese art on the walls (not pictured). The back side of the quilt really reveals the intricacy of the stitching (it's hard to see on the front where the pattern of the fabric is busier). A small patch on the bottom of the back of the quilt reads, "Created by Lorraine Norstrom for her dear friend, Dale Hayward. Completed Nov. 2009". I think I'm in love.

Oh, and yeah, the quilt is what I was taking photos of in my previous post.

I have been away from home for the past few days, but I did get to check out all of the craft fairs on my list for Saturday and I have so much to write about! But it is nearing midnight and I have no choice to be up at the crack of dawn (or possibly before) with my little 15-month-old alarm clock, so a detailed post will have to wait. Until then I leave you with a small peek behind-the-scenes:



Not the most flattering picture of me, I know, but isn't that what generally happens with a truly candid shot? But standing on top of a table to get far enough away from an object to take a half-decent picture is pretty much par for the course for me these days.

Mark your calendars! I'm going to try to hit all of these fairs this weekend, but I don't know how many I'll make it to...

Cairine Wilson Christmas Craft Sale
November 21st, 9:00am to 4:00pm
Cairine Wilson Secondary School, 975 Orleans Blvd

Navan Arts and Crafts Group Annual Christmas Craft Show
November 21st and 22nd, 10:00am to 3:00pm
Navan Memorial Arena, 1295 Colonial Rd

St. Joseph Church Annual Craft Sale
November 21st and 22nd, 9:00am to 3:00pm
St. Joseph Church, 2757 St. Joseph Blvd

St. Matthew Craft Fair
November 21st and 22nd, 10:00am to 4:00pm
Admission $2.00 or a canned food item
St. Matthew High School, 6550 Bilberry Drive

One & Only Art & Gift Fair
November 22, 10:00am to 4:00pm
Sandy Hill Community Center, 250 Somerset St East

Between family obligations and travel, I've been extremely busy over the last week. But I did manage to get a bit of knitting done, especially since I was working on a hat that was mostly garter stitch. I can knit garter stitch pretty much without looking now.


When I found those Jayne Cobb hat patterns I just couldn't help myself. I started with Heather Hill (a.k.a. tvini or emisanboo) of Wear With Style's pattern (found for free here) and modified it to fit my big head. The yarn I chose was Vanna's Choice 100% acrylic yarn in colours 134 (terracotta), 158 (mustard), and 180 (cranberry); I knit the hat on 5.5mm needles. I cast on 68 stitches (instead of the 64 stitches recommended in the pattern), but I think I could have safely gone up to 72 and the hat still would have fit. I originally tried 76 and that was much too big. My head is about 23" around, so I'm no Brent Butt (who quips, "My head is 27 inches around. That's too big, isn't it? In fact, you know your head's too big if you feel the need to measure it."), but according to the pattern this puts me in the L/XL head category. Anyway, the only thing I really needed to change to allow for a larger cast-on was where the earflaps were placed -- from the center of the back, I counted seven stitches, knit the earflap for another 20 stitches, count 14 stitches, and knit the second earflap for 20 stitches. Easy peasy! I have enough yarn left over that I could probably knit up a toddler-sized version of Jayne's hat for my daughter for Christmas, too. Now all I need is a Blue Sun T-shirt and I'll be all set.


This past week I also finally got around to peeling, cutting up, cooking, and puréeing this year's Hallowe'en pumpkins. One small pumpkin and about 2/3 of a larger pumpkin (the top third of the big one had gone bad) yielded about 5L of pumpkin purée, plus bit more that I set aside for my daughter. I could have had a lot more pumpkin for free after this year's Great Pumpkin Massacre (photos are from last year because I haven't had a chance to post the new ones yet), but I figured that 5L of purée was more than enough for a family of three.


Here's a sneak preview of the other things I've been working on that I haven't quite finished yet. I hope to have both done by the end of this week but I am not optimistic. I have to take the munchkin for her second dose of H1N1 vaccine today as soon as the clinic opens (which was an all-day affair last time), and tomorrow I have to be at the hospital bright and early in the morning so that a pediatric orthopedist can examine my daughter's hips. I will of course bring my knitting, so I might even get those darned socks finished, so the time won't be a total crafting loss.


To conclude today's post I would highly suggest that you check out The Complex of All of These, which is a five-minute stop-motion video about bookbinding. The video is assembled of 3000 (-ish) photographs taken over two months at the Women's Studio Workshop in Rosendale, NY. I guarantee that you will be impressed! (Found via Craft.)

I know I said I was done with all the Hallowe'en hooferah, but can I help it if my friends have now been reminded of my passion for this holiday and keep sending me interesting links?

• The leftover Hallowe'en candy pie by cakespy on Serious Eats looks both delicious and disgusting. However, I bet that most children would find this pie fabulous.
  
• Did you know that the Cadbury factory in Toronto has been doing a big Hallowe'en event at its Gladstone factory for the last 20 years? I lived in Toronto when I went to college and somehow I never found out! (Mind you, I've never gone up the CN Tower either, nor have I visited Niagara Falls. Well, once as an infant doesn't count.)
  
• I love this idea for zombie girl scout badges by Craftster user wheezyx (although it'd be on a navy blue Girl Guide sash if the zombie was Canadian). Limb reattachment, arm gnawing, lurking, brain eating... Can you earn them all?

I'm looking forward to this Christmas and what I might make for my friends. I know a lot of Browncoats (Firefly fans) and I don't think that any of them have a Jayne Cobb hat yet. What's a Jayne Cobb hat, you ask? It's the hat that the Jayne character gets in the mail from his mother in the episode The Message. You can find pictures of the hat as well as a pattern here, and another popular version of the hat here. Oh, and here's a video that explains the phenomenon somewhat. In my search for patterns I also found some fun variations on the theme:

• Big damn hooch cozy from The Anticraft
  
• Jayne Cobb hat tea cozy by harveynobum
  
• Jayne Cobb hat brooch by ax174

If you think that the hat would be a perfect gift for someone you know but you're not a knitter yourself, check out Wear With Style where they'll knit you up a Jayne hat to your specs. The queue is at least three weeks long right now so if you want a hat before Christmas you'd better order soon!

Happy Guy Fawkes Night to all! Remember remember the 5th of November indeed. I really wish we celebrated this holiday here in Canada, although I do understand that the small amount of political significance and the proximity to Hallowe'en. But bonfires and fireworks and treacle toffee sound great any time of year!



On the subject of holidays, I'm almost finished with the Hallowe'en thing, I swear! I just wanted to show off my friend Dave's awesome jack-o-lantern and my card from banchomarba1. I had forgotten how good of a cook Dave is -- we met when living in college residences with no kitchens so he didn't get to show off his mad skills at the time, and then we moved half a country away from each other. But I really, really wish I'd been able to afford to fly him in to make my wedding cake. Seriously, check out Dave's gallery. With regards to the card from banchomarba1, I think she may actually be more into Hallowe'en than I am! Now that takes work. The card reads "Nevermore. Well, never is so strong a word. I mean, never say never, right? Well, fine. Whatever." I laughed!

Now that fall holidays are coming to a close, we have to think about the upcoming winter events. Christmas is already looming on the horizon -- when you try to make a lot of your own gifts you have to start thinking about it early, especially if you have any major projects planned. I know I'll be working my hands off and shopping every weekend at the local craft fairs. Here are some of the ones I'd like to attend:

27th Annual Artisans Christmas Show
November 7th and 8th, 10:00am to 4:00pm
Sir Wilfrid Laurier Secondary School, 1515 Tenth Line Rd

Ottawa Artisans Guild Fall Exhibition and Sale
November 14th and 15th
10:00am to 4:00pm
Lester B. Pearson Catholic High School, 2072 Jasmine Cres

Cairine Wilson Christmas Craft Sale
November 21st, 9:00am to 4:00pm
Cairine Wilson Secondary School, 975 Orleans Blvd

One & Only Art & Gift Fair
November 22, 10:00am to 4:00pm
Sandy Hill Community Center, 250 Somerset St East

Ottawa Artisans Guild West End Exhibition and Sale
November 27th, 6:00pm to 9:00pm, and November 28th, 10:00am to 4:00pm
Ron Kolbus Centre (Lakesided Gardens), Britannia Park

St. Martin de Porres Craft Fair and Bake Sale
November 28th, 9:00am to 3:00pm
St. Martin de Porres School, 20 McKitrick Drive

Fisher Park Christmas Craft Sale
December 5th, 9:30 am to 3:00pm
Fisher Park Community Center, 250 Holland Ave

Cumberland Christmas Market
December 5th, 9:00am to 4:00pm
R.J. Kennedy Community Centre (Cumberland Arena), 1115 Dunning Rd

If these fairs aren't in your end of town, you can always check out your local paper or Kijiji for more events. There's something going on pretty much every weekend from now until Christmas.

Back on October 19th I announced a free giveaway of this piece hand-embroidered by yours truly. Well, I combined all of the contest entries from LiveJournal and Facebook, and I drew a name out of a hat on October 31st as promised. But I forgot to announce the winner! I blame the post-trick-or-treating sugar crash.



Congratulations Nicola! I will send you your prize as soon as I get your snail-mail address.





In related news, the pattern for the hat from which the name was drawn is up for sale in my Own Two Hands Supplies shop. I call the design a Canadian Fairy Tuque. This is the hat that I designed for my daughter to coordinate with her pumpkin fairy Hallowe'en costume. Fairies may be able to go bare-headed and bare-armed in warmer locales, but here in Canada at the end of October it's rather chilly! I liked the hat so much that I made an adult size for myself and an infant size to give to the next friend who has a baby (and coincidentally to use up the rest of the yarn from Eve's original hat). The PDF pattern includes all three sizes.



Oh, and remember back on October 28th how I was bemoaning the fact that my digital SLR camera (pictured above) was on the fritz? The camera would try to take a picture -- it would focus, the shutter would click, and the camera would pause for a second -- but nothing would save to the memory card. I tried new memory cards, I tried formatting them differently, I tried everything I could think of, but the camera still would not save the pictures I took. This meant, of course, that good camera was out of commission on Hallowe'en and I had to rely on the generosity of others for the holiday. I brought the camera into Henrys to have it repaired under warranty, and it was great that I could get it fixed for free. However, the turnaround time on this kind of repair is a minimum of four to six weeks -- and the repair department has to rush repairs through before December 17th, when everyone goes away for vacation before the new year. So if they don't get to my camera before then, then I'll have to wait until after Christmas! Aaaaaaargh! I usually take so many pictures over the holidays that it's not funny, and the little point-and-shoot that I bought recently to replace my old one that finally died just doesn't take good-quality images. I looked into getting a replacement camera body (since I still have the lenses, accessories, etc.), but I can't find anything compatible for less than $550 CAD -- definitely out of my budget. I haven't found a used DSLR in my budget either.

This isn't just a hobby, I take photos for my Etsy shop, my blog, and for some small events. I can't afford to have my only decent camera out of commission for two months, but I can't afford to replace it either. Catch 22.

Argh.

Check out my Hallowe'en photos on Flickr for more details, captions, etc.