T minus ZERO

It's SPRING!

Yesterday I went outside to see if the neighbour's dog was defecating once again in my driveway and four hours later I was still pulling dead wood out of the forest to build a "fence" around the lower bit of my yard that runs along the road. The different family members came out to take turns telling me how nuts I was and that if I thought that a four foot high wall of sticks was going to keep the four year old in check, I would need to add barbed wire. Little did D know that in fact I do intend to add a deterrent... how long do blackberries take to grow?

future garden party

 I am beyond excited to see the forest emerging from the snow, bit by bit. I really want to create useable space (for garden parties of course!) throughout the yard and while it has the potential to be beautiful and woodlandy, it is currently the unfortunate creation of too many past tenants who neglected to do anything but let the branches fall where they may. I found four year's worth of X Christmas trees, six bags of moss and yard waste buried under last year's maple leaves and the remnants of at least a few bear visits. "The Bear," which all of my neighbours have now told me about, apparently nicks the garbage in the area and holes up under the massive fir tree in the back corner of the property to indulge in old yogurt and stale bread... won't get into the nastier bits, this is a nice and happy Spring post... :) Going to have to do something about that though.

The high point of my day was finding the snowdrops peeking out from beneath the snow and leaves. Spring is truly here!

I have a few other Spring Fever thoughts. One is that I am intent on updating my wardrobe with the nicer weather. This whole concept of finding any part at all of my pre-child body is just going to have to give way to the fact that I have a crappy closet.

I just happen to have found a few happy pieces in the new Lilikoi Spring collection which fits my bill of local, eco, and GORGEOUS! I also might be a bit biased because the model she has used this time is just friggen' stunning. I may even have to do a red hair rinse and start wearing makeup again...

Another Spring thought, is that wedding season is once again upon us... so I have done some tweaking to the other blog. It used to be a NON-blog... essentially a place where I put stuff so that I had someplace to send people who were looking for info on the Celebration Quilts that I do. A recent setback in the social department left me with some time on my hands and the need to occupy my brain, so I have been diligently slogging away to rehabilitate my NON-blog into an actual blog. I can use it as a place to deposit those strange but intense needs to peruse and research that industry. Try as I might, I simply cannot get it out of my system. If you would like to give me some ideas or feedback, please do. I feel very OLD when I post wedding info because I have no idea how to include words like "adorbs" and "gorge" in my vocabulary. Nor am I able to commit to rhyming Shoesday with Tuesday. But I think I will be able to hold my own ;)

In the bridal department, there have been some very interesting ideas unfolding. Purely by accident, I was put into touch with the right people at the right time, and some VERY EXCITING things are in the works. Funny how life works like that. Sometimes you have to take something out of the equation to allow room for the new. Now, if only I could take care of that dog. Do you think capturing him and shaving him bald would teach the them a lesson? I hesitate to punish the dog for his owner's rudeness. Perhaps I will wait till the warmer weather for that...

Zzzzzzzzzzzzzzz In Style

Are we all very aware of Eileen Fisher's new collaborative effort for Garnet Hill? We should be. I know we don't have a bunch of money to throw around right now... yours truly is especially trying hard to focus on things other than the meagre coin in my bank account. However! IF you were going to splurge on something, I feel strongly that a decent, NAY, a blissful night's slumber is most worthy. And I have been coveting a really lovely set of linen sheets for quite some time. But then I stumbled upon bamboo and the entire mission got sort of derailed. I was watching the Anthro set for awhile, but these... well dear readers, THESE are just too beautiful. There is something about the double fringe, frayed edge that I just adore. Yummy.


They come in shades of this spring's pretty palette of melons and dew and I believe I saw some cucumber in there too. Sort of like a doable luncheon platter. Refreshing would be the term I believe.

Right, and while we are on the topic of redecorating schemes that I cannot afford currently (although there is certainly nothing wrong with mentally refurbishing the abode that resides in my head, is there?) I think it is only fair to add the recycled leather mats and the eco fill silk duvet. Just for kicks, no?



Oh, hey... did I mention... SALE? Yeah.

... Up Where the Air is Clear

So today I casually brought up the idea of planning a treehouse for next year at my parents new property. I have always wanted to build a tree folly and I believe every child should grow up with one but until now we simply did not have a place to put one. While my boys would most likely be happy with a ladder and a platform (and a coat of turquoise paint as my six year old is intent on adding as much colour to the world as possible...) I have always come at a project with the "go big or go home" mentality.


A few years ago I became obsessed with the Duchess of Northumberland's tree castle at the Alnwick Gardens. The project was a collaboration with the Prince of Whales to create what was to become the largest public gardens in Europe and the creativity and talent that went into them is nothing less than astounding. I followed their progress until the website changed over to basic tourist information. Many of the photos were unfortunately removed, but if you are ever able to put this on the itinerary for an excursion, I believe it would be more than worthwhile!




Not so long ago, the spherical treehouses from Free Spirit Spheres that originated on Saltspring Island (a place I once lived) made the rounds on sites such as Inhabitat and other design oriented blogs.

These are funky... still not my style though.

But these! Now this is something I could spend a great deal of time in... hell, this is something I could throw a great deal of martini socials in! I'm sold. They are prefabricated in Germany and I may have to sell a kidney just to cover the shipping, but there are some things in life that you just have to sacrifice for...

Baumraum has created dwellings that sit amongst the treetops in countries all over Europe and as far as the U.S. and Brazil. Just a trip through the galleries on their site has me dreaming of what fantastic things can be done thinking outside, and in this case, waaaaaay above, the box.

What do you suppose the chances of hoisting a retrofitted Airstream into a tree are? Fabulous, me thinks.

Now You See It...

I have run into an issue with my studio and my EPIC party has been put on hold. I am fine with this because I have a million and one things to be getting done and thinking about pink pastries should not be topping the list. It will be a couple more weeks.


In the meantime, whilst diligently doing my eco research, I have run across this GORGEOUS artwork by Nicole Dextras. I ran across her visuals in a completely unrelated search on sustainable fabric dying and lo and behold, she turns out to be a graduate from our local art college, Kootenay School of the Arts! I come from Vancouver BC originally and am accustomed to high standards in most creative fields, (the west coast is pretty much saturated with stunning scenery and high profile artists flock like so many pigeons...) but can honestly say that the work that comes out of that school is really a cut above. Anyway, her open-to-the-public studio is on Granville Island which automatically gives her credence and as you can see in these photos, she is worth taking a look at so I plan to visit the next time I am in Van!


Nicole's work is ephemeral art, which means that it is by nature (no pun intended) made to be impermanent. The work is created, photographed and left to do it's thing. I am so taken by how such a simple idea can create such a lovely image, but then, simple is usually the most beautiful.

In her Iceworks collection, the folds of fabric and garments frozen in place or in blocks of ice create a stunning texture and "movement" and play of light.

That said, the detail in her Summer Weedrobe's layering of leaves, bark, flowers and twigs create a depth that leaves (oh, another one!) you with a glorious fairytale feeling.

So lovely!

You can see more and I believe purchase prints from her website here. I hope you like!