A Haiku

Even though I started this blog for Etsy, I just wanted to mention this here, too...

I won a poetry contest!

http://www.vcbf.ca/haiku/2012-winning-haiku

It's sort of silly, but it does accept worldwide entries, which are judged over several months by at least one real established poet. So at least it's a legitimate contest of a decent scale. Plus I suppose entries support our local Vancouver Cherry Blossom Festival by "raising awareness" (definitely a silly phrase, but I digress).

This could almost bring me out of the slump I've been in since I received my last rejection letter (because I stopped submitting fiction afterwards >:P) in late 2011. But I was surprised to find that what made me happier than winning was seeing the "like"s from my former wordsmith coworkers. Of course the little thumbs on Facebook don't mean much -- I spam them all the time -- but these are people who work with words themselves, and who usually don't "like" my inconsequential Facebook posts.

My heart is warm, even if my 1-bedroom is not. ("Utilities included" my arse.)

Anyway, my 2011 entries for the haiku invitational didn't even get an honourable mention, so this year I'll be content with 2nd place.

Next year, though... ;)

Photo Updates

Just added a new item to my Etsy shop:

I've finally gotten settled in at my new place, where the house is facing the "right" direction so that I don't have to leave the blinds down every day to keep out the blinding sun. Of course, as you can see, my photos are now suffering from the change. :P

It's a lot quieter here, so I've actually been very productive... I've already made a pair of floor cushions for my new living room, and finished a bunch of old projects -- including a coaster/place mat I've been putting off for about two years now (look under the plate below).

A huge chunk of my day is more or less wasted on cleaning (because the previous tenant stank and the place still sometimes stinks) and cooking (I made an ugly stack of ugly pancakes! XD), but over all I think I've been making better use of my free time.

 

I've tried several new tea houses already, including the above, which opened just last month.

And here are two of the new projects I've started:

A bit of cross stitching, even though I haven't completed my first piece (a traditional bookmark) yet, and a small teddy bear.

The needlework probably won't be appearing in my shop, because I used a pattern (gasp) and haven't significantly altered it -- at least, not yet. I did in fact alter the face to make the bear cuter, but I've also let the candle's flame get into the poor fellow's eye...

Here are a few less embarrassing photos:

Matcha cupcakes, made with about $12 worth of matcha (plus Mexican vanilla), and later served with English Devon cream. :]

Aaand a little gift I made for the buyer who brought the little Jack-o'-Lantern home! The apple is only about 2/8th of an inch tall.

Which reminds me... Hallowe'en is almost here again! It's my favourite day of the year, but having made my own costumes several years in a row, I've also been getting a lot more stressed out over it. Especially because, after Hallowe'en 2011, I had made up my mind to go as Snow White this year, but now two REALLY, REALLY TERRIBLE Snow White movies have come out...

Back to Etsy!

First things first, I've made a treasury on Etsy for the first time in months. It is ballet-themed, but not too childish... Enjoy!



Last Saturday, our ballet school held a "bling party" for the adults. Basically everyone brought a bit of craft supplies or just broken jewelry and beads, and we set them all out in paper plates on a huge table right in the studio. Then we fired up the glue guns! (I brought a boxful of thread and needles, of course.)

I'm sad to say that this is the first time I've ever sat and made pretty things with other women. :/  The craft groups or events around here are always 1) hipster knitters, 2) seniors at a senior centre, or 3) intended for small children.

It really was a lot of fun! If only Vancouver were more like... say, London, I could do this a lot more often.

Here is a terrible photo of the hair combs I made:

I felt like making roses that day, so they are both formed around hand-stitched satin roses. I made the blue rose out of a scrap of reptile satin left over from my Hallowe'en mermaid costume, and the mauve rose out of a bit of ribbon.






After the serious sewing part was done, I added feathers, tulle, beads, pearls, and lace with hot glue! Can you believe I haven't touched a glue gun since grade 1? Oh technology. :P

Here's one of them in my ballet bun -- but they'd work with various hairstyles (J. tested a feather haircomb our teacher made, and it held fast and looked great in her loose hair):






We stayed for about two hours, and then I had to rush off to a barbecue, so I finished this green one at home:





They are all available for sale! Full proceeds go towards the Barbara Ann Hutton School of Ballet. ;)

I also made this plush strawberry house as a "thank you" gift for the couple (and their toddler) who invited us over for said barbecue:

(Around the base is a strip of white lace that reminded me of a white picket fence!)

July Update: Ballet Recital Over!

I didn't add anything new to my Etsy shop in June, either, but of course I had a good reason:

Our annual ballet recital (my first, actually) on June 23 went off without a hitch! (I'm at the very front in the photo above.)

The adult class "prepared" by seeing the Mikhailovsky Ballet's production of Swan Lake together the week before, on June 16. It was beautiful... I think Swan Lake is now my favourite ballet. ;)

The dress rehearsal was terrible, actually, with everyone forgetting their steps and places, and my being too fast as usual while the girls who, frankly, didn't rehearse enough, being too slow... but somehow, after a week of panicking and last-minute "Ohmygod which leg am I supposed to lift here?"s, everything came together!

Here we are performing our first group piece of the program: Fall.

Up next (for me, anyway, since I had no solos this year) was a demo of the barre exercises we did in class...

And then everyone's favourite: Giselle!

(I'm the foremost person on the right, in the above photo ;D)

And here I am at the end of the day, looking sweaty and pink and entirely flat-chested (hahah), with three classmates to my right. <3

I'm also glad to see that ballet is rising in popularity again, as shows like "Breaking Pointe" (now an integral part of my Thursday schedule) and "Bunheads", plus films like Black Swan and First Position (premiering in Canada in July or August!) are popping up everywhere... even though I'm still having trouble convincing friends and coworkers to take up beginner ballet.

But with only a few classes left in ballet summer school, it won't be long before I'm making things for my shop again! I can hardly wait!

May is Over?

Oh dear. I've postponed the vacation pictures for so long that I haven't posted about anything else since April! I will get back to posting regularly once our June 23rd ballet recital is over.

For now, here's a quick image-heavy post to cover the end of April, all of May, and beginning of June. XD

 

I went to Victoria for Easter break and visited another castle! My first "real" Victoria trip with Raccoon (as opposed to quick weekend excursions) took place 2 to 3 years ago, when we visited Craigdarroch Castle and the Royal BC Museum.

This time, we got to see everything we couldn't fit into that first trip.

 

The castle grounds were just gorgeous. At least half of our few hundred photos were taken there.

We also visited this former nun school. It was too large to fit into one shot, but this is about 1/3 to 1/2 of the full building. I love the history and opulence of the place.

I'm not religious at all, but I think it's reasonable to say most people can admire Catholic iconography on an aesthetic level.

There was a meadow of unidentified star-shaped flowers outside, as well as smaller patches of bluebells, daffodils, buttercups, and (my favourite? :P) dandelions scattered about elsewhere.

This yellow dollhouse was the home of a prominent Canadian painter and writer. I really enjoyed walking around the beautiful heritage house, especially seeing or imagining what she had mentioned in her semi-autobiographical short stories and novels.

No trip to Victoria, however brief, is complete without tea at the Empress!

I also brought back some beautiful Irish linen and Belgium lace (handmade by true artisans!).

And of course, we tried the macarons from a local bakery. I'm not going to mention the name because they weren't very good (too hard, hollow, and lightly flavoured), but aren't the colours pretty? Perfect for Easter! ;)


Speaking of macarons, I tried the ones from Plasir Sucre in Vancouver yesterday:

Despite the flies crawling around beside them (...), we ordered one of each, plus some fruit tarts. The brand of tea they had wasn't very good at all, but the tarts were delicious.

The macarons, however, were uneven in quality. Of the six we had, two were dry and crumbly, two were soft and a little mushy, and two were the proper consistency. Since the owner didn't indicate the flavours, we had trouble identifying the odd aftertaste of the chocolate macaron, and the WHOLE taste of the strange peppery one. (It tasted like steak.)

It was a lovely afternoon, though!

And lest this becomes a "What I did this weekend" blog, here are two pictures from a visit to some iris fields in Washington (US) that show the bow-and-shorts set I made myself.

The thing on my head is a double bow with cotton lace on a flexible fabric-covered band. The bloomers (puffy shorts) are the same, with a vintage-style red resin rose on a lace bow on each side.

100% cotton fabric and cotton lace, completely hand-sewn without a machine. I spent about three days at work (the boss was away :P) and two evenings on them... while multi-tasking, of course.

What I've learnt from this latest project is that I SHOULD GO BUY A SEWING MACHINE.

I plan to keep my Etsy shop handsewn and OOAK, but for things I make for myself -- and I mean human-sized clothing and bags -- there is really no point in putting so much time and care into them!