This was one of the pieces that inspired my woven piece.

It was done by my classmate Liz.

mille de (photos) from school

For our final design project, our instructor Eleanor Hannan guided us through a way of evaluating our method of design and examining our process. Some of the themes were: the quest to find the materials, to create the garment in silence and to come to terms with things that must remain "unfinished".
This is the first work I've done on a floor loom. My piece is called "Ocean Girl". It was inspired by the eight or so years living very much ON the ocean. From the age of 18-26 my work took me to various coastlines of the world. While my mailing address changed every month or so to whichever post office we were docked closest to, the one constant was the sea beneath me. The colours are all tones found in and around the sea...kelp green, med and carib blues. The turquoise was hand dyed, all the rest were remnants from my knitting basket at home. A classmate suggested that I construct sleeves, and make it into a wrap. It seems right. Since childhood I have had a special kinship with water in general and 'the sea'.

Messy, fast portraits from design.

The reverse applique.

A rainy day at Capilano, taken I think one of the days we were scouting locations for our Christo project.

The plan for my poppy duvet, with my before sleep prayer.

Tech Help?

Um...so I don't know what I do to this blog, sometimes. The little comment thingy is MIA. Does anybody know how to fix it? (It's nice to chit chat.)

my awesome mama

My mom turns 62 today. It's just after midnight and I've snuck home to wake up here to eat breakfast with her in the morning. Here she poses with her favorite child Jules.
Pama and Matt and I joke about Jeff being her favorite, but the truth is...I am.

Some of the things I like best about her are these:
1. That when we were young and she would feel it necessary to punish us, the punishment wouldn't last too long. And it would usually end with her taking us for an ice cream out in Rosedale.

2. She cares for animals. Even the ones that kick her and throw her off. She seems to spend extra time with the ones who have issues.

3. She's not easy charmed. She somehow sees through whatever exterior (either rough or slick) people display, to the heart of what's really going on.

4. She's not that great of a driver (something I've learned in the past couple of weeks, that she comes by honestly), but has given us and her grandkids all some decent memories of 4x ing out at the river in the back of the pickup truck.

5. There's almost always some good dark chocolate stashed somewhere.

6. She doesn't take her age too seriously. I used to say she always seemed about 36 to me.
Lately I've been telling her that she doesn't look a day over 70, to which she replies, "Well Kimkid you better watch out, cause you're going to look exactly like me."

7. She's not romantic. I'm not sure why I like that but I do. She's the real deal.

8. She grows sweet peas for me every year, so I can come home and pick bunches of them.

9. She likes a good 'who dunnit'.

10. She gave me three of the most diverse siblings one could imagine, which means things are rarely boring.

Yeah. She's cool.

some wonderful things to come home to

The beautiful Aida is born. I got to meet her when she was three days old.

She actually smiles. Check out her grinning proudly of her wonderful mom and dad.
A nice cup of tea with my sweet God Daughter, Irina and her mom Judy at the Liberty Bakery on Main Street. Irina is delighted to be chomping the ears of her rabbit.

A wonderful Palm Sunday. Owen is not sure about all the palm branches.

This Sunday in particular was so glorious. So much good stuff happening all in one day!

some pics from our family trip to Ontario

kiera and i playing
our friend's daughter mika sporting one of my hats
my cousin Shannon
Us waiting in Calgary in the middle of the night.
Waiting waiting...
Shannon and her daughter Kiera.
My Aunt Marion, and cousin Wyatt's little guy Cameron.
Jeff was really missing his little guy Kolby and so played tractors with Kiera for a few minutes.
Kiera, Kyle and Claire. Claire is one of the coolest kids, i've met in a long time.
My cousin Wendy's husband Richie, Jeff and Matt.

Matt and Mom at Matt's first preschool.A closer upper.
Our idyllic "back yard" in Ontario. For those of you who have been reading my blog a long long time...this would be the site of the infamous "dragging" of yours truly, behind the snowmobile....when my nine year old bro Jeff, urged me (a four year old) to "not let go!"
Pam and Jeff smokin at Pam's old high school.

Mom and I posing with the wildlife in the middle of the night at Calgary Airport.
Ditto.
Ah ....the backyard...again.
Pam with one of her childhood friends, Angie.
Angie being hugged, by everyone in the van.

It was fun riding around all 6 of us...sort of had a

"little miss sunshine" quality to it.

a tired mom and kim fly home (there?) I've lost track.

The flying days were worse than crossing oceans. So many stops and middle seat assignments.

jeffy surprised my mom by being able to come too.
It kind of changed the focus somewhat from it being a sad trip,
to my mom having all her kids in her sight at once...something she likes SO much.

my mom and her dear friend kathy, in the middle of the night
waiting for what seemed like a long time in calgary.
jeff, dad and our friend gary, the ever gracious

airport picker uper.

rivers and tides

when i was a little kid, the way i would play would be to go through my toys and books, putting them into some kind of symmetry / balance.

these past few weeks have so full. joyful - i met aida last night, a beautiful 5 day old girl, and witnessed a glorious milestone in the lives of two of my best friends this morning. sorrowful - i said goodbye to my grandma.

i feel like i need a good long day at the beach playing in the stones. spending time in the quiet to replenish.

but not yet, maybe in another week and a half or so. i need to dig back into my term paper for art history and when i have that wrapped i should start thinking about what kind of yardage i'd like to create for surface design, and then what to choose for my final weaving project, and then actually get going on it. i'm not complaining. these things all bring me delight, but yes...still lots more to see to, before the beach.

a few years ago my friend elise called from chicago to tell me about a beautiful film they'd just watched with her dad. it was called rivers and tides, and told the story of andy goldsworthy a cool guy from Yorkshire (the same place my mom's dad was born) he creates time sensitive peices outside from the things children play with: leaves and stones, ice and twigs. Matthew sent me a card of his leaves a year or so ago and just two weeks ago i finally got to see the film. it's good. it speaks volumes so quietly.

this picture above is his too.