Fred&Toots

Done

I have finished scanning all the family slides from the building of the family cabin back in 1957.  It has only taken me about a year to do and there were just over 50 pictures but the scanning sure takes time!  So, one more thing off that list I posted so very long ago.  I was planning on having them developed and put in a nice photo album to have at the cabin but I think I'm going to Qoop it!  I can't say the slides are as clear as I would have liked but at this point I'm out of patience to re-scan.  My scanner is an hp scanjet 3670 so don't know if it's a scanner thing or the resolution I was scanning at (600dpi @ 300%).  The age of the slides are probably most definately a factor as well.  Any tips?   

Anyhoo, here are a couple of my favourites:

This picture is of my Gramma Olof (on right) here with 6 of her 8 sisters!

and the husbands...

The boat in the background is the "Miss Mae", named after my Mom (Mae is her middle name and my daughter's middle name too).

Imagine them all down at the cabin which is just a block from the beach and they're all in slacks and dresses.  What a fancy bunch!

Happy Weekend!

List Re-Visited

When I started this blog I started off with a list of things to do as a way to get me moving.  Most of the things on the list have been completed and/or dealt with in one way or another so time for a new list!   

1. frame & mat several prints that keep getting moved from pile to pile
2. paint shed & eaves of house (have to wait for the weather to be consistently nice)
3. prep & paint bedroom
4. repair & paint old desk 

Well, I think that's more than enough for now...lots of painting!

Here is one of the prints that's been in line for awhile now to get framed up.  It's a card I bought when in Mexico last year.  I really liked the colours and simplicity of it.

Sabrosos Tacos/Delicious Tacos
Colección - México en acuarelas
Christine Otharan

 

Bedroom Make-Over

Thank you all for your suggestions left in the comments section and phoned in!  With some things I just feel so confident in choosing a colour but for some reason I've been having trouble with my room so nice to have some constructive feedback.  As it stands now, yellow has been vetoed.  I love how yellow looks in Erin's living room but it is a larger space with a lot more natural light...things one must consider.  So now I'm leaning towards a taupe, something to pick up on the bedding.  Diane has kindly loaned me her personal Benjamin Moore Colour System for perusal!  It's like opening a new box of crayons, all those wonderful colours with such great names.  I think if I wasn't sharing a room with J.T. I would probably go for Tofino Sunset, a very pretty shade of pink! 

In the meantime, made some of those glass magnets the other night out of some great stock illustration stickers that J.T. brought home from work awhile ago.

and anything to keep me from my chores...check out my favourites over at flickr!

List Revisited

When I started this blog I didn't know where to begin so I thought a list would be helpful.  I started right away with #1 on the list and then kind of lost interest.  Anyhow, we're going away for the holidays and relatives will be staying in our house while we're gone.  I now look at my cupboards and everything in my house differently.  I ask myself, "If I didn't live here would I be able to find anything?"  The answer is "No".  I'm now on a cleaning frenzy attacking one cupboard at a time as well as other lovely nooks & crannies including the top of the fridge (my brother-in-law is well over 6ft.)  Lo & behold, what should I find abandoned up there but a chipped up chick.  I did the best I could with him and remembered why I started to repair him in the first place and realized that without really thinking about it I had finished other things on my list as well:

#1 on the list:
Getting his legs back on proved to be too difficult a task, one I did not have any patience for so his legs are tucked up inside for now.

Here is his new perch...

#2 on the list:
New Fall hats for the kids...sorry about the lack of detail in this picture due partly to photographer and partly to subject matter...Zoë's hat is black with pink stripes.  Cam's is black with a skull on it.  Used my own pattern for hat with the skull motif from Debbie Stoller's Stitch n' Bitch Nation cuff pattern.

Last but not least, #8 on the list:
My Grandpa Herman made this dollhouse for me when I was about 5 or 6.  I needed to re-glue the wallpaper and re-shingle the roof. 

#3 to 7 on the list are now underway...somewhat.

Hall Mural

This was a design I did for a possible mural for my very bare hall.  Taking inspiration from my surroundings, Hanna Werning and Corel Draw (I know, Corel what? What can I say, I like clip-art).  It needs some fine tuning so for now it will have to do as my new header.

Chick

Number one on my list is in the process of getting back together.  I'm stuck though.  I only have a few more pieces to glue but it has been much trickier than expected.  Some may ask why bother?  Well, he was a wedding gift and at the time he seemed silly (among all the new casserole dishes and pots & pans) but there was something about him.  He was given to me by my Mom's good friend, the first person to ever change my diaper!  I have taken such good care of him for the past 8 years.  He was always sitting high on a shelf observing us all.  Without thinking I put the gingerbread house we made at Christmas beside Chick, high on the shelf.  My son who was three at the time managed to reach that level and needed to move Chick in order to access a few gumdrops.

Projects

I have a ton of things I need to get to, complete.  Partially finished projects nag at me so must get to it.  I hate to admit how long these things have been waiting to get done.  This list is in part a way to encourage me to get things done so then I can get onto fun stuff like Claire's Month of Softies.  My reasoning is that if I have this list out in the open for all to see including myself I'll be more motivated.  Hmmm, testing 1, 2, 3!

1. glue together porcelain chick that fell off the shelf
2. knit up hats for the kids to wear this fall
3. paint shed/paint eaves of house
4. reupholster cat-scratched chair  (just took off the part that was cat-scratched so will do for now)
5. frame & mat 2 prints that keep getting shoved under different piles
6. finish scanning slides for family cabin photo album (halfway there - 1st need to upgrade hard drive)
7. repair old drawers that J.T. found for me (now on John's list)
8. repair my childhood dollhouse for Zoë & Cam

Wow, that list isn't long at all!  It felt so much longer in my mind.  Here we go!