Beautiful autumn in the beautiful Terra Cotta reserve near Toronto. The colours are out of this world.
While we were there we collected some leaves for my latest pieces. I can’t wait to show these off but I’m waiting until they’re done to share. These ones will be on Etsy!
Here is a sneak peek – stay tuned for the full posting!
I wanted to share some photos of the beautiful Annapolis Valley in Nova Scotia today – not just to show off this beautiful historic town but also to show two beautiful people – Lloyd and Sharon – the photos they helped us take. I apologize in advance for the lengthy, and image intensive post – but there was no way to just briefly talk about this amazing area.
Lloyd and Sharon are amazing, friendly folks who basically scooped us off the Annapolis wharf and offered to give us a driving tour of the valley. They were so generous with their time – it always amazes me how warm and sweet east coasters are.
Among the unexpected treats we got that day was a visit to their blueberry patch – where we ‘gleaned’ to our hearts content. Yvette was in heaven.
This watery stairway was fascinating to me. I took this photo at Victoria beach – which is a small fishing community on the Bay of Fundy. When the tide goes down these stairs are exposed so folks can use them to get down to their boats.
This wharf is at Parkers Cove – I love the way these wharfs have been built to allow for the dramatic tidal changes. The fishing wharves are a patchwork of construction with newer parts for where storms have washed older material away. The oldest parts of the wharfs are hundreds of years old in some cases.
Another view of the wharf – you can see someone walking along the top for perspective, I love this shot.
Another shot of the wharf – the tide is out so the boats are sitting on the ground.
We can’t thank Lloyd and Sharon enough, their hospitality made for a wonderful day.
Speaking of hospitality, this beautiful place is the Dragonfly Inn – we highly recommend it. Friendly folks, beautiful rooms and a short walk to the waterfront.
The town of Annapolis Royal is small, friendly and significant in Canadian history. I defer to wikipedia:
“Annapolis Royal (2006 population: 444) is a town located in the western part of Annapolis County, Nova Scotia. Known as Port Royal until the Conquest of Acadia in 1710 by Britain, the town is the oldest continuous European settlement in North America, north of St. Augustine, Florida.
The town was the capital of Acadia and later Nova Scotia for almost 150 years, until the founding of Halifax in 1749. It was attacked by the British six times before permanently changing hands after the Conquest of Acadia in 1710. Over the next fifty years, the French and their allies made six unsuccessful military attempts to regain the capital.
Including a raid during the American Revolution, Annapolis Royal faced a total of thirteen attacks, more than any other place in North America.[1″
We visited the Garrison Cemetery – there are tours at night a few times a week that are both entertaining and informative. Each person is given a lantern to carry and you go though a guided tour of the most significant gravestones. Garrison cemetery is the oldest cemetery in Canada.
Yvette and I really enjoyed our time in this town and would definitely recommend it to others looking for the perfect spot to relax and unwind in :)
Today I wanted to share a beautiful, simple technique that Tito taught me for carving relief patterns into pumpkins. It’s fun, quick and something a little different for your fall home decor.
For purposes of this tutorial I used a very small pumpkin – but this will work on any size.
You will need the same tools used for carving linoleum blocks. They’re easy to find at any art store and fairly affordable. I like to grab a few different tips while I’m at it, though I did this entire pumpkin with the tip that’s currently shown on the carving tool.
This pumpkin was a present for Tito – sort of a Hallowe’en valentine :) So I started by writing ‘Amor’ on my pumpkin which is Spanish for ‘Love’.
I then got to work widening my letters and starting the filigree. Pumpkin gives the perfect resistance to carving, so even someone who does not have a steady hand can do fairly intricate carving. I like to work free-form, but you can also start your design by tracing it out with a pencil.
My inspiration for the design was based around the mendhi that my cousin Dolly had done on my hands in India. It’s a recurring theme in my work, even in my pottery.
I took my time and put in a lot of detail. It’s kind of meditative ;)
And voila! They make lovely home decorations and gifts – Tito loved his. We will enjoy having it on our kitchen counter this Autumn :)
What a busy weekend! It was the perfect weekend – full of family, friends and crafty pursuits. I couldn’t have asked for a better thanksgiving.
On Saturday Tito and I drove to a an alpaca farm that he found online – Alpaca Acres in Stratford Ontario. Yes, he sleuthed out an alpaca farm for me and drove me there as a treat. I tell ya, the man is a keeper ;)
While there we were treated to a tour by the owners Ann and Dan. They are amazing, friendly folk who really love their animals and have raised award winning Alpacas. After speaking with them I had a whole new appreciation for what it takes to raise healthy, happy alpacas.
We learned lots of interesting things about how to care for Alpacas, and got to feed them some treats. They are friendly, inquisitive animals with the softest wool.
This gossipy looking Alpaca with the white stripe on her head is named Sandy. Ann sells her yarn with the name of the animal it came from (how cool is that?) so instead of matching up dye lots you match up who the wool came from. I treated myself to a sweaters worth of ‘Sandy’.
This beautiful design by Erin Harper (Ravelry ID, Project Page) is called the New York Cardigan, and I think it’s the perfect pattern for all this gorgeous Alpaca. I already swatched for it and I think it’ll be a perfect match!
We enjoyed ourselves immensely and will definitely be coming back for more yarn. I love that I can get high quality yarn that’s soft as anything, from amazing people, while supporting an Ontario farm and knowing that I’m buying sustainable yarn with a low carbon footprint. I foresee many visits to Stratford in our future :)
“Be a yardstick of quality. Some people aren’t used to an environment where excellence is expected”
-Steve Jobs
Annapolis Royal is a beautiful small town on the Bay of Fundy – and a historically significant one for Canada as well. The town deserves it’s own post – but today I wanted to focus on highlighting the incredible tides you can see from it’s waterfront.
The Bay of Fundy divides the provinces of Nova Scotia and New Brunswick and is known for having the highest tidal range in the world. Off the waterfront of Annapolis Royal I spent 2 beautiful days taking before and after photos of the tidal changes.
In this part of the Bay of Fundy the tide changes an average of 27 feet every 6 hours. Further up the bay it goes as high as a 55 foot difference. It is a truly remarkable phenomenon and I hope through these photos to show how incredible the difference is.
The Bay of Fundy is a finalist in the vote for 7 Natural Wonders of the world. You can read all about it, and vote here. The folks at Annapolis Royal are proud of their dramatic tides, and one of the things I hope to accomplish with these photos is to inspire more folks to vote for the bay of Fundy – it truly is a natural wonder. While you’re at it you can read about the other candidates – many of them are awe inspiring in their own right.
The folks at Annapolis have learned to work around their tides, tying their boats so they don’t tip over and ensuring a constant feed of rope that lengthens as the boat drops as the tide goes out.
To explain the effect I defer to wikipedia ;)
” Oceanographers attribute it to tidal resonance resulting from a coincidence of timing: the time it takes a large wave to go from the mouth of the bay to the inner shore and back is practically the same as the time from one high tide to the next. During the 12.4 hour tidal period, 115 billion tonnes of water flow in and out of the bay.[6]“
While the tide was out Yvette and I couldn’t resist a few goofy shots as well;
For perspective, Yvette is exactly 6′ tall. You can see the high tide mark way above our heads. It takes only 6 hours to reach that mark from low tide – watching the speed at which it comes in is also incredible.
More about this beautiful town and the amazing Bay of Fundy coming soon!
I just got back from the east coast and I think I’ve taken some of my best photos ever. I’ve shot Canada coast to coast, and though the mountains in the west coast are lovely, give me the maritime provinces any day; the warmth of the people and the beauty of the landscape are incomparable.
Without further ado here is the first of a few posts on my trip. On this post I’d like to get opinions on a photo I think is of the northern lights. I was shooting the milky way from Annapolis Royal at night when I decided to take a shot due north and this is what showed up in the camera….
Reasons for believing these are northern lights:
Preparing for another trip – leaving tomorrow morning for the beautiful east coast. I will finally see Nova Scotia, which will leave Saskatchewan as the only province I haven’t shot yet (province, mind you, I’ve got plans for the territories!). At this point, having not seen Nova Scotia yet, it is my humble opinion that Newfoundland is the most beautiful province I’ve ever been to – not to mention the friendliest. Here are some of my favourite shots of this gorgeous province.
Giant icebergs drift serenely past in the cove.
The lighthouse at Fort Amherst.
The walk up Signal Hill can be a bit tricky – luckily for us there were chains ;)
Jellybean houses on a typical, crazy, St. John’s hill.
The beautiful neighbourhood of the battery – where staunch Newfoundlanders have built their homes right into the cliff face.
A puffin – cutest bird ever! Folks down east refer to them as ‘Flying Potatoes’ I can see why they think so.
And another shot of the Battery – have an amazing week and I’ll post some lovely photos of beautiful Nova Scotia when I come home =D
My latest knitted goodie – the caplet from the cover of this issue of Vogue Knitting. Knit all in TFA Green Label Charcoal It’s my first Vogue pattern and my first time knitting from a chart. Ravelry project page here:
I learned a lot knitting this one; for example I learned that if you’re knitting from a chart for the first time it’s probably not ok to photograph the chart with your iphone and assume that this little bit of information will be enough for you to knit through a long road trip. I began the pattern cabling to the back instead of the front, with the result that I ended up having to mirror the entire thing and rewrite the chart.
Though it took me 6 tries I’m glad for the experience. It made me stop reading from a pattern and think about how cables actually work – so I could figure out how to make the rest of the pattern look like the photo. It’s one of the more complex things I’ve made and I’m pretty proud of it!
I love working with TFA yarn for projects like this – the stitch definition is so beautiful it really shows off all your hard work. The charcoal colour makes this a perfect accessory and easy to wear. The tie at the top allows me to cinch it up and slip it over a sweater for a little extra warmth or open it up and slip it over my coat to dress it up. I’m sure it will turn into a winter wardrobe staple for me.
Speaking of winter, if you caught the quote in my title then yes, I am finally reading a Game of Thrones, and yes it’s as good as I’ve heard ;)
Quickie post tonight as I blog from Calgary where it is colder and darker than it has any right to be.
These earrings were made last week, out of a new product that BeadFX is carrying – these lovely little antique brass spheres with embedded swaovski crystals :)
I love them :) Instant wardrobe staple.
The Blue Brick 