summer reading

this post could also be called 'restrain oneself from kissing postal delivery person'. i was so thrilled to get the mail on monday - a gigantic box of books and even my favourite sewing magazine delivered to my door. most of these books have been on the bookstore shelves for some time but not on my own shelves. i've needed a little fresh inspiration and these are scratching that itch. this september (in one month!) i will be able to focus on my interior design business thanks to all-day kindergarden.

i am really enjoying lisa soloman's 'knot,thread,stitch'. great projects, clear instructions, and lots of encouragement to try stitching your own way. i can't wait to transfer some of my kids' drawings onto pillows for them. and to get them started on a little hand stitching of their own.

lest you think i've been only reading books with pictures, here's a list of what i've read this summer on my kobo ereader and from the library. and no, i have not succumbed to reading any of the 'fifty shades of grey' books - yet.

summer reading list 2012 (in no particular order):

the birth house - ami mckay
cutting for stone - abraham verghese
the descendents - kaui hart hemmings
freedom - jonathan franzen
irma voth - miriam toews
let's pretend this never happened - jenny lawson
the sense of an ending - julian barnes
the sentimentalists - johann skibsrud
the shoemaker's wife - adriana trigiani
the sisters brothers - patrick dewitt
this is how: overcoming shyness,... - ausgusten burroughs
committed - elizabeth gilbert
the 100-mile diet - alisa smith and j.b. mackinnon
life a user's manual - georges perec

if i keep going at this pace i may need a new prescription for my glasses...

R.I.P. Maurice Sendak



from wikipedia

from gwarlingo

sad to wake up to the news that maurice sendak has passed away. his books were read over and over and over to me when i was a kid and it's been my great pleasure to read them over and over and over to my own children. thank you for the wonderful stories and illustrations.

domino magazine

domino

i have almost every issue of domino (2005-2009) carefully stored in my craft closet -  right alongside every one of martha stewart's blueprint magazines (2006-2008). while i've managed to edit the massive dwell 'mountain' down to one thick binder, every time we move or reorganize i struggle with the decision to donate or keep the full issue magazines. surely i am not the only person hoarding back issues of domino.

it was with great anticipation that i awaited the arrival of this issue, trolling the magazine aisles in the grocery store this week to get my hot little hands on my very own copy. I'd hoped for an entirely new issue as inspiring as the original but it's a bit of a rehash. i feel a little let down. maybe i'm just a little jaded - there's an awful lot to 'see' out there on the internet and a massive increase in lifestyle/interior design/shelter blog content. surely the online access to instant inspiration has had something to do with the decline in print publications. living in a small house, being mostly self-employed on a tight 'fun money' allowance, as well as trying to tread a little more lightly on the earth has meant that i have been much more selective in what i buy. and sometimes it's just that i want to come up with my very own ideas without any outside influence and that can't occur when there's no break from outside influences.

that being said, i am looking forward to sitting down with a cup of tea and getting to know this new/old friend.



inspiration in progress



available here or here or your local bookstore

my tools



i've been feeling a little overwhelmed by all the great stuff on the internet. it can be so inspiring but also be very intimidating. we chose not to have cable tv back in september and it's been great but my time on the computer has greatly increased. i'm going to step back from viewing so much and fill the time with more making.

sometimes i need a little kick or shove to get me motivated. this talk by kate bingaman-burt on creative mornings is very inspiring. constraints or self-imposed rules can create a framework to force creativity. who hasn't done some of their best work while pulling an all-nighter?

keri smith has published several brilliant books to expand imaginations and fuel creativity and her latest, F INISH TH S B  K, is no exception. they really bring out the kid in me and take me back to the times i made my own books or created treasure hunt maps or made dollhouses out of old boxes. my daughter absolutely loves Tear Up This Book. i don't know that i will show anyone my finished book but it is a lot of fun to work on and gives me a little creative goal every day.

books

my birthday was lovely. a transformer (to play with my little boy), an itunes card (to buy more disco music to educate my big boy with), and a book (to read with my girl). but the one thing i can't seem to put down is the kobo reader. when i ask "have you seen my books?" the family knows just what item i'm in search of. it's pretty fantastic to have a ton of books literally at my fingertips. the little pouch i made the next day so i can carry it with me always. i found the tutorial on sew mama sew.

research

available through Chronicle Books

my husband has taken the kids away for the weekend. i had some time today to prepare. which would normally mean: buy wine, magazines, and snacks and also to clean and tidy the house so that i could enjoy it all to myself in a pristine state. i only managed to get to the book store but they had the book i was hunting for - creative, inc. and i am enjoying it. the previous book, craft, inc. also has a lot of great advice.

my new computer is taking up a lot of my time. i love love love it. and i don't know quite how, but i managed to find all the data from our entire (and i mean entire) photo files and install it in the computer. i thought it was all lost forever. now to figure out how to get all the music from one computer to another without spending hours....

back to the books

i have been devouring books all summer long. while almost all have been educational, not one was about parenting. the latest two books are family oriented in the best ways. i really enjoyed amanda's first book, the creative family and was eagerly awaiting handmade home. great projects - the girl has been busy letting me know what i should make and with what fabrics.

the river cottage family cookbook has been great. it certainly encourages families to cook together and to eat local produce and meat. we're looking forward to trying to make some yogurt and cream cheese. my husband thinks the sausage making is worth a go too. we are planning to eat more meatless meals this year so i needed to find a little more inspiration and there is no lack in this cookbook.

lost in my library

wow - that was a satisfying book. i've loved orangette for some time and can't wait til Molly is back to blogging. her book was on my wish list but i couldn't wait until my birthday. and apparently i couldn't wait to start baking. the book was finished at 6 pm and there was a french yogurt lemon cake on my counter by 8 pm. i made italian grotto eggs to eat while i waited for the cake to bake. all of it was delicious. what a loving rememberance of her father and such a romantic love story. check it out. i feel some serious cooking coming on - lots of salads from our garden.

after a totally chaotic final week at school we headed up to whistler for some family time. lots of food, napping, and playing. it was very gratifying to watch cable tv and discover that we are not missing a thing. the same cooking show episodes from two years ago were playing over and over. (cancelling our cable tv was one of the best decisions we've made for our family). but most of the time i read. and read. and read. too engrossed in stories to blog but someone else's stories are always so much more compelling.

i whipped through seven of the little house series, then the sharper your knife, the less you cry, and a homemade life in the last week. i was one of those kids who wore out the flashlight batteries by reading under the covers every night. one of the nicest parts of being a grown up is that i can read all night if i want. nothing can distract me from a good book and it's a bit of a family joke. my parents are both voracious readers. dad favours the tom clancy/ian fleming/spies/fast cars genre but my mom reads almost everything with exception of murder mysteries and science fiction. there are vague memories of arguments about the amount of time the other spent reading and therefore avoiding housework or lawnmowing.

our current house is packed with books and although they are somewhat organized it is getting a bit overwhelming. once in a while i purge a few books and invariably they end up back on the shelves before i can deliver them to the charity book drop. truth be told, a dangerously high stack serves as my bedtime reading library - a bit dangerous in the event of an earthquake. but imagine the obituary: death by reading. buried in books.