Creativ Idols

Posted on November 17, 2006 by Heather

Late in October I went to Toronto’s bi-annual Creative Sewing and Needlework Festival (currently being re-branded to CreativFestival). It is a big (for Canada) show with lots of vendors, presentations and classes. I try to attend the fall show, most because it is in downtown Toronto and much easier to get to then the spring show, which is out near the Toronto airport. I love looking at all the cross stitch vendors, and I usually buy something from another craft too–this year I bought soap molds and rubber stamps.

The extra super big attraction for me this time was Teresa Wentzler. She is my favourite cross stitch designer and I was excited to be able to take some classes with her. It was lovely to meet her. She is quiet and reserved, but also very friendly.

I was also lucky enough to meet Jennifer Aikman-Smith, the talented designer behind Dragon Dreams, and another favourite of mine. She was fabulous–tall, loud, funny, and friendly.

I had a great time at the festival. I even won a copy of the children’s book Jennifer illustrated over the summer: Just Nanny and Me & Fun Things To Paint. I hope Teresa and Jennifer teach classes at future festivals–I know I’ll be there if they do.

This is a needlecase from one of the classes taught by Teresa Wentzler. (I’ve blurred out my name.) It uses cross stitch and over-one cross stitch, as well as Dinky Dies Airlie silk.

Teresa Wentzler's Needle Guardian

You can see more pictures of items from the classes I took, as well as my signed copy of Just Nanny and Me, in my CSNF Gallery.


1 Comment | Posted in Cross Stitch, The Outside World |

Now with 1/3 Less Debt

Posted on November 15, 2006 by Heather

On the first Friday of this month I made the final payment on one of my student loans. It was my smallest loan of the three that I ended up with, but at least it is gone.

On a more depressing note, I’ve calculated that it will take me about five more years to pay off the remaining two. How sad. That made me think about where all the money I made this year has gone–books, cross-stitch supplies, framing costs, gifts for others, more books (sorry, quanta), new computer, new (too fancy) phone, etc. And how much of this did I really need?

With Samhain/Autumn Equinox just past and Yule/Winter Solstice just around the corner, it is the time of year to reflect on the year past and to look ahead to the year to come. Clearly there is a lot for me to think about, especially when it comes to money.

As a follow-up to my post about wanting to be a hermit, a man across from me on the subway the other day was cutting his fingernails! Why would anyone think that this okay?!?!

1 Comment | Posted in My Life, The Outside World |

No NaNoWriMo

Posted on October 28, 2006 by Heather

I’ve been thinking about my plans to take part in NaNoWriMo in November, and I think that I am going to give it a pass.  It is not so much the fear of forcing myself to write so many words (which is pretty daunting), but rather the recognition of the low priority writing as in my life right now.

Yes, I still want to be a writer; and, yes, I still dream of writing a book.  But right now I am in the middle of making a Christmas gift, and the joy of the person I am going to give the gift to is more important than trying to get 50,000 words down on paper.

I have, however, thought about having my own NaNoWriMo a few months from now.  I have a couple of silly ideas for stories that I may just need to write for fun.

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Ghosts and Christmas Trees

Posted on October 27, 2006 by Heather

Halloween hasn’t happened yet, but Christmas trees are already decorating the stores. It is enough to turn anyone into a Scrooge.

In Canada, Thanksgiving occurs early in October, so Christmas is the next big holiday after Halloween. But, for goodness sakes, wait until at least November 1st to put up the decorations! It is no wonder that so many people are tired of Christmas before it arrives.

I will admit that I am one of those people who do their holiday shopping early. I only have two or three gifts left to buy, and I should be done by next Friday. But I do this so I can enjoy the holiday season and avoid the malls. Just because I buy gifts in June doesn’t mean that I want to see Christmas items then.

It has been a rule of mine to avoid malls during the month of December. But with the shopping season being continually extended backwards, I may give up malls as early as November 1st soon.

As an aside, Canada Post releases their holiday stamps on November 1st. That doesn’t bother me too much, since international cards and party invitations need to me mailed early. But I think the secular stamps aren’t very attractive this year.

Comments Off on Ghosts and Christmas Trees | Posted in The Outside World |

Writing for NaNoWriMo

Posted on October 10, 2006 by Heather

 A few years ago I decided to take part in NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writing Month).  The goal of NaNoWriMo is to write a 50,000 word novel during the month of November.  The focus is on quantity, not quality.  Sounds pretty easy, right?  Just type away for an entire month, without worrying about how good your novel is.  Well, I failed.NaNoWriMo Participant

I tried writing my novel, but I couldn’t figure out what my story was supposed to be about.  I don’t think I made it more then a week into November before I gave up.  The problem was more than not having a concrete storyline–it was painful not being perfect.

This year I’m going to try NaNoWriMo again.  I’ve got an idea or two for my story, and I’m also coming to terms with the perfectionist tendencies.  I’m not sure that I will make the 50,000 word limit, but I’m going to give it a really good try!

1 Comment | Posted in Me, the Writer |

Windows Vista

Posted on September 26, 2006 by Heather

Today I learned that it is not a good idea to install a beta operating system while dealing with PMS. I was very grouchy to begin with today, and spending several hours fighting with Windows Vista RC1 made me down right angry! One one hand, it is extremely user-friendly–so much so, as a “power user” I was frustrated by the way it kept trying to protect me from myself. (In that way, it is very similar to a program I use at work, which I tell my husband I hate at least once a day, without fail.) On the other hand, it is so darn hard to do anything, from change user settings to find your program, that it is all but unusable without some sort of documentation to let you know just what the heck the programmers were thinking.

I was an early adopter of Windows 95, Windows 98/ME, and Windows XP, and none of those gave me anywhere near the amount of hair-pulling opportunities that Windows Vista has. Yes, Windows XP can be a little too user-friendly directly after installation, but after tinkering with it for about 5 minutes, it becomes perfectly usable. In Vista, though, the options I change in XP either don’t exist or are very deeply buried in order to protect a novice user from accidentally turning them off.

Vista is pretty though, and it looks like it does have potential. I really like the way the user directory is handled now, with everything nicely separated. I also almost like the gadgets, but I think they would be annoying if you didn’t have a wide-screen monitor like I have on my notebook computer.

If you are interested in trying out Vista for yourself (and don’t say I didn’t warn you), you can download it here: Try Windows Vista

1 Comment | Posted in The Outside World |

To Shop, or Not to Shop

Posted on September 18, 2006 by Heather

I recently finished reading Not Buying It: My Year Without Shopping by Judith Levine. It is a journal/editorial piece about how Ms. Levine stopped shopping during 2004, buying only the necessities (i.e. basic food, personal care items, etc.). She even gave up her book buying habit, something that I find nearly impossible to do. In between discussions of how she and her partner find new forms of entertainment and learn to make due with less, Ms. Levine also reflects on America’s consumer culture.

Although Canadians aren’t been told by their government to shop as part of the “war of terrorism”, we do have a very strong consumer culture as well. Malls are getting bigger, and shopping seems to be everyone’s favourite hobby. Speaking as someone who spent many years working in retail, it seems to me that people are almost more interested in the act of spending money then they are in the times they actually buy.

If I am going to be totally honest, I guess I’m a little guilty of that too. It is easy to fall into the trap of believing that something is better because it costs more. (I bought a $100 pair of heels last week, which I am taking back because that is just too much money for a pair of shoes.) And it is satisfying to know that you can buy something if you really want to have it, or think you want to have it. But, I think, we need to (or rather, I need to) move away from seeing things as a measure of success and as comfort and security.

I’m not sure if I am ready to try my own year without shopping, but maybe a year with less shopping would be a good start.

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