Jason and I went out to Algonquin Park this past weekend with a canoe and tested both sleeping bags #1 and #2. Testing of sleeping Bag #2 was very successful. Jason's comments are "it was very warm, heavy and bulky. Its amazing that a sleeping bag made of lost gloves could be so comfortable."
Sleeping bag packs in the canoe:
Jason testing the sleeping bag:
Sleeping bags #1 + #2 = COZY!
I have been busy crafting this huge pack for mitten sleeping bag #2. This time the sleeping bag is made from ski gloves and mittens lost at Edelweiss ski hill in Quebec. The sleeping bag is everything a sleeping bag Shouldn't be: Big, Heavy and not easily transportable. The pack is about 70L (not unlike this version at MEC). I like to think my version is a bit cuter than those MEC ones. I can't believe my old sewing machine was able to take the abuse of multiple layers of fabric and vinyl, but I took it slow and only broke one needle. I am also having Tony of Tony's Shoe Repair add the hip belt.
This image is of the sleeping bag being washed at the laundrymat. (don't worry, the gloves go through multiple washings before being slept on :)
Layers (vinyl, fabric + interfacing, canvas + fusing + fabric, vinyl) = Insane for a domestic machine
I'm off for some camping to 'test' sleeping bags 1 and 2.
Cheerful flowers for your Monday! They are called pom pom zinias, if I remember correctly. Enjoy!
The other day I had had enough of making art stuff, so I went ahead and made myself 2 skirts. I got the fabric for both of these beauties at the aforementioned St Vincent's de Paul. There is plenty of summer left to enjoy many more weeks of skirt wearing.
One of my new favorite places to shop is the local St Vincents de Paul. Its like a Goodwill, but religious, and they always have something to buy. I think a lot of people in the neighbourhood clear out parents homes and there is lots of good, kitchy stuff if you take the time to look. Its like a garage sale that is always open...well, until 5:30pm
Where else could you buy such Canadiana moose paraphenalia? The pillow was $1.49 and the little plate broke the budget at $2.49. I try to spend less than $5.00 when I go.
Jason and I took in the culture of our neighbourhood on Friday night. Which means we went to our first Bingo game. We went to the church bingo which takes place on Tuesday, Thursday and Friday evenings. It was a fun (and borderline scary) evening. People take their Bingo VERY seriously, just look at that wild bingo dabber holster, made of Bingo card fabric, no less. What makes the evening all the more fun is that I won $25!!! weeee!!! It would have been $50, but I had to split the jackpot with someone else. Such is the life of a gambler....
Note my huge winnings on the table:
I have submitted this piece for the Square Foot fundraiser at the A.W.O.L Gallery in Toronto. The opening for the show is on Friday Aug 5 starting at 6:00pm. Apparently last year there were so many people coming to the event that there was a line up around the block. How is that for a well attended art event! If you're in Toronto this weekend or in the next few weeks, please go see all this lovely 12" x 12" art.
What I made is a mini version of the grass installation I did back in June with Gallery 1313 (Toronto). My favorite photo from the weekend was of Julia lying in the grass (in the background in the first photo). She runs Pukka Gallery here in Ottawa. What a round-about of installation, galleries, people and making fun art!
Ahh, summer...Isn't it nice just to lie back and gaze at the tree tops?
I bought a new bike!, well, new to me. I got my new sweet ride from a guy down the street in my neighbourhood who was selling it for $30. It needed a new seat and seat post which I was able to find at the friendly Recycles. I pimped it up with a cute basket that the landlord was throwing away and added some cheerful flowers. I even 're-uplostered' the seat with some nice suede. It is just a coaster bike so my legs are kind of sore from biking all over the neighbourhood. New bikes are FUN!!!!
On the weekend camping trip, I brought along my sleeping bag made of lost mittens. I even fashioned an appropriate carrying sack made from vinyl and canvas. I trusted the collective warmth of lost mittens so much, I didn't even bring a spare sleeping bag.
I didn't sleep outside the tent at night, but this is me just taking a little nap in the afternoon.
(Un)Scientific Evidence: Indicates that loss mittens kept me warm all night. The temperature rating on this sleeping bag would be about 15 degrees, so its no 4 season sleeping bag. But definitely warmer than nothing, and definitely cozy. It is also not the lightest or most compact sleeping bag available. In fact, it is a bit combersome. But it sure was a interesting experiment. It was a bit weird to think about all the people that had lost a mitten or glove and now that mitten or glove has taken on another life in this sleeping bag. I am currently working on a second bag and have plans for a series of 5.
I am refreshed (and somewhat bug bitten) from a weekend of camping. We went to a quiet lake in Algonquin Park.
We only did one short portage:
I did a watercolour:
More pictures tomorow!
I have wanted a laundry line for ages. And now my dream has come true. I put this line up earlier this week and then went on a laundry bonanza: towels, sheets, clothes, everything got washed. Why is that domesticity (in small doses) can be extremely satisfying?
I'm off to go camping this weekend. I'm bringing the mitten sleeping bag to test its warmth. Results will surely be posted here. Maybe even a graph or two (from this un-scientific research).
I made this fruity pie last weekend for a party. It has cream cheese and whipping creme in the middle and was mighty tasty. It tasted like summer. Ahhh...
I know, I know, its crazy to speak of mittens in the middle of a heat wave. Its also a bit weird to have bought mittens in July, the Canada Day long weekend, no less. But how could I pass these sweet ones? So perfectly Canadian, so nicely knitted, lined even! For only $1 at a garage sale in Kensington Market.
Friends of ours live in the country and we went to visit them last week. They have a pigeon shelter and this is one of the poor little guys that lives there. Can you believe that someone can made tiny little casts for a pigeon?
The rest of the brood (what's the name for a bunch of pigeons?) get to live in this nice cage and they get let out all time to fly around in the yard. Everyone once in a while, they let them out a few kilometres from home and watch them all fly back to the coop.
I was in yesterday's Dose! I was 'interviewed' back in June when I was in Toronto for the grasses installation (you can see it behind me). I had completly forgotten about it and then someone called me yesterday to let me know. Link to the Dose page on-line to read what I blathered on about.
Voting at the SAW Gallery's Golden Cherry Awards on Saturday night. It wasn't the democratic process I thought it would be, but I happened to have a few friends around who tipped the voting in my favor (buying votes is fun, especially when its a fundraiser for the gallery). I am now 'officially' Ottawa's Best Emerging Artist. Ooooh, the glory of it all....
This is the painting I was working on this week at my friend Sarah's shop The Rage (at 13 Kensington Ave, in Toronto). She is having a 25% off everything-in-the-store sale this weekend. All her stock and clothes are made from young Toronto designers and everything is very cool indeed. Definitely something to have a peek at this weekend.
