And Alberta Adventure.

It was a Monday afternoon in early August, I was in the middle of getting ready for Megan's birthday party the following day, when Benj sent me a msg.  "Heading to Alberta tonight to deliver screens to the University of Lethbridge.  You guys coming along?"  Seriously, you didn't have to ask us twice.  After letting everyone know that the party was postponed, I hauled out a suitcase, told the kids to put in what they need for 2 days, charge up their electronics and we were ready.  I have to say, it sure is much easier doing something like this when the kids are older.  A few years ago something like this would have been unthinkable.

The trailer wasn't ready for pick-up until 8pm, so we didn't hit the road until about 8:30pm.  With a long night ahead of us, I thought for sure the kids would all sleep.  Ya right!  NOT!  They were so wired that I don't think they slept for more then an hour or two here and there.  I have to say though, it is weird driving at night, with hardly anyone else on the road, and not having a clue what is on either side of you on the highway.

I have to mention that this was, as Benj reminded us several times...not a holiday!  So we got to calling it an adventure.  I hadn't been to Alberta since I was in my teens, so I was happy to be able to make the trip out, even if it was a working trip.

 

We loved watching the sky slowly light up as we neared the end of the Rockies.

The different rock formations were amazing.  So different from our Coastal Mountains.

Just as we headed into the foot hills the sun came up.  This magical moment made the whole night of driving worth it.

Usually prairies makes me think of dry, hot and brown.  But this year it was super green and as we heading out of Calgary down to Lethbridge it was foggy!

I loved seeing all the grain elevators along the way.

As we got closer to Lethbridge the sun finally came out!  Seriously, isn't this just beautiful?

At the University we had to stay clear of the buildings as it was a work site, so while Benj unloaded the trailer, the girls and I went for a walk in the grass.  We didn't last long though, as we were eaten alive by mosquitoes.  Which was really to bad, because the different flowers in the grass was very pretty.



Lots of nodding donkeys along the way.

We ran a bit late on time, but I very much wanted to show my kids at least a bit of the sights at Heritage Park.  We only had and hour and 15 minutes to go though what normally takes a day, but I was hoping that everyone would enjoy it enough to want to come back some day.  Thankfully the lady at the admission booth let us in for half price! :)  Needless to say, everyone loved it!  I took them to some of the highlights of the park, and someday we hope to come back, when we can do it justice.

Gasoline Alley was a huge hit with all of us.  I mean, what's not to like about all those gorgeous old card and trucks.  I did end up going a little camera crazy!

The clouds looked like a thunderstorm brewing, but thankfully it blew over.

I really love this tub. 

I always find the print shop fascinating. 

I could have spend much more time in the livery.

It was nice to take the kids into the grain elevator and have someone explain to them how they actually work.

                                         

The dentist office looks rather frightening.  The poor fella looks petrified!

Not all to sure if any of these elixirs and potions actually worked.

And of course a trip to the candy shop to sweeten things up.

Oh, I LOVE the word work in this house!

This trains travels around the whole park.



Then came the tricky part.  Finding lodgings for 6 people at the spur of the moment.  Thankfully, after a lot of calling around, we found a room at the Marriot Hotel in downtown Calgary, right across from the Calgary tower.

From 9 stories up it was neat to see the city. 

On the other side of the street from our window were all old buildings, some with rooftop gardens.

But it's the night lights that make the city really look stunning.

Early the next morning we left Calgary, and headed home, just as the sun was coming up again.

Gorgeous!

It was so interesting to see all the things we had missed while driving through the night.  I love the way they made these animal crossings.

And if you can't build a road around it, then you'll just have to build one through it.

Revelstoke.

The constant change in landscape made for a very interesting trip back.  Needless to say, we all slept like logs that night!    Definitely not a vacation, but a wonderful adventure none the less.

047

Grand opening - Island 22 Bike Skills Park

      For the past year or so, my boys, their cousins, and a bunch of friends have been watching the making of the Island 22 Bike Park.  They watched (and sometimes helped) as they cleared away trees, brought in dirt and gravel and built trails and jumps.  For the past few weeks, with all the beautiful weather we've been having, they've all spent quite a bit of time there. 
     The kids were of course greatly anticipating the Grand Opening of the park.  Unfortunately, it was to wet and rainy to ride the whole course on Saturday, but the guys setting up had taken torches to the big sand jump so that it was dry enough for the bikers to try out some of their trick.
     While we were waiting for the festivities to begin, the Mayor made her rounds, asking the boys what their favorite part of the park was.

Mayor Sharon Gaetz talking with Shane

 The Mayor and Jay Hoots.  Hoots is the guy who designed the park.

One of the photographers (their were quite a few), asked everyone to put their bikes on a pile.

Our gang listening to the Mayor as she thanks all the people who helped make this park happen!

Including us parents, who's tax dollars were put to good use!

The ribbon is cut, and the park is officially open.

A mad dash as everyone gets their bikes.

Some of the trick that these guys did were amazing.  Good thing there was soft sand for a landing though, as most of the guys bailed on the first few attempts.

No hander!

The following is a flip sequence.

 

Another flip.

In the following picture, one biker had bailed right on top of the jump, but no worries.  Biker #2 yells.."It's okay, I got it!"

 

Jay Hoot trying out the jump

 

 Looks totally sketchy, but he makes it back onto his bike and lands the jump!

 

 

 

 

Above - Jeremy

Below - Shane 

Above -Wyatt

Below - Eric and Austin

 

 

Fiber West 2013

On March 23rd I finally made it to my first Fiber West show.  Last year I had planned to go and the date came and went and a week later I realized I'd missed out.  So earlier this year I already put the date in my phone and agenda to make sure I didn't miss it.  Turns out, it was spring break the week of the show and I also had a little 3 year old over as his parents just had a baby. So it was over to Walmart to pick up a cheap umbrella stroller, then I dropped the older boys (including my 14 year old nephew who was also visiting for the week) at my hubby's work (he took them snowboarding), and my girls, our visiting little man and I headed off to Cloverdale. Even the girls (8 and 10) were excited to take in the show.  We walked up to the doors of the Agriplex only to see signs telling us they were closed due to a workshop in session.  After a bit of hunting around, along with another visitor who also looked rather lost, we finally realized that the show was in a small, rather old looking building next to the big red barn.  My first impression when walking those doors was not good.  Everything about the building looked old and run down, and the floor was a somewhat uneven concrete that had definitely seen better days.  And I thought, 'oh great, I hope we didn't travel all this way out for a big letdown'!

 

 

Well, let me tell you, I learned really quickly not to judge a book by it's cover, or in this case, a show by the venue.  We stayed for nearly 2 hours and if not for the poor, bored out of his mind, little fella we had with us we would have stayed much longer. 

When we finally started walking around and visiting the different booths we were just overwhelmed with an overload of colour and fiber. And it was wonderful to see how willing folks were to share there different skills, talents and knowledge with the visitors, and especially how they took the time to explain things to the girls.



 

One of the first booths we went to was Nell's Embroidery.  This lady is extremely talented.  With just a sewing machine and thread she make these amazing unique pieces of art. 

http://www.nellsembroidery.com/

Be sure to check out the gallery on her website, and if you're interested, she also sells her wares on etsy.

 

 

Nell told us that the pair of shoes below are strong enough to wear.

Another great booth was Birkland Bros Wool.

http://stores.birkelandwool.com/StoreFront.bok

This blanket was knit from roving (unspun, carded wool that's ready for spinning) and 2 knitting needles made from PVC pipe and duct tape.  I was happy to learn that they recently moved from Vancouver to Abbotsford.  I went there yesterday to stock up on more fiber (but that's for a later blog post).  This also is were I bought my first drop spindle.  A nice little tool made by Ashford, a company from New Zealand

http://www.ashford.co.nz/newsite/ 

It's the perfect size for a beginner like myself.

I 

Humming Bee Farm is based in Shawnigan Lake, BC.

 http://www.hummingbeefarm.webs.com/

The young lady who was manning the booth when we came by was great with answering Angela's questions.  While touching the different fibers, she noticed how some felt very soft and almost silky, while others felt more rough.  Why?  As the young lady explained to us, the one kind was Angora goat wool, which has less barbs in the hair, making it much softer then the other which was sheep's wool.

I also asked her about needle felting and she told me she had needle felted both of the hanging you see here.  Beautiful pieces, and it really gave me and the girls some great ideas. 

At the far end of the barn were the ladies from the Ribbon Lace Club.  These ladies were more then willing to give us a hands on demonstration of how their craft is done.  The girls both tried their hand at ribbon lace making, announcing afterwards that they would really like to learn more.

Another member of the club explained to us the history behind many of the different pieces of antique ribbon lace that were on display. Several of the pieces in the collection date from as far back as 1600 and 1700.  She also explained to us how Kate's wedding dress had handmade ribbon lace on it, requiring many, many hours of work.

 

Through-out the rest of the building were a variety of different farms, selling their colourful yarns and fibers.  I had set myself a budget, which was easy to keep since hardly anyone had a debit machine, but it was a little disappointing as well, as I ended up wanted to buy way more roving then I did.  And let me tell you, that was the hardest part...finding the perfect colour for my first go at spinning.  After much thought, I ended up getting a warm, cherry red.  The booth I bough my roving from also had small sample bags, which she said we were welcome to take, so the girls each took their time deciding which colour they liked the best.

By this time little man was getting rather impatient, but we wanted to make one last visit to the local Spinning and Weaving Guild booth.  There they explained to us that they were taking part in a competition called, 'From Sheep to Shawl'.  A team of 5 ladies, 4 spinning and one weaving were to take raw, washed wool, card it, spin it and weave it (the loom was already strung up) all in 4 hours.  Seeing the girls interest one of the ladies motioned the them closer and explained the whole spinning process to them.  They loved it! 

So all in all, it ended up being a great show and a wonderful learning experience for the girls.  And we certainly hope to go back next year.
Last week I also went out and bought felting needles.  I've been experimenting with 3D needle felting, while Angela has been trying her hand at flat needle felting.  But that's for another post.
Also coming up soon, my new crochet felted purse, some more about spinning, and on a whole different subject, the official grand opening of the Island 22 Bike Park which is scheduled for April 20, 2013.

 

A new year, a new name!

Happy New Year!
I'm very excited to announce the official name change of BumbleDeeDesigns to......The Purple Thneed!
I've felt for quite some time now that I had out grown the name BDD.  I started this when my children were very small, and the things I made back then were much more limited, in large part of course due to the fact I had 5 young children constantly underfoot.  But as they are all in school now, and I've had time to expand my interests, and explore new idea's, I felt it was high time that my name did a bit of growning up as well.  After much thought, and throwing around different idea's, the name The Purple Thneed was one that kept coming out on top. 
Why a Thneed you might ask.  Well, don't you know, that 'the thneed is a wonderful thing that everyone needs!'  I love making things that are a bit different, zany, fun and original.  I'm also constantly  exploring and learning new things. 
I also have my etsy shop set up under my new name now.  In the coming days I hope to add a great deal more products. So be sure to check back regularly.
etsy.com/shop/ThePurpleThneed
Wishing you all a wonderful 2013.

The BEST dinner buns...ever!

A few weeks ago when I posted a picture on facebook of some dinner buns I'd made, I got several requests for the recipe.  As I tweeked the recipe to get the desired results, I finally wrote it down after making a batch.  So now finally I will share it will you.
Just a quick note - the original asks for regular yeast, and a completely different method of mixing that did not work for me, but rather resulted in a very un-fluffy bun.
So for this recipe I use instant quick-rise yeast, which also omits the need for a second rising, thus making it a much quicker recipe to complete.  As well, I have only written down the toppings that I like to use, but the choice is yours, based on your tastes and what's available in your pantry. Unless of course you don't want savoury buns, then you can leave them plain as I did on the photo (bottom)
So without any more ado, here is the recipe.

Dinner Buns

1/8 cup sugar
1/2 cup warm milk
1/4 cup warm water
1 Tbsp melted butter
1 egg
1/2 Tbsp instant quick-rise yeast
3/4 tsp salt
2 - 2 1/2 cups flour
1 tsp each poppy seed, course salt
1 egg, lightly beaten

Method
-In a large bowl, (I use my kitchen aid), combine sugar, milk, water, butter, egg and yeast.  Mix well
-Add 1.5 cup flour, beating well for about 2 minutes.
-Add in salt, then slowly add in remaining flour until a soft dough forms.
-This is were I change to my dough hook and let it knead for several minutes.  (much easier on the wrists this way)
-Let it rest for a few minutes.  (since I'm using a quick-rise yeast, I find that resting it for a few minutes just makes a nicer final product)
-Working on a lightly floured surface, divide into 12 portions.  Shape into balls and place evenly into a greased  9x13 pan.
-Cover with a light towel and let rise in a warm place until doubled, about 30 minutes.  (if my stove area isn't too warm yet, I'll set the oven on 100 for a few minutes, then turn it off, and add the buns.  Just make sure it isn't actually up to 100 degrees or you might end up with dry buns)
-when doubled, brush buns lightly with beaten egg.  Sprinkle with poppy seeds and salt (or toppings of your choice)
-Bake @ 375 for 10-15 minutes or until golden brown.
    Best if eaten fresh.  Enjoy!