March 14, 2011
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Furs and the Cold
Well its been a while since i posted some of my creations... most of you know by now that i sew like the wind blows, and am contantly in the middle of a new project.
I though that you might enjoy a look a just a few my creations...
We'll start of with Abigail's new Bunting bag... i put it together for her for her birthday a few weeks back and she loves it... i have had a few adults ask for one...hahahah.
Anyways what i did was.... i was given a few fur coats from a friend in the south (thanks to Penny, and Mac for them!!!) so i took out the liner of the coat and I was left with just the fur and leather. I then put my pattern down ( the one i created for the purple bag a month or so ago) and tried to line it up with some of the best leather, as there is always some worn out sections. Once i had traced the pattern i cut the leather with an sharp knife ,,,NOT SCISSORS... as they would cut the fur as well and just make the whole thing look lame. once that was done i very patiently took all the pieces to my sewing machine and started to sew inches at a time, making sure to push all the hair to the inside the of the two pieces i was working on... again to avoid lameness. when that was done i made a duplicate pattern with a heavy parka liner and made a second bag, then sewed the two coats together....its just that simple... You may have noticed that the fur bag is a fair bit bigger than her purple one, and also might be thinking you made her a bunting bag already why does she need two? simple answers for both... she needs two because one is more for snowmobiling and there other is more for town. She doesn't really need a fur coat to go from our house to a neighbors, but when we go to the fishing lake the fur will keep her good and toasty. As for the fur bag being way bigger.. I wanted to make sure she had tons of room to wear lots of clothes underneath. Also i made the sleeves really long... in fact so long i tucked them up into themselves (practically double the length you see in the picture)...why??? well after i pull a few stitches it will fit her as a long pullover coat and when i lengthen the sleeves she will have a really warm mink coat up until 4 or 5 years old.. smart eh? so thats that
she really is a funny kid. We have had her out a bunch of times in her mink already and now when we lie it on the ground in preparation for an outing she will go over to it and lie down with it waiting for us to zip her in ( she love to visit people) The other thing that makes me laugh is that when she is in she remains in the posture you see until we load her into Nics amauti.
All ready lets go !!!
Now for the far less cute...
I went out for a ride on the sled yesterday with Delia to find that we were riding in -45c after wind chill. We chatted afterward and came to the agreement that the weather station in town had far less wind effecting than we were feeling way out on the ice. I'm pretty sure it must have been another 5 to 10 degrees colder where we were. I gave you the info on the weather because i went out wearing mitts and a parka that i made for myself. This has been the coldest i have ever been out in in my own creations and i'm very happy to say that all the clothes kept be nice and warm.
oh and yess the mitts are skunk if you were wondering... SO warm !!!. and yes even though they were tanned and cleaned one of the mitts has a very very faint order of the stinky guy that the fur once belonged to.
A little closer look at my mug.. it was so cold... i checked a few charts and one i found said that someone would only have less than 40 seconds until exposed skin would freeze in the temperature we were out in.... that being said, What fun it was to be out.
Thats all for now
TTYL
M&N&A
Comments (3)
Greetings from Lindsay! I got your blog address from Nicole's Mom. They used to be neighbours of my parents. Anyway, the long and the short of this story and why I am bothering you is this:
I am a Girl Guide and was telling Cheryl about an idea I had for a service project for a camp I co-chair. Basically I received a list from a friend of a friend of things that were needed in Nunavut, however I contacted the Guiders there, and I have not received any response, although the head leader thought it was a wonderful idea. So I tried NWT & Yukon. I'm pretty sure I ticked them off because she was going on about how people don't need us to send anything and that no one goes out to fish or hunt as they have supermarkets and internet, and clothing stores and she is not a media sterotype. Anyway, I was going to ask the participants of this camp (750+) to bring things that were on this list. One of things asked for was dome tents for when they go whaling. We have some (used by Scouts) being donaated. I have skates, school supplies and new clothes for all sizes of kids. And that is just from whom I've told. A friend mentioned it to her daughter who happens to run a program for natives in Guelph, and they are all into it.
Other item suggested were t-shirts with appropriate sayings, or northern themes, CD's of new artists, a picture of us at the camp, miners head lights for the dark, temporary tatoos or stickers of Dora, and whoever else is big like Justin B.
So now that you've read the long part, here's the short part. Do you think this is a worthwhile project? Could you use the stuff if we collect it? Is there a way of getting it up there? I would also need a person to distribute all the stuff. Please be brutually honest with me as I'd rather have a workable service project than one I can't pull off and I need to get it out there shortly.
And Part Two, I love some of your pictures of the landscape. May I have your permission to print just landscapes not people to allow the girls to see the beauty?
Nicole and my daughter, Christine, used to ride tricycles in the driveway - yep that long ago!
By the way, your bunting bag is beautiful as is Abigail smiling face shining through it.
I am looking forward to what ever your response might be,
Liz
What a wonderful read. I found your blog recently and started reading it from the beginning. Like many Canadians I really didn't know much about Nunavut so it has been educational as well as very interesting. Your photos and art are amazing. I've been amazed at Mikes talent, from sewing parkas and mitts to building kayaks.
I love how you both participate and share so much of what goes on in the community.
Being a foodie I've also enjoyed your weekly dinners with your friends.
I'm looking forward to following the next chapter of your lives in the north with your beautiful daughter.
Ann
(Thibeault's Table)
@Liz Prashad -
Hi Liz,
This is going to be short as I'm heading off to work but I wanted to respond to you as it's been quite some time. In general I think it's a great idea. Would you be able to send me your email address so I can better correspond with you? Mine is nicole_davies@ymail.com.
Thanks so much,
Nicole