A Day at the Carnival

Of the vintage Fisher Price sort!

Love those old lithos.

Cottage and Crafts

Jer and I spent a lovely weekend with my cousins at their cottage. The weather was awful and our quiet weekend was crashed by some not so quiet, drinking a little too much 21 year olds, but we really enjoyed ourselves. The first night there we were met with cloudy skies, but the stars shone through while we gathered around the campfire. We visited some local shops, including a little cafe with the best vegan smoothies I've ever tasted. On Sunday, we spent the one hour it wasn't raining jumping off a boat in the middle of the lake.



Before we left for the weekend, this package arrived on my doorstep..

I got to work straight away..

I'm glad this fabric is so nice to work with as I'll be seeing a lot of it over the next several months! Hopefully I'll have some finished pins to share with you soon.

End of Summer Days

This week I've been noticing the first signs that Fall will be here soon, and I am oh, so very excited! I love Autumn with every part of my soul. The cool days spent walking through crunchy leaves, afternoons spent cooking hearty soups, and evenings spend curled up under a warm blanket. My goal to live in the moment becomes harder as we get closer. So I am trying to enjoy the last moments of Summer.

The juicy blackberries help, and we'll just ignore the fact that the late summer/early fall raspberries are not coming out this year.

Summer Antiquing

My mom and I have been planning a trip to Corning, NY for quite some time. Off to the Corning Glass museum, with lots of thrifting and antique mall stops along the way. Last year our plans were put on hold when these sweet babes needed a place to stay and a family to love them until they were ready to find homes of their own. This year we were all set to go when I realized that my passport had expired back in May and there was no way I could get it renewed before my parents set sail across the world. 'Doh! Still wanting to do something special, we went on a mini-trip to the Southworks Antique Mall in Cambridge, ON.

This was our first time visiting, and we were greeted with aisles upon aisles of wonderful antiques! I find stepping into places like this very overwhelming, my eyes having no idea where to go first. There are just so many things crammed into every corner of every shelf. That's treasure hunting for you!

I find every antique mall has its own unique feel. Most usually have a little bit of everything, but some cater more to rustic antiques, high brow antiques, or retro pieces. This place definitely had a retro feel to me. Everywhere I looked I was finding vintage suitcases, Coca Cola memorabilia, old hair dryers and curler sets, toys, linens, mid century furniture, and kitchenware. Of course there were booths dedicated to other types of antiques and re-production antiques as well.

The Pyrex pickings were slim, but I did find myself lucky and came away with the orange bowl to complete my Friendship Cinderella bowl set. The smallest bowl was one of my very first Pyrex finds, so this set was a long time coming. As silly as it is, I love the satisfaction of completing a set.
I also came away with a case full of old thread spools, a set of 4 mid-century dining chairs, and some more blue glass jars. Sadly, this cupboard didn't. I love it!

The Corning, NY trip? There's always next year, right?

Getting Stampy

Testy test..

I got a lovely Etsy package in the mail today. I love getting mail, but Etsy mail makes me especially happy! I swear half my wedding is going to be outfitted by that place. This package was full of goodies to make place cards. 'Cloud' gift tags, ring labels, and this wonderful stamp doo-hickey that has rings with every letter of the alphabet and numbers from zero through nine. Of course I had to try it out right away, which explains the black rubs all over the handle. I am like a four year old when it comes to messy crafts.
They are turning out exactly as I had hoped, and thanks to Etsy I saved a lot of money in the process. Last week I paid a visit to a chain craft store, and even with a 40% off coupon, I would have paid at least three times as much, even with shipping costs added in. The Etsy love is very big today.Another thing making me happy today? This giant tomato plant.. That's my mom standing behind it there. It's almost as tall as she is.
Nom!

I did say I was a slow knitter..

The Tea Leaves?..is still not finished, but I am oh, so close. I think part of the problem is having a warm sweater sprawled over my lap on these hot summer days. It just does not work.

I started on the sleeves last week. I had a chance to work on them as I stayed up all night with a special little guest. I think they look a bit wonky so far. The stitches insist on being smaller no matter how loosely I knit them. I think it may just be those extra underarm stitches, but I guess we'll see when this sleeve gets a little longer!

Our little guest, dear sweet Oliver. He found himself in a terrible situation, but is just fine now. After a long night of feeding and cuddling, he moved to a foster home with teeny kitten experience a litter of kittens for him to play with.

I was hoping to have this sweater finished before September. Think I can make it?

Hooping

In the late Winter/early Spring I had a field placement in a Junior Kindergarten classroom. It was a wonderful experience. Just where I want to spend my working years as a primary classroom teacher. I truly enjoyed every second of being in that classroom - well, maybe not falling on my face and splitting my lip open during a field trip to an outdoor education centre, but that's a story for another time.

During a gym lesson, the teacher I was working with set up different stations in the gym where the children could experiment with different equipment. One of those stations - hula hoops. Now this was something I hadn't done since I was in elementary school, but I had always assumed it was like riding a bike, as they say. I'm sure that hula hooping game on wii fit didn't help my over confidence in this area either. I quickly realized I had no idea what I was doing and was making quite a fool of myself. Of course this made the gym class all the more fun. Seeing teachers take risks, struggle, and learn new things is a good thing I think. I learn as much, if not more, from my students than they learn from me.

After this experience I made a new goal for myself - re-learn to hoop!

I found this tutorial by Elizabeth Mitchell (who is amazing, really), and decided to make my own hoop. Less than $10 worth of material from my local hardware store, and a hoop that was the perfect size and weight for me. It's much easier to hoop with a heavier hoop!

I'm still far from perfect, but I can keep my hoop going for nearly 10 seconds. And when I get tired? Well teach my dog to jump through it, of course!

Wedding Thoughts

I've been thinking about weddings a lot lately and have had many ideas spinning through my head. For ours, I want things simple, but sweet, with handmade touches. I want it to reflect us and our quiet, in the forest, venue. A while back I came across these little flower popper pins and thought they were so much fun. A pin for everyone to wear and enjoy, and take home if they want to. Trying to keep the finances in check, I decided I would make them myself. How hard can they be, right?

Turns out, not very! Some fabric, a needle and thread, and a pin-back. But oh, do they ever take a lot of time. Cutting out 10 layers for each pin certainly is a lengthy process, even with pieces of fabric layered one on top of the other. Still, I am persevering and will complete no less than 100 of these pins before next June. I may very well come to regret that decision when I get to #50 or so. For now, I just think they're really very cute.

Along with crafting, there has been some thrifting and antiquing, mostly for centerpieces and decor. These jars will be added to a collection I've already got going, to hold flowers and line the aisle.