Lolie Jane

Thrifting with Friends

2012-01-28T12:03:00.001-05:00

A few days ago I made my way to Caimbridge to meet up with a long time flickr friend and blogger, Sheila. She took me on an antiquing/thrifting adventure, showing me all the tricks and tips in her area. I also got to play with her adorable pup Stella, and take a tour of her beautiful home and sewing space.

Our first stop was the Southworks Antique mall where we donned the nickname "the crazy Pyrex ladies". It was great to have two sets of eyes looking around. She found things I missed, and I found things she did. We came away with some great finds - a beautiful yellow quilt, a blue striped Pyrex bowl, a snowflake Pyrex gravy boat for Christmas dinners, lime green tiny Pyrex casseroles, some antique mason jars for wedding centerpieces, and a little blue vintage suitcase for me. She came away with some more Pyrex, and a mint condition Catherineholm Lotus plate. We almost missed that one!

Our next stop was the thrift shops in the area, where we found these Daisy casserole dishes for $1.99 and $2.99. I had originally thought the price tag said $7.99 because I haven't seen Pyrex that cheap in years. We also picked up some vintage sheets, some milk glass vases, and some more antique mason jars. I think Jer and I are all set in the mason jar department now.

Sheila gave me a great tip - if you want to find antique mason jars, head to the thrift shops in small towns. People out there will have kept them in their garages and basements for years, and will finally be getting rid of them. The larger ones were two for 99 cents and the smaller were three for 99 cents. A big difference from the $3-$10 per jar in antique malls. In Toronto I've only been able to find the newer jars in thrift shops, so I've been buying jars from antique malls for $3 a piece! I wish I had known this when we first started collecting them.

Afterwards we went to a local chain shop with a basement full of fabric. I could have spent days down there! I picked up some fleece to make cage liners, hammocks, and fleecey tubes for the chinchillas. I'll be going back to stock up when I need to, rather than buying online.

We finished off the day with a craft room tour, a sneak peak of some quilting projects, some great conversation, and a visit to Sheila's vintage sheet "shop" (she sells beautiful vintage sheets on etsy). I picked up this great pile here. I'm tempted to use it to join in on the Oh My Stars! quilt along.

It was a great day, and I can't wait to do it again.

A Pyrex Post

2012-01-13T15:37:00.002-05:00

It's no secret that I love collecting Pyrex. It's such fun to seek out each piece, display, and mix and match them during dinner parties and even every day meals. When I first started collecting something I liked to do was search out pictures of stacks of Pyrex on flickr. I just loved the way the dishes looked all stacked up. Now that my collection has grown, I've been able to make some fun stacks of my own. I added two new spacesavers (that's the longer rectangle shaped dishes that come in two heights) this week, so it only made sense that I make a new stack.

I got the Starburst dish in the mail, and found this Black Rooster one in a thrift shop a few days back..

Both had been on my wish list for years.

A couple other stacks can be found here, here, and here.

Right Now..

2012-01-11T17:05:00.001-05:00

We are waiting for snow, although our garden thinks it's time for Spring. What strange weather we have been having!

Craft projects continue to grow, while others are just beginning.

New recipes are being tested out in the kitchen, while an illness calls for comfort food - and that means soup, and lots of it!

The holidays have been packed away until next year, which always leaves me feeling a little sad, but I am enjoying the handwork of others that has been brought into our home to enjoy for many years to come.

(Rainbow Dolls, Agnes Nyerges, and Bamboletta dolls)

(zooloonaturals)

There has been some thrifting, and hopefully soon some antique shopping.

There has also been the comfort of yearly traditions, even if this year is quite different from others and the winter doesn't seem so long and dark. Then of course there is the wonderful company of friends, family, and the furry ones who share our home.

I am trying to enjoy right now instead of only looking forward to what is to come over the next several months, which is a lot.

Homemade Biscuits

2 cups all purpose flour
4 teaspoons baking powder
3 teaspoons sugar
3/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup butter (cold)
1 egg
2/3 cup milk

Pre-heat your oven to 450 degrees. In a large bowl, mix together the flour, baking powder, sugar, and salt. Cut butter into cubes or small slices and squish together using your fingers. It should end up looking like crumbs.

In a smaller bowl, beat the egg and milk together with a fork. You're going to add this to the dry mixture. Stir until the dry ingredients are coated, but don't mix too much. It should still be wet and chunky.

Cover your cutting board and your hands with flour. The mixture will be sticky. Move the mixture onto the cutting board and knead just a few times. I usually do it just four or five times. Flatten your mixture using your hands until it is about 3/4 of an inch thick. It doesn't need to be perfect. You want your biscuits to end up light and fluffy, and too much kneading and flattening will release too much air.

Cover a round cookie cutter or the open edge of a small cup (about 3 inches across) in flour and cut out your biscuits. You should hear a 'farting noise' each time you press down with your cutter. Place them in a lightly buttered pan and cook for 10-15 minutes (until golden brown).

Creamy Carrot Soup

1 chopped onion
1/4 cup butter
4.5 cups sliced carrots
1 large potato cubed
900 ml chicken (or vegetable) broth
1 teaspoon ground ginger
1 cup fresh whipping cream
1 cup milk
salt and pepper to taste

Melt the butter in a large pan or pot, and sautee the onions until they are transparent. Add the carrots, potato, broth, and ginger. Cover and cook for 30 minutes, stirring occassionally. Take off the heat source and let cool for about 20 minutes or so.

Slowly add 3-4 ladels of your mixture to your food processer. Blend until thick and creamy. Move the mixture to a second pot, and continue until you have finished with all the soup. Back on the heat source, slowly add in your cream and milk, and your salt and pepper. To make things more interesting you can add any other spices you like. Once heated, you're done!

*I find this recipe, as with most soups, to taste better the second day. It's also very filling, so don't be scared away by all the butter and cream. You'll probably only want a little.

Folksy Flannels

2011-12-31T13:36:00.000-05:00

It's done! It's done! And the cat has claimed it as her own, so I know it was a success. I was a little iffy on flannel for a quilt, especially a double layer, but it worked out wonderfully. It is warm and cosy, and so what if it's a cat fur magnet? It really is the perfect winter quilt.

I started this some time last year, which is how most of my projects go. I'm slow, what can I say? I ran into some little snags along the way, like cutting out all the squares and arranging them and not liking the result at all.

After sitting on it a while, I decided to split up the colours. Pink/yellows on one side, blues/greens on the other.

I also misjudged how wide I could make this thing before I ran out of fabric, so my seam ripper got a little work out. This also happened a lot..

And then the binding went on, which was a pain because I am awful at making binding and sandwiching the quilt properly. This time I serged around the edges of the quilt, and basted the binding on to make sure I'd catch both sides with my seams. It helped.

Now, I get to curl up under this soft, warm quilt and enjoy it..well, when the cat hasn't plopped herself atop it, that is.

Merry Christmas..

2011-12-25T11:08:00.003-05:00

and Happy Holidays to all!

Walnut Shell Ornaments

2011-12-23T22:06:00.000-05:00

A few years back I made these walnut shell ornaments. I made a couple more this year and thought I would post a little tutorial.

You can really use any type of fabric for this. Even felt would work as long as it`s not to thick. I used cross stitch canvas just for the sake of convenience when stitching, as well as some linen fabric.

What you'll need:

-half of an empty walnut shell

-fabric (you'll want a piece that is quite a bit larger than the shell)
-a small bit of batting or wool roving (about twice the size of a cotton ball)

-hot glue gun

-string or decorative trim for hanging

-embroidery floss, seed beads, and/or anything you'd like for embellishment

*Christmas movie and mug of hot chocolate are optional, but highly recommended!

I started off by cross stitching a little gnome. If you're doing the same, you're going to want to make sure your design is smaller than the walnut shell. I really like Japanese cross stitching books for this - many have a variety of really cute, tiny motifs. That's where I found the squirrel, acorn, and hedgie.

1. Cut around your design (or cut your fabric) leaving a lot of room around the edges. You're going to stuff the fabric and tuck it into the walnut shell, so you'll need a lot of excess. You can add embellishments now, or you can wait until the end.

2. Fold your string or trim in half and secure it to the inside of the walnut shell using your glue gun. Watch your fingers! I always manage to burn myself.

3. Roll your batting or roving between your hands to form a ball. Put it in the middle of the wrong side of your fabric and wrap the sides around it. You may want to make a small snip in each 'corner' to avoid a lot of awkward folds that form with heavier fabric. You'll have to play with it a bit to get it to look the way you want it to.

4. Put a little more hot glue inside your walnut shell, and stuff your fabric ball inside, making sure to tuck in all edges. You're going to have to play with it again to get it to look the way you want it to. If you don`t want it to pop out as much, just use less stuffing.

6. Add any embellishments you`d like, and enjoy!

Holiday Treat Making

2011-12-22T11:40:00.002-05:00

My cousin joined me for some baking and holiday treat making. We get together every year just before the holidays to make our favourite recipes, and try some new ones to add to the ever growing list. We make way too many and package them up for gifts and holiday party treats. This year we made three - gingerbread cookies, peanutbutter and jelly cookies, and peppermint bark.

The gingerbread and pbj are both old family favourites with some tweaks to the recipes from my cousin's cookie book. The pbj were definitely the winner since we accidentally overcooked the gingerbread just a bit.

Our new recipe for the year was this incredible peppermint bark. The recipe is from orangette. I couldn't find the chocolate suggested, so I used another brand, making sure to match the percentages and ingredients. It is delicious and is going to be made again next year.

At this point we stopped for a Hannukah treat - Latkes!

I was so glad to share this day and tradition with my cousin, and am excited to share our treats with our friends and family.

Quilt Therapy

2011-12-20T13:22:00.003-05:00

At this point in our infertility journey, there is a lot of discomfort and pain along with a lot of waiting. Distractions are very welcomed, especially when the pain management I am allowed to use does not do much to help. Lately I havve been finding comfort and relief in parts of the crafting process I normally find to be quite tedious - ironing, tracing, cutting, hand stitching. I love picking out fabric and I love putting projects together, but the parts inbetween are really not my favourite.

For now, the repetition, handwork, and 'slowness' is therapeutic, and so I chose to start a project that would provide lots of it - a hexagon quilt. I have seen many hexagon quilts around and have always loved them, but the amount of work and time involved always scared me away. Not anymore!

I'm using three inch hexagons, so I imagine this will be a very time consuming project, but that`s okay. It`s the process here that is the important part. The finished product will be the icing on the cake.

Right now, I am turning something difficult into something beauitful. Pain and discomfort into something productive. A type of art therapy. It is not a perfect solution, but it does help when I have the time to sit down and craft.

I am hoping that we come to the end of our journey long before I am able to finish it.

A Different Sort of Tree

2011-12-18T19:52:00.002-05:00

We would love to have our own woods one day, but for now we have one lonely apple tree. We (Jer and I), came up with an idea for a project that would involve a piece of a fallen tree. We asked friends and family and inquired in our community, and were invited out to a beautiful piece of land where a lovely couple were clearing fallen trees and would be happy to have us haul away a piece of one of them. With warm boots, winter woolens, and a saw, we headed out there to choose the perfect piece.

We were greeted by Mika the dog, who ran about and happily invited us to play. L took us on a tour of her property, proudly showing us all the work they had done and all the wood we could choose from, and introduced us to her husband who was already out back, chopping wood for the fireplace.

We picked out two good sized Spruce logs that were nice and dried out, perfect for what we want them for. L also welcomed us to collect any pieces of birch bark that had fallen off the trees. I left with a nice handful. I'm not quite sure what I will do with it yet.

One day I hope to own a property with beautiful woods like these, but for now I am grateful to those who are willing to share a little bit of theirs with us.

Handmade Holidays

2011-12-17T08:00:00.000-05:00

I think it's probably pretty obvious by now, but let's let that cat out of the bag, shall we? I love Christmas. LOVE. I have so many wonderful memories centered around this time of year, most of spending special time with loved ones. The actual holiday itself I could give or take, I do have fun making and choosing gifts for others, but I could easily let that part go, it's the build up full of special events, memories, and days that I love.

Another thing I love? All of the adorable Christmas crafts floating around. Have you seen Hillary's yearly Christmas crafts? The woman is a genius! I have been stockpiling links to tutorials and patterns for years, but rarely ever have time to make them. This year has been different. I have been a crafting machine! I blame this on waiting to get the results of our IUI on Monday. I need distractions, and I need to keep my hands busy.

The adorable Santa and Snowman up there are courtesy of The Small Object. I haven't found any little sleds for them to ride around in, but I think they are so sweet just as they are, if not a little wobbly. They are inspired by the gorgeous vintage hand-spun cotton ornaments. These are done with cotton balls, glue, hairspray, and a lot of patience and handwashing to keep the glue off while smoothing and shaping over and over again. I completed these over several days while each layer of cotton dried. I was also missing a fuzzy white pipeclear for Santa's beard, so I improvised with some felt...and he also has polka dots because I didn't have enough plain red fabric. Whatever, I'm sure he doesn't mind.

This was another that had been on the list for a while. It's a miniature Elsa/Elise elf from Hillary's pattern. I made the full sized version a couple years ago, but had to make one for my tree. You just shrink the pattern to your desired size and get sewing. My only qualm with this pattern is that no matter how precise I cut out the head, it always ends up looking a little square and light-bulby instead of the beautiful and round like in the pattern pictures. I wonder what I'm doing wrong.

Three more days of distractions needed. Maybe I'll finally finish those mittens I started knitting two years ago.

Cat Toy Tutorial

2011-12-16T15:05:00.002-05:00

My old cat Snowie never liked toys. She was happiest with a cardboard box, a shelled almond to bat around, and a basket to curl up in. This cat? She loves toys. She likes to snuggle them, carry them around in her mouth, and chase them around. Her previous mice toys have gone missing, and since they were rather worn and a little gross anyway, I wanted to get her some new ones. Cats need holiday gifts too! Instead of buying, I decided to make some for her using the stack of fleece scraps I had on hand from making bedding, hammocks, and tubes for the chinchillas.

I like using fleece for my animals, mostly because it doesn't release threads when it gets worn. I also stuff with fleece so that if the toy rips open, my animals aren't swallowing pieces of fluffy batting. This pattern would work with any type of fabric though, you'd just have to keep a closer eye on the toys to make sure they aren't falling apart.

You can find the pattern pieces here. Click on 'actions', then 'view all sizes'. the large setting is about the size I used.

You will need:

-enough fleece for the pattern pieces and to stuff the toy

-cat nip (I got a small tube with a cardboard scratcher, but you can find this in any pet store)

-sewing machine and/or needle and thread

-a cat friend to enjoy your creation

1. Trace the pattern pieces onto your fleece. Make sure you flip the body when making the second piece. You`re going to be sewing them right sides together.

2. Tie a knot in your tail towards one end. The tail piece should naturally fold itself in half here, which is what you want. Sandwich the tail, knot facing inwards, between your two body pieces. You are going to lay your body pieces right sides together (the tail will be sandwiched between the right sides.

Pin and sew around the arch, leaving a 1/4" seam allowance.

You should have something that looks like this.

3. Fit your base piece into the bottom of your body, right side facing inward. You may find it easier to baste instead of pin, but whatever works for you. You're going to sew all the way around, leaving a 1.5 to 2 inch gap along one of the sides. This is how you'll turn your mouse right side out and stuff it.

4. Turn your mouse right side out and stuff it with your scrap fleece.

5. Add your catnip. I like to put about half the stuffing in, add the catnip, and then stuff the rest of the way.

6. Close the opening with an invisible stitch, and you're done. Repeat for all the kitty friends in your life!

Fabric Mushroom Ornament Tutorial

2011-12-15T13:08:00.004-05:00

I saw some adorable fabric mushroom ornaments on IKEA's website, but by the time I got to the store they were gone. I checked two other locations (yes, you read that right, I have three IKEA stores within 30 minutes of my home), and even though they assured me on the phone they had them and would hold some for me, they had none when I arrived. I was sad that I wouldn't be adding these cute mushrooms to my tree, but then I realized how easy it would be to make them myself. I even had some red with white polka dot fabric in my stash!

I thought I'd share the process in case you wanted to make some of your own.

You will need:

-a sewing machine and/or needle and thread

-thread to match your mushroom cap and stem fabric

-red fabric for the mushroom cap

-linen fabric for the stem (you could also use white or whatever fabric you have on hand..these would definitely work with felt)

-a white fabric pencil to mark out the shape

-scissors

optional - white embroidery floss to make french knots on the mushroom caps

1. Cut out four tear drop shapes. These are going to be the cap of your mushroom. If you want a taller, thinner cap cut the pieces narrower and longer. These pieces I have here make more of a round cap. The size you make will depend on how big you want your finished mushroom. Each of my tear drops is about 1.5 inches wide and three inches high. The finished mushroom, including the stem, is four inches.

I had red fabric with white polka dots on hand, but you could use plain red and add dots with embroidery floss and french knots.

2. Pin the pieces wrong sides together. You'll have two of these since you have four pieces. Leaving a 1/4" seam allowance, sew where I have drawn the blue line. You're going to sew a little past the middle point on the top, and a little before on the bottom. You're going to be leaving an opening at the bottom to stuff the mushroom cap.

3. Open up each side of your mushroom cap. You're going to place these right sides together. They're sewn on a curve, so they create a bit of a 'boat' shape. You're going to nest one inside the other.

4. Pin together, and leaving a 1/4" seam allowance, sew around the area I have indicated with a blue line. Leave the space at the very bottom open.

Go ahead and turn your work right side out. You can now stuff it. I used cotton batting, but you can use whatever you have on hand, including fabric scraps.

5. You're going to sew around the bottom of the mushroom cap, weaving the needle in and out as I have shown. Go around the entire cap. Make sure to double your thread as you'll need it to be quite strong.

6. Pull your thread tight so the hole closes. This also brings the edges in creating the mushroom cap shape. It's not necessary, but what worked best for me was creating a little knob with the fabric ends. You can place the stem over this so it covers all the 'mess'.

Now put your finished mushroom cap aside. You're going to make the stem.

7. Cut a rectangle out of your linen fabric. The size will depend on how big or small you want your stem to be. I used a piece that was about 3.5 inches tall and about 3 inches wide. Fold your rectangle in half and sew around the top and side, leaving a 1/4" seam allowance. I used red thread so you could easily see, but it'd be best if you could use a thread that matches your fabric. Snip the corners and turn your stem right side out. Now you can stuff your stem.

8. Place your stem on the bottom of your mushroom cap, over the little knob you made (if you did make one). You're going to sew the cap and the stem together using a hidden stitch. To make sure it stays in the right place, you may want to make one stitch holding the stem to the cap on each side before you sew all the way around.

Hopefully my terrible paint drawing helps illustrate the stitch you'll use. The black is the stitching you're going to do. Red is the mushroom cap, beige is the stem. You're going to pull the stitches tight though.

9. Once you tie off, sew a bit of thread through the top of your mushroom cap to hang your ornament from the tree. And you're done!

These are so quick and easy to make, you're going to want to make a whole army for your tree!

A Felted Water Bottle Carrier

2011-12-13T23:04:00.004-05:00

Waldorfmama put this pattern out on Earth Day this past Spring and since then I have seen many beautiful versions on her blog. A few nights ago, inspired by a crochet cover my mom made for a glass container to use as a water bottle, I decided it was time to make one of my own for a water bottle I stopped using because of the pattern on front. I just wasn't into it anymore.

This was a very quick knit. If you know anything about my knitting experiences, you know that it takes me several months to finish any project. I got through this one in two short sittings, which means most knitters could probably bust it out in just a couple hours.

One thing I was worried about with this project was the felting. I have an LG front loading washer, and I've heard felting just does not work well in these things. I decided to try it out, using tips I picked up through a quick google search. Here's what I did: I put the project inside a cotton pillow case and threw it into the machine along with a pair of old sneakers to help with agitation. I set my washer to a hot wash, cold rinse, and added only a tiny bit of soap. For the cycle, I used water plus (to make sure the project was thoroughly soaked through rather than just wetted) and no spin.

After running through one cycle the carrier was felted a bit, but it had not shrunk enough, and all of the stitches were still highly visible. I ran it through again, and it was the perfect size. The stitches are still more visible than I was hoping for, especially on the handle, but I think it turned out pretty well considering.

This was also a project full of new knitting experiences. First time knitting a square bottom and picking up stitches all around, first time knitting an i-cord bind-off, and first time felting a project I had made myself!

Fabric Wreath

2011-12-11T22:28:00.002-05:00

I bought this form three years ago intending to make a fabric covered wreath, but somehow it never happened. Earlier this week, this beautiful pile of vintage reproduction fabric, to use for a wedding project, showed up on my doorstep..

and well, I may have dipped into it for a couple of other projects too, like this holiday wreath. I had originally envisioned using actual holiday print fabric, but I think these prints were a much better choice. They still seem festive, without being in your face about it. I added a few favourite notions - red ric-rac, lace trim, and some favourite vintage buttons. It was a quick project, but adds such a fun and colourful touch.

I almost want to make another one with different combinations of prints!

A New Tradition

2011-12-11T11:49:00.003-05:00

This year I discovered something wonderful in our city - the Toronto Christmas Market. This is its second year running, and it is quickly growing into a fun holiday tradition, with vendors, shows, a couple rides, and food. It has a long way to go before it becomes like the German Christmas markets it emmulates, but it will get there over time.

The market is located in the Distillery District - one of the beautiful, historic parts of the city.

There was only one booth selling handcarved German ornaments and toys, and that was by far the busiest place to be. I spend a good deal of time there, and brought home a treasure for our own tree.
There was an area devoted to the little ones, with a maze with a visit to Santa at the end. Another area I'm sure will grow and improve over the years.

We visited during a weekday afternoon, and I imagine it is much more lively on a weekend or evening when more people are about.

We will be back next year, looking forward to the growth and changes to come!

Flowers flowers everywhere

2011-11-29T16:05:00.003-05:00

This past week it hit me that I can no longer say our wedding is a year away and put off all those things that need to be done. I'm making all of the decor and favours myself, and a dear friend is designing the invitations. I got into gear and spent a lot of time confirming bookings and booking what hasn't been, discussing ideas, and working on what I've already started.

I'm up to 33 flower pins now! About 50 more to go. One of those new fangled fabric cutting machines would be useful right about now!

Finishing..

2011-11-22T21:09:00.004-05:00

It may have taken six months, and the button band may need a little fixing, but I finished my first knitted sweater. Yes, the Tea Leaves is done!

It does need some better pictures though.

I was hoping to cast-on another, much smaller sweater next, but unfortunately that will be put on the back burner for at least another month. Soon, perhaps, a pile of tiny handknits!

The Folksy Flannels quilt is probably next on the list of in-process projects that need finishing, but every time I pull it out this cat perches herself on it. This cat, she has a thing for blankets. Can't say I blame her.

Antiquing and Some Crafting

2011-10-28T16:02:00.004-04:00

On Sunday, Jer and I went for a fall drive to pick out some pumpkins. We stopped at one of my favourite antique malls and got so caught up in all the treasures to be found that we ran out of time and missed our pumpkin farm date. Oh well, there will always be next year!

It's been a while since I found so much Pyrex, so I let myself go a little crazy! I had been looking for the daisy casseroles for a long while, so I even overpaid a little for them. The rest were priced very well.

I've also started a couple new craft projects recently, of course without finished up the ones already on the go! That's just how I roll.

Stripey knit baby blanket - going to have so much fun weaving in these ends, but it sure is cute!

I've re-started this one about 6 time and am still not happy with it. It looks better the further I get in it, so I'm not sure if I'll keep going for a while or re-start again now. It's hockey season again, so I imagine I'll have a lot of crafting time while Jer and I watch!

At the Orchard and in the Kitchen

2011-10-20T13:34:00.007-04:00

Jer and I took to the apple orchard on Canadian Thanksgiving weekend. I had been hoping for some beautiful fall weather - cool breezy wind, that fall smell..you know the one I mean, cosy sweaters, wool socks, light scarves, and slouchy hats, finished off with a mug of hot apple cider to warm up our hands. Instead, we got 30 degrees(celcius) and sweaty gross. Summer in October, oh yes. Still, the sights were beautiful and a good time was had.

It sure looked like fall, even if it didn't feel it.

Since then we have been enjoying apple goodies - sauce, pies, crisps, and of course just straight up apples. Some into our bellies and some into the freezer for later.

My first homemade pie was not very pretty, but it was given positive reviews by our Thanksgiving guests.

Jane Market Bags

2011-09-22T14:26:00.005-04:00

I got Alicia Paulson's Jane Martket Bag pattern the very day it came out, but somehow it ended up being moved to the bottom of my sewing basket and I never got around to making one. While oogling fabrics on Etsy a while back, I found the perfect combinations for one of these bags. They arrived two days ago and I quickly got to work!

This first bag uses Scandi Owls and dots, both by Kokka. The dots fabric had two strips of grey and white dots and one of pink and red. I love the way they go together! The lining fabric was something I already had in my stash.

The second is made from Barn Sparrows by Sevenberry and Forest by Hokko. The handles and lining are Mod Circles by Dena Designs.

It was a super easy and quick pattern to make, and these are so versatille. The huge square bottom is great, perfect for shopping. I just love them! Perfect timing too since my reusable grocery totes are in poor shape. I'll just have to keep an eye on these since my last homemade totes were swiped right out of my cart!

A couple days ago I met up with another member of the Pyrex Collective (link in my sidebar). I'm toning down the Pyrex collection, and she was looking for one of the sets I was getting rid of. She mentioned she was missing a bowl for one of her Friendship sets, and I had a double even though it was in poor shape. I passed it along anyway so she could have a stand-in until she finds one in better shape. She brought me the larger white Turquoise Gooseberry bowl! It isn't in the greatest shape, but it's gorgeous. I couldn't believe she would do that for me. What a sweetie! I have met some really great people through Pyrex collecting, which is another reason why I enjoy it so much.

A Happy Mail Day!

2011-09-20T17:33:00.002-04:00

After around four years of searching, the elusive Blowing Leaves has joined my little Pyrex family. I know I said I was downsizing, but there's always room for those special pieces..right? I hadn't even seen a Blowing Leaves on online auction sites, but a flickr friend gave me some searching tips and a recommended search of 'mint Pyrex' popped up during one of my rounds. I decided to click, just for the heck of it. A few pieces down there was what looked like a regular turquoise 024. I clicked anyway, and found this beauty for less than $10! I couldn't believe it. It's not in perfect shape, but I don't care at all. I was so excited to get it in the mail today, I literally hugged it. Oh, dear. Sometimes I really do get way too into this Pyrex stuff.

I also got this Friendship round casserole lid. I've been really loving the opaque lids lately, especially Friendship and Daisy. I was never crazy about them before, but I guess my Pyrex tastes are changing.

The sweet little owl fabric also arrived today. I'm thinking of turning it into a Jane Market Bag. I bought this pattern the first day it became available, but haven't actually made one yet. All of my resuable shopping bags are pretty worn out so I could definitely use a couple new ones. I have no excuses now! Well, except for this evening. I'm off to our second Sparks meeting. Yes, I am a Sparks leader now! I have been wanting to get back into Guiding for years, and am finally doing it. Cookies anyone??

Butterprint and Produce

2011-09-18T20:29:00.002-04:00

Butterprint is probably one of the most popular Pyrex patterns, and for good reason. It is definitely high on my list of favourites, and this past week I was lucky enough to add some orange butterprint to my collection.

I love the way the three colourways look stacked up together.

While I was outside photographing Pyrex, I picked what was probably the last of the fresh garden produce for the year.

There's a tomato plant that went crazy, full of green tomatoes, but with the frost coming on shortly, I'm not sure any more will turn red.

Changes

2011-09-16T14:16:00.004-04:00

I love this time of year and all the changes that brings. The cool winds are blowing in, the colours are becoming deeper, and every once in a while a crispy leaf swirls all around me as I walk Lola down the street. This year feels odd as it is the first of many I have not started in the classroom. Hopefully that will change soon, as I miss teaching so very much.

More changes are about as Jer and I take serious steps towards beginning our own family. We have been struggling with infertility for many years now and through many steps and hurdles, we are now booked in to see a fertility specialist at the end of the month. In the the mean time we have been going through a myriad of unpleasant tests, but I feel lucky to have found a wonderful support system in an online message board. We're hoping for a 2012 baby. That would be oh, so wonderful.

Today I will leave you with a picture from the 2011 Toronto Westie Walk. I was the photographer again (no professional, just a girl with a camera will to take pictures for free), and it was so much fun! These Westie races are always my favourite part.

Teeny Tiny Pyrex

2011-09-01T18:30:00.003-04:00

A while back I found out about miniature Pyrex dishes that re-ment was including in some of their sets. For those who don't know, re-ment is a company out of Japan that makes miniatures, mostly dishes and housewares. I was lucky enough to find a set of re-ment 'Pyrex' cinderella bowls, a fridgie, and a casserole dish on ebay. I love how detailed they are.

Earlier this week a friend of mine found a set of Barbie 'Pyrex' in her basement and immediately thought of me. They are sized slightly differently than the re-ment ones, but they go so well together!

Primary fridgie dishes! I no longer have my yellow primary fridgie so I made up a turquoise/red/yellow set for the photograph.

And primary mixing bowls.

Another Pyrex find..

This Salad Bowl, with the infamous fetus. Do you see it?

A Day at the Carnival

2011-08-25T22:40:00.005-04:00

Of the vintage Fisher Price sort!

Love those old lithos.

Cottage and Crafts

2011-08-23T23:43:00.002-04:00

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

2011-08-14T22:34:00.003-04:00

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

2011-08-12T18:47:00.002-04:00

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

2011-08-08T19:21:00.003-04:00

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..

2011-08-08T12:39:00.003-04:00

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

2011-08-07T00:26:00.002-04:00

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

2011-08-06T15:14:00.002-04:00

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.

Garden Treats

2011-07-15T15:40:00.002-04:00

Can you spot the two cardinals bathing in the water from the sprinkler?

Some Goodies

2011-07-14T12:00:00.002-04:00

I tried out a few new recipes for my dad's retirement party. It seemed like the perfect time to experiement and have some fun, and it turned out to be a hit. I made this wonderful strawberry lemonade (recipe from the black apple). It was a big hit with our guests. I had to make three extra pitchers because we kept running out.

It really is a great way to use up those extra berries! My mom just brought me a bag of lemons so I could make her another batch.

I also ventured into cakepops. I've seen these things pop up everywhere and have always wanted to try them, but felt a little intimidated. It turns out they are super easy to make (well, the outer layer can be a bit tricky if you want it to be perfectly smooth). They are intensely sweet, but I'm sure there are some less-sweet cakepop recipes floating around somewhere. In my case, I used vanilla cake, vanilla frosting, and chocolate flavoured candy melts. Oh, so good. Unfortunately the leftovers will be hanging around a while since one is more than enough.

All lined up and ready to be dipped in their outer candy shell.

Not bad for a first try.

And now, back to lemons!

'Congratulations' Banner

2011-07-12T14:44:00.002-04:00

My dad retired just a couple weeks back and my mom and I decided to throw him a party. My dad's not the kind of guy to like attention or a fuss made over him, but we thought he deserved it just this one time. At first he was hesitant, but once he started inviting anyone and everyone we knew he was glad. We wanted to go all out, and so I decided to put together some decorations for the event.

I've always liked the look of bunting style banners, so I decided to go for it. I wavered between "happy retirement" and "congratulations", but congratulations won out since it can be used over and over again. Underneath are some favourite pictures from my dad's life, and at the very bottom are a couple plane toys that were on the cake from my dad's co-workers. He has a trip around the world with my mom planned, you see.

I free-handed the letters, machine stitched them to some polka-dot linen fabric, and then stitched around the edges of the fabric. I decided not to finish any edges. Both because it would be quicker (and I never realized how long a word 'congratulations' really is. 15 letters? Oh, my!) and because I like the unfinished look. I sewed a strip of ric rac across the top, and voila! Everything was done with materials I already had on hand, and most of the letters were done with scrap pieces of fabric (from the scrap pack I got from Jeni, seriously one of the most useful purchases I've made when it comes to crafting). That picture of the little boy with Santa? My favourite ever picture of my dad. Love it.

This banner here was the perfect backdrop to the buffet table we set up. I cannot wait to use it again!

In the Now

2011-07-05T14:47:00.003-04:00

This year coming up is sure to be a busy one. Exciting and new, challenging and rewarding. It is something to look forward to, but I find myself looking forward too much. I have been trying to bring myself back to the present to focus on and enjoy what is going on around me, for there is oh, so much to enjoy right now. Trips to beautiful places, a lush garden outside my backdoor, celebrating and sharing time with loved ones, the wildlife busying about these summer months, and simple daily tasks that I don't need to rush through as much as I do. So focusing on the now!

Yesterday evening I took a walk through the berry bushes and shared the first of this summers raspberry harvest (with some garden strawberries too) with loved ones.

I also found the first of the tomatoes. A bright red grape tomato, juicy and sweet.

In just a few days there will be a retirement party for my dad, with even more friends and family to enjoy. Right now is a good place to be, even if the future is full of things to look forward to.

Making Clothes

2011-07-04T14:00:00.002-04:00

As a bigger girl, I often have trouble finding clothes that I like that also fit right. A favourite clothing line of mine (where about 80% of my wardrobe comes from) that used to carry beyond a L recently cut out their XL and XXL outright. So this summer I've been wearing a couple old favourites, one new one, and have been disappointed in the offerings I've come across. I've always been intimidated by sewing clothing, well, aside from some ridiculous 'fat pants' I sewed up in high school. Oh, fat pants! For years I wore nothing but pants with legs so wide I could put one of me, waist and all, in one upside down leg. I was far from stylish in high school. But anyway, to the far away fabric store I went to search out the perfect fabric for a new sun dress.

I didn't find that fabric, but I did find some already gathered cotton fabric with an already finished bottom hem. You just wrap it around your body to measure and sew up a seam. Crazy! So I bought some since it was 1/2 off, and in about 5 minutes I made a summer dress that's flowy and cool, and fits my bigger girl frame.

And with a cotton slip underneath, so my undies aren't on display to the world, a pair of sandals, and a light knit cardigan, it is the perfect summer dress. Soon..soon I will try making a 'real' dress.

Cottaging

2011-06-28T14:01:00.002-04:00

I ran away for the weekend, needing a little break from all the goings on of life in the city. The weekend started with some challenges, like trying to fit two full sized futons into one car and attaching a Seadoo trailer to the back of that very same car, forgetting keys half an hour away, and having one very grouchy kitty pee in the car 15 minutes into the trip, but at 1:30am we were off, and at 4am we arrived at our relaxing destination. If the skies had been clear, I would have stayed up to watch the sun rise. I have always wanted to do that.

It was a wonderful weekend, despite the mosquito bites and sunburn.

Sometimes this happens..

2011-06-23T13:41:00.001-04:00

I don't order much Pyrex online, mostly because shipping costs to Canada are so high, but also because searching out that just right piece is so much fun. I have been lusting after a certain set for quite some time, I broke down and bought one on ebay. Today I came to regret that decision.

Ouch! Both figuratively and literally - I cut myself on one of the pieces. Unfortunately, the seller wrapped the dishes in one layer of deflated bubblewrap. Another dish added to the Pyrex Graveyard. At least one of the pieces made it through okay, so I can still do this..

I love stacks of Pyrex!

And the broken pieces? Well those are being sent off to a couple of crafty people to be turned into something beautiful.

Out Come the Berries

2011-06-21T16:19:00.002-04:00

First thing each morning I slide open the back door, step onto the warm patio bricks, and creep over to my little garden, dish at the ready. Beneath the little green canopy are plump and juicy red berries ready to be made into breakfast smoothies. The hanging strawberry baskets are not doing as well as in previous years, so it is nice to have the little patch of berries planted firmly in the ground. Each year it grows as I transfer the potted berries into the garden at the end of the summer season.

There has been some sewing going on too. The pink/yellow side of my Folksy Flannels quilt is nearly finished, and the blue/green is coming along nicely. I do have to say that sewing with flannel in the summer is not the best idea.

I even have some help..

Growing, growing, growing.

2011-06-10T12:39:00.002-04:00

The Lily of the Valley have finished, but the peonies are in full bloom and the garden is thriving. This time of year is so refreshing, so full of life.

My messy little strawberry/veggie patch will soon be a sea of green.

Tiny grape tomatoes beginning. Hopefully this plant with flourish as much as ones in previous years.

Green beans sprouting out of the warm soil.

And red, juicy strawberries for morning smoothies and late afternoon snacks. I will never get tired of garden fresh produce from this little plot of land of ours.

The Tea Leaves is also growing, after hitting a little snag that had me knitting backwards ten or so rows to fix it. I'm back on track now, after a wonderful knitting date with a good friend I met at school this year. She is an accomplished knitter with lots of knowledge and advice to share.

She's working on a gorgeous featherweight cardigan. I cannot wait to see it finished!

What I've Been Up to Lately..

2011-05-31T00:01:00.004-04:00

Pin cushion pattern from last minute patchwork gifts

patchwork owl pillow, inspired by others I've seen around blogs and flickr

A lot of time has been spent out in the garden and crafting, often at the same time. It has been a nice break!

Quilt Inspiration

2011-05-19T15:40:00.003-04:00

Several months back I purchased this fat quarter set of Anna Maria Horner's Folksy Flannels. I had been admiring this fabric for a long while, and finally convinced myself I really needed some in my life. The plan was a colourful and oh, so soft quilt top. I spent weeks cutting out the squares, here and there when I needed breaks between assignments and planning.

My stack grew and grew until I was ready to start piecing it together. And then I hit a snag..I hated how it looked when I layed the squares out. The softness and beauty of each print was lost among a vibrant, busy, mess of flannel.

Feeling defeated, I let the squares sit in a pile for months. I barely looked at them and did not want to have anything to do with this quilt. It wasn't until I stumbled upon the beautiful blog of a craft mama that I changed my tune. Inspiration hit! She had split the fabrics into colours and made a double sided quilt. Of course! Now, why didn't I think of that? I quickly pulled out my flannel squares and started sorting.

One side for the pinks and yellows..

and one for the blues/greens with a little purpley-pink thrown in because I didn't have enough.

And now? Now I love this quilt.

Spring, or Something Like It

2011-05-16T09:44:00.003-04:00

'snow' on my neighbour's lawn. the rain sure did a number on his cherry tree blossoms

Yesterday, I spent what little time it wasn't raining out in the garden. Wet ground makes the abundance of weeds easier to pull and the rain keeps the bees at bay. My neighbour wont pull his weeds, so they spread into our garden and are spread further by my sweet Lola who runs through them. I find myself pulling seeds out of her fur every time she comes inside. After the weed pulling I spend several minutes warming my freezing cold, muddy hands under the tap, then curled up under a blanket and sipped on some hot chocolate. This is quite a Spring!

After warming up I went back outside to partake in the first harvest of the season - Rhubarb.

A delicious - and warm - rhubarb crisp was much enjoyed on this chilly Spring day. The warmth of the oven was a nice bonus.

I also took advantage of the extra time I have now that homework is through and my lesson planning done to work on some more crochet.

I've started to assemble the granny square blanket. I have a couple more rows to add on too. I think I will just keep adding, and sewing them together as a I go, until I feel the project is done. I plan to make a lap blanket rather than a full size. The yarn is quite bulky and it would just be too heavy. A nice lap blanket would be nice to curl up under on days like this.

I also purchased the yarn for my Tea Leaves cardigan, which I cannot wait to start on. It was a challenge finding a shop that carried enough skeins of the Madeline Tosh yarn I wanted to use, but they're on their way to me now!

A Rainy Day Project

2011-05-14T23:34:00.003-04:00

It's been raining all day today, cleansing and nourishing. I looked outside earlier and noticed the heavy drops were causing the delicate cherry blossoms to fall off my neighbour's tree. It almost looked like it was snowing, and covered his roof and lawn with white petals. Despite the fake snow, it finally feels like Spring.

With most of the boxes from the move being cleared, I pulled out my sewing machine for the first time in a long while. I pulled pieces of fabric from the scrap pack I ordered from Jeni's Destash, and put together a Mug Rug. This is a project I've had on my list for a long while. They are so cute and something I'd use all the time.

Something was pulling at me to take a picture pre-binding, and I wish I had listened to those instincts. I really do like it much better this way. Adding the binding did give me some much needed practice though. I always end up with at least one layer outside of the binding, so I tried serging around the edge this time. It worked perfectly and actually saved the time I would spend ripping out seams, wrapping edges, and re-sewing them over and over again. On this project the layers were what you see here, some cotton batting in the middle, and the grey-ish fabric for the backing.

The perfect place to rest my mug!

Sitting and KnittingCrocheting

2011-05-13T17:21:00.003-04:00

Sitting out in the garden with Lola, and working on the middles to some more granny squares is the perfect way to end a busy May day. It is glorious outside and the garden is growing and blooming, and is just filled with life. A garden post is definitely on its way. I have decided to aim high with my grannies and work towards a blanket. It may be a small blanket, and it may take months and months, but it will get there. This is the perfect project to keep my hands busy without having to think too much about what they are doing.

Today was also a perfect mail day, with a package full of vintage goodies arriving at my doorstep. These wood spools, shaped like pine trees, are perfection. I'm not sure what I will do with them, but they sure are pretty to look at.

These little wooden people beads came too. How sweet are they? I seem to be gathering quite the collection of tiny wooden, beautifully painted people.

They go quite nicely with this little 10 cent mushroom man I picked up thrifting a while ago. The poor dear is missing an arm, but he is so charming perched atop his mushroom, sitting underneath a flower. He is really a Christmas tree ornament, but he seems much more suited to Spring to me.

The Evolution of the Granny Square

2011-05-12T11:06:00.000-04:00

Take One:

Not even square.

Take two:
A little better.

Take three:

Change of pattern, change of yarn, and a lesson on how to properly switch colours, and I think I've got it.

Now to figure out what I'm going to make with them. It would take at least 200 more to make a blanket, but I keep making everything into pillows and one can really only have so many pillows.

Amigurumi

2011-05-11T22:31:00.000-04:00

I think it's kind of amazing that you can take a piece of string and turn it into something quite different. I love seeing something grow and transform in my hands, which is why I like crafting so much. I just think it's really neat. This past week I took a few pieces of string and worked them into a doll. The Naomi the Bear doll by Owlishly, although mine is actually wearing a monkey costume because I like monkeys so much.

The pattern was very easy to follow and crocheted up so quickly. I don't have much experience with crochet and this was really my first amigurumi. Her head dimensions look a bit off and I crocheted too loosely in places where you can see the stuffing showing through, but otherwise I think she is cute as heck.

Perhaps a tail is in her near future.

Finding

2011-05-04T19:08:00.003-04:00

My year in Peterborough ended on Saturday. The year was a struggle in many ways, but I am trying to take away the good and leave the bad behind. My beautiful apartment was carefully taken apart and moved back to Toronto. Into a basement, and anywhere else it will fit. You see, this year I am house sitting. I have trimmed down a lot, donating, sharing, trading, and posting on Etsy once again, but I will admit that there has been a teensy bit of thrifting too. I haven't had much time for it in many months, so it is hard to resist when I do get the chance.

I finally got that sewing box I had been dreaming of. I found it at an antique mall, full of vintage notions and trims, a steal at less than $10.

Right now I am looking forward to a special GTA Pyrex meet-up/trade a few of us are planning for early next month. There may be some antiquing too. I cannot wait!

Patchwork Bench

2011-05-03T10:51:00.004-04:00

As with most projects I take on, it took months longer than I had planned to complete this. My original vision had this sitting in the entrance to my apartment. The same apartment I moved out of this past weekend. So now this bench acts as a giant cat bed of sorts, by the back window. At least someone appreciates it!

To be honest, I'm not as happy with it as I had hoped. It has grown on me over time, but I think it's a little much. I'm half thinking of taking it apart and using the patchwork for something else.

Right now, I am debating which fabric I like better on these chairs..

I'm thinking one of each.

Patchwork Quilts

2011-03-19T18:20:00.002-04:00

I love love love patchwork. I've never been a huge fan of cutting out squares and squares of fabric, it can be so tedious, but I love the result. A while back I started working out cutting out the squares for my Good Folks flannel quilt top. I decided I would work slow with this one, only cutting out squares when I needed to busy my hands and really not do much thinking at all. It helped to hand that fabric and do some simple work when I needed a break from lesson planning and marking, and the flannel fabric is just heaven on the fingers. Still, I am not exactly in love with the square cutting. I am excited to get to my favourite part of the project - the sewing. I love sewing - slowly building something from pieces of fabric.

Near the end of the summer I started a project for a friend's new baby. For some reason or other I did not ship out that project until today. I feel awful, but hopefully the little guy can still use it. It's one of my favourite things I have made.

The fabric for this one is My Happy Garden by Cloud 9 Fabric. Is it not the perfect collection for a baby quilt? They have such sweet patterns and collections, and their fabric is so light and soft. This was a very simple project. The only 'quilting' I did was stitching along either side of all the seams to make it look more finished. The back is a yellow minky which was heavy and thick enough that I didn't bother lining it.

I hope he likes it!

A Creative Resource Flower

2011-01-17T17:33:00.002-05:00

One of my assignments this semester was to come up with a creative resource that would help teach a Scientific concept to students of a grade of our choosing. I decided to steer clear of my usual book projects and get crafty with this one. I chose to do grade one Understanding Life Systems, specifically characteristics and functions of plants. I sewed up a 3D model that starts as a seed and blooms into a flower.

The roots were added after this photo was taken, but they can be pulled out of the seed first.

The whole project is made out of felt, save for the hemp string roots and the stamens in the flower, which I picked up in the bridal section of my local craft store. I sewed wires into the petals so they can be bent into a bud and then opened up. It was very simple to make, I just made the pattern up as I went.

Of course growing a real plant in the classroom would be a more valuable learning tool, but this can be used in conjunction with that as a lesson prop, and something to refer to and to be played with over the unit.

More 365 and Another Peek..

2011-01-05T14:50:00.003-05:00

2:365

3:365

4:365

As for this sewing project, it is not going exactly as I had hoped. It's a lot more uneven and messy than I would like it to be, but since it is my first real attempt at Patchwork, I am going to chalk it up to a learning experience. I can't expect to be perfect from the get go.

It is still unfinished, but I am not regretting going for this project as I had thought I might. It has been a wonderful journey. I hope to have it finished by the end of the week and accompanying me to Peterborough on Sunday night!

A Sneaky Peek..

2011-01-02T00:44:00.007-05:00

and the first photo of the year. Yes, I am doing Project 365 again. Perhaps this year I will make it past November!

1:365

A Little Crafting and A Lot of Pyrex.

2010-12-31T13:40:00.003-05:00

I have been hoping to get some crafting done on my break, inbetween homework breaks of course. When I saw these ornaments by The Sometimes Crafter, I knew they'd be on my list. Mine didn't turn out as pretty as hers, but it was a good first try with teeny tiny patchwork squares.

Unfortunately I did not leave enough room around the edges to finish it properly, but I think I'll just zig-zag stitch around to finish it off. My next try will hopefully be a little nicer!

Earlier that same day, my mom and I decided to pay a visit to some of our favourite Antique Markets. I haven't been since the summer months, so there was so much to take in. Aisles and aisles of Pyrex, oh my!

I did come away with some goodies, though I left wishing they would split up that black/white Gooseberry cinderella bowl set. I'm missing the #441.

Some new dots, golden tulip, friendship, mod kitchen, and golden poinsettias, and a fun day to top it off!

Christmas Crafting..

2010-12-23T17:21:00.003-05:00

But just a little.

I had plans for many beautiful homemade for Christmas projects this year. It seems I always do. December rolled around and I was so busy with life that I barely had time to breathe let alone craft. Usually my Christmas making/shopping is finished by December 1st, but this year I didn't get started until two weeks after then. I had decided that when my break from school came I would spend a few days relaxing and crafting some of those many Christmas Projects. Maybe even that Ice Skating Afternoon Alicia Paulson kit I've had sitting in my stash for the past two years. Unfortunately the flu knocked me out and those plans were put on hold yet again. It's now the day before Christmas Eve, and I've finally managed to bust out two very simple, but much needed, craft projects.

The first is a little stocking for my dear sweet girls. Pets need stockings too! I had planned on a matching pair for Lola and Charlie and two smaller ones for Rory and Lenore, but one was all I could manage this year. It hangs funny (I'm thinking I should go back and shorten that toe!) and it's a bit lumpy, but I really kind of love it. And that mouse popping up over the top...how cute is that? That little mouse is Charlie's Christmas present this year.

The fleece is from an old sweater I loved dearly for many years but had to let go of after it was singed in an unfortunate dryer incident. I kept it around for the perfect crafting opportunity, which I try not to do too often. I love the ice blue colour. I appliqued a sweet little snow girl cut out from some Christmas fabric (Colorful Christmas by My Mind's Eye for Riley Blake Designs) I bought earlier in the Fall, embroidered some snowflakes with silver thread, and added my favourite pom-pom trim. That stuff makes everything so much better!

The other project was this little thread spool wreath. I saw a mini-version in Michael's a while back, but for $8 I thought reaching into that bag of wooden spools I bought at an antique fair a while back would be the more sensible thing to do. I used some fabric scraps in red and green to wrap around them, and didn't worry about finishing the edges. I added some beads from my stash so the spools wouldn't sit funny against each other. Tiny red rick-rack for hanging, and it was done!

There is one more project I'm hoping to squeeze in before Christmas is through. This one involves a trip to the craft store for some red felt, so it may not happen this year.

An Update That is Long Overdue.

2010-12-21T18:53:00.002-05:00

I seem to come in and out of using this blog on a regular basis and I am always trying to change that. I think for now I'm not going to make any promises and will post whenever the opportunity arises.

A new (temporary) home

This past Fall saw a lot of changes. I experienced the passing of my dear 19 year old cat just days before moving to Peterborough to attend the Faculty of Education at Trent University. There was the business of classes and school work during the week, and trips to Toronto on weekends to spend time with my fiance, family, and of course more school work. There was my first 'real' photography gig. There have been new friendships, and new experiences, joys, and challenges with field placements. There were forever homes for the foster cats, including one right here. There has been a little time for new thrift haunts and Pyrex spotting.

some thrift finds
Charlie, our new family member

There has been no less than three car accidents, more than one hospital visit, and some family drama. There was anticipation and excitement with a new pregnancy, and devastation when it came to an end nine weeks later. This Fall was something. As the season changes to Winter I am hopeful for new experiences, and maybe a little less grief. There will also be a knit-a-thon coming up that I am excited to share in this space.

Living by the lake has been nice..

but maybe not so much in the winter.

Right now I am in Toronto for a three week break. I'm not enjoying it yet because I am in bed with the flu. Once I'm feeling better I am hoping to relax and enjoy some 'me' time before getting started on that pile of school work that is waiting for me.

Swing Swing Smock

2010-09-08T19:05:00.006-04:00

A while back I had a request from my mom's co-worker for a sweet little apron for her two year old granddaughter. This little girl loves collecting nature treasures out on walks, so grandma thought a nice apron with some big pockets in front for carrying those treasures would be the perfect birthday gift. The big pockets and a velcro closure were the only specifics, otherwise I had free reign.

Instead of a traditional apron, I decided to go with the Swing Swing Smock pattern from Amy Karol's Bend the Rules Sewing. This way it's more like a dress that she can slip over her clothes. After seeing this fabric - Erin McMoris, Wildwood Forest - in a flickr friend's photostream, I knew it was the perfect choice for a little girl who likes pink and flowers. Okay, so they're actually trees and not flowers, but how cute is this fabric? I absolutely hate working with bias tape, but I'm glad I found it in the same colour as the trunks on the trees. I lined the smock in the same fabric in an alternate colourway so it's reversible.

This pattern was really easy to work with and it was a fairly quick sew. The longest part was basting the bias trim. I guess you could pin it, but basting it will hold everything together much better. I made a few adjustments, like the big pocket in front (sewn down the middle to make two), and the velcro closure. The ties in the original pattern are much sweeter, and make the smock flare out nicely, but the velcro means the little one can slip the smock on and off easier. The last touch was this little vintage flower button, sewn on tight and secure.

I hope this special little girl enjoys collecting treasures in her new Swing Swing Smock! I had a wonderful time sewing it for her.

The Chairs

2010-08-19T20:03:00.003-04:00

I had been searching for the perfect kitchen chairs for my apartment for a long while, but never came across the right ones. Last week I stumbled across this little gem in Value Village..

It is that wonderful mid century style I love and it is a very solid piece, but the fabric was worn and stained and the wood was scratched, and of course there was only one. Still, for $3.99 I couldn't pass it up. With a little effort, it would be just right.

I picked up some wood oil, foam, and chose some wonderful echino fabric from my stash, and got to work.

Pulling off the old foam was quite a chore, but stapling on the new was almost therapeutic.

Then came the fabric..

I am so happy with the result! I decided to keep the chair back in wood. There are some tiny holes from where staples used to be, but they are not very noticeable.

My lonely chair needed a mate. In lieu of a matching mate, I pulled up a wooden chair from my parents' basement that would suffice.

In order to coordinate them a little, I quickly sewed up a seat cushion in the same fabric (you can see the first chair, mid-makeover in the background). I had just enough! It is quite thin, with only three layers of organic cotton batting inside, but it is thick enough to keep bums comfy and warm through the winter months. I am so happy with my mismatched chairs!

Right Now...

2010-08-14T16:48:00.004-04:00

There is mama and five four week old kittens, rescued from an awful situation, taking up temporary refuge in our finished basement. There is a lot of nursing, cudding, and playful antics for the kittens, and eating and gaining strength for mama.

There is a lot of reassuring and attention giving to the four permanent animal residents.

There is a lot of harvesting from the garden. Blackberries and tomatoes by the bowlful!

There is a lot of last minute crafting before the big move.

There is a lot of anticipation, preparation, excitement, and some sadness and worry.

And some last minute thrifting.

There are good friends, good food, and summer celebrations.

There are a lot of long days out in the sun, soaking up the last bits of this summer.

And things are good. Yes, they are oh, so good.

Garden Treats.

2010-05-09T18:54:00.004-04:00

I deeply enjoy nuturing a garden, seeing a plant from seed to fruit and watching the growth and change from year to year. Being able to pick something from the garden and use it in our meals feels good. Summer is the busiest time for harvesting, but we do get little treats during the Spring and Fall. The very first garden gift we receive in the Spring is Rhubarb. We usually use it to make one of my favourite treats - rhubarb crisp.

The stalks are big and sturdy, bright green with a hint of pink. The leaves are huge! They are nice to have in the garden, away from Lola since they can be poisonous to dogs. We have had the same rhubarb plant for years and years.

To make the crisp we mix our own granola and cut up strawberries and peeled rhubarb. We still have to wait a while for strawberries from our own garden.

Then we add a simple orange custard.

The finished product usually looks a lot nicer, but we put too much rhubarb in the dish and it boiled over. It was still delicious, despite the mess!

Playing with the peelings is optional, but kind of fun.

What is growing in your garden?

The First Photos of May.

2010-05-06T13:43:00.002-04:00

Rescued kittens at the Toronto Cat Rescue adoptathon! I was there for eleven hours straight, but we did have a few adoptions which is great.

Moving to Peterborough! I'll be slowly moving in over the summer and will be living there full time starting in September.

My Lily of the Valley are coming up!

A new Pyrex bowl.

April in Photos.

2010-05-06T13:40:00.001-04:00

Part two of the 365 photo dump!

March in Photos.

2010-05-06T13:21:00.004-04:00

I haven't posted any of my 365 pictures since the beginning of March! I am still doing the project and am going to make a couple posts in order to catch up. Here is March!

Fridgie Straps

2010-04-26T17:41:00.004-04:00

A while ago we cleared out the Tupperware drawer and started using glass for food storage instead. We find that it's not only safer, but it lasts a lot longer. My vintage Pyrex collection was put to use, especially the refrigerator dishes. They're cute, fun, and great for storage!

In a few months time I'll be living in Peterborough during the week, and I began thinking about food transport since I will often be bringing up leftovers with me. I didn't want to turn back to the Tupperware, but the lids on my fridgies only sit on top. There is nothing to secure them. I decided to sew up some velcro straps to hold them together during transport to avoid food spilling out.

Of course, this only works with solid food. Soups and liquids will still leak out the sides. For those I use mason jars or a thrifted ceramic lunch container with a silicone lid. I've tried some of those glass tupperware containers with the plastic lids, but I've found that most leak too.

The straps were very quick and easy to make. I sewed up the straps just like I'd sew up a purse strap, and then sewed a strip of velcro on each end. The straps for the small and medium fridgies are 18 inches long, with almost 5 inches overlap. The strap for the larger fridgie is 24 inches long with about 5 inches overlap. I used 4 inches of velcro on each strap to ensure a good hold, but less length and velcro could be used. This is a great project for using up those fabric scraps. I ended up with a collection of fabric strips and edges left over from old projects, so I dug into that for this one.

What would be even cuter - vintage fabrics that coordinate with the dishes. I'm picturing one of my flickr friend's vintage fabric collection for this. Amazing.

My mom asked why I didn't just use an elastic band to hold the lids on. I guess I could have done that, but this is a lot more fun!

February in Photos.

2010-03-03T01:54:00.002-05:00

Catching Up on 365.

2010-02-07T11:05:00.002-05:00

It has been more than a week since my last 365 post, nearly two weeks actually, so I felt it was time to post again. These are days 26 through 37, or January 26th to February 6th.

Classic Mittens.

2010-02-06T01:19:00.003-05:00

Just over a year ago I decided I wanted to try knitting a pair of socks. As a new knitter I wanted something challenging and cute - I just loved all the sock yarns out there. After finishing the year long scarf, and my not so slouchy, slouchy hat, I cast on my socks.

After finishing the heal and half the foot of the first sock, I just wasn't having it. I realized I knit the sock too small and since I wasn't enjoying the pattern, I dreaded the thought of ripping out all the stitches and starting again. I put the half sock and the yarn into my knitting basket, and there it stayed until this past week.

I had meant to rip out the stitches and start a new project a long time before, but I had a hard time letting go. I am such a slow knitter and had put so much time and effort into my little half sock. That's probably a silly reason, but I did eventually suck it up, unravel, and start fresh. I have to say it was at least a little exciting when I knit up all the curly yarn (curly from being in sock form for the past year) and moved on to the never before knit yarn.

I had a lot more fun with this pattern, Classic Mittens (available for free here), and it was the perfect quiet, stationary activity to get me through my illness this past weekend. Apparently I am a most excellent knitter when I'm sick!

Now for the real challenge - finishing the second mitten. I am feeling much better, so I imagine it'll be a much slower knit than the first!

Fabric Basket.

2010-01-27T22:35:00.002-05:00

You got a little hint of this project in my last 365 post. I'm not sure how I like posting a collage like that once every 8 days, but for now it is working out okay.

A flickr friend made one of these and posted it on her photostream, along with a link to the pattern, and I was inspired. What better way to store odds and ends? It's so quick and easy, and so cute! I'm planning to make more of differing sizes that can nest into each other when empty.

The outer fabric is a Japanese cotton canvas that I bought on Etsy. The lining is from my local fabric shop, and I will update this post with the designer once I check the selvage. I used a heavy interfacing so the basket would keep its shape better. Most important - I ironed the edges like crazy to get the square shape! Without ironing it stays sort of round.

I filled it with some of my favourite yet-to-use craft supplies - cute wooden buttons, vintage trims, wooden thread spools, and pretty beads. For now it sits on my bed side table to inspire me each morning. The more I see my supplies, the more ideas I have for crafts, and that is always a good thing.

Another Week Goes By.

2010-01-25T23:46:00.006-05:00

Days 18 through 25.

A week of birthdays, cats, friends, crafting, interesting 'finds', and colour.

Days 10 through 17.

2010-01-18T01:39:00.006-05:00

A week in pictures.

2010-01-09T15:38:00.004-05:00

01/03/10 - Day 3 of 365

Snowie and Lola keep warm by a heating vent, one of the favourite spots in this house, on a cold January day.

01/04/10 - Day 4 of 365

The winter semester begins.

01/05/10 - Day 5 of 365 A very snowy day. I had today off so I spent it shovelling driveways and playing in the snow with Lola.

01/06/10 - Day 6 of 365

The ornaments are put away. Some put theirs away by New Years, but in our family tradition we wait until January 6th.

01/07/10 - Day 7 of 365

Milo kitty asks for some belly rubs.

01/08/10 - Day 8 of 365

I spent most of my day with this beautiful mama, who is one of my closest friends, and her girls. Love them!

01/09/10 - Day 9 of 365

The second smallest bowl in this set had been sitting in the office at my mom's work for weeks. Someone had donated it to the Christmas Charity, but they were only collecting clothing and food so they couldn't include it. The secretary had been complaining that she didn't want it or know what to do with it, so my mom asked if she could have it. She knew I collected Pyrex, but she didn't know that this was the one bowl I was missing from the Butterfly Gold Cinderella Bowl set. It's in excellent shape too. A perfect example of the saying "one's trash is another's treasure". I was so excited that I had to take a picture for my 365 set.

Fleecey Tubes.

2010-01-03T15:03:00.005-05:00

I really enjoy crafting for my animals. It makes me glad to be able to make something special for them that they use and favour. It's harder with the chinchillas because there are many limitations on what is safe for them to have. Polar Fleece is the one material, aside from wood, that I can use, but it is often hard to find cute patterns. I'm sure they don't actually care about what pattern is on the fleece, but if I use patterns I enjoy for myself, I want to do the same for them. On rare cases I find some cute fleece at my local fabric shop, like this polka dot pattern.

Last time I made them a fleece tube, Rory thought it was just for her. This time I made two! They both tend to favour the one on the left (maybe because it's infront of a hanging chew toy), but I do often find one girl in each tube.

This project is actually very simple to make. If you'd like to know how, leave your e-mail in the comments and I'll send you instructions.

Next - a matching hammock.

A New Year.

2010-01-02T18:14:00.006-05:00

With this new year comes a new project. A few years ago I attempted Project 365, but gave up after only two months. I began the project to allow myself the opportunity to practice my photography. To experiment. At the end of two months I felt that I didn't have anything interesting to share and gave up. I now realize that wasn't in the spirit of the project. Part of what is so great is that it allows you to capture little bits of your day, regardless of how big or small. The photos don't have to be beautiful or perfect. As the year progresses you can go back and see what was important to you each day. That changes year to year. I do have many pictures from that same year, but it would be nice to have a day to day photo journal to look back on.

This year I am starting again! My close friend Janet is doing it too, so the plan is to keep each other motivated if we fall behind. I'm actually having a great time looking at all of her photos, and I look forward to them each day. If you decide to join in, please leave a link where I can follow you. I don't plan on sharing the photos here daily, but I might do a weekly post with all the photos from that week. For now, I am going to share my first two photos.

01/01/10 - Day 1 of 365

Jer serenading me on guitar.

01/02/10 - Day 2 of 365

Catching up on sewing projects (and I will be sharing some of those here soon).

Antique Markets.

2009-12-31T12:40:00.005-05:00

With the time off during the holidays, I have been able to take a couple trips to nearby Antique Markets. This is something I like to do with my mom since it gives us a chance to spend time together while seeing new and interesting things. I love shopping with her! She is like my goodluck charm as I always find things I had been hoping to come across when she's there.

We came across most of the antique markets by accident, we were actually only sure that two of them existed. This time everything was new (to us) and it was wonderful to be able to search through all the treasures. We decided to take home some of our very favourite things (which was helped by the 10% off after Christmas sale at one of the markets).

The markets themselves are interesting to see too. They're all so different. My favourites are the ones that go through room after room after room, where you can get lost in everything there is to look at.

I am so grateful to have been able to visit these places, find new treasures, and spend time with my mom. It was nice to have the time to do this. Next week it's back to work and school!

Quiet.

2009-12-20T21:23:00.005-05:00

The mad rush of last week is over. The end of the semester is always a busy time. Exams, two vet visits, a broken furnace, a sprained ankle, semi-last minute shopping, last minute sewing, and lots of running around, all in a period of a few days. At times like that it can be hard to remember to be grateful, but I am glad for the little reminders I received. Now I am grateful to have a little break. I have time to breathe. Things are quiet and sweet, and I am appreciating it all. I have finished setting up the holiday displays and am now taking it all in. It is calm and it is nice. I look forward to spending the coming week with family and friends, and sharing our traditions with each other. I hope to share some of them with you too.

Locker Organizer.

2009-12-17T17:34:00.006-05:00

Last year I sewed up a few tote bags as holiday gifts. One went to someone who had given many handmade gifts to others. When she saw the little bag, she was almost moved to tears. Not because it was any great present, but because even though she had made gifts for others, nobody had ever made a gift for her and she knew how special it was to think of someone while you carefully put together a gift for them.

This year I knew I had to make her something again, but something a little more than a tote bag. She works in a school and stores her belongings in a locker during the day. A locker organizer was the perfect thing! Somewhere to store her little odds and ends and supplies, a place to keep a pen at your finger tips, and a larger pocket to keep hats and mitts (or notebooks).

I used two cotton fabrics in contrasting colours. I don't remember the designer or name, but I picked it up from my local fabric shop. I made up the pattern as I went along. Two long rectangles of fabric for the front and back, and assorted rectangles in the contrasting fabric for the pockets. Everything with a layer of interfacing (pockets & body pieces) to keep things sturdier. I did finish the edges on all the pieces of fabric before sewing them on to the background. It wasn't strictly necessary, but I found it much easier not having to worry about keeping all the edges even while sewing everything together.

The picture frame is just a square of fabric with a smaller square cut out in the center (inner edges folded under by making a snip in each corner). I sewed a thin piece of clear plastic to the back to protect the photo. The top edge is not sewn down, so the photo can be changed. The pocket to the right has a few lines of lengthwise stitching to hold pens in place.

I sewed a pocket for and inserted a small dowel along the top to prevent the corners from sagging when the pockets are full. In hindsight, I probably should have done the same along the bottom since it does sag a bit there.

The binding came next, and was a pain! I had never made my own binding or worked with binding before (I had started it on an unfinished project, but that remains unfinished). The binding and stitching around it are uneven in places, but I guess I can't expect to be perfect on the first try!

Last came the little details - the matching fabric covered button, and the fabric loop to hang it all from. The loop wraps around the button to keep it closed when you fold it up for carrying.

I had a lot of fun making this project, and definitely learned a few new things. It's something that could really be played around with a lot...different sizes of pockets, layered pockets, velcro, zippers, hangers, magnets...there is just so much that could be changed. If anyone wants to give it a try and would like more detailed instructions, I would be happy to share.

All ready to go in one of the gift bags I sewed up from my Shinzi Katoh holiday fabric!

Doily Snowflakes.

2009-12-13T01:12:00.004-05:00

A simple, but pretty craft. I saw doilies made into a snowflake garland on another blog and had to try it out for myself, only I had nowhere to put up a garland. I decided to cover my windows instead. I enjoyed making these so much. All it took was a selection from my vintage doily collection, a solution of white craft glue and water, a paint brush, and a bit of string. If you don't have craft glue, starch (the kind you use to stiffen clothes for ironing) works just as well.

All you do is paint the solution of watered down glue over the doilies (make sure to get both sides and soak through), and leave them to dry for several hours. A tip - paint from the center of the doily to the edge to avoid bunching and stretching. Once dry, tie a piece of string around one of the outer loops and hang up as you please! If you want the doilies to lay perfectly flat, you could place them underneath a towel and iron. So simple.

Placing them in a window where Christmas lights from the street are visible would create an even better effect. So wintery, and so pretty. The best part - even if the glue solution wont fully wash out, they're still usable on a table or flat surface while they're not functioning as winter decorations.

Children in the Forest.

2009-12-10T13:57:00.005-05:00

Last week I had the chance to take to the forest with a group of grade one students. We visited an outdoor education centre, where guides use the forest itself to provide opportunities for learning. It was wonderful to see the children out of the classroom and completely surrounded by nature, something these city kids don't get much chance to do. They looked, touched, listened, smelled, and even tasted what was around them. They tried new things, discovered new things, and gained so much out of the experience. So many channels for communication were opened.

My favourite points of our nature walk - watching the squirrels preparing for winter, talking about why alligators don't live in Toronto rivers (and having one of the children explain the difference between warm and cold blooded animals), listening to the rushing river water and racing sticks by the bridge, and feeling the wet leaves squish under our feet.

For lunch we had a cookout over a fire. Not the healthiest food, but a brand new experience for all of these children. Again, all their senses were at play. Seeing the flames, feeling the heat, hearing the crackling, smelling the burning wood and smoke (and having it sting our eyes when the wind blew it in our direction), and tasting the food we had cooked. Some children even conquered their fears as they were apprehensive about being near the fire, but decided to give it a try anyway. A chance to try something new!

And a lesson in trial an error - cooking marshmallows in the flames burns them, cooking them over the coals turns them nice, toasty brown.

Once the fire was extinguished and the coals cooled down, we had a chance to try drawing with the charcoal. We talked about how charcoals for art are made, and made a plan to try them out in the classroom.

After lunch we talked about preserving the forests and what we can do to help. As it is an outdoor education centre, there are lots of people walking along the forest floor. To give back a little, we sowed woodchips on the high traffic areas. This helps avoid the wearing down of the path, and protects the animals and insects under the forest floor. The children were excited to help out, and had a chance to do some "hard work" outside by shoveling, carrying, and sowing the woodchips. They were rewarded with hot chocolate and a nature story, but I think best of all they felt as though they had given back to the forest that had given them so much that day.

These children gained more from visiting a forest than they ever could from filling out worksheets. I had a wonderful time too!

Christmas Elf.

2009-12-08T21:33:00.008-05:00

I've always admired Hillary Lang at Wee Wonderfuls' dolls. She does some really amazing work! I was very excited when this pattern became available, and put it in my shopping cart right away. I got to it asap and finished my doll earlier today. This was my first time both making a doll and embroidering a face, so I did have some trouble (the first eye took several attemps...serves me right for embroidering one instead of using a felt eye like the pattern calls for). I am proud of her though!

I made some small changes, like adding some braids and pom pom trim on the skirt, using ric-rac instead of felt around her wrists and neck, and the style of the face (it's more similar to the Wee Wonderfuls Olive and Archie dolls I think). I should probably sew her hat down too!

The pattern called for fabric and accessories I already had in my stash. Wool felt for her head, hands, and shoes; cotton prints for her legs, hat, body and skirt (my new Shinzi Katoh little red Christmas fabric!); linen tape around her hat, and of course the ric-rac and pom pom trim. And bells, have to have the bells!

The pattern wasn't difficult to make. Pinning and sewing around some of the curves might be tricky for new sewers, but the instructions are very clear and easy to follow. I'm going to have to try making another one.

Oh, and that's just the "mini tree". The real tree didn't have room for all of our ornaments this year. Oops!

Pssst.

2009-12-02T22:02:00.004-05:00

It has been a while! A very long while. I am still here, and looking forward to get back into regular posting. It has been a very busy fall, but now things are winding down. My sewing machine broke for good in early September and I wasn't able to replace it until last week. I am so glad to be sewing on a machine again! Just in time to make some handmade holiday gifts. As always I am very much looking forward to the holidays. This weekend will be full of decorating, hot chocolate, secret sewing, and the last of the holiday bazaars. It is just the beginning!

Do you have anything special planned?

The Curtain.

2009-08-25T02:47:00.007-04:00

A while ago we re-did this room (you can see the transformation here). The window was left bare though. I knew I wanted to make some sort of curtain for it, but I had trouble finding a fabric I liked. I don't like buying online for this kind of thing. Even if the scale of the print is shown, I have a hard time imagining it in person. My local fabric shop didn't have anything either. Everything was either too busy, too plain, or just the wrong colour. Feeling hopeless, I went to ready made curtains, but couldn't find anything there either. It seems again that everything is either too plain or too busy. We have this same issue with rugs. Finally, I went to a designer fabric depot where I immediately fell inlove with about 15 different $95 per yard fabrics (why is it that only designer stores seem to have this middle ground?). That definitely wasn't going to happen, so I took myself over to their clearance section where they have designer fabric on bolts, ready to go, for about $15 per yard. Not too bad. I found the perfect fabric and it was just big enough for the window, with a little left over (I'm thinking a bag).

Although I brought this fabric home over a month ago, July was a busy month full of summer classes, guests, and outtings, and the sewing part didn't get started until last week. I did have some issues with this fabric. The way the light shines through it is beautiful, but for some reason it really resisted being sewing in a straight line. It is also a little thick (it's inbetween a thick linen and an upholstery weight fabric) so the seams need to be ironed carefully for it to fall properly. Despite these issues, Friday was the magic day when the curtain went up and I think it looks great! I had considered making two panels, but the window was just two small for that. This curtain is just long enough that it can be tied to the side during the day and let back down at night. I love the way the pattern looks when the light shines through!

A perfect addition to this room!

The Necklace.

2009-08-15T14:29:00.005-04:00

I've always enjoyed beading and making jewellery, but I've never been very good at it. In my younger days I'd use pony beads and boondoggle. I remember making all kinds of hideous, sparkly, crooked creations for my mom and she'd show them off proudly. My poor mom! Later I moved on to seed beads and embroidery floss(hello, friendship bracelets!). More recently I have made necklaces using antique keys and simple charms, but I wanted to try something more complicated. I have always wanted to work with chains and fancy beads, but I have trouble keeping the metal bits straight. I always squish and pull too much, and the circles don't resemble anything of the sort when I'm finished with them!

I decided it was time to work past all of that and create an interesting necklace using something that would work for me. It was very simple to make, but still something I could feel good about. I'm sure I saw this idea on a blog somewhere, so I can't take credit for it. I wasn't able to find the post, so I can't give proper credit.

For this necklace I used little rings that are found in the drapery section of any craft store (I believe they are normally used for roman blinds), and wrapped them in embroidery floss. I separated the strands into groups of threes so it wasn't too thick. The covered rings were simply sewn together, and the chains and appropriate findings were easily attached.

I had no idea of how exactly I wanted this to look when I was finished. I picked a few colours, wrapped, and attached, and stopped when I was happy with it. It falls nicely when worn too! I will have to be more careful next time as it looks a bit messy where the rings are attached. I was hoping that wouldn't show.

I had a lot of fun with this project and am glad that I have this new necklace to wear.

Pom Poms.

2009-08-08T16:06:00.009-04:00

I hate throwing out fabric. I keep even the tiniest scraps, knowing one day I will come across some amazing craft project involving tiny little scraps and I will be so happy I kept them. When I saw this project on Molly Chicken I was glad I saved all those strips of fabric left over from straightening and shortening all those sewing projects. Mine don't look nearly as nice as hers do (I made the cardboard rings too thin and used way too much fabric), but I like them.

Really a lot of scraps. I liked how she sorted hers into pinks/reds and blues so I did the same.

This is a wonderful way to keep your hands busy when you want something that you don't have to think about. Just wrap and wrap and wrap until there's no more room.

Then you cut and tie and hang, and you're done! Perfect! I'm going to make tiny red and green ones to hang on my Christmas tree this year. Yes, I'm already thinking about Christmas.

This was a nostalgic sort of craft for me. It reminded me of making yarn pom poms at Brownie camp each summer. It became the popular thing to do at camp during free craft time, and girls from each session would teach those in the next. We all had chains of pom poms hanging from our camp hats.

I don't know how I didn't find that big bunch of pom poms annoying. Seriously, look how many are on there!

Double points to this project. Using up huge amounts of scraps to make something cute and nostalgia all in one!

Cottaging.

2009-08-07T16:50:00.007-04:00

It has been a busy few weeks full of summer adventures, good friends, travel, gardening, crafting, and relaxing. We had friends from Germany staying with us for three weeks, and my blog was easily neglected. I have some craft projects to share, but this post is dedicated to one of my very favourite summer activities..cottaging. I don't have a cottage, but my uncle is kind enough to let us visit his every so often. It's on a small lake in Muskoka, and it is wonderful. One of my very favourite places.

It is quiet, fresh, and the scenery is incredible. I love sitting out on the dock and watching the boats pass by.

And every so often this boat comes by too, full of passengers waving to those out on their docks.

There are wonderful antique stores and even a vintage fabric shop for me to rummage through. This one is just too sweet.

Here I completed my Pink Gooseberry Cinderella bowl set. I had been looking for these bowls for a very long time.

This was Lola's first visit to the cottage. She loved exploring the land and swimming in the lake.

Being out on the water was so relaxing. I kayaked to the bigger lake and enjoyed the time spent alone. It allowed me to clear my head.

And others enjoyed the time spent together.
And after a long day we felt calm, refreshed, and at peace. Not quite ready to return to the business of the city, and anxious for our next trip up north.

Gifts from the Garden

2009-07-18T17:28:00.005-04:00

July is a wonderful time for the Garden. Things are growing, we are harvesting, and we are quite literally enjoying the fruits of our Spring labour. Some of it is being eaten straight from the plants, some is being cooked up into recipes, and some is going into the freezer to be stored (I haven't yet tried canning). It is very exciting to find new things ready to eat each day.

We have been snacking on berries. The raspberries grow faster than we can pick them. We have neighbours over nearly every day to help in the harvesting. It is nice to share this with them, and in turn one our closest neighbours share their pool with us.

The herbs are being dried, or cooked fresh into our food. They smell and taste wonderful. So fresh!

The gooseberries match my favourite bowl. We have two bushes and not enough people to eat them all!

We don't have a lot of land, but we have a lot growing. Not enough to sustain us, but enough to enjoy. I can't wait to see what is ready tomorrow!

Spare Room Makeover.

2009-07-07T23:25:00.013-04:00

The before..

What you can't see are the Toronto Blue Jays and Toronto Maple Leafs borders around the ceiling. I'm so embarassed to show this photo because of the mess and the incredible amount of stuff in the room. The room's previous owner left pretty much everything behind, and my piles of fabric went on top of all of that.

After everything was cleaned out, the borders were removed, and the carpets around the edge of the room were ripped up.

The room was painted in a very light blue, Pensive Sky by Behr, and the rest of the carpet and the underpad was removed. I had a fun time pulling staples out of the floor! Whoever installed the carpet went a little crazy with the staples. The old mattress was also traded with a more comfortable one.

And the after..

There is still a lot I want to do with the room, but this is the 'final product' for now. The rug was found in the clearance room of a high end furniture shop. It was less than a quarter of the original price. The shelves on the wall were already there and are so useful that I didn't want to remove them. The upper shelf holds some of my Pyrex collection, and the lower shelf holds storage for craft supplies.

The picture on the wall is from my grandmother. The suitcases are from two of my neighbours, and are being used for both fabric storage and as a bedside table. The bed is part of my brother's old bedroom set. I'm not really fond of the set, but it's solid wood and really good quality. It's perfect for a child's room, which is what it is being saved for. I'm toying with the idea of making a cover for the headboard, but I think the warmth of the wood adds a bit of brightness in this corner. The lamp is from Ikea, and the blanket was made by my mom.

The sewing corner sits on the opposite side of the room. Here you can see the rest of the bedroom set, which holds my craft books, fabric, and supplies. The white shelf was bought at a church sale for $5. I'm planning to make a covered cork board to go over the desk. Right now that wall is a bit bare.

Curtains are in the works for that window. The blind broke while we were trying to put it back up after painting, so the window is in desperate need of a covering. It was a lot of work to turn this room around, but I'm so happy with the result!

The books, card games, and stuff from the first photo is either in storage in a huge closet in the basement, or is back with its original owner. The most important thing was making the room functional. We have guests coming to visit this summer and we need the extra sleeping space. It is also very nice to be able to sew and create in an uncluttered space, and have more room for my supplies. There is a lot more closet space for storage. It's just more functional all around.

Busy Busy Bee.

2009-07-04T20:49:00.004-04:00

It's ~~Spring~~Summer Cleaning time in our home. On a school schedule, it is much easier to devote time to such things when the course load is light. Now is the time we do a deep cleaning, repair, paint, and re-do around the house. This past week has seen all the curtains and blinds removed and washed with hot soapy water, every nook and cranny scrubbed clean, small repairs here and there, and now ripped up carpets and a fresh coat of paint for the spare room (which also happens to be the sewing room). What is now the spare/sewing room had previously been a boy's room, with Toronto sports team paraphernalia on the walls, a very worn carpet, and a neon yellow closet. It was definitely time for a change! I love to paint, and ripping up carpets is oddly satisfying, so this has been great fun for me. The cleaning isn't so much, but it must be done. Everyone chips in, so it's much more enjoyable and quick.

Today I took a little break from the painting to spend time with my good friend Janet..

..play some toddler games in the park with her oldest..

..and visit with her youngest and the owner of this tiny fist. It was a very nice break!

Janet has recently moved nearby, and I am so glad. We have been friends since the sixth grade. She's definitely one of the good ones! It is so nice to be able to walk over in about 15 minutes, although I do have to admit to stealing a ride over today. I can't wait for more park visits and hopefully a picnic or two with her this summer!

At home, I enjoyed the first raspberries of the season along with a few ripe strawberries from the hanging baskets. I love being able to walk into the yard and pick a yummy snack!

Can you tell I had been painting?

I will post some before and after pictures of the room soon, although I have many projects in mind for it so it wont be completely finished for a while. There will be a lot of sewing in my near future!

Canada Day.

2009-07-01T23:56:00.008-04:00

Every year on Canada Day, Jer and I watch the fireworks display put on by one of our local parks. We have a secret parking spot a little ways away, and we watch through the trees, surrounded by complete darkness aside from the fireflies putting on their own light show in the field before us. It's quite spectacular! I really like this little tradition of ours.

Now at home, I can still hear fireworks and celebrating going on in the background. Lola is not a fan!

A very happy Canada Day to those celebrating!

Buttons.

2009-06-30T11:46:00.004-04:00

I don't know why, but I love fabric covered buttons. They're not as practical since they're much harder to keep clean, and they often tend to be a little floppy because of how they're sewn on, but they just look so delicious and sweet!

If you search Etsy for fabric covered buttons, some of the cutest little buttons come up! I just love these, these, and of course little red. So much fun!

I have this beautiful Nani Iro gauzey fabric that I had no idea what to do with (I still don't, actually). I clipped off a tiny piece and made it into fabric buttons! A simple, yet satisfying craft. I could make buttons all day long!

Now, of course, I have no idea what to use these buttons for.

A Week of Pyrex.

2009-06-29T03:06:00.006-04:00

My mom and I have always been very close. I'm lucky. She was very strict when I was young, but as I grew older she loosened up and we grew closer. We've shared many special hobbies over the years, giving us something to do together. This ranged from something as simple as going on walks together every evening, to redecorating, to going to dog school classes together with Lola. This past year we would attend church sales, holiday bazaars, and antique fairs together, and more recently she has come on many of my Pyrex runs. She has seen how much fun the hunt can be!

This past weekend, mom went up to cottage country (I'm so jealous, I love cottaging) and did some Pyrex shopping in the amazing antique markets they have there. It was so sweet of her to bring me back something, and I loved that she had so much fun doing it. She was telling me stories of how two other women were searching the market for Pyrex and it turned into a little friendly competition of sorts. In the end both parties ended up walking away with lots of goodies. My uncle, who's cottage she was visiting, did think she was a little crazy for buying so many 'old dishes', but she had fun doing it.

My Pyrex collection is getting a little out of hand, filling up two entire cupboards. This morning was spent packing up books into boxes to clear a shelf for bowls. If they were my books I would be donating them since they are never used, but since it's not up to me they are going into the basement storage closet until their true owner comes to pick them up (hopefully soon! I hate to see books not being appreciated).

I am going to have so much fun arranging and re-arranging that shelf! I bet this sounds silly from a non-Pyrex lover's perspective, but I'm sure you can understand that we all have our things. This one happens to be very useful - when I cook or bake I have so many dishes to chose from! I can even colour coordinate! Okay, that was only half-serious, but I do think food always looks better served in pretty dishes.

And who can argue with a pink patterened bowl? Not me!

I am grateful.

The Faux Patchwork Quilt.

2009-06-27T20:19:00.005-04:00

I love love love this fabric! It's Pear Patchwork Red from Superbuzzy. I bought it months ago with the intention to turn it into a picnic blanket. Can't you just picture summer picnics on this sweet patchwork? I didn't have much use for a picnic blanket during the winter months, so this project kept getting pushed aside. Spring didn't leave me with much time for picnics, but now that Summer is here I am looking forward to the first of the season, and that of course requires a new blanket! It isn't quite finished yet, but it's supposed to rain over the next few days so I wanted to snap a picture of it outside while I could.

I like to call this my 'cheater quilt' because the patchwork is printed right on the fabric. It is perfect for a first time quilter who wanted a simple weekend project that provided great results! I also wanted something big so that at least two people plus a picnic could fit comfortably on top.

I used a natural cotton batting on the inside. It adds a bit of thickness and weight to the quilt, but it's fairly thin and light so the quilt isn't too heavy or stiff. The backing is a plain cotton fabric in a beige tone. The front is so busy that I wanted something solid for the back. I plan to bind the edges with red to pick up the red in the pattern as well as the front seams (which don't show up very well in the pictures).

There will be seams running the other way, but I'm having trouble deciding how to space them. The patchwork pattern repeats every four squares across, and every six squares down. I wanted to have the seams create squares on the fabric, but I'm not sure I want to break up the pattern. I guess that is something I'll have to figure out soon! I cannot wait to use this blanket!

Next time I will do it the 'real way' with real patchwork squares and maybe even some interesting stitching. For now, I am very happy with my faux patchwork quilt!

18 years.

2009-06-25T22:22:00.017-04:00

In August of 1991 my family took a trip to the Toronto Humane Society. We were looking for a small dog, but what I really wanted was a white cat. At Brownie camp earlier that summer I even wished for a white cat in the Enchanted Wood (there was a section of forest dubbed the "Enchanted Wood". One night during each camp session, the leaders would dress up as fairies and put on a play for us. Paper lanterns hung from the trees and 'fairy dust', which was really fine glitter, was sprinkled all over. It was truly magical, even if we all knew it was really the leaders in costume. There was a concrete mushroom that had been in the forest since the camp was opened, and each of us would take a turn sitting on it and making a wish while 'fairy dust' was sprinkled over our heads.) There weren't any small dogs at the Humane Society, and I was terrified of the larger ones (my cousin had a large dog that used to nip at me, which fostered this fear), so we were going to leave without a new family member.

On the way out, I pleaded "can't we just look at the cats?" My ciocia, who was living with us for the year, convinced my mom to humor me. So off to the cat room we went, just to look. Then it happened. We immediately saw her from across the room - this tiny white thing with huge paws, head and ears, playfully batting at the cage bars. We all fell in love with her and my mom knew she couldn't say no. She was our cat. All the way home my brother and I debated names. Being seven and not quite nine, we came up with some pretty terrible ones. We finally settled on Snowie, with an 'ie' because she was a girl. That's what you get when you let kids name the cat!

A few hours after we brought her home, after she had run around the entire house and climbed up every curtain she could find, we realized she had fleas. We spent the rest of the afternoon at the vet, bathing the cat, and then vacuuming and cleaning the house top to bottom. We had set up a fancy basket for her to sleep in, but she preferred sleeping on my face. That didn't last long! She eventually found many favourite sleeping spots, including the top of the fridge.

A week after we brought her home she got very sick. She lay on a pillow behind the couch all day and the vet was concerned she wouldn't make it. For months she was on medicine to make her strong. It came in a squeeze tube and she used to lick it off a spoon. After that, she was just fine, and she grew into a beautiful 12 pound cat.

Snowie was my best friend growing up. She listened to me, she loved on me, and she let me love on her even though I probably drove her crazy. When I was sad, she showed up at my side. When I was sick, she cuddled with me. When I had an allergy attack, she was the first to realize something wasn't right, and when she was sick I knew right away.

Just over three years ago Snowie was diagnosed with Lymphoma Cancer. We thought it was a death sentence. I felt terrible because we had put her through all kinds of testing and treatment before realizing what it was, and now we being were told she had two years at most, but even that was unlikely. Each subsequent vet visit filled me with worry. She seemed fine on the outside, but her test results told us she wouldn't make it past the winter, then the spring, then the summer, then the fall...

Right after we brought Lola home Snowie's test results improved significantly. Suddenly all her blood and liver values were nearly normal. It was incredible! More recently her kidneys haven't been doing as well, and again we were told that she wouldn't have much time left. Well, she's still here and going strong. This girl does not give up! She doesn't seem to be uncomfortable or in any pain either. She jumps and plays, explores our yard (supervised of course), cuddles up on our laps, begs for her favourite treats, stands her ground when Lola bothers her too much, likes her water straight from the faucet, and naps in all her favourite spots. I hope she continues to prove everyone wrong. She is so strong.

We're not sure of her actual birthday since she was a rescue, but she was around eight weeks old when we brought her home and the vet guessed June 25th. So today we celebrate 18 years of Snowie.

Happy Birthday sweet girl!

Thrifting Day.

2009-06-24T18:02:00.008-04:00

Rummaging through thrift stores, antique shops, church sales, bazaars, flea markets, yard sales, and any place of the sort, is one of my favourite pastimes. There are so many interesting things to discover. Things that someone has discarded or passed on. Being a Pyrex junkie, this bodes well for me since it means I can hunt for my beloved Pyrex and not break the bank. Plus, it's much more fun than buying online! I often stumble upon other things too.

Like these plates! I'm not sure what they are, but they have the bumpy bottoms that Glasbake dishes have. Searching online hasn't brought up anything. In any case, they are super cute and how could I go wrong for $2 for four plates? EDIT: I've found out these are by Federal Glass. It's a pattern called Chalet.

Now on to the Pyrex! I did very well today, finding three Pyrex dishes in excellent condition. I already had the small Shenandoah casserole dish, but I wanted to photograph them as a set. $2

One thrift store near me always seems to have English Pyrex on their shelves. I've been there three times, and all three times I've found something. I first got two Vine casserole dishes, and then this casserole dish, and today I found this Chelsea casserole dish. $3

Butterprint! This is one of my favourite patterns. $3

I also picked up this set of Betty Crocker recipe cards. Some of the recipes look really awful, but some are really cool. $2

I also picked up that woven mat for 99 cents. It reminded me of the braided rugs my great uncle had in his cottage. He had one in every single room, including the bathroom. I always wanted one of my own.

Thrifting is about saving money, re-using, and re-purposing - being 'thrifty' - but in some cases it helps fuel our hobbies too. For $12.99, that's okay. I feel as long as I actually use the things I buy (which I do, the Pyrex gets cycled in my kitchen), and I enjoy it, it's fine to have more dishes than necessary. In my book, you can never have too many pretty dishes!

The Start of Strawberry Season.

2009-06-23T17:41:00.008-04:00

Strawberry season has officially started in Ontario. There are tons of fresh Ontario strawberries available, and the local farms are opening their gates to strawberry pickers (please tell me why it is so much easier to find someone to go apple picking with me than strawberry picking!). Our tiny backyard patch has bits of red peaking out, and our hanging baskets are sure producing! These give us enough to snack on, but I would still like to visit a local farm to pick berries for the bigger jobs, like jam making and freezing. Frozen strawberries are one of my very favourite treats.

The rest of our garden is growing and changing, and filling me with excitement for the good things to come.

The tomatoes I planted in the ground are just beginning to grow tiny green bulbs, but this plant (which I had originally thought was a cherry tomato plant) has several plump green tomatoes.

The gooseberries are ready to turn purple.

The currants are already changing to red.

And the raspberries are beginning to flower and grow. We were worried we wouldn't have nearly as many as previous years because Lola runs through the raspberry bushes and she has knocked over some stems during the winter, but they have filled out nicely.

We've also had our usual visit from the Doves who like to nest in our grape vine, a sure sign that summer is here. It isn't a good place for them as squirrels frequent it as well, but they still come back every year.

I'm almost embarassed to post this last photo as my vegetable garden that I envisioned with straight and even rows of beans, peas, cucumber, and zucchini, ended up looking like this instead..

The beans are also very crowded and I'm worried I will have to thin them out a little. I guess it really shouldn't matter what it looks like as long as I am happy with it. I am very glad it is growing well!

Enjoy the delicious strawberry season!

Banana Bread.

2009-06-22T23:38:00.004-04:00

It is rare that bananas make it to the overripe stage in this house. We love bananas! If I had to choose only one food I could eat for the rest of my life, it would be bananas. I wish I could choose something more local, something that I could even grow myself, but they are just too good. Yum! This past week we bought too many bananas, even for us. The leftovers sat on the shelf getting more and more brown spots, until today when after a long afternoon of volunteering in an Elementary School classroom cataloging books and re-doing bulletin boards, I needed a sweet homemade treat. I turned to a favourite banana bread recipe, Fluffernutter Bread by ljc. Delish!

Definitely not a healthy treat, with one cup of mini-marshmallows and one cup of peanut butter chips on top of the sugar in the recipe, but sometimes we need to splurge a little - at least that's what I tell myself.

With all of the marshmallows and peanut butter chips, I find that I don't need to use as much sugar as the recipe calls for. I also use brown instead of white.

Mine never turn out as pretty. The marshmallows melt and leave craters all over the bread. Looks aside, it is wonderful. A once in a while special treat, perfect for a banana loving family.

Rain.

2009-06-21T18:41:00.008-04:00

Rain and me, we never got along. I always knew the Earth was better for the rain, but I certainly was not. It was wet and smelly and ruined a lot of potentially fun days. After I was considered too old to jump in puddles (which you never truly are, but try convincing my mom of that!), rain meant indoor days at my great-uncle's cottage, wet tents and tons of mosquitos, cancelled trips to Wonderland, postponed picnics and beach days, indoor recess, and a host of other things that equalled boring and just not very good at all. Often my brother and I ended up inventing games or discovering something new and interesting, and we'd have a blast, but when I woke up and peaked out the curtain to be greated by grey sky and wet ground, I was still convinced it was going to be a terrible day. As I grew older, rain meant wet shoes and pant hems, bad drivers, cancelled outings, and closed roller coasters. I really wanted to embrace the rain, but try as I might, I never fully could.

This year rain and I have called a truce. Rain doesn't seem nearly so bad when you see your plants shoot up after each rain fall. When you really think about how important rain is and all that it does for us, instead of just 'knowing', rain is actually pretty cool. It might be a little selfish, but planting this garden of mine has changed my mind. When it rains now, I become excited to see how my garden will change and grow. When rain stops me from doing something, I think about what it is doing for me instead. If the rain has you down, you might want to try planting a little garden of your own.

(Just don't rain too much.)

The Goods.

2009-06-20T00:18:00.011-04:00

I really don't like to think of myself as materialistic, although I guess in some ways we all are. Some of us more than others. I hate to admit it, but part of the fun of travelling to the US for me is the shopping. There are stores we don't have here, and things I see posted about all over blogs that come from places that don't even ship to Canada or that charge very high amounts to ship here. It is always nice to be able to go to those places when I'm there.

Months and months ago I saw the Orla Kiely for Target line popping up all over blogs. Cute prints in fun colours on all kinds of accessories. I especially loved the dishes, and kept picturing them at a picnic or on my backyard table on a summer night. I found a few pieces on ebay, but the prices were jacked up and the shipping was incredibly high since dishes tend to weigh quite a bit. Our trip gave me perfect opportunity to search these out for myself, although fitting them in my luggage would be a challenge. You can bet those mugs were packed full of socks and wrapped in t-shirts, and the bowl stuffed with clothes.

They didn't have exactly what I wanted, but I think these are just perfect. The only issue being there are only three plates and three mugs in two different colours. That was all they had. They will just have to be used at gatherings of three, which happens quite often right now - perfect!

Looking a this picture makes me anxious for those summer dinners out on the patio. I can't wait!

Undies are another thing. I always manage to come home with at least five pairs of underwear. At least that keeps me going a while! And they're comfy, which is a must.

Yes, I did just post a picture of my undies!

I did do some shopping at the parks, but I'm happy to say that in a land of Mickeys, very few red shorted mice came home with me.

I mostly stuck to the store in 'Japan' at Epcot where I found lots of Shinzi Katoh (a favourite artist of mine) and other cute stationary. I was very tempted by the stores in 'Norway' and 'Germany' that were full of beautiful Christmas decorations (even Erzgebirge), but the prices were much too high.

Just a couple mice..

(Mike Mouse Vinylmation)

..but mostly park maps (free with admission) to add to my collection.

The Beach.

2009-06-19T15:37:00.005-04:00

After all of those roller coasters I posted about yesterday, we were due for some rest and relaxation. What better place to do that then on the beach? It didn't turn out to be as restful as we had hoped due to the beach being extremely crowded (on our last vacation the beach was deserted most of the time), but it was still nice, especially during the sunsets.

Our hotel was two blocks from the beach. The quiet evening walks down to the beach and along the surf - his hand in mine, the waves breaking over our feet while the sun set beside us - were some of my favourite moments.

I also enjoyed playing in the giant waves and laying out in the sun, catching up on my reading during the day. Sand in my toes (and everywhere else, including the bottom of my bag), oversized striped towels, the smell of salt in the slight breeze, and the boats saling past...yes, I love the beach.

But I missed home too..

The Roller Coasters.

2009-06-17T14:15:00.005-04:00

Here is a secret to those who don't know me well - I love roller coasters. Big ones, little ones, wood ones, steel ones, water ones, bobsled ones, looping ones, I love them all! Jer whisked me away to Florida for ten days (an anniversary gift to me) to visit several amusement parks and spend three days at the beach afterwards. It was wonderful! I had taken a break from coaster riding due to some medical issues, so it was nice to be back on those trains, flying around giant tracks.

Here is a little peek..

As much fun as I had, it is nice to be out of the crowds and the Florida heat, and back in the comfort of my home. I missed my pets dearly. I can't say I wouldn't go back in a heartbeat if given the chance though!

After I get through the 1000+ pictures I took (yes, that's not a typo, I did actually take over one thousand pictures), I will post pictures of my garden. It has grown so much!