Gifts from the Garden

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.

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.

It's SpringSummer 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.

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.

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.

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.

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!