Peace and Quiet

We left the city for some fresh air at a friend's cottage in Gravenhurst.  Two moms and three kids on an outdoor adventure.   Only a two hours drive and a twenty minute boat ride, we arrive at paradise.

Lots of rocks, trees and moss (my favourite) surround us in every direction.   We spotted some "others" on our third day.

Beautiful sunsets in shades of pink and orange.

Lots of tree climbing and toad catching, swimming, canoeing, reading books and baking yummy sticky rolls. Jigsaw puzzles, VHS Disney classics, marshmallow toasting and star gazing in the evenings.

 

"Bakugan" and "John" in their bucket terrarium.  Can you SPOT them?

Five glorious days later, we crawled home in the traffic, refuelled on chicken nuggets, and returned to the hustle and bustle of the city.

Tiny Tea Party

A little friend of mine was celebrating her 5th birthday recently.  I know of her love for tiny things, so I decided to make her a set of Tea Cakes to have with her dolls.

These six sweet cuties were made of FIMO one evening while watching TV.

I found the plate (2" wide) at an enormous garage sale about ten years ago, and it has been waiting for just the right reason to be used.
The chocolate eclair is my favourite cake, and I must confess, that I had to buy the real thing the next day because the craving was just too strong to fight!

My mum e-mailed to say that she wants the same plate of goodies as a fridge magnet.  Come to think of it, so do I.

Felt Cupcakes

Last Christmas, I stumbled upon a tutorial for making felt cupcake pincushions out of 2L pop bottle lids.  I started collecting the lids, and people started collecting them for me.  In no time I had enough of them to get started.  (I never like making one of anything, I seem to like multiples)

They went together easily and were very satisfying to make. There are several steps, yet I could still manage to finish a couple of them at night in front of the TV.

I didn't know too many people that sew, and I enjoyed making them so much, that I decided to embellish them a bit, and turn them into something else.

Christmas Tree ornaments

I have a large jar that I have filled up with various styles of cupcakes ready to give as gifts.  In the meantime, they can just look cute and delicious yet fat free in my living room.

Up-cycled Jammer Bag

I received as a gift, a tote bag made of foil drink pouches.  It was hand-made and is colourful and cool, and it is an incredibly strong bag. I use it all the time for groceries.  

I thought that I would try my hand at making one or two.  

It was in my brain, and fully formed...I had to make the bags NOW!!!

I needed the materials

• foil bags (lots of them!!) The tote bag needed 18 and the flap bag needs 10.  Start collecting ASAP!  No Frill's has it $1.88/10 this week
• strapping.  I removed strapping from a bag that had ripped, and it was blue and perfect
• Velcro.  In my sewing kit.

I was on the lookout for the foil pouches.  At the park, I asked complete strangers for their "garbage" and they handed it over willingly.  

I bring the drinks to gatherings with friends and their kids, so that I can take home the foil pouches. 

My son never drank it before my obsession. I'm buying the drink so I can have the trash.  

Is that really recycling?  perhaps not

The washing and drying of the pouches is the hardest part, and almost discouraged me from completing the project.  It stalled my creativity and the project.  UGH!

My finished bags still have a faint smell of it's former contents.

The foil pouches are really nice to work with, the material folds nicely, yet doesn't dent when un-folded.  The zigzag sewing was easy and satisfying on the machine.   

I really love the result!  

The tote bag needs to have some strapping along the top of the bag, as the pouches are a little sharp.  Not sharp - pointy.  A little irritating on the inside of the arm.  Will do this weekend.

The Tote bag will serve as a small shopping bag, or shoe bag, or whatever bag.  The flap bag was made specifically to house my old - now my sons "new" Game Boy & Accessories Bag.


Next bag, or basket, or placemat (still deciding) will have a more mature theme with these foil pouches.

I'm not going to wash these pouches, because they smell FANTASTIC!!

The evolution of the ball

I've wanted to make a soft ball that can be tossed around the house, and not do too much damage.
I found several patterns on line, and started my quest to make the perfect house friendly ball.

8 SIDED BALL WITH EYE

Although the 8 pieces were all the same size, and sewed as accurately as possible, they would not meet at the top, and I had to put the black eye on top to cover the error.
Although it does look good, it wasn't what I had in mind, so I had to move on to the next ball pattern.

6 SIDED ORANGE BALL

I found this pattern, and decided to test it out using the felt colour I had the most of.  Orange won!
I love the way all six sides meet at the top, nice and neat, but I am not happy with the itsy-bitsy uneven stitches.  My friend told me I'd go blind if I continued stitching that small, and I snapped out of it, and moved onto the next ball.  I plan to turn them into pumpkins and Jack o lanterns for Halloween.

6 SIDED RAINBOW BALL

 I changed the colour of thread with each seam, and tried to increase the stitch size (I found that difficult to do)

I am finally happy with my daddy, mummy and baby balls.

I reduced the mummy ball to 70%, and baby is 30% of the original pattern size (daddy).

I snapped and sent a photo of this trio to my Mother-in-law, and she sent it to a friend, and that friend placed an order for a set of balls for a baby gift.
How exciting!

After taking these photos, I decided that the balls looked nice in this white bowl, so I set them out under the umbrella in the back garden.

There was a terrible wind storm, and the next morning I had to go hunting for them.  It took a long time, and sadly I lost 3 of them  :(

They have not been seen since.

Always bring your balls in at night.

Appreciation Luncheon

The other day, some ladies and I from the school, were invited to an appreciation luncheon.
It was held at a local high school, and it was really nice to
a) be appreciated
b) meet the other breakfast club ladies in our area
c) not have to make lunch

It was very civilized as the culinary students made and served chicken and rice, and salad with a yummy dressing, and fresh rolls with real butter.  Fresh fruit for dessert.

As a parting gift, we were given a little basket with the dry ingredients and recipe for a friendship bread.




All I had to do was add the wet ingredients, and pop it in the oven.

My friend called the house and told me to get on it, as it was really good.  She was right!

We had an option of adding apples, bananas or any other fruit.  I added bananas as I always have a stash of frozen "overripe" bananas in my freezer.  

I had to snap this photo really quickly, as the friendship bread was disappearing fast!

It is so nice to be appreciated, why not tell someone that you appreciate them today?

I love turquoise!

My mother in law visited a while back, and bought a ton of stuff that she had cleared out of her cupboards.  "take what you want, and the rest can go to the dusty" she said.
"the Dusty" is her name for Goodwill.

I was instantly attracted to the PYREX white and turquoise bowl.  I love the feel of it, the weight of it, and the sound that it makes when it is put down on the table.   I was excited to show it to my husband and I served a salad in it that evening.
My husband saw it, and said "oh no, not the barf bowl"  He remembers this bowl in a rather negative light, as it was the bowl that was placed beside his and his brother's beds when they were ill.
Now I am not allowed to use my beautiful bowl without hearing "gross, or nasty, or get it off the table"  my son even chimes in, and this story is a good 30 years before his time.

I secretly use the barf bowl for mixing cake batters, and making marinades, but never for serving.

The barf bowl is the one on the far right.  Since I have discovered this newfound love for PYREX, I have found several matching bowls at Goodwill, and all under $2 each.  They stack nicely into each other.




I also have found a beautiful website that shows all the patterns of PYREX that ever was. I find myself just looking at the photos, and reliving memories of eating at friends houses, cottage visits, and family dinners at the Ponderosa.  Visit if you get a chance, it really is fun. Perhaps you'll even relive some memories that make you smile!
 www.pyrexlove.com