Some lovely news......

I'm was very surprised and pleased to see that my blog was mentioned on one of the sites I love to visit.

Flutterby Patch 

Even the name is sweet isn't it?..... and what you will find there will make you very happy:)

Adorable knitted dollies and other cuties.....and the owner of the blog is very generous and has lots of free knitting patterns too.

Go visit and see:)

My feet are killing me.......

So I had a fun fun day at the One of a Kind Show:)  I was very good and didn't buy too much.

I bought my usual...a couple of jars of Herb Jelly from Tangled Garden which is a Nova Scotia based company that makes the most amazing gourmet hand-crafted jelly, jam, chutney, mustard, vinegar and honey.......yum yum:)

This time I bought their Horseradish Jelly for the hubby and for myself I bought some Hot Dilly Cuke Jelly which I have already tried with cheese and it was delish.

Then, I was so happy to see glass artist Charles Ciupa. I had bought a sun catcher from him in a previous year and of course I bought a new one this year. I tried to take a picture but the light is the pits today......it snowed again.

I had bought one of his chickadees........here's a pic from his site....

And this year I bought a hummingbird......

Mine is a bit different with blue and mauve beads...

 

He makes such delicate little pieces that are just lovely in your window on a sunny day:)

And, I bought some greeting cards from Janice Lutsenko who is a dried flower artist......she makes really beautiful delicate pictures. Unfortunately the pictures on her website do not do her work justice. In person they are the deep colours of the natural materials that she uses.

I scanned one of the cards.......fun stuff:)

Strangely, there were almost no vendors with dolls or teddy bears....my passion.... or anything in that genre except one new young artist by the name of Lesley-Anne Green who made very sweet felted animals.

I could go on and on and on but......Anyway, I'm a big supporter of hand made products and it's great to see that there are so many talented artists still working and producing such amazing work.  A good day but as the blog title says...my feet are killing me:)

Take care:)

 p.s. I got the bib too...so cute...pink with a little butterfly:)

Off to the One of a Kind Show.....

I left Smokey in charge.......

Take care:)

p.s. If you are wondering what he is sitting among.....it's the paper from Deva's box from Monday's post. The box was full of masses of brown paper.

Make do and mend.....

Did your mum ever say that?  It was a WW2 slogan and one of my mum's favourites.

My mum really took it to heart. She could take anything and make it into something new. She loved the challenge I think. I was reminded of her when I saw this in my email today from Sew-Whats-New.......

Recover an Umbrella........You can find the instruction sheet here

She would have really liked this idea. After she passed away I found that she had several umbrellas in need of repair.  I often wondered why she kept them but I think she optimistically felt that she could fix them one day or use the water repellant fabric for something else. More than likely as an interior lining in a baby's bib.......she had done it before:)

I also received this idea that would be great for using all those scraps that we all seem to accumulate.

Make fabric Easter Eggs..........

I was wondering if I could fill them with potpourri...hmmm. Maybe something kitcheny:)

Take care.

Munday, munday......

Here's Smokey visiting my sewing room which he doesn't do very often. He mostly sleeps and you don't see him much during the day unless there is cheese or olives to be had. Then he's all action:)

He's a big cuddly guy who hasn't much to say. Not like his sister who talks non stop.

The One of a Kind Craft Show starts on Wednesday so that's where I'll be. Not as a vendor but as a customer. I have been given my mission. I am to buy one of these in toddler size........

It's a leather bib made by a company called Mallybib  My daughter-in-law received one as a shower gift and she says it's the best thing she was given. I was a bit skeptical when I first saw it but now I'm convinced. Any mess wipes off and the bib looks like new. It really is amazing. So that's on my list of things to do.

I love the One of the Kind. When I see all the creative output by all the craft artists it makes me fired up to create. There are two shows a year here in Toronto but they also have shows in Vancouver, Chicago and New York. This spring there are 450 vendors so that should keep me busy:)

Oh.......and a courier just came to the door.......he brought Deva a new box to play with.

Take care:)

A day of rest.........for some:)

Beans, beans.......

Something new to play with....... for a future make-it.

Isn't it strange. These three mice were made from the same pattern but three different colours of felt? All different shapes and heights as a result:)

Hmm..........I think one of them needs to cut down on the cheese.

Take care.

Bargoon daze.......

Lately I have been having a lot of difficulty getting good quality polyester stuffing at a reasonable price. So, on Tuesday I went to Zeller's to have a look. They didn't have any at all but I remembered another doll makers' suggestion that bed pillows have very good stuffing in them at a reasonable price. Well, it turned out to be my day.  Zeller's had a sale on bed pillows. They had a four pack of Wabasso pillows for $20.00 plus tax......and if you buy one pack you get one free.  That's right......buy one get one free!!!!..........eight pillows for $20.00.

So, I get home and I'm in my sewing room.  I take one pillow out to look at and then I lay it to one side. The rest were still in the plastic bag they came in ......I left the room for about 3 minutes....and I came back to this....

 

Where the heck did she come from? So I removed her and moved the pillows. Ha! Deva was not deterred by that...Oh no...not Deva:) She came back to have another look.

And she looked.....

And the pillow fell......

 
And, well....I took pity on her:)

After all that hard work she needed a rest.

Take care.

Good Day........:)

I want to say hello and welcome to all my followers. Thank you very much for joining my blog. I still haven't figured out where I'm going with this blog thingy. It's kind of a mish mash....sort of stream of silliness.

Here is a bit of Celtic music to start the day. I was going to post it on St. Patrick's day and then I realized it was being sung in Welsh....ooops:)


In my email today there was a free pattern for an Easter placemat for the kiddies from Sew-Whats-New.com......here.  You could take this idea and adapt it for other holidays too...replace the bunnies and carrot with another motif. It's a good way to use up all those bits of fabric that everyone acquires over time. When my kids were little I always found that something.... like a placemat just for them....made them feel very important and "grownup".

I used to embroider a lot years ago and I have recently rediscovered how much I really enjoy doing it. With that in mind I'm always looking for ideas and freebies:) One of the blogs I like to visit........ Pat Winter Gatherings......had some links the other day that I found interesting. Two of them were for some vintage embroidery patterns that I think some of you might like..... here and here.

Enjoy:)

Take care.

100 ways to hide your stash......:)

This was in a newsletter I received today and I thought I'd share.



Take care.

For Cat lovers and Embroiderers and Quilters......

I visited a blog called the Red Brolly belonging to Australian designer Bronwyn Hayes. She has some very sweet embroidery patterns that she offers for free with a provision that they be used only for personal use.....

Here's a sample ......click to enlarge.

You can find more here.

She has loads of other fun stuff to see and do..........visit and see:)

Take care.

Johnnie Walker - The Man Who Walked Around The World

Done in one take....



Take care:)

Munday, munday......

How time flies when your having fun:)

I observed recently that a lot of bloggers are celebrating their 100th post as if it was a major milestone....???

Ahem.......with this post it will be 107 for me......as I say having fun:)

I always was too talkative when I was little and obviously the verbal diarrhea continues.

Well I'm off to do some sewing:)

Take care.

Little shop of?.....

I put one of my shop kits together and it's bigger than I thought it would be.....13 inches by 16 inches. I love it:) The door opens!......but it needs a door handle. I need to do some mini shopping.

I think I might make it a little vintage antique shop as I have lots of little bits and pieces that I have collected over the years.

 Take care:)

Carrying on.......

Not much is happening here today. The snow has finally melted in the back yard but the ground is too wet and mushy to walk on and I saw my first robin yesterday. So things are looking up:) The sun is shining but it's a bit nippy temperature wise.

I got my hair cut this morning. I wear it short...wash and wear. I was shocked at how much hair was on the ground when the stylist had finished. Where did it all come from...eeek. I feel much lighter now.

We have a new piece of deco in the sewing room.....

Inside there is a first aid kit......with thingies for when I do myself an injury.

I sorted some of my stuff yesterday and found some fabric that I bought at least 15 years ago. It was a warehouse sale for a company that was closing down. It was a bargain at 3 yards for $1.00 so naturally I had to get 3 yards. The pattern is called Garden Market.

I was going to make some aprons but obviously I didn't:) The pic doesn't show the colour very well. It's really much nicer and brighter.

I do have something in mind for it.

While I was looking for ideas I found a blog called "A Spoonful of Sugar" which had a tutorial for a fabric basket....here. I thought it was a great idea and so easy to make......reversible, washable and easy to store away.

As I said, not much happening....:)

Take care.

Blogger Day of Silence - March 18th

ShelterBox is an international disaster relief charity that delivers emergency shelter, warmth and dignity to people affected by disaster worldwide.

In Canada you can find info here.....http://www.shelterboxcanada.org/

Take care.

The New York Botanical Garden.......

I was sorting through some old clippings that I had saved from back issues of Miniature Collector Magazine. One was for October 2000 and was about the New York Botanical Gardens.

It was about a group of miniature buildings that the Gardens own. A spectacular display is set up during the Holidays until the beginning of January. The miniature buildings, which are all models of historic New York buildings, town homes, cottages and castles, are set up in the conservatory among a track system with scale models of trains and trolleys.

So your saying......big deal.

It is....it is.....because the neat part is that the buildings are mostly made with natural stuff .....seed pods, acorns, branches, moss, bark, cinnamon sticks and so on.....fitting building materials for a Botanical Garden don't you think?

I thought you might like to see some pictures of the buildings courtesy of NYBG.org:

And, I found a mini  video of them setting it up for 2010.........I hope you enjoy.

(if the video stops press the arrow on the left again)


Take care.

I need to get out more......

I opened my email this morning and saw that I had received an email from "Sew-Whats-New.com" regarding a free pattern and tutorial for "Boys Shortalls".

What the heck is a Shortall?.......I googled.........I am enlightened:) As a mother of boys I had no idea and obviously the set of ladies I associate with are not wearing them......not in public any way.

Go here and enjoy......:)

On another topic.

I found this site that has free printables. For anyone doing scrap-booking or collaging they may be useful.

I really liked the Easter ones. They would be nice to put on an Easter gift or basket.

Ewenmeprintables

Take care:)

Free Easter Bunny Pattern

You may have already found this but here is very easy and cute pattern for a little bunny,

Take care:)

Is it Tuesday?

There's Smokey hanging around.

There's Smokey bugging Deva.

It's just a regular old day. Boring.

Hmmm.......maybe I'll get some mail today. That would be nice.

Take care.

Munday, munday......

I know that the difference to us with daylight savings time is only one hour but it confuses me for a couple of days. I realized yesterday that I am subliminally influenced by the level of light around me. I made dinner "late" according to some members of my family because I made dinner at new time 7:00 by the clock but to me (who didn't look at the clock) it was 6:00 old time which is when I usually start making dinner......does that make sense. Never mind. I'm so confused:)

I found a very interesting blog yesterday called Art Doll Artists. I'm not sure how I came across it because I tried to put a link here to it for you to view but I can't. It seems to be cached.

But, I can link you to one particular post about sculpting dolls .....part of a tutorial by the Creagers here dated May 2010 which I thought was very useful for anyone interested in trying their hand at sculpting using Super Sculpey.

Also, here there is a post about a free doll class by Linda Misa that she hosts on Yahoo. Linda's blog is called Tact-lise . 

I joined Linda's Yahoo group and took a look at her class which you can find there under "Files". It's self paced and you can download each section to follow on your own. It's not a complicated doll and I thought her technique for building more defined facial features was very good and I'm going to try it myself.  There is also another free pattern for a male figure called Soccer Sam.

Another useful resource for dollmakers is a free quarterly newsletter called   "Creative Costuming"  by doll artist Adele Sciortino. It is a beautifully produced newsletter in full colour. It just requires that you register on the site and you then get notified when the latest issue is available. Once you register you can also access any back issues.

Take care:)

Spring forward?

I'm late with my post today because I was doing something more important.

I went to see my beautiful granddaughter:)

She just turned 8 months and as far as I'm concerned she is the most beautiful baby in the world.

Brag pictures coming up..............

These photos were taken when she was 6 months by Negin Safairi Photography.

She loves getting her picture taken.

Take care:)

Where's me hands?

See that pile of fabric there......I got that yesterday from Jessica of Sunny Tuesday. She gave it to me because I gave her this. Pretty good trade I think. Thank you Jessica:)

Go here and vote for Licorice Allsorts......please and thank you:)

Take care.

Making a mess.....

When I'm making something new for the first time I get so involved in the process that I tend to make a mess on my worktable. Sometimes it gets mountainous before I even notice......but I know where everything is because I put it there. Usually I stop and clean it all up only to start again.

Mousie does not approve of this mess. As you can see here, her very disapproving presence makes me cleanup.......

 

......sorta:)

 

I'm on head number four.....still working on it:)

Take care.

Crochet .........

Everyone has probably seen these.....

I'm seeing them on lots of blogs. Everyone seems to be crocheting these Japanese Flowers. So,  I thought I'd look for directions.

I found this site yesterday called Crochet With Raymond .......a very lovely colourful site.........and the owner gave a link to a site called By Elizabeth Cat that has pictures on how to crochet these Japanese Flowers.

Perfect for someone like me. I'm useless when it comes to reading directions. Give me pictures every time:)

Take care.

Mosaic and Flickr

I found a site where I can make a mosaic with my Flickr pictures.

It's not perfect. The picture size is a bit off.......I need to play around with it more.

The site is called Big Huge Labs. You can find it here.

Take care:)

My Blogger Profile...

I was told by another blogger that my avatar of my little mousie isn't showing on some of the blogs I follow so I have tried to correct this but for some reason I can't in all places. So now if you see this little guy it's me:)

I have three different avatars now.....a daisy (my original avatar), my mousie and the new mouse. I don't know what's going on but that the way it is.

There's gotta be a central profile that is a master profile but where that is I don't know:(

Added: Apparently this seems to be an ongoing issue which hasn't been resolved. I have gone in and removed myself as a follower on some blogs and then added myself on again and it seems to work but I may miss some......if so I'm sorry........I'm still there but I look different:)

Take care.

Shrove Tuesday......

HAPPY PANCAKE DAY!!!!!!!

This is how we will be eating our pancakes today........in a big stack covered with maple syrup and a dab of butter.....

Take care.

The Isle of Man

So, I have been fairly good in the last couple of days in not boring you with my strange interests:) But, well you know.......it's my blog and I can do what I want......that sounded like a song lyric didn't it.

As you know, I do genealogical research and I have investigated various parts of the world but I think the most interesting was researching the Isle of Man.

My husband's paternal great great grandparents were from the Isle of Man.

It took me ages to figure out  all the land divisions ....parishes, sheadings, treens, quarterlands and so on. I had to have a map handy at all times because I would get totally lost. Compared to the other places I had researched, it was a foreign land in many ways.

I mean look at their cows.......

If you want to see more of their painted Cow Parade go here.

It doesn't end there...oh no...have you seen their sheep?.....eeeek!

Aren't they cute? They are a breed called Loaghtan sheep. They can have anywhere from two to six horns!

An interesting fact is that they don't dye the wool from this breed as the wool is sensitive to the chemicals in the dye. When the wool is woven it has a speckled look.

I think it would be an interesting place to visit.......

Take care.