I won something wonderful.....

I have been suffering with a dry hacking cough since Monday. I haven't had a decent night's sleep all week so needless to say I am not a very happy :(

I'm taking Buckley's cough medicine and sucking Fisherman's Friends...serious stuff here.....yuck:(

I was feeling very sorry for myself when the door bell rang today and my postie delivered a parcel. I knew I had won a giveaway but in my misery I had completely forgotten about it.

I opened the parcel and there was the most amazing thing inside......a corn husk doll made by Teresa at Enduring Traditions .....

OMG...I can't believe how beautiful this sweet little dolly is...and look at the basket she has full of harvest goodies:)

It really made me so happy that I'm feeling better.

Thank you Teresa.....you are a very generous and talented lady:)


Take care.

Blogger is doing it again....

I'm having problems again with my Blogger profile. For some reason I can leave comments on some blogs and not on others and it seems to be a random thing. I do visit you all but silently which is probably a good thing:)

Take care.

Cloth Doll Artistry Fairy Doll Challenge Entry.....

Well the challenge due date is over so I can show you what I made with the Faylinn Fairy pattern that all of the entrants used.

If you want to make the doll yourself you can find the free pattern at Clothmatters here....It's a tiny shelf sitter fairy about 12 inches in length.

My son took a couple of pictures for me but then he said that my pictures weren't bad....

She has big hair.....:)

I found making the face the hardest part because it was a very small area to work in. My fine motor skills aren't what they used to be...LOL

I used freezer paper for the pattern which I then ironed on to my fabric. It gave me more control and accuracy for the small body pieces and now I'm a convert. I will be using freezer paper again.

Her dress is made from the petals of a silk flower and some recycled gift ribbon. I had some hot pink scrapbook trim which I used as an embellishment. Her wings are flower leaves. Her hair is fake fur. I bought a remnant of it for 25 cents about 30 odd years ago and now I have finally used a bit.

I'm pretty pleased with how she turned out as I'm fairly new to doll making and this is the smallest doll I have ever made.

Take care.

Vintage Five Minute Chocolate Fudge Recipe......

I don't usually cook sweet stuff as I'm fonder of savoury and spicy but, I have made this fudge twice now and my family seem to really really like it.

It is a Carnation Milk classic recipe that was developed in the early 60's.....I found this recipe on a can of evaporated milk. I never buy evaporated milk but due to certain hearing/memory issues of a certain member of my family I ended up with six cans of the stuff. All I wanted was one can of condensed milk.....sigh. I'll say no more .....

It is really super simple and fast BUT...there is always a BUT.....you must make sure to boil the mixture for the full 5 minutes that the recipe requires or your fudge will not set properly.

Ingredients:

1 2/3 cups (400ml) granulated sugar
2/3 cup (150ml) Carnation Regular Evaporated Milk
2 tbsp (30ml) butter
1/2 tsp (2ml) salt
2 cups (500ml) miniature marshmallows
1 1/2 cups (375ml) semi-sweet chocolate chips
1 tsp (5ml) vanilla extract
1/2 cup (125ml) chopped walnuts (optional)

Preparation:

Line an 8-inch (2L) square baking pan with waxed paper; set aside.
Combine sugar, milk, butter and salt in a medium saucepan; bring to a rolling boil over a medium heat stirring constantly.
Boil 5 minutes until the mixture starts to thicken.
Remove from heat.
Stir in marshmallows, chocolate chips, vanilla and nuts until marshmallows and chocolate melt and blend.
Pour into the prepared pan and smooth with a spatula.
Chill until set....but not too long as it won't come out of the pan if it becomes too hard....trust me.
Cut into 1-inch (2.5cm) squares.
Store Hide in the refrigerator in a sealed container;)

Take care.

Hello:)

I haven't posted for a bit so I thought I should.

Last Saturday we went to the Black Creek Annual Pioneer Festival.

Black Creek Pioneer Village is an assemblage of old buildings that was established by our parks commission originally in 1960 on a site that is about 100 acres. They started adding buildings over the years and it really came into it's hey day in the mid '70's. It is a small time capsule of what an old Ontario village would have looked like. When you are there surrounded by all the trees, smelling the wood smoke and wandering along the dirt roads you really can get away from it all and get into the spirit.

This is the second year we have gone to the Annual Pioneer Festival. There are two things that make people go back year after year....the home baked pies....they are usually sold out in the first hour....and the Mennonite Quilt Auction.

Oh, and the Canadian Back Bacon on a bun.....yum yum....and, hand-made ice cream....delicious:) There are other baked goods for sale as well which are extremely reasonably priced.......all the proceeds go to various volunteer groups that help run the festival for the day.....here's a blurb if your interested to know more:)

There is a lot to see and experience but the festival is really all about the Quilt Auction.....Sorry no pictures as I didn't bring a camera. They offer gorgeous one of a kind hand sewn quilts made by the various Mennonite communities in our area. Just stunning works of the quilter's art. I didn't stay for the auction as it was later in the day and we visited the festival first thing in the morning as it opened........it's also all about those pies:)

Fortunately I later discovered that my son had his Blackberry...with a dying battery....typical:) So the day was saved with a few pics. My son can take pictures with anything and they turn out amazing.

It's really a lovely place to visit.......

There were two young Clydesdale horses that were loverly but I don't have any pictures as my sons disappeared for a bit......turns out they got side tracked and were visiting the village brewery......sampling the beer that's made there...oh well.....

There were sheep....

And, pigs......

And chickens......

And, a very angry ugly turkey....boy was he angry. Some teenagers had riled him up and he was in full display. My son couldn't get a good picture of him as he kept moving. Here's a close-up...

There was also beautiful fresh picked corn on the cob.......

 My granddaughter really liked it....note her grip on that cob:)

She may not have many teeth but that didn't matter......:)

All in all it was a beautiful crisp fall day....at this point the battery was dying...so were my feet:)

Son, granddaughter and daughter-in-law going up a very steep hill.....arrrgggh. I was following very slowly behind....:)

Take care.

p.s. I have finished my challenge doll for the CDA fairy challenge and will post pics as soon as my son takes some.

Waldorf Doll Giveaway by Fretta......

Fretta makes the most adorable Waldorf baby dolls and she is having a giveaway for one of them starting today.....

So....visit her blog.......frettanfriends......and enter the giveaway:)

Take care.

Monthly Make-It Challenge - September

I keep forgetting to post my Make-Its so here are some things that I made in September:)

Take care:)

A Wee Bit Of A Laugh......

We just got my brother a net book and installed a voice recognition program on it because he is partially blind.

My brother's accent.........well our mum was born in Glasgow and our dad in Londonderry and we were born in London so I'm not sure what kind of accent he has. He came to Canada when he was 15 but he still has a Scirsh (Scot/Irish) accent with a Cockney twist mellowed by Canadian.

So this video struck me as being hilarious as it reminded me of when my husband...who is from Liverpool... and my brother first tried using the voice recognition program:)

Okay....so it wasn't quite like this but it was very funny.......I thought so...hee hee :)

Enjoy:)

Bamboo Oracle Week Two..........

Well today I received further lessons for the class and this doll's construction is very cool.........and, I found out why the Supplies Shopping List included a pair of patterned ladies or men's socks :)

What it is supposed to look like. Pic stolen from pattern directions.

It's curly toes are actually to hold your glasses so if you are like me you will always be able to find them. See it's a play on words...oracle...glasses. It is looking through a magnifying glass that you use to see those tiny joiny screws that always come loose. And, it's bag holds a tiny screw driver to fix same:)

I was going to show you my step by step process but then I realized I would be giving away class secrets and that wouldn't be fair to Colleen.

I will show some pictures of the beginning, the middle...the pain and strife.... and hopefully the end product when it's finished:)

One thing, though, I'm not going to use the Duponi Silk that the Supply List suggests. I went to my local fabric store and it was $40 per yard and up and I only need small pieces. I did some on-line research and I did see plain white Duponi Silk for $9.25 USD per yard that I could dye I guess but that's way to messy and too much bother.

I have tons of fabric already so, I've decided to use what I have here in my stash.

I also needed some Wonder Under so I went on a little shopping trip to Sew Sisters which is an amazing Quilt Shop near me here in Toronto.

I also picked up many a few stray fat quarters at $3.25 and $1.75 each.......I recently paid $4.25 each and up. The store has really top quality fabric....all the big company names.  So beautifully arranged by colours and shades. It was gorgeous. I could have bought the whole store......eeek.

It's a good thing the hubby was with me...at my elbow....breathing down my neck...asking what I was going to make...sigh. It was a good thing:(

Take care.

p.s. I did say that he didn't NEED to come in the store but he didn't take the hint as he knows me too well.......hee hee.

Bamboo Oracle Week One......

I have never taken an on-line class from The Doll Street Dreamers before so I wasn't sure what to expect. When I purchased my class I received a confirmation and a link to a Yahoo Group that belongs to the teacher.....Colleen Babcock.  I then did the usual steps to become a member of the site. When you join most Yahoo groups you are not immediately a member. There is an administrator/owner of the group who gives you access.

The group has a forum so that you can post questions to and get answers from the teacher. You can share ideas and problems with each other and generally have fun. You can also set up your own album for pictures to show your progress, post pictures of what you need help with and finally post your finished doll. It's just like any class.......the more you participate the more you get out of the class.

So, that done all I needed to do was wait until today when the class opened and sure enough I received a notice from the Group admin that this week's lesson had been posted. Along with that was the pattern pieces and the class supply list.

Week One: The Head........eeeek!

This is going to a very stressful week...hee hee.  Twenty-four pages of instruction!!!!! The head has three pieces to it and the construction is a bit fidley so I'm sure I will be making several until I'm satisfied that I have it right. The face has a bit of soft sculpture, very dramatic makeup, separate eyelids that you attach and eyelashes too. Oh boy....I promise not to swear......... much.

I need some supplies that I don't have so a shopping trip is needed........:)

Stay tuned.

Where have I been?

I was sent an email asking where I am.....I'm here:)...but kinda low key at the moment. I lost a lens from my glasses and had to wait over a week to get my repaired glasses back from the opticians. I had an old pair of glasses I could use but they were not that great so I was squinting at lot...LOL

Needless to say not much crafting or sewing being done.

I can't believe it's September 1st......AUTUMN is almost upon us....and then......I won't mention the W word....cringe:(

We are having a heavy rainfall at the moment. One of the many storms we have had recently. We had one storm on August 24th that was non stop thunder and lightening for over three hours right above our heads...then the rain came...lots of rain. Then the lightening came back again at about 2 a.m. with ball lightening shooting across the sky (it woke me up) ......it was the strangest storm I have seen in a while.  Here's one of many versions of the lightening hitting the CN Tower.....

We also got the tail end of Irene with extreme winds and thankfully not much else. Locally there have been a few tornadoes but that is normal at this time of year. The humidity builds up in August and that is usually the result.

I'm starting an on-line class tomorrow through Doll Street Dreamers called the Bamboo Oracle given by Colleen Babcock, a Canadian doll maker who lives in London, England. You may be familiar with her blog The Magic Bean. I'm really looking forward to that and I'll show you my progress as I complete each section of the course.

I also have two challenges that I am participating in due September 20th that I haven't done a thing on yet...I do my best stuff under pressure:) I also have a paper doll swap with a Marie Antoinette theme.

Sheesh.......I better get busy.

Take care:)