*ahem* Sorry...

...it's been a long...long time.

This summer was a crazy one--I started selling some of the things that I make, so between making stuff for the local market, working and actually being at the market, I didn't have a lot of time. I also took on the responsibility of starting up a blog for the market, since it doesn't have a website. (I know, me, the irresponsible blogger).

My table at the market on the first week--it was pretty bare. It has filled out a lot since then!
If you are wondering what's on the table: string bags (my own design), snack bags (based on a tutorial

 from i have to say...--with permissions, of course--and produce bags (my own design). That was all
on the first week!

In the background of the picture, you can see my new ride--the black bike with the awesome yellow panier bag. Yep, I rode my bike to the market. This market sets up the tables and tents for  you, so all I had to do was bring my wares and everything. When I got more product, it started to get a little tight fitting it all on there. I now have front and back racks (so I can fit a total of 4 panier bags), and a basket. I still only have the two panier bags, but I'm thinking ahead! (Next summer: more stuff!)

Other than that, my summer was filled with visiting and emergencies and camping and that sort of fun stuff. I didn't do near as much as I wanted to this summer, but I always overplan (apparently I am under the delusion that summers last all year in Canada!)

Camping was unexpected--my sister and I have been going to Algonquin Park with my Dad...well, probably since we can remember. We went with both parents when they were together, but usually just Dad once they split up and we were all old enough to do into the Interior of the park (my dad= bravest man in the world, taking three girls 13 or under out into the wilderness in a canoe).



This year, however, the reservation system was a joke. We ended up getting kicked off our campsite on the Saturday. After some crazed searching for alternative campgrounds (this whole site fiasco didn't only just happen to us, and we were far from the worst story!), we finally found one with space still available. It actually ended up being an amazing experience. The family who runs the campground--All Star Resort in Madawaska--is super friendly. They told us about some falls we should visit, so Sunday was a canoe trip down the Madawaska River to the falls pictured above.

Beautiful, isn't it? The canoe trip is every bit as pretty as the falls (the river picture was on the way back). The coolest thing though: the rocks are smoothed from the water, so you can use the falls as a giant waterslide! The water in front is super deep, with large rocks here and there that are just deep enough that you can stand on them with your head above water.

(Unfortunately there were some losers there who thought it was cool to throw beer cars down the falls--no consideration for the natural integrity of the area, nor the people who use it. Truly, some people need a kick. We ended up picking up beer cans all the way back up the Madawaska.)

                           

Finally, here's a picture of Dora, making a tiny house out of my panier bag. She loves my stuff. Or, loves to be on top of or inside of it. :)

A New Year

I realize that resolutions are supposed to start January 1, so you're off to a fresh start. Blame the procrastinator in me (who, by the way, is never affected by resolutions and therefore I've long since stopped trying and just embraced her), but I generally don't make them that early. I like to have a little time to think, to reflect and get a feel for 2011 before I decide what I want from the year.

So, without (any further) ado, here are my resolutions for 2011!

4.) Bake more. I actually love baking and the sense of making my  own food. It just always seems I don't have time or room to do so. I'd like to make more time to.

This is a scone from the Victorian Rose Tea Room, a pleasant little tea room with the most delicious food and 36 kinds of tea! I'd love to learn to bake scones like this.

3.) Relax more. I don't mean the lying-on-the-sofa kind of relax. I mean, take it easy on myself. Walk away when I get frustrated with something, come back when I have fresh eyes. Laugh more, smile more, worry less, take each day as it comes. Allow that I am human and will have grumpy days, days when my already crazy hair does exceptionally crazy things, when the cat will hairball on the carpet on my side of the bed, when I won't feel well and won't want to do anything. Also, allow that other people have those days too and be understanding of them. Get outside, enjoy the sun, enjoy life without feeling guilty if the laundry doesn't get done RIGHT NOW.

2.) Bask in my friends. When life gets crazy, it's easy to forget about what good friends you have around you. I have my fair share of truly amazing friends, although I haven't always made the best use of them in the past few years. I'd like to spend more time with friends, make some new ones, bask in the shared and mutual enjoyment and humour that grows with a good friendship. To all my friends, thank you!

1.) Appreciate more. Although this one does encompass some of the others, I wanted it standing alone. Like so many people, I take a lot of things for granted: my good friends, family, love, a warm home, a job, my eclectic collection of skills and talents and (of course) my healthy craft stash. I want to make a conscious effort to appreciate all the beauty around me more, the colours and sounds and smells and textures.

Those who know me will notice I don't have a single green change on my list. While thinking, I decided that I am still working with my Big Green Change for 2010 (going vegetarian) enough that I wouldn't pressure myself more by committing to something else right away. (And, to be honest, I am running low on ideas other than ones I am already working on).

Of course, I also want to keep up on my blog!So, in the spirit of catching up, here's some things I've been working on. Although these are not strictly new creations, I have made them recently.

I was a little hesitant about making a wallet, since my sewing skills are amateur at very best, but I decided to tackle it, and I am pretty tickled with the way it turned out! 

The outside of the wallet. Rather than embroider the heart (I really am that lazy) I just sewed it a few times on the machine. I kind of like the sketchy look it gives it.

I pulled some stuff out a bit to show where all the pockets are. It's got a fair bit of storage space! I love that it has a built in coin purse. If you like it, I adapted the Patchworky Bifold Wallet Tutorial  from Mel W on Cut Out + Keep.

Curious about my little hanging friend on the end? Here's a closer look:

Isn't it adorable!? It's actually a little cat, but his ears are hidden behind the gigantic button eyes. He's only about an inch and a half tall. A close friend brought him back from Berlin, Germany for me. I love it to bits!

 Remember all that yarn I got over Christmas? I thought it deserved a special bag. (OK, and maybe I was looking for a project to show off the beautiful fabric I got for $3 a metre). So I made a craft bag! It doesn't look very large on the outside, but it holds a surprising amount of yarn.

I used the Folklore bag pattern from the book One Yard Wonders. It was surprisingly easy. There is a LOT of ironing involved though, for anyone who hates ironing.

As usual, though, I couldn't resist adapting SOMETHING about the pattern. This time, I was disappointed by the single patch pocket on the inside. Instead, I added a slim cell phone pocket on one end (see it on the right?) and pockets with pencil/hook holders on each side. This way, I won't need to take my hook case with me everywhere I go, and can keep it to my scissors and the hooks I need.

I've also been working on my knitting, and have now taught myself the stockinette and seed stitch (HATE the seed stitch, by the way, moving the yarn back and forth all the time gets old very quickly for me). Look! I've started that blanket!

I also decided to make up one of Rose Hip's beautiful flower cushions from her flower square tutorial. It's not finished yet, but I hope it turns out as lovely as one of hers! (By the way, I highly recommend taking a browse through her flickr or blog if you are looking for some eye candy or inspiration!) 

Finally, remember my piles and piles of candy coloured hexies? I spent all summer and most of the fall hooking those little things up. When I finally finished, I was so tired of hexies, I put them away for a while. Now that I have had a little break from them, I thought the new year was a good time to bring them back out, and I have started stitching them together!

One row done, 18 more to go! But I have all year, right? ;)

Share and Share Alike!

I've been on a web-stalking spree. I've been finding so many treasures too, all at once! It's like Christmas! (It is almost Christmas!) So, because I know I am not the only one who will be excited about this, I'd like to direct your attention to the sidebar! If you've been paying attention (I know you're out there, reading this, breathing away), you'll notice that I have a new list over there, dedicated to tutorials and patterns, or lists thereof. A lot of these I came across from Whip Up, which has everything for the crafty minded, from book reviews to interviews with successful crafters, from patterns to blog links. It doesn't look like too much, admittedly, but that's probably because it is jam packed full of content. Amazing, wonderful, inspiring content. If you do any kind of crafting, head over there and give them some love! They deserve it!

Little Things...

I love that we have snow now...It snowed all day yesterday and the night before. Not great clumpy flakes either, but those large, fine flakes that glint and shimmer as they fall and make the whole world sparkle.

I love the snow...and I love what snow does to the light, especially in the early morning. For some reason, the frosty early morning glow always warms my heart.

I've also been fawning over my new cushion cover...made to cover one of two old scratchy tweedish cushions that I inherited from a neighbor along with a matching couch when I first left home. They've followed me a lot of places, and seen a lot of my life, so I don't have the heart to get rid of them. So I prettified them instead! Here is the "before" picture:

See? Just not nearly as prettyful.

I didn't mean for this to be posted in the same entry as the cushion, since I made them at different times, but it's kind of suiting since they match...

My new cork board!

Recognize that fabric? Hahaha! I wanted to recover this old corkboard my mom had kicking around her house so I could use it to hang my favourite patterns and other little bits. When I got that orange fabric, I realized it was perfect for the job, probably more perfect than any other fabric I had.

All I did was cut a piece of fabric slightly smaller than the frame, and then poke it in under the frame with a butter knife (mine doesn't come out of the back like some, which would have been easier, because the frame actually wraps around the board and holds it in).

Isn't it wonderful?! I just love it. It does something to the space that just makes me smile. It actually attracts me to my craft room...which has thus far been something of a task, since it has been serving as half craft room and half storage room and is therefore not the most inspiring space ever.

Speaking of inspiration, though, how about a closer look at the first two patterns up?

Aren't they delicious?! I love them to bits. I've had a serious problem trying to find the big balls of Handicrafter to make that blanket, but I am thinking I can maybe adapt it to a scarf and just make do with the smaller balls. I think that pattern'd make a charming little scarf. Very fun and bright.

If you would like the patterns, the blanket can be found here (you might have to make an account or sign in if you have one) and the dishcloths can probably be found somewhere on the Michaels website (here)--it's acting up for me right now, so I can't look them up.

Thanks for popping in!

Back in Business!

Alas, my poor little blog's been sadly neglected again, this time because of being in a state of perpetual transition all summer--moving back and forth between places, packing up one on the weekend, spending the week in another, moving everything to a totally different third place at the end of the summer. The joys of being a military girlfriend. :)

Thankfully, internet has been blissfully restored to me! Lacking anything better, here's a peek at what I was up to while I was in internet hiatus and unemployed in September.

Tada!! I made these from empty and cleaned jars (pickles, tomato sauce, etc...) and some scrapbooking paper. I buy a lot of things in bulk, and instead of storing my stuff in plastic bags that can be torn and are difficult to store, I put my stuff in jars.

I ran into a little difficulty when I realized it was almost impossible to tell the cornstarch, baking soda and baking powder apart without opening them up and feeling them. So I made pretty labels! They were super easy to make, and are covered with packing tape so I can wipe them clean if they get dirty. If I need to change the labels, I can just peel them off. I save the bags in a safe place and reuse them when I need to purchase more stuff.

I've also been doing a fair bit of crafting. Here is Dora the Fail Cat posing it up beside the black eyed susan flower and start of a stem I was making for my bouquet (it's not finished,  but I'll share when it is!)

I'm almost through making the hexagons for my hexie granny blanket. I'm so excited! I have all 240 I planned to make, and though I may need a few more to even things up, it's near to finished! You can see all my hexies hiding in the basket under my yarn balls, beside my ones in progress there.
They look so cool all together!

See? And naturally, Dora needs to be on top of everything. It's a scientific fact that cats need to be on top of things. Bizarre compulsion they have. :)
The blanket will be a little bit fatter than it seems in the picture, hence needing the extra few hexies.
Oooohhh, how I am dreading the task of stitching all those hexies together. Next time, it's definitely join-as-you-go.

This is just some additional proof that cats need to be on top of everything. I don't have my things spread out here, so she's settled for being on top of my crochet hook case (you can just see the black and white checks peeking out from under her belly)...

I have a little plan for something forming,  but I am not quite ready to spill the beans, so I think I'll keep it to myself just a bit longer...

Thanks for reading! :3

Everything and anything!

Ahh, the procrastinator's curse--having to catch up on all the things that were put off!

The little seeds featured in my last post are now fairly decent sprouts, I can't wait for them to start flowering!

I also tore out my front "garden"--for years I have seen the apartment that I now live in and thought "That place looks so seedy! Can you say 'crack house'?" The front was FULL of weeds. Weeds up to your waist. Horrible dead vines full of spiders. There probably was a witch living in there somewhere, or ought to have been. So, with the help of my boyfriend, we ripped all those weeds and vines out and discovered that, once upon a time, someone took the time to make it a nice garden. The rocks from the rock border were still there, so we recreated it. Then I planted most of the seeds I had in the garden, with my sunflowers right beside the big ugle telephone pole in the middle, so there's something for them to lean on. It looks much better, and not so much like a "crack house".

For Mother's Day, my mom came up here to our place. It was a nice girls' weekend, with my two sisters and my mom! We hit the Farmers' Market, which is finally starting to heat up with the warmer weather, and got some beautiful family pictures done. Besides getting the pictures, I also made her some presents: crocheted washcloths, a button bracelet with matching earrings and a bookmark.

For some reason my blog won't accept any pictures of the washcloths and bookmark, though, so the bracelet is going to have to do.

Thanks for reading, and hope all the moms out there had a great mother's day!

The little things

I just got finished the academic part of my teacher's college career and have a little bit of time on my hands for a change! It's also spring time, and the melting snow and daffodils I have in my window are making me feel a little bit brighter than I have in a while. Lately I have just been appreciating the little things in my world...the bright colours, delightful smells, appealing textures that surround me and make me get that warm glowy feeling.
Probably from this I finally decided to tackle the task of making cushion covers for my plushy but somewhat atrocious couch cushions. This is only the second time I have attempted to do anything quilted, and I think that I did pretty well...overall, the look of my cushions just makes me smile now :)

I made one for the second cushion after I realized how much I adored the first one...Now I love them both. The back is overlapped material like a pillow sham with buttons to close...

I think they just look glorious, sitting on the couch together like that...and of course they just look marvelous with the crocheted throw Julie made me!

Another thing that made me smile lately was the success of my ginger snap cookies--the first time I have ever made them!

Don't they just look marvelous?! And the whole house smelled wonderful when they were baking. They even tasted great! It was definitely the best success I have ever had with baking. I think even Martha would be jealous of my amazing cookies. The recipe was from here, if you're interested in making some of your own!

Today I also made sugar cookies. These didn't turn out near as well...they're sort of odd looking, but they taste great and that's really all that matters. I was impressed with how my royal icing turned out, though!

Hopefully I'll have some more adventures in making things before I have to go back to being busy all the time...