In the Olden Days...

This has become one of my four year old son's favourite expressions of late. Although he does have a real fascination for all old transportation equipment (I know way more about old street car systems and antique farm machines than I ever thought possible!), what he really means is anything that existed before him.

This gift for a new baby does not quite meet his definition, but it was completed early in 2011. I have just been too disorganized to actually cram him in a box and send him to his new baby owner. I have dreams of creating the perfect care package for my friend (who is now a mother of 3!). I'm all thoughts and no action these days. Good intentions at their worst.

I did however, get organized enough to make a donation to the Canadian Red Cross to assist in Japan!

This sweet elephant fellow is from Last Minute Patchwork Gifts by Joelle Hoverson. Making him really took only the 4 hours designated in the book and he was not tough to make...even for a 3D impaired lady, such as myself! Now my cute boy would like one for his very own. The highest praise indeed!

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas...

...which is good, because Christmas is only 1 week away!

It has most definitely snowed in Canada's Capital city (lots and lots)!:

We have trimmed our tree - and it has fallen over 3 times! Special thanks to Donna's lovely husband who came armed with equipment (a reciprocating saw and rope man!) to bail my lovely, but un-handy husband and myself out on a Saturday morning when the final collapse happened (oh the carnage!):

I have since added millions of crocheted snowflakes (ok a dozen or so - I tend to be prone to small exagerations). I am ever so obsessed with these lovelies!

I am meant to be finishing the quilt for my sister's Christmas gift, but since I am a professional time waster these days, I have taken to completing one snowflake (which I really don't need) every evening. Lovely.

I also decided that it was NECESSARY to paint most of the main floor of my house. Yes - NECESSARY! There were a few nights of painting until 2 am, but I am pleased with the results.

Before:

After:

Now just imagine the room with lovely bursts of colour inserted from (yet-to-be-completed!) crochet and quilting projects. Ahhh...all of the exciting projects for the New Year! But first...off to complete the projects that must be shipped (cross country!) this year!

Is it too early to be excited about handmade Christmas ornaments?

I recently had the good fortune to partake in a fabulous "girls craft night in" with the lovely ladies from Kindred Crafters.

Donna and I became fast friends when I moved into her (now our!) neighbourhood. Not only do we have children the same age who love to play together, we discovered a common love of crafting! She has heavily influenced some of my new crafty pursuits and I am forever grateful for her friendship.

Donna's crafty-blog-o-sphere friend Sara has also become my crafty friend. We share a common hesitation to cut into our favourite fabric stash. It is good to know that I am not the only person who likes to fold up and admire fabric (and can do so for many happy hours each month). Donna and Sara are old friends who have been kind enough to fold me into their crafty friendship.

I had not met Sara (in person) until very recently when she travelled to Ontario. I wanted to offer her a crafty token of friendship and stitched up a Christmas-y toadstool (with holly, from Holly - so glad you got the reference Sara!!). The lovely Sara has posted some of her signature BEAUTIFUL photographs on the Kindred Crafters blog.

This gift was modeled on a tutorial found here (just in case you want to go make your own). They are good handstitching fun!

And Donna....no need to be jealous. I have one at my house waiting for the Christmas season for you...

A FABRIC SHOW - without the show & tell

My friend Donna and I have gone to the local "Fabric Flea Market" every year since we discovered it 3 glorious years ago. We have both developed an unhealthy love of the fabric find. Vintage, new, sewn into something else. All fun!

This event is jam packed full of excited fabric shoppers. I didn't think to take a shot of the inside of the packed hall (I was too busy trying to stay on my feet in the throng of happy fabric hunters). The fact that this is a fund raiser for a local school and that there are mountains of fabric to be had makes it worth wading through the excited crowd.

The lovely Donna and I were seperated in the crowd, but managed to find each other and sneak off to compare our treasures over a coffee. Donna found a crochet doiley with either William Shakespeare or Sir Wilfrid Laurier (an early Canadian Prime Minister). Very funny! I'll have to ask Donna to take a picture so that we can take a poll, although I think that Donna might be right, I think that it is an image of a former Prime Minister. Can you picture this face in crochet???

What about this handsome mug in crochet form?

I would post all of my lovely finds and treasures for all to enjoy, but the computer went into "early stage system failure" last week. Don't really know exactly what this means...but essentially it turns off whenever it feels like it. Not ideal (especially for my lovely husband who works from home!). We were also running the risk of loosing everything from our hard drive, which as responsible and sensible people we have completely NOT backed up (why would I be organized about that area of my life when I am not about anything else???).

All this to say...I can't wait to show you some pictures of my lovely finds. I am MOST excited about the buttons. My husband was laughing at me this weekend...He could hear the "beep, click" of the camera over and over again as I took pictures of my treasured buttons (sorted by colour palettes, favourites, etc). Yup. I love buttons - A LOT. Laugh if you must.

I have some nerve...and Happy Belated Canada Day!

OK...I got lost (as I am apt to do) in my vacation mode and failed to make Canada Day plans for my family. Enter the lovely and talented Donna to the rescue! She had my entire clan (lovely husband, cute boy and me - minus our evil, but cute cat) over for a relaxing and delicious meal! Not only did I partake of her fabulous meal, but I took pictures of the food that she expertly prepared to post on my blog. Hope that you don't mind Donna! Thanks again for the relaxing and delicious meal...

Salad with homemade dressing and croutons. All garlicky goodness...

My mouth still waters thinking about this dish. It is a roasted potato and summer squash casserole. Really fantastic!

My contribution were the refreshments. Beer (a Canadian classic!) and strawberry lemonade. Non alcoholic for the kids, and with a generous shot of citrus vodka for the adults. Yummy!

We also had lovely steak kabobs, roasted balsamic vegetables and a delicious cake with lemon curd filling and strawberry buttercream icing (YES - it was as delicious as it sounds!). Unfortunately I was too into the meal and vodka laced strawberry lemonades at this point to remember to photograph. Whoops!

Thanks for the wonderful meal Donna. Please thank Michel for picking the easy Canada Day quiz...