Thrift Store Crochet

Design from Bent Creek

Happy Groundhog Day!  Our Wiarton Willy predicted another six weeks of winter, but as we really haven't had much of winter weather to start with I think we are all OK with that.  My latest crochet project will come in handy just in case though...

You all know I love a good thrift store visit, and if I find yarn there then all the better.  A few weeks ago I found a bag of burgundy tweed Sirdar yarn:  six skeins; made in England, 100% wool, for five dollars.  I wasn't sure what I was going to do with it, but I knew it had to come home with me.  I mean five dollars?!  I would have been crazy not to!

I figured I would use it for some of the charity crochet I do around Christmas time, but then it turned out it had all the same colours as Mr. Crafty World's winter jacket.  Mr Crafty World is also in need of a new hat, so  this is how I spent my weekend:

I used two skeins for the hat: a simple beanie hat made long enough to turn up in double crochet.

With the leftovers I made the scarf, again in double crochet.  I knew I would not have enough of the tweed to make a long enough scarf, so I used a grey wool from Iceland I had previously found in the clearance bin of my local yarn shop for two dollars.

 Mr. Crafty World loves it:  he has been wearing the hat everyday. I loved hooking away the weekend and using up yarn from the stash.  We both love that the entire project cost seven dollars.  It was a win, win project: the best kind!


Thanks for visiting, and
Happy Days!
Jenn

...And one more.

If I ever start talking about hoarding cashmere sweaters again, please stop me.  This stuff is almost a nightmare to sew with, despite all its beautiful, soft goodness.  I made another throw with my leftover sweaters:

With these colours, I could almost call it the Minecraft blanket couldn't I?

Other than this, not a lot of craftiness has been completed here this week.  I did get a bit of thrift store shopping done:

A Crown canning jar from 1948; Depression Glass tumbler; rose demi-tasse; some pretty lavender cotton yarn and an unused, made in England Pyrex casserole dish.  Oh, and the pink, green and white wool blanket in the background.  It was only six dollars but it sure made a mess of my washing machine!  It is paying its dues though:  it is so cold here right now that every wool blanket in the house is on someone or other's bed.

Now I must, must, must finish the stitching for my Valentine cards!

 Have a lovely heart day:)

Summer Holidays

We have coasted into our summer holidays at a lazy speed.  We get up late; stay in our pyjamas longer than we need to; then occasionally go out and do semi-essential stuff like grocery shopping.  So far - no complaints!

Though I was a day late for Canada Day I did finish this blackwork Canadian flag heart.

 I have to say I did not enjoy working on this project.  I love the look of black work but it's obvious it is not the needlecraft for me.  I didn't even try to keep my back looking neat after I made my first mistake.  I pulled it out every so often, but found it tedious and then I would put it away.  I have been working on it off and on for the last three or four years:  I have lost track now.  Putting the final touches on it didn't even make me excited:  I am hoping that next year when I pull out my Canada Day decorations I will be happy to see it.

Something I did enjoy working on was my new felted bag.

I think if I had just used one colour I would have gotten bored quickly, but I enjoyed making the colour changes.  It was fun/nerve wracking each time I opened the pillowcase after washing to see how much the bag had felted and shrunk each time.  The white yarn didn't felt as well as the blue and yellow, but I didn't want the bag to get any smaller so I left it after three washes.

I used a vintage sheet to make the lining: the sunny yellow and white remind me of the wallpaper I had as a kid.  The handles are from a mixed lot I got at the thrift store.  Today was it's first day out and I was happy with its roominess and the way it feels on my shoulder.  I still may crochet and felt a big yellow flower for the side, but it feels OK without it too.

I couldn't go a week without getting a few thrifty treasures.  Today we had a short stop at Salvation Army and I picked up this pressed glass bowl and a jar full of old buttons.  I will have fun sorting through those!

I was gung-ho to make a Charlotte Russe in the bowl when I got home but my ladyfinger biscuits have mysteriously disappeared.  I think I have two favourite little people to blame for that.  Perhaps tomorrow, though I just realized I said last week I was going to make a lavender cake.  Decisions, decisions...

January Molasses

I used to have a piano teacher that liked to use the expression: "slow like molasses in January".  Sitting here at the end of January, I am thinking that that is how I felt all month: slow like molasses.  I don't feel like I have done anything but go where I needed to or just ooze around the house on the days I didn't need to be anywhere.  Times like this I'm so glad I take pictures of all the mundane things: cookbooks I have tried recipes from; the fabric I have been playing around with; snowflakes outside. These pictures are proof to me that I did complete some things and I wasn't so slow in January.  I did, after all, finish that blanket.
I also introduced the kids to late night garbage retrieval when I had them help me bring home this chair:

I am hoping to play around with it this summer and give it a makeover.  If it doesn't work out it can go out the curb (again) for the next person to find.

I bought these cute (giant) ceramic buttons on sale at the fabric store and plan on tweaking their looks as well:

They will look nice on the wall of my sewing space.

I made a project from a kit I bought for my birthday last year:

I stitched a snowman:

I finished the one on the left last year as a stitch-a-long with another blogger.  Next year I am hoping to stitch the last snowman in the series.  Then I'll decide if I am going to frame them or finish them another way.

I have obviously had hearts on my mind because I have been hooking and stitching up lots of things with hearts on them.  This doesn't even include the two cross stitch projects I am now working on.

I finished this today.  I wanted something very Valentine-ish: to me that means pinks, flowers and hearts.  I crocheted the flowers and hearts and had tons of fun picking the buttons and beads to finish it off.

I crocheted lots of petite pink hearts for my 'tree'.

These are the same branches I spray painted last spring and have since hung Easter decorations and glittery snowflakes.

I attempted some free motion sewing machine stitching on this Valentine pot holder.  I learned that free motion quilting does not work on my machine very well!

I found a cute little crochet pattern that I just had to make, and make it right now darn it!  An evening flurry of crochet and I had this:

No, it's not a wash cloth; it's a soap cozy!

Mr Crafty World is very excited because he likes scrubbie things to use in the shower.  Now that I have taken pictures he can have it .  I discovered while making it that the yarn is scented.  Kind of neat, but kind of weird too.  How do they get the scent into it?  How much of it does my skin absorb while working with it?  How many washes 'till the scent is gone?

I have also had two job interviews; seen both my babies perform in public and had a retro baking day that made everyone happy.

Now I see for sure that January wasn't slow at all.  It was another month of me doing all the things I love to do.  (Well, with the exception of the job interview part!) It felt slow, but after the rush of December I see that it was a nice break.  Oh my how I love the way the universe works: always with my best interests at the heart of it.

Here's hoping for a 'slow' February :)

Blame it on the Harvest Moon

....or all this new free time on my hands, but there are going to be some ch-ch-ch-ch-changes around here!  Not like, big life changes or anything, but more like Total Bedroom Makeover changes.  I guess the Total Garage Reorganization Project spurred me on.  That, and the knowledge that with Mr. Crafty World gone for a week, I could actually get the room painted without a lot of upheaval.  He doesn't like upheaval.
So, all other projects are currently put aside for the time being, as I plan my attack for Monday.  Curtains have to be made; walls have to be painted; pictures to be hung.  It's going to be a flowery, creamy, vintage-y retreat.

I'm going to use Sherwin Williams 'Creme' paint on the walls.  Do you know how agonizing it is to pick the "right" shade of cream?

I think my new curtains made from this full-blown floral cotton fabric will look just right with it.  I broke into a cold sweat and had buyers remorse before I even bought the fabric!  I have never bought so much fabric at one time in my life!  They sold it to me on the bolt!  I have to say though, I have always envied those I see walking out of the fabric store with a bolt of fabric.  I don't know why, but I just do.  So that was a simple, if superficial pleasure for me yesterday, to do the same thing.  I do like the fabric, maybe there is not enough pink in it for me after all, but it is a done deal now and really, the drapes will go with just about anything should I decide to use them elsewhere in another house.

A trip to Goodwill, "just for fun" yielded these two framed embroideries, which I think will fit in just perfectly.
As will this picture, which we "inherited" last year and I didn't know where to stick it because I didn't really like it because it seems so dark:

Now I think it will look good against the creamy walls and fabulously flowered curtains.
Wish me luck:  I will hopefully post pics next week.

Food: A Find; Some Fun

I love to cook for my family, but in the summer it gets to be a bit of drag.  I want to enjoy life outside, not menu plan.  The rotation of hot dogs/hamburgers/pizza/salad gets a bit monotonous.  So, I devised a plan.  Starting last week, I have implemented French Suppers.  Every day for supper we eat salad, grilled something (veggies, meat, fish) and a demi baguette.  You probably think that sounds monotonous!  However, salad is never the same.  I have been putting everything on our salad, including left-over wild rice and cold roasted chicken.  Mr. Crafty World comes home, puts something on the grill; I put the baguette in the oven and chop the lettuce.  The kids eat the lettuce  (minus the dressing), eat  the meat/ veggies/ fish, and the bread.  Everybody's happy.  I had to take a picture of last night's salad because it looked (and tasted) sooo good:

Grilled veggies, Israeli couscous, goat cheese and fiddlehead ferns.  I shamefully told the kids the fiddleheads were forest worms just to gross them out so I wouldn't have to share :o

A big bonus to eating salad is that you can't just scarf it down.  You have to eat it slowly, thereby enjoying it and giving your body a chance to realize it's full before it's over full.

Now to totally negate any benefits of salad, I have been baking.  Actually it's for the school bake sale, so we're OK!  I made vanilla cupcakes with buttercream frosting and lemon bars. 

I have been thrifting a little lately, and found a small bag of silk thread on wooden spools.

The colors are very pretty, and combined with a few other wooden spools I have make a neat decoration displayed in one of my vintage canning jars:

And lastly I did a bit of card making last night.  I love how this one turned out:

It's actually more green than the grey that you see here.  Although, grey would have been nice....

I love making cards but it usually takes an hour per card, just because I have to go through every possible combination of paper/stickers/embellishments.  By the end of it I'm out of creative ideas for the verse, so it's usually just "To... From Me"  Hardly inspired!  So if you get a card from me, just know all the love is in the outside!

Catching Up

I feel like we've been really busy this last week and a half, and in looking over my photos I guess we have. So, lets get started:

I have done a bit of fixing up and sewing. Our neighbor had a garage sale and I picked up this incredibly ugly table top ironing board for $2.

Not one to let bad fabric choices deter me, I removed the old fabric and wool, and replaced it with clean felt and a pretty cotton print. I love that it's made of wood so it matches the large wooden ironing board I got from my Grammie. It needs a new cover too, so I might just use more of this print to have a matching set.

It has been raining a lot lately, making it hard to play outside. What have we been doing?

Funny enough, the kids are really enjoying doing this job, and I am grateful for the help.

It stopped raining long enough for us to enjoy our local Canada Day celebrations. After watching the parade we headed to the park for birdhouse building, pony rides, crafts and balloons. We came home just as the rain started again and enjoyed our Canada Day treats:

With a possible break in the weather we decided it was time for a road trip, and we packed up the car and headed south. We drove to Cultus to put flowers on my grandparents grave, then on to Tillsonburg and Port Burwell. The kids loved the sandy beach at Port Burwell:

At our hotel I discovered what our Favorite Boy had packed for our trip. I believe he considered all this absolutely essential.

I was just happy he packed his bathing suit! There's nothing in the tin by the way. I'm not sure if he was planning on filling it up with souvenirs.

The following day we headed for Port Bruce, and the kids enjoyed playing on a rock beach this time. There was a stiff breeze which made the waves come in a bit quicker than the day before, and not so gently. A little support was required:

I collected these rocks to take home. I think they are about the loveliest rocks I have ever seen.

You didn't think I could go without a little shopping now did you? What made it even better was thrift shopping! These are my souvenirs:

I also bought these two botanical prints. I love that they're done in blues and have linen mats around them.

They were very dusty, and oh so vintage-y, right down to the dirty frames. The backing paper on the frame looks like old blue and white wallpaper. What is really intriguing though, and something I didn't see until later, is a small bit of writing on the framers sticker on the print on the left. Someone wrote that the print was dated 1849. Hmmmm, we thought. I didn't want to take the frame apart just yet, so I did a bit of poking around on line, and it looks like I may have at least one antique botanical print done by a woman named Jane Webb Loudon, in or around 1849. Kind of cool huh? I haven't found any information for the print on the right just yet.

Have a great day!

A Good Start

Well so far chicken pox has made our days blissfully restful. We have been staying home to play in the kiddie pool; try out some crochet; eat homemade popsicles and watermelon. Quarantine has been rather nice actually!

I ordered two new books with some birthday money and the money I made from the cake. They came yesterday and I spent a lovely time outside going through them. I ordered The Gentle Art of Domesticity by Jane Brocket and Pretty Little Cozies from Lark Books.

Doesn't this photo look like the perfect summer day? My perfect day anyway! I am really enjoying the one by Jane Brocket.

The cozies book is looking promising. I think my first project will be a cozy for my Bodum coffee maker. I have a few delicious fat quarters just waiting to be used.

I also started a project long lanquishing in my "In-box". I have a baby quilt that is in dire need of repair before it can be brought out and loved by another little one.

I painted my cedar planter to match the doors on my house. My lovely geranium looks so much brighter in it. I love doing little things that make a big impact.

Today we are able to go out in public again. Because my shopping day was cut short by the phone call from the school we are going thrifting. Not the kids favorite thing to do, but I have bribed them with some spending money. I'm hoping to find more treasures like these from past thrifting adventures. I can't wait to get them cleaned up and into the spare room.

This weekend promises to be a good one. There is a red and white Strawberries and Cream festival going on at the farmers market, and a huge used book sale in the industrial park. Sounds like another great day I think.

Have a lovely weekend!

A Few Pretties

I had a bit of luck today thrifting. These are the best of what I found. I'm very excited about the small porcelain flower bouquet: it was in a bag of absolute junk, all for $1.99. The carousel is for my favorite girl, but I need to replace the music box thing-y. They usually aren't too hard to find. I have been wanting to get her a carousel horse for a while: three years ago she had her first ride on an honest to goodness, old fashioned carousel in Bordeaux, France. It was one of those times when you can see absolute bliss on the face of your little ones. Ever since then I have had a thing for carousels. I guess it's a memory I love to have triggers for.

I finished my stinky oil painting and made some time for fun sewing. (As opposed to un-fun sewing, which usually involves some kind of mending). I spotted this pattern at Amy Butler's website; it's a freebie called "Sweet Greetings Portfolios". I always had it in mind to make for a child. I thought it was big enough to hold a coloring book but it's not. Over all it was a nice project to sew, though there are a few things I would do differently next time. I do plan on making another one, hopefully for a little girl who is having a birthday next week. If I can find some fabric with crowns on it I'll be all set. I just love this fabric though:

Here's how it looks open. I put a few little things from the dollar store in it (eraser, gel pens, stickers). Now it's on its way to a little girl I know. I hope she likes it!

The weather is gorgeous today; I hope it lasts most of the weekend. The World's Longest Street , Street Fair is tomorrow and I'm hoping we can get there. There is also gardening to do and paint samples to try out! Yes, I will be at it again, only no oil paint this time.

Our Favorite Girl has her year end dance revue this weekend, so that will take up the afternoons. I will be so glad when it's all over. We are watching the show on Saturday, and on Sunday I am volunteering backstage. We were at the dress rehearsal last night, and I had a good chuckle at all the little girls in their fluffy tutus and sparkly costumes. Six months of practicing and you would think some of them started two weeks ago! Oh well, it is entertaining to say the least.

Have a nice weekend!