They're Mulitplying!

Just before Easter I got the bug to start making bunnies.  Last year I cut out the pieces to make a bunny from the book Crafting Springtime Gifts by Tone Finnanger, but never finished it off.  It was a pleasure to have the pieces all cut out already, so my newest hare was finished in a leisurely crafting day this weekend.  I even crocheted a little shawl for her, because this has been a really cold spring so far!  She has pink and white toile inside her ears, so I am going to call her Fleur.

I just loved the spring time bunny wreath in Helen's Bustle and Sew magazine.  I finally got it completed today after searching high and low for a wooden embroidery hoop.  It's nice and light and will brighten my front door for the next little while.

And finally, a little bunny brooch to put on my jacket next Easter.  Hopefully it will grace my spring jacket and not my winter one like this year!

We had a lovely Easter weekend with a great egg hunt and lots of lovely treats.  Today it is snowing again and we will have left over lamb in some lamb and barley soup and try to choose just one of the four left over desserts:)

March Makes

I finished off a few more works in progress the last part of March.  I still have a fair pile of WIP's mind you, but I'm happy to have something to show.

These needlebooks were a long time coming.  I have been working on these forever!  I have since added a running stitch down the side of the spine, but this picture is much better.  It also took me forever to decide which one I wanted to keep: in the end I opted for the purple and yellow one because they are my favourite colours.

Next up is a little hedgehog from Helen's Bustle and Sew newsletter.  I have been subscribing for a couple of years now, but this is the first thing I have made.  He is made from a thrifted sweater and wool sport coat that I felted.  His eyes are agate beads.

And finally I crocheted the Windowpane scarf  - a free pattern available on Ravelry - with some pretty Malabrigo yarn.  I have never crocheted with such a fine yarn so it was a bit of a challenge at first.  It wasn't so bad and now I have two more scarves in the works using lace-weight fibres.

I have done no cross stitch this year for Easter at all.  This time last year I remember I was stitching up a storm.  I think the fact that March has been so cold and Easter is early this year is the reason I have no  real excitement for the holiday.  Usually it's my favourite time of year but this year I don't even have the decorations up yet!  I did put a wreath on the door a couple of weeks ago, but it fell off and broke and since then nothing has replaced it. If Time would just slow down a little bit I would really appreciate it:)

Next week I'm celebrating a birthday:  one of those "Big ___-0" ones.  I'm excited!  Birthdays are like my New Year and I get all ambitious and eager for things to come.  Hopefully by then Spring will have decided to arrive and then there will be extra good feelings all around.

Have a wonderful Easter - I hope the Easter Bunny is good to you:)

March Break

We are having a slow and lovely March break from school this week.  There have been sleep-overs, and swimming at the public pool, and crafts and lots of Playmobil and Lego creations being made.
Yesterday was the ultimate though:  it was cold and sunny so pyjamas were worn well until after lunch.  No one was planning on going outside if they didn't have to. The kids and I snuggled in my bed in the morning looking over the latest Playmobil catalogue and telling our favourites. I spontaneously decided to make a cake, much to everyone's delight.  Spontaneous baking really is the best.  Chocolate marble bundt cake - yum!

My Favourite Girl has been wanting some time just with me; for us to create or do something without little brother wanting to as well.  I suggested some easy soap making and bath fizzers and that fit the bill for her quite nicely.  

My Favourite Boy wanted to make some too, so I said he and I would make it after his big sister was finished hers.  No one had any problem with that so we set about making dinosaur soap too.

Later on I sat at the kitchen table in the sun and hooked away with some bright colours of yarn.  It was one of those moments when your heart gets all full-feeling: seeing the kids happy creations and hearing their little happy noises around the house; the smell of something good and homemade in the air and the bright sun making everyone feel so positive and hopeful for spring.

Today is a different sort of day.  There are errands to be run, and school projects to think about.  There has already been some friction between two people and the sun is not shining.  Workdays are again looming up and Things Need To Be Done.  I am always so grateful for days like yesterday; those ones that feel like they are encapsulated in a magic bubble of domestic and family happiness.  Those are the days to keep in our hearts until the next one comes along.

Patching

Last night I stayed up late (10pm!!) to finish some things.  As I have said many times before, I am trying to work on this enormous fabric stash of mine and get it down before I buy anything else.  The problem is I am bored, bored, bored with most of it.  Some of it I have had for years and years; other bits are left-overs from previous projects that just keep turning up like bad pennies.  I might attempt that scrappy, round the world quilt everyone is going so crazy for these days, but truthfully I can never seem to get my seams to match up properly.  Every morning while on the treadmill I go through all my quilting/crafting magazines and try to find projects that will use up all those bits and pieces.  In an older issue of Quilts and Things I found a pattern for baby bibs that uses charm squares.  Perfect!  I used up 42 squares to make these baby bibs:

Truthfully I could easily make another seven but I did get bored by the end of it.  They are just waiting for some snap closures and they can be put away.  Hopefully someone I know will have a baby soon?

While looking through my fabric I found an enormous pile of red and white fabric strips.  My memory tickled a bit and I can vaguely remember laying them out last year to see how they should go together, but for the life of me I cannot remember what I was going to use them for!
I pieced them together in what I think is a rail fence pattern, and hoped to have enough for a lap quilt.  The frustrating part was that I only ended up with five blocks, not six like I would have preferred.  Since it was close to Valentine's Day I decided to just make a table runner by sewing the blocks together in a single row.

This matches nothing in my kitchen, so it will have to be relegated to the Valentine's or Christmas decorations box.  I do like its scrappy charm though, and it reminds me of my Grammie who always quilted and favourite colour is red.

Today I have the morning at home so I hope to get a few more unfinished projects out of the way.  Some of them are spring-ish which is much needed today with our freezing cold temps outside.

Stay warm,
Jenn

Catch Up

Here are a few things I have completed in the past few weeks.  Now that Lent has started and I am severely limiting my computer time I am getting quite a few things done!  That's the whole idea:)

I finally used up this Valentine's day fabric that has been sitting in my fabric stash forever.  Like over  15 years forever.  Yup.  Placemats for Valentine's Day dinner, made on the big day itself.  We used them for two more days and then I felt OK about putting them away for next year.

I am trying to work on lots of quilty type projects to use up some fabric.  I used up a lot of gingham fabric for the backing which helps; but really only a little so far!

After posting about my hearts sampler, Sandra suggested turning it into a needle roll.  It worked perfectly Sandra; thank you for the suggestion!

This is a piece I stitched a couple of years ago and have since waffled on how to finish it .  I got tired of all the indecision so I just finished it into a small cushion.  I used a leftover piece of the placemat fabric for the back.





















I also crocheted this ruffle scarf for My Favourite Girl.  We saw a similar one at a church sale before Christmas, and commented how it looks like sea foam.  I found the yarn at the craft store and worked it up for her.  I have to say it was the worst stuff I have ever worked with, but it did come together quickly.  I thought it would be longer, but after looking at the instructions I see the length is bang on.  My Favourite Girl is happy (especially to have it while it's still scarf season!), and we have named it the Mermaid Scarf.

Currently on my crochet hook is a shawl made out of a really pretty variegated yarn.  I like the yarn, but I don't know if the completed project is going to look so great.  I'll use up a ball and then see how I like it.

I still have lots on the go; mostly sewing things at the moment in order to use up some fabric.  I'll post those when I finish them.  The kids and I also completed a 500 piece puzzle over the long weekend.  Actually I should say 499 piece puzzle because the dog gummed up a piece so badly that we could not use it.
I am really wanting to get lots done on my ripple blanket and start some more cross stitch, but we will see.  February is quickly winding down and I'm sure March will zip by just as quickly.

Thanks for visiting!

Jenn

February Things

I'm dreaming of spring things to come every time I smell my lovely freesias.  I had white freesia in my wedding  bouquet, and after seeing some last week at the store I told Mr. Crafty World that nothing takes me back to that day like the scent of freesia.  So guess who comes home from work and surprises me with a lovely bunch?  I cut them short so they will hopefully last longer and put them in my sweet Meakin jug I bought at a church sale.  They are on their last few days but have been such a lovely treat to smell these last few days.

I finished my cross stitch Sweetheart Sampler.  Yay!  After three years!  Now I'm not exactly sure what to do with it.  I could frame it I suppose, but as I will have to go out and find the perfect frame I suspect the work will have to sit in the "finished yet unfinished" pile of cross stitch I have in the cupboard.

This past weekend I had both Saturday and Sunday off.  No one was ill so we headed back to Port Perry for a little jaunt.  I was absolutely sure I was going to come home with my very own piece of Shelley chintzware; I just didn't know which piece.  After much hemming and hawing I didn't actually buy any!  There were too many lovely things at this little antique store that I couldn't spend all my money on just one dish.  Instead I came home with a magazine from 1952; a beautifully done cross stitch dresser scarf; and a vintage quilt.

The magazine has all its pages - including lots of recipes - and does not smell like musty basement.  Those are the two most important things to look for when buying vintage magazines in my opinion.  Many a time have I been disappointed in an ebay purchase because of that.  I wonder if my Grammie perused this same issue 60 years ago?

Buying a vintage quilt is not something I ever thought I would do.  I have a number of my own, made by my own Grammie.  I know the stories behind the fabrics used which I don't on a quilt made by someone else.  I couldn't resist this one I saw on Saturday though - I think the pink sashing had something to do with it.

This is just half of it folded over.  Stretched out it will fit a single bed.  There are some really sweet fabrics in the patchwork; my favourite is the blue one in this nine patch:

I don't think I need to explain why!

On Sunday we went skating and then just puttered around the house.  It was a perfect weekend in my opinion, and I hope my next full weekend off is the same.

Have a great day!
Jenn

Treasures

I always want to go thrifting when I hear of others who have had recent luck at it.  Yesterday I went to all three of my local thrift stores, and it was a pretty good day.

For metal pieces I got these:

I've got my shortbread in the tin on the right.  It's nice to have them out of a plastic container, and it's much prettier on my counter too.  The tray on the left reminded me of chintzware so I had to get it.  I thought the colours were a bit dull, but it turns out the tray was just really dirty!  It's called Daher Decorated Ware and it's from 1971.  Designed in the U.S: made in England.  I had a look on ebay for similar ones and there are some seriously beautiful patterns out there.  I will definitely be on the lookout for more.

It's a little hard to tell but this coffee container is actually pink and black!  I was seriously stoked to find it.  Even better was that it was something ridiculous like 79 cents.  Mr. Crafty World likes our current coffee container, so I put our Tassimo pods in there.  There was no way I was leaving that in the store.  It's American too: made by West Bend.  I think they used to make appliances?

For china I got two Wedgewood dishes.  I was only going to buy one but I found out it was was half price day for dishes.  Score!

The dish on the left is big enough to use as a sandwich or cake tray which is nice.  The bowl on the right was quite stained under the glaze, but I currently have it soaking in OxyClean and it's working to clean it up.

For the rest of it I got this big basket to hold the quilts and afghans in our family room.  I'm going to make a liner for it so the crocheted ones don't snag.  I got a few books and a new in package bath pillow and Dimensions cross stitch kit.  The kit was open but everything is there which is nice.

I could not resist the happy daisy and turquoise sheet.  It's going to make the cutest bunting I think.  Another project to add to the pile!

Thanks for visiting:)
J.