Happy Halloween

We had so much fun going out and doing Halloween as a family.

J was home this year and we all dressed up and went out and about.

We hit downtown first for the annual costume parade where all the stores hand out treats to the kiddos.

Then we hit the neighbourhoods and the ladies raked it in.

There were quite a few costumes for the girls this year.

Geisha's, super girl, vampire princess, and Cruella de Ville.

We never really got to many shots of the busy girls but managed to get quite a few of our selves.

Hope you all had a great day.

Finger Knitted Toque

When I showed the neighbor boys how to finger knit, the first thing they asked was what they can make with it.

Off the top of my head I came up with a few suggestions although I had never actually made any of them before.

So to my surprise 3 days later one of them came over with 25 feet of knitted yarn and asked me to help him make it into a hat.

OK so I had to ask like I knew what I was doing and this is what I did.

First I measured the size on his head by wrapping it around.

Then I grabbed a huge needle and threaded some of the yarn and started sewing away, loop and loop.

And half an hour and a few fittings later.....

A very happy little man and his cool new toque.

Now he is going to start a scarf to match.

Pretty neat for a 13 year old boy.

I think I know what I am going to do with some yarn I just bought the other day.

I admit I was surprised but it is actually quite simple and well sewn, will last for a long time.

He says he is going to make these for gifts for his family.

I am proud.

Easy and Quick Silkscreening....Finally

I love silk screening and have had visions of having my own silk screening company and making wonderful shirts and such for the masses.
I envy the Smoking Lily in Victoria and I love all her stuff.
So when I discovered this idea for kid friendly silk screening, that I can do in the house in a day, I was thrilled.
First you trace a picture with a pencil crayon onto a sheer curtain that is inset in a embroidery hoop.

Then you use Modge Podge as a resist and paint it everywhere you do not want paint to come through.

When it dries check that it has no holes and touch up if necessary.

This dried in about 4 hours when sat by the wood stove, but overnight would be a safe bet.

Once dried you have a wonderful screen to work with.

It is hard and you are able to reuse it when finished for future projects.

Take fabric paint and using a firm brush tab it on and then scrap off with a putty knife.
Lift off screen gently while holding fabric down.

Voila.

I have so many ideas for this that I can barely contain myself.

Bikes and skulls and birds and and and and and .........

Gifts and pillows and bags and and and and and .....

But tonight I am sewing up a storm.

Show you that tomorrow.

Ah Ha!! Another Grand Day

Still finding new tasty ways to use up this years apples.
A quick free form apple tart with,... get this.......chunks of those little caramels thrown in.
OMG...yes a definite winner.

Another round of a not so new use for apples but a staple non the less, dehydrated.

Today we had a great time making some tit dyes shirts.
Our neighbour wants to be a hippie for Halloween and had a vision for a certain shirt.
After some 25 minutes we managed to have 2 pretty groovy shirts.
Really it is quite a simple task when well organized.
Great results for a great costume.


And one for his mom as well.

Weekend in the World of Us

I have to admit that there is barely a picture of me anywhere.
I am the one with the camera most of the time and so I get excluded from most of the shots.
The ones I may happen to be in are, to say the least, not very attractive.
So when I was downloading the pictures from yesterday I was happy to see a decent picture of myself and thought I would share.
See I don't always look like a gremlin.

O.K.
Case in Point.
These are what I usually look like.

This weekend was completely full of chores. with a birthday party and a dinner out in there somewhere.
Sleep has not been around much and the animals have had all of their homes cleaned and refinished for a week of ugly weather coming up.
J spent most of the days bobbing around in the machine, building fences and leveling out the landscape at the rental house.
He also did me a huge favour and spent the time to dig out another 200 sq feet or so of garden and sunk in the fence posts for it as well.
He even went so far as to add a mass amount of top soil to it, and now it is ready for a rototille and a winter rest.
I am so excited for an even bigger garden next year.


The Sparks troop and I went to the local market and spent a few hours selling cookies.
The weather, thankfully, was great and it was a good experience for all the girls.
I was completely amazed to see K counting back change, correctly, and I let her give all the change and deal with the cash for most of the time.
She was excited and thrilled with herself.
I am still amazed at her abilities in math and again I am so glad that I get to home school and nurture her definite skills.


Just as I thought, when K say the owl purse I made for E she was in dire need of her own.
Last night I sat at the machine and made this little guy.
I learned a few tricks from the first one and a few more on this one.
I am silly and never make a pattern or measure anything.
I eye ball it all and wing the rest.
But the girls love them regardless.

Now we are spending a warm ad cozy Sunday evening eating some baked beans and biscuits getting ready for an early night and a movie.

Kids Play Day

With the ugly wet weather today, after a morning of chores and errands, we spent the day crafting.
K taught the neighbors how to finger knit and they are so excited I wouldn't be surprised if they have 10 feet each by morning.


We did some recycling crafts and made a few Halloween ghosts.

I filled to table with Floam, Gak, Goop and homemade play dough.

I put out all the tools and cutters and for over an hour the 4 kids played and giggled endlessly.

There was a mess like no other afterwards and I sense I will be finding play dough for days to come.

We grabbed some chestnuts from our neighbors tree a few days back and let them dry,

Today we made them into little creatures and puppets and dressed them up.

Ninjas, kings, old men and rabbits.

As well as creative, colourful ladies.

Messy heads were the real hit.

It has been great for me lately as this weather has slowed the outdoor chores down.

J is out there slaving away building a fence and landscaping the rental with the excavator, but I can't really help but keep the kids out of his way.

So I have had the time to do some sewing and it has been wonderful.

Tonight J and K had a daughter/ dad night and me and E hung out and played.

I made her this quick little owl purse and she is super excited.

K came home and demanded that she has one made for her tomorrow.

I love it.

I had an order for a dog coat.

As we are know for having big dogs and me for sewing many of Molly's coats, I was asked to make one for a Napoleon mastiff that is going to live up in the Yukon.

Extra bright, extra warm and extra secured with Velcro and clips.

It turned out great and now I need to make yet another one for Molly.

I wish Lucy would stop chewing them up.

And for a quick nighttime sewing session, I made the girls these flashy lounge pants.

Comfy, warm and girly fun.

Article this Month

Every month I contribute to Our Big Earth, a local media company, and this month I wrote about pumpkins.
Thought I would share it with you.
http://www.ourbigearth.com/2009/10/21/family-eats-healthy-pumpkin-treats/
Enjoy.

Where the Wild Things Are

After years of reading this little book, I was so excited that they made a movie.
I wasn't disappointed either.
This movie was an in depth look at the emotional being of a young child.
All the raw and complete intenseness of how to cope with all the wild emotions as a child
How everything in life builds on each other and how you learn to trust, love and grow through all that goes on in your world.
With homeschooling we did a project on the book, and seeing the movie was another part of the project.
K is 6 and enjoyed it tremendously although was left with many questions, and this lent to a great enriching conversation afterwards.
Every character in the movie was developed wonderfully and you really get a taste of each emotion.
I admit I was a bit let down by the lack of colour and I had had visions of lush jungley habitats as drawn in the book, but otherwise it is a must see for young and old alike.
There is seldom a book that is converted into a movie that is done well and leaves you satisfied.
This accomplished just that and is rewarding and I will definitely see it again.

Turkey...Hillbillie Style

There are few things that scream hillbilly like deep frying a turkey.
Yes a large vat of boiling oil, heated on a propane burner in order to cook a bird sounds just about as tacky as you can get.
Agree?
Aha.
Then you must never have tried it.


I was a deep believer that it was pure sacrilege to cook a turkey in such a despicable manner.
Talk about health issues and where is the food safety?
Well I was proven wrong and now advocate this to anyone who is looking for a sure fire way to have a juicy moist 25 lb turkey cooked in an hour and a half.
And your oven is free for everything else that must be juggled around to complete the feast.
Best of all the men are outside socialising and being the cooks, beer in hand.
You can feel the testosterone.


Initially it is costly for all the supplies and you have to buy mass quantities of oil each time.
There is actually quite a process to the preparation for this procedure and the clean up is quite a bit of a hassle.
But if you can over all that you are well on your way to a tasty sensation.

This is a great way to enjoy the fruits of our labour.
And a way to empty the freezer a bit.



We have converted many friends and family and they now toot the merits of deep frying turkeys to everyone they know.

Who knew!!!

Ribbon Belt

To have little girls is so exciting when it comes to clothes, jewelery, make up and everything sparkly.
I do not wear frilly stuff but my ladies were made of frills.
In their eyes it can never be pretty enough.
If they could bedazzle the world they would.


This ribbon belt with fabric flowers was a perfect early Sunday morning project that yielded Best Mommy accolades from them both.
Now I am commissioned to make dozens more, one for each skirt, pair of pants and dress they own.
Except next time they would like some jewels in each flower.
Lucky enough it is quick and simple, maybe I could even teach them to do it themselves.
Except they are not allowed to use my sewing machine.......ever.
I guess maybe Santa may have to get a heads up for Christmas.

Comtemplating

We have 8 acres close to town on city water and the greatest neighbors anyone could wish for.

We feel the love on our land and thi sland gives us so much.

We live off it and play around it and raise our family here.

This is our dream property, but most definitely not our dream home.

Less than 1000 square feet and the 4 of us is getting to be very confining.

Initially I was in love with the log cabin life, the wood stove, the dark, warmth and coziness.

Now I need light.

I am tired of packing in wood.

I am frustrated with dusty, uneven wooden walls.

Now I am desperate for some color.

At this point even white is a color.

We have spent years, literally, trying to decide what to do.

Do we sell, do we build here, do we rent this and buy another.

Do we expand the current house and on and on.

We have paid architects to design renovations and then sit idle on them.

We have had so many ideas and they fizzle out.

We have priced out all our options and still we haven't made up our minds.

I think it is because we really have know all along.

We know we need to do something.

And now that opportunity has presented itself.

Yesterday we got wind of a piece of land, 5 acres, that has been reduced so much that we are seriously going to look and possibly put in an offer to tie it up.

We are excited and ready to move on.

I will miss this place.

I gave birth to E in this house.

We bought it and moved in 2 weeks befor K was born.

I have reaised the kids here.

But we could build a new home and at this point, this is thrilling to me.

For a long time I have been resistant to this because I know how much we have right here.

Why temp fate?

Right?

Temp it I am.

I am so ready to take it on.

I know I can take on the challenge of building a house while J works away and still maintain everyday life.

In fact I am so excited I am going to a lawyer tomorrow to see if we can subdivide the rental off and get more for our dollar.

Oh the possibilities.

I am dreaming of 5 rooms and a full basement, 2-3 bathrooms, huge kitchen, and a mud room and a laundry room....in fact just any ROOM.

Where each girl gets their own room and hopefully ajoining bathrooms.

Where I have a sewing/craft/office room and J an office and gym.

Space is the key.

Lots of space.

If you could see what we live in you would surely understand.

It is nice, it is clean and organized, and it is cramped.

Busting at the seems actually.

So onto a new adventure??

I sure hope so.

1 Skirt = 2 Projects

Update from yesterdays sweater project.
K found this flower and said it needed to be right there.
I sewed a black ribbon around the neckline, a bit hard to see in this photo, and placed the flower just so.
Yup she's happy.
That's her content/proud face.



I love wool.
I love grey.
I love grey wool....anything.
It has such a beautiful feel and temperament to it that I go gaga when I see it.

Naturally when I saw this skirt in a shop I HAD to have it,.... even if it didn't fit.
And I have held on to it, you know, just in case one day I might fit into this hidden jewel in my closet.
Yet the day came when I need to be truthful with myself and concede to the fact that I was never going to fit it.


Now look at it.

Skirt Part #1

I have always wanted to knit slippers for myself but that is a long way off in my world.
I decided I could sew some.
Surprisingly it was a relatively easy.



I traced my foot onto cardboard and wrapped it in satin.
I traced that onto wool and traced a front and back part to the slipper.
I really just flew by the seat of my pants and it all came together quite well.

Next time I would do a few things differently but all in all not too shabby.
Comfortable too.
I had to dress them up a bit and these decals were just begging to be used, a nice touch I think.


Skirt Part #2

This is a pillow I made a while back.

I love how it worked out.

It took a bit of time to sew each button on, but worth every minute.

Sewing Night

I feel pretty smart when I find a great sweater at a thrift store that is an awesome color and can be transformed into many new things for the ladies.
This green is one of my favorite and I have been able to make a nice toque just perfect for today's ugly weather out of the bottom cuff of the sweater.
Just needs to find a pom pom and an applique owl.

K wanted yet another pair of leggings and these wool ones are nice fitting and very long for her long legs and the temperature.
These were made form the sleeves of course and I serged the tops so the have a cool wavy effect.



And what would Halloween be with out a few spooky clothes.
This material glows in the dark as I found out when passing it one evening.

Purple, spiders and glow in the dark....a perfect combination for E.

Last night with the rain, wind howling and it getting dark so early I whipped up these too cute cozy lounge pants for the girls to nestle up in and watch a movie.

Now I need to find the time to make myself a pair.

Not sure if you can tell from the photo but the material is a soft argyle flannel.

I feel in love with the colors.

Many more projects in the works and with the fall storm breezing through I hope to have the time to finish a few.