finger thumb

poppy

Now, ain't this a pretty thing?

I made it today. 

Last night I went to visit the studio of a woman I met who makes handbags. She works at my local textile store, and I'm trying to accumulate some good scrap with which to make that ticker-tape quilt I was writing about the other day. So I went into the fabric store and inquired about scrap, and this lady, Vicky, was introduced to me as the 'scrap queen' by the store owner. She and her partner make bags out of upcycled and reclaimed fabrics, under the label Echoes in the Attic. Very nice stuff. She invited me over to her studio to dig through her scrap box. And I found this sweet little piece of poppy-printed vintage scrap. It used to be part of a tablecloth. 

It was such a perfect little piece that I didn't want to put it into a scrap quilt, to get lost among all the other bits and pieces, but I felt like it deserved to stand alone. So I just stitched it to this lovely little linen remnant, and stretched it over a canvas, which is my favourite finishing method for wall hung works. 

See how nice the fabric quality is? Totally chewy lovely texture. I just used a blanket stitch to attach the two pieces, and I didn't even square it up, just left the wonky edges as is. And it was so nice to work on. The fabric made that great 'poonk' sound when it was punctured with the needle. Do you know what I mean? If you ever work with nice heavy linen, you'll get that. So satisfying. 

It was really nice to make something today. Something that I did not have to over think. Something that was satisfying and beautiful and tactile. I have a tendancy to get a bit too 'art school' up in my head when I make stuff. And of course, that mentality has its place, but often, it just keeps me from moving ahead with a project. I'll start something, but then instead of just letting it flow, I make every decision a great big intention laden thing, and I just get stuck. I'm all like, "But what does it mean? Should I use a solid ground colour? Does the patterned background give it more resonance, or it is just too busy? Maybe I should think about this more" And next thing you know, the project is up on a shelf gathering dust, going nowhere. 

It was nice today to just let it go and make something. You should try it. I always find that it helps. 

nursing a snack

I took this picture of a squirrel aaaaaages ago, when Hubs and I went for a weekend in Toronto, way back before the baby was born. I can't remember if I was even pregnant then or not. Anyhow, I saw this squirrel and had to take her picture.

And I know she's a she, because its obvious that she is a mama squirrel, who probably has a whole little litter of squirrelets (so not a real word, but what else do you call baby squirrels? Cubs? Pups? Help me out here internet. Aha, apparently a baby squirrel is called a 'kit' and apparently, a group of squirrels is called a 'scurry'. Awesome.) at home in her nest, waiting to be fed.

And here she is, out and about, feeding herself up so she has enough milk for them. I so know how she feels. I'm putting a picture of this squirrel on my fridge because I feel like we are kindred spirits. Every time the Baby goes for a nap, I have a big mug of this Weleda Nursing tea and a snack. I'm always want to be sure that the Baby has enough to drink. During his evening feed today he kept popping on an off and making cranky little chirps, and I think he was not getting what he needed because I forgot to snack this afternoon. And he feed so darn fast, rarely more than 8 minutes, usually 5. But the doctor and the midwives say not to be concerned because he's obviously not suffering. That kid is huge. Definitely thriving. So either he is a very efficient drinker or my milk is extra concentrated. Must be all that ice cream I've been eating lately. Have you ever had Skor ice cream? Well you should. Its like Ben and Jerry's Coffee Heath Bar Crunch, but without the coffee and also, cheaper. Awesome. 

salad

I love salad. I know that may seem odd to some of you. People love chocolate, or ice cream, but who professes their love for salad? Well, I do. (though I also love those other two things alot) I really like salad dressings. I'm a big vinegar fan. I can remember when I learned that white vinegar was just one of the many kinds of vinegar available, and not the only option. It totally blew my mind. And balsamic vinegar was a revelation. I love sour things, and I could practically do balsamic vinegar shots.

Incidendentally, if you are ever in Vancouver, there's this famous gelato place that has hundreds of flavours, many of them quite unconventional, and I'm totally blanking on the name of it right now. Argh. Its near or on Commercial Drive. Help me out here Vancouverites, is it La Casa Gelato? I think it is. Anyhow, they have a balsamic vinegar flavoured gelato that is really very good. Weird, but good. As usual, I digress.

So I've got a new favourite salad for the summer. I've made it, like, four times already. Hubs loves it, and its a pretty quick-ish and easy dinner. Also, nutritious with out tasting too 'healthy' if you know what I mean. I was describing it to some friends the other day, and they all asked for the recipe, so I thought I'd post it here and then everybody can have it. I'm quite proud if it, because the recipe is entirely of my own invention, not just an adaptation of an existing recipe. And its pretty tasty, if I do say so myself. 

 

Spinach and Potato Salad

3/4 lb little red potatoes 

1/4 tsp salt

box of baby spinach

3 green onions, white and green parts, chopped

5 slices of bacon

1 ripe avocado, choped

2 handfuls of snap peas, chopped into at least three pieces each

Dressing

1 tbsp honey

1 tsp whole grain dijon mustard

2 tbsp white wine vinegar

1 tsp olive oil

1 tbsp sour cream

1 and a half tbsp mayonaise

juice from half a lemon

small bunch of fresh chives, chopped.

Chop potatoes into small pieces, and cook in boiling water with quarter tsp of salt, until fork tender. (usually takes 8-12 minutes, depending on your potatoes and how small you cut them). Whisk together all the dressing ingredients in a medium sized bowl. Fry bacon till crisp and then crumble into pieces.  Drain potatoes and immediately add them to dressing. Toss to coat. Add the avocado, green onions, and snap peas, along with the crumbled bacon to the potatoes and dressing. On your plate, make a generous bed of baby spinach leaves. Top with a couple of large spoonfuls of potato salad mix.

Eat immediately. Have seconds. 

Note that the grainy mustard really makes this salad. Its better than just the plain ole' dijon. And if you make it without the bacon, its vegetarian (obviously). Also, you can make it with yoghurt and 1% sour cream if you want it to be lower fat. I use light mayo and 5% sour cream, so its not really that bad anyhow. 

baptism

What a lovely day we had today. We finally got around to taking that New Baby to church and baptizing him. Back in the olden days, when my parents were born in Holland, my mom told me that pretty much as soon as the mother could stand they got themselves to church and had their babies baptized. Usually the first Sunday after the baby was born. I saw the proof of this in the baptismal gown that my Dad and all his siblings wore. It was tiny; teeny tiny. I don't think either of my boys would have fit in it on they day they were born even, they were both such big babies. You know, babies were smaller on average, back then too. I wish I had a picture of that old gown to post here, it truly was beautiful. 

Anyhow, our Baby, at a ripe old 15 weeks (that's nearly four months) is getting so big that I figured we'd better get him baptized soon or else he'd be able to walk up to the front of the church and sprinkle the water on himself. Seriously, he's just developing so quickly these days, holding his head up so confidently, and grabbing and holding his toys is his own haphazard way, and gumming the daylights out of everything. Its only a matter of time before he starts teething. 

Here we are, hanging out 'backstage' (aka the consistory room) before the service.

And here we are, mid-sprinkling. My Dad took this picture (thanks Dad!) and I know its not intentional, but I love how it looks like that dove in the banner behind us is about to dive bomb our heads. 

And here's the New Baby, looking beatific, and freshly covenanted. And slightly damp. Now, a note about the textiles; the knitted shawl that he is wrapped up in was made by Hubs' aunt, known to us as Tante Betty. She knits these lovely blankets for all the family babies, and made this one when the Little Dude was born. We also used it for his baptism. Its just so lovely and fancy, I can't quite bring myself to use it as a work-a-day blanket, though maybe I should, because I don't want it to spend its whole life wrapped in tissue paper on a cupboard shelf. 

I always have that problem with 'special' items, especially hand made things. I value them so highly because I know the time and effort that went into them, but I have to be careful not to 'revere' them, because then they get put away and forgotten. You have to find the right balance of use, but not misuse, and work them into your day to day lives, but not forget how special they are. Its difficult sometimes. Because I don't want these special things to get ruined, but at the same time, not using them is a shame too. I've made a point with the quilt I made for the New Baby, that I'm trying to use it a lot, and let it get dirty etc. so it doesn't become an artifact, you know what I mean?

Anyhow, as you can see from the picture above, the Little Dude needed to be part of the event, always making sure to get an extra hug, or tug or hand hold in whenever possible. He also quietly sang "alleluia, alleluia", sotto voce throughout the service. And note the blue item in the foreground. That's his blue toy wrench. It goes with us everywhere these days. 

The baptismal gown that the New Baby is wearing, is also a family item, though not as old as the one that belonged to my Dad. This is the gown I, and all my siblings were baptized in. It was made from the underslip of my mom's wedding gown. Though I'm not sure who made it, if it was my mom, or a friend of hers. I'll have to ask my mom tomorrow. 

See, there's me, back in the day, all decked out in the same baptismal finery. Though it was February, (I was one month old) and I've got a hat and sweater too, so as not to catch a chill. 

And here we are, the whole family, in our 1970's Sunday best (minus my little brother who obviously wasn't born yet). As you can see, the gown was then ornamented with pink or blue ribbons and rosettes sewn on it, according to the sex of the baby being baptized. 

But I decided to change things up, and went with black ribbons for both the Little Dude's baptism, and the New Baby's. Gives it a little more éclat, I think.

When we had the Little Dude baptized, I totally forgot to do one of these baby-all-laid-out-look-at-the-pretty-dress pictures, as in the first picture of me above, and sadly regretted it. I mean, how often does your baby get to wear a long flowey white gown? So I made sure to get all posy with the Baby this time.  Totally worth it. 

After the service itself, the rest of the day was filled with family, and friends, and food. My Mom and Dad hosted everybody at their house, and thank goodness for that, because I seriously doubt whether I could have pulled it off on my own. Getting out the door on time for church looking spit and polish was about all we could manage, and the house looked like a bomb went off somewhere between the kitchen and the bathroom by the time we left. So hosting guests would certainly have been beyond me today. But it was so good to see old friends and family from afar. And now, the day is over and we are tired but happy, and the pretty white dress has been wrapped up and put away again, waiting for another baby to wear it someday.

MAXimum pink day

As I mentioned yesterday, we are all wearing pink today in celebration of having the guts of a girl. But its harder than you think to dress little boys in pink. There is not much out there for them, at least not at our local mall. And since I'm cheap, I was not planning on going out and buying anything expensive for Pink Day. I could go for one of these for the Baby, and this would have been nice for the Little Dude, but I did not find these until it was too late to order them, plus also, the postal strike was thwarting me.

Instead we went out and hit up the second hand store. And instead of trying to find a pink boy's shirt (darn near impossible) we just went and looked for a simple pink girl's shirt. And there was plenty of pink to be found on the girl's rack, but not much plain pink. Everything is so darn bejeweled and bespakled and ornamented with butterflies and flowers and such. But I did manage to get my hands on a plain pink onesie, and a plain pink t-shirt. But by plain, I mean not really plain. Its amazing how gendered they can make a plain thing. Here's what I mean. 

Little girls t-shirts all have cap sleeves. And little tucks and gathers on the shoulders just to make sure you know they are girls (because the pink isn't enough obviously).

Also, the sizing is way different. The Little Dude wears a boy's size 3T, and this shirt, which fits him quite nicely is a girls size 5. Seriously? Are little girls on average that much smaller than little boys, or is the message that girls need to be small and petite in order to be feminine being sent that much earlier. 

There are so many issues around childhood and gender in our culture. And its funny, parenting is really where your politics really meet the road, if you know what I mean. I'm a fairly liberal minded person, and a feminist, and I was a tomboy when I was growing up, and I'm frankly, quite annoyed by all the foofarah around kids and gender, but when I finally did have my own kids I found that there were moments when I would be holding a little hand-me-down sleeper from someone else's girl-baby, and just felt like it was too.... feminine to put on my Little Dude. And for all that we try to be neutral about things, he is dressed pretty masculinely. Becuase there are so few gender neutral options. I don't know how baby Storm's parents are going to do it, because I've worked in retail, and the non-gendered clothing options are pretty few and far between. (btw, if you are interested in the baby Storm controversy, his mother has written a very well thought out article responding to all the debate about it here.) Even things that you'd think would be neutral, like little denim over-alls or something like that, still find a way to be for boys (ebroidered with trucks) or girls (pintucks and sparkle). Its probably lucky for me that I had boys, because I tend to prefer clothes on the simple side (though I love a lot of pattern) and girls stuff is always so heavily embellished. Plus that whole 'princess' thing drives me nuts. (very interesting interview with author Peggy Orenstein who wrote "Cinderella Ate My Daugter: Dispatches from the Front Lines of the New Girlie-Girl Culture" on Q about the prevalence of the 'princess culture' for little girls. Worth listening to the April 25th podcast.)

So I wanted to neutral-ify the little pink t-shirt so we hacked the sleeves off.

And since it was a cool day, I layered it up with a grey long-sleeve. Now, you could even play devil's advocate with me and ask why did I have to get rid of the gathers? I don't really know why. Its amazing to me (and pretty interesting) how much meaning is layered into clothing, that we perceive and ascribe importance to without even thinking about it. Girl's shirt, Boy's shirt, should it even matter? I don't have answers here, but I think it always good to ask the questions. And it should go without saying that while I'm expressing an opinion here, in a rather wishy-washy way, I in no way mean it as any sort of judgement. Dress your kid any way you want, I say. Live and let live.

But really, I'm going to have to buy some more pink shirts for my boys, because this colour is fantastic on them. Even Hubs commented on it when he got home from work. "I feel left out!" he said, as he looked at the three of us in our matching pink, and off he went to dig up his pink shirt.

And the baby looked so cute I could hardly stand it.  See, how cute is that?

And even his pink-but-plain-as-possible-please onsie has a little bit of picot trim around the neck. There is no such thing as plain girls clothing. What do mom's with minimalist tastes do?

Ok, just one more:     I tell you, his smiles make me ridiculously happy.

Now of course, you know I'm going to have to show a picture of them together. And oh, does he love to squeeze that baby! I can't say I blame him. Though without a doubt the word that come out of my mouth most often every day is "gentle". As in "Please be gentle with him!" and "you can hold his hand, but don't pull it, gentle!" and "I know you want to hug him, but gentle." and "gentle, gentle, GENTLE!"

Yep, just put that on a loop for 12 hours and it pretty much sums up my day. 

brotherly love

I know I've posted my fair share of pictures of my two little boys, lying side by side on the floor, the bigger one with his arm protectively slung over the littler one, and the littler one looking, well, kinda startled. I thought I'd change it up today.

Totally different, right? Because they are sitting up, right? 

Its funny, staying at home with two little kids, life seems always the same until suddenly you notice its different. For example, the New Baby can hold his head up now, quite confidently, and the smiles and laughing and responding is just off the charts. And so, so cute. Plus, as you can see from the picture above, he's quite large. 

I remember before he was born I was really worried about sibling rivalry. I read a bunch of books and had some plans worked out, just in case. The Little Dude has really, really liked the idea of his Little Brudda right from the start. There's been no "Send the Baby back." or "I hate him." or anything like that. He likes the Baby fine. What he does not like however, is whenever I have to turn my full attention to the Baby. Getting the Baby down for his naps is the most trying part of it. The Little Dude inevitably comes running, needing me to find a tractor, or refill his water cup or declaring that he needs to use the potty in the most urgent manner. And he's never bluffing, he always does go pee when we do get to the potty (as I juggle a sleepy, swaddled, sometimes crying baby in one hand and unbutton his pants with the other) but I just don't know why he has to save it until I'm trying to get the Baby to sleep. No, that's not true, I know exactly why.

But my point is that he's improving in this regard lately. We're all getting used to life as a family with two little boys, including the little boys. For example, the hardest part of the transition for me was when I'd be trying to put the Baby to sleep, and the Little Dude, would stand up at the other end of the house yelling at the top of his lungs "I NEEEEEEEED you maamaaaaaa! I NEEEEEEEEEEEED YOOOOOUUUUUUU!" No amount of explaining that "as soon as the Baby was asleep I would  be all his, and that it was only going to take 5 minutes, and will you please, please just be quiet so Mommy can put the Baby to sleep. I'll be right back. Just 5 minutes. Please don't yell!" But apparently, 5 minutes feels like an hour and a half when you are two. Also, I'd manage, somehow to get the baby down (mostly by watching for him to yawn and then quickly swaddling him and plunking him unceremoniously into his crib) and then sneak out of the room, to find the Little Dude running down the hall to meet me, and I'd say to him, "ok, quietly lets go upstairs, so that we don't wake the baby." And then he'd look me right in the eye, and very enthusiastically yell "BADAH BADAH BADABH." as I hustled him away from the Baby's room as fast as possible. Oh, it made me crazy!

But note the past tense. Because I just realized today that he has not done that in awhile. He's learned to whisper. Its a rather loud, toddler stage whisper, but I'll tell you, it beats the crap out of the yelling! He's allowed to come and find me as I 'hush the baby down', and I'll hear his urgent little footsteps coming down the hall, but he comes quietly into the room now, and walks over to me with, for example, the bag of dried apricots that he has procured for himself from one of the kitchen drawers in my absence, and whispers as he points to the bag, "Dat one and dat one are awfully big and juicy. I need dem in my hand. Open dat bag for dat one dat is awfully juicy! Please?" 

That's another new vocabulary moment. His use of the word 'awfully'. Its so cute and very British. I'm trying to figure out which book it came from. We haven't started reading the good kids BritLit that I look forward to sharing with him someday (Enid Blyton, Francis Hodgson Burnett, etc) so it can't be from that. His usage is pretty hilarious sometimes. He pointed to the bouquet of flowers, far past its prime, on the kitchen table the other day, and declared "That flower is awfully dead!" Yes, yes it is. 

Anyhow, back to the brotherly love. Not only is it expressed physically with the hugs and kisses and proddings that toddlers are prone to, but its expressed more and more often in words. This morning as they lay on the floor together, the Little Dude sing-songed "I looove you, I loooove, you, I love my little bruuuudddaaa." Then he did this.

   Nice. 

I should note, that he is not actually picking the Baby's nose, but pointing out a small scab from a cut that the sharp-nailed little Baby had inflicted on himself a few days prior. I tell you, I cut that kids nail almost every day, and he still manages to look like we let him play with the cats in the back alley!

On an unrelated note, I wanted to let you know about an event taking place tomorrow, so that I could invite anyone reading this to join in the fun. My friend Shawn has created MAXimum Pink Day in honour of a boy named Max who, one year ago tomorrow, took a stand for gender equity that is admirable in a child so young. Here's the story:

On June 9, 2010 a friend's 8yr old son, was taunted by a kid at school. Max was told that he had "the guts of a girl".

On June 10, 2010, Max wore his sister's pink hoodie to school to boldly state that "the guts of a girl" is a compliment, citing the strength of a little girl in his class who was fighting cancer. 

On Friday, June 10, 2011, I will be wearing pink to honour Max and the gutsy women in my life. I have not forgotten Max's incredible statement, and I will not forget the women whose courage and commitment continue to inform and impact my life.

Do you have the guts of a girl? Join me. Wear pink on June 10. And spread the word.

Check out the facebook page here, and wear pink tomorrow in support. My boys and I will be decked out in our pinkest finery. And yes, there will be pictures, so check back tomorrow. 

laundry

Ok, lets see. I have a husband who likes to make things (preferably in the garage) a toddler who likes dirt (preferably in the garden) and a baby who likes to expel bodily fluids from any convenient orifice of his body (preferably on me). So yeah. I do a lot of laundry. 

And luckily, laundry is not a job I hate. (vacuuming is another story, don't even get me started on vacuuming) After all, we have appliances. I mean, if I was outside smacking the diapers and t-shirts on a rock, it'd be another story. But really, its just some sorting (which is an activity I generally enjoy, after all, I file as a hobby) and then chuck it in the machine. The most laborious part is running up and down the stairs to transfer it from the washer to the dryer. And folding, also not so bad, because its a chore I can do while watching TV in the evening, and anything that can help me spend an hour and a half watching So You Think You Can Dance, is not a bad thing in my book. And the best thing about laundry is, its not vacuuming!

Anyhow, as the weather has warmed up, the possibility of line drying my clothes has reappeared. There are so many good things about hanging clothes out to dry. Its cheap. Its environmentally sound. It makes them smell good and it really helps get the stains out of diapers. But almost every time I find myself doing laundry, I say to myself "oh, just chuck it in the dryer, you don't have time to hang out all this laundry. The multitude of little socks alone will take you an hour. Plus its such a schlepp to get the boys settled (and in the case of the Little Dude, under control) and then I have to run upstairs and get everybody shoes and sunglasses and sunscreen and hats and, oh just forget it!" 

But then I remember... that we're po' and the sun is free and it'd be a waste not to hang that laundry out. So I get the shoes and sunglasses and sunscreen and hats and convince everyone to come outside and get the baby his chair, and get the toddler his 2 dozen tractors and trailers and shovels that he cannot go outside without, and then I finally get the laundry and we go outside. To hang.

And we get out there and I remember..... that this is awesome. I LOVE hanging out laundry. If they could bottle the feeling of standing out in the sunshine, hearing the birdsong, smelling the grass and the trees and the flowers, and yes, a just a pinch of diesel exhaust from the nearby construction, I'm sure it could be used as an anti-depressant. Not to be all Pollyanna about it (because remember, I hate housework in almost all other forms) but it almost always makes my day feel a little better. I'm kind of type A as well, with a Dutch-Calvinist upbringing, so the combination of accomplishment, clean clothing and free drying energy (thank you sunshine) is just intoxicating. 

I don't have one of those romantic old fashioned laundry lines with a creaky pulley wheel and all that. I have a very good, serviceable, practical, space efficient thing that we refer to in my family as a 'spider', though it should be 'spider web' because that's what it looks like. It works really well, and the best thing about it is that when you hang sheets and towels on it, it makes a sort of airy little clubhouse that the Little Dude likes to run in and out of, shrieking with laughter when the sheets flap against him. And look how pretty it looks with all my thrifting finds freshly laundered and flapping in the breeze (sure gets the Value Village Stank off them too).

And best of all, you're outside and if you play your cards right....

...you can look up and see the Baby being introduced to the Rhododendrons.

thank you and have a nice day

I'm old enough to remember the time when, if you wanted a cool retro/vintage t-shirt, you actually went to a second hand store and dug through the racks to find that perfect, dorky, ironic, cool t-shirt. The kind that was faded and soft and had contrast piping and featured a hilarious logo, like a baseball shirt representing the "Prince George Beavers" or something like that. It could cost you anywhere from 50 cents to 5 dollars. You'd be the envy of your friends and occasionally someone would ask to borrow it, and maybe, if you really really liked them you'd let them have it for the weekend when they were going to visit their boyfriend in Buffalo or something like that, but only if they promised to be VERY, VERY careful with it, because if it got trashed or lost you'd never be able to replace it. 

Nowadays (boy do I feel like a geezer when I use that word, but it applies in this context) you just drive yourself over to the nearest Urban Outfitters and have your selection of a wide variety of hipster t's emblazoned with wolves and unicorns and proclaiming that 'Jesus is your Homeboy', or something like that. There is a whole rack of different sizes and colours, and they cost, at minimum, 30 bucks. 

Now, I'm not saying that I've never purchased one of these reprint vintage t's. (I have a very nice BatGirl three quarter length sleeve shirt that Hubs bought me one year for my birthday that I get a lot of wear out of) They can be very nice, and it sure is convenient to be able to pick your size, and not worry about it stains. But I do get sick of the 'faux ironic' slogans.

So I was pretty pleased to find this in Toronto a little while before the New Baby was born.

This is a baby onesie made out of an actual vintage t-shirt. How cute is that?

They are hand made by a girl in Toronto named Sarah Lynn Ottowell who sells her stuff under the name thingsmadebySLO on etsy. She doesn't currently have any of these vintage onesies in her etsy shop, but I contacted her to ask about more and she says she's working on a new batch and should have them up there soon if you are interested. 

She also sells them at a few stores in the Toronto area. I bought this one at Nathalie-Roze and Co. in Leslieville. But she also has stuff at the Freedom Clothing Collective on Bloor.

Really, its one of my favourite little shirts to put on him. And one of the few, cute gender neutral things I was able to buy for him. Everything else in the world of baby/children's clothing is so ridiculously pink or blue its depressing. (more ranting about this topic later this week) If you know someone who is pregnant and they don't want to find out the sex, one of these would be a great gift. 

And no matter what the New Baby wears, he always gets a lot of love from his big brudda. Whether he wants it or not.

 

v.v. good times

We had such good luck at this Value Village the last time we were in Hamilton, that we just had to go again. I find that the V.V's are getting pricey, but this one has such good selection and doesn't seem picked over so its totally worth it. 

We had very little time, so I put us on a strict half hour time limit (including checkout) so we really had to hit it fast. That means no stopping in the book section, because that's an easy half hour on its own. I went straight to the Bed and Bath section, where I do most of my buying. That's a sheet there. I should have put my hand in the picture to show you scale, because its pretty small, the little crosshatching. I think it'll make an excellent quilt back. 

Ditto for this one. Nice small scale and a vaguely asian feel. Also, so many different patterns that you could cut it up for patchwork and it would look like you'd used a bunch of different fabrics. 

I usually avoid Disney like the plague, but this Bambi sheet is pretty old I think, so I picked it up. 

This one was super hard to photograph, but its really nice. I have it in two other colours already (green and purple) and I love using it for an embroidery background. Here's an example of one of the pieces that I made with the green/yellow version of this fabric.  

And isn't that happy! Awesome. Will be a great baby blanket fabric or quilt back.

 This isn't a sheet, but rather some sort of old slipcover or upholstery or something. But its really great fabric. Nice big scale.

I found two of these pillowcases, and thought they looked familiar. When I got them home and looked at the label, I found they were made by Liberty of London, for their Target Collection. I bought some other home dec stuff with this pattern already. I wish I'd found a matching duvet cover!

I almost always buy children's space novelty textiles when I find them. So I had to get this pillowcase. The one downside is that the more recent the item, the crappier the fabric is. This one is probably a 4 out of 10, fabric quality-wise. I don't understand why they make such cheap fabric, especially for kids. I keep coming across the same trucks and construction sheets that the Little Dude would love for the pattern, but that I can't possibly buy because the fabric is so gross. It feels like a cross between toilet paper and cheesecloth, somehow both flimsy and scratchy at the same time. 

This one is also not very nice fabric, but it just cracked me up that the 'No' is in French and English! Ah, Canada. So for 99 cents I felt I could justify it. 

Also, I can never pass up a good vintage apron.

And see, there were two!

And then I was totally lucky at the tablecloth rack.

This one is my favourite. Sooooo adorable, and very, very 50's. Really nice quality linen too. 

The fabric was not as nice on this one, but still reasonably good quality. 

And so freakin' cute!

Then I had time for a quick pass through tableware, and I'm so glad I did.
Aren't these lovely! I thought for sure they were vintage Mikasa, but when I looked on the bottom it turns out they are Royal Doulton. La di da!

And this little guy makes my day.     I know! Don't you want to coo at him like he's a fat golden little baby! Whose the sweetest little milk jug ever? You are, yes you!

relaxing

Had a very busy, but very fun weekend working and spending time with friends in another city. There was a lot to do, and a limited amount of time to do it all in, but even with a pretty tight schedule I managed to make some time to drop by a Value Village. And look what I found amongst the hot rollers and foot baths:

Nice.

And look, its relaxing in both official languages. And talk about your shiny, happy people. 

I appreciate that it has two speeds, but really, I think six attachments is just excessive. 

In the end I decided not to purchase what I'm assured is the finest held-in-hand massager money can buy, because I already have a vintage 'vibrating massager' and interestingly enough, I don't need to collect everything. One ironic Vibra-Queen on my shelf is plenty.

I did buy a lot of other cool stuff though, but you'll have to come back tomorrow to see it. I have a wicked cold developing, and since I'm still nursing, I can't take any of the good cold meds, and have to rely on my garlic cure and lots of sleep.