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chocolate chip cookies with raspberries

You know, sometimes its the simple things. I like to bake a fancy cake and every now and again try my hand at a pie, but sometimes all that effort is really not necessary. 

I was making a routine batch of chocolate chip cookies today. Nothing special really, except that the Decadent Chocolate Chips from President's Choice were on sale this week, and so I bought some to throw in the cookies this week. Used the recipe from Silvana's Kitchen, but I used butter instead of vegetable shortening aka: Crisco. Because we're eating dairy and wheat again these days, but I still make them gluten free because they taste just as good and even if you don't have an allergy its not a bad idea to limit the gluten in your life. 

Hubs and the Little Guy had just come in from the garden where they'd been picking raspberries. I'm telling you people, sticking three or four raspberry bushes into our garden a few years back was the single best gardening decision we ever made. They are a late bearing variety, so this is their prime, and they are just LADEN with berries. We pick a nice couple of pints every three days or so. Its amazing. When I look at how much organic or pesticide free raspberries cost in the grocery store and then I walk out to my garden and pull them fresh off the branch FOR NOTHING it blows my mind. 

But I digress. The boys came in with a couple of containers of fresh raspberries and we sat down to mid-morning snack/tea to have a hot-out-of-the-oven cookie, naturally. And then I had the best idea ever. 

Why not put these two lovely things together?

I was not the only person who thought this was a great idea. 

The Little Guy was totally on board. After all, he'd picked these raspberries himself! And chocolate chip cookies, are just about his favourite thing in the world (right up there with droppies and freezies).

So we put those fine motor skills to good use. 

And this is the result. Melty chocolate. Buttery cookie. Raspberry jam-y sweetness on top. Each bite is a mouthful of perfection. And you don't have to be a pastry chef to pull it off.

And for those of you with less free time, and no gardens, I'll bet you could get much the same effect with some Pillsbury tube cookies and a pint of berries from your local grocery store. And here's another 'cheater' version of this that I have totally done. Get yourself a bag of Two Bite Brownies, a jar of Bonne Maman Raspberry Jam, and put a little dollop of jam on top of each brownie. That is also crazy good. And if you are feeling decadent put a little whipped cream on top. Even better. I've served those at parties and they go over very well. Basically raspberries and chocolate are one of my favourite flavour combinations. And this guy agrees with me. 
 

so proud

Because look what we did yesterday! We embroidered. 

You see, this may not seem like a big deal to you, but if you've been reading here for any length of time, or if you know me personally, you know that textiles are my thing. I love needlework. I knit, I crochet, I embroider, I quilt, I sew etc, etc. If it is made of fabric (or sometimes even if it is not) I like to stitch on it. I cannot look around me and not see opportunities for stitching, or things that really should be quilts (I have a whole pinterest board dedicated to thing that could become quilt patterns). And here's one of the fun things about parenting; getting to share the things you love with your children. For years before I had kids I'd been stock piling vintage craft books, fantastic cuts of fabric, yards or rick rack and boxes full of vintage buttons. I had such big plans for the things I'd make with my daughter. We'd sew funny little monster dolls, clothes for her kitty cat, aprons, hair bows, book bags and dresses. I'd teach her to embroider. We'd make a quilt together for her to sleep under. I'd imagine the pride she got dressed in an outfit she'd made herself. I couldn't wait to teach her everything I knew. 

And then I had a boy. And another one. Hm. 

Now I am a card carrying feminist. I've done my women's studies courses and read my Naomi Wolf and Judith Butler. I stood ready to empower my daughter to do and be anything she wanted. We'd sew banners for protests. We'd make clothes that did not have to scream pink and pretty just because she was a girl. We'd celebrate and use the skills that women have perfected over the centuries. We'd honour the quilters of the past while re-imagining the future in fabric. 

Did I mention I had two boys. 

So obviously I don't believe that the textile arts are only for girls. There are many talented male quilters and sewers out there. But no matter how you slice it (and you can slice it for aaaages, trust me) there are still more women involved in needlework than men. My quilt guild is entirely made up of women. And its not because men aren't allowed. So of course I planned to show my boys how to sew and knit and stitch. These are valuable skills for all people to have, not just women. 

But I still worried. What if he did not like to stitch? Or worse yet, what if he did not even want to try? I've done my best to create an envoirment where there are not "boy" activities and "girl" activites. Hubs and I both cook and do our best to care for them equally. We do not avoid pink. And the boys seem interested in the sewing machine, and the pins and the scissors, but they don't seem that interested in actually making something with them. 

The other day I was at the craft store though, and I saw these little plastic canvas stars. Yeah, plastic canvas. This is soooo far from where I am aesthetically right now (plastic! ew.) but it occurred to me that this might be the perfect place to start. They are rigid, which helps as you first learn to negotiate needle and thread. They are small, so easily finished. And they are kind of cool, in a angles and segments kind of way. And when I actually thought about it for a minute, I realized that the first thing I ever stitched was a little plastic canvas coaster set (yellow with butterflies on them, and my big sister taught me how). So I bought them and brought them home and waited for the right moment. 

The Little Dude came home from school yesterday and said, "Lets make a craft." Which usually means "lets draw". But I saw my window. "How about we make a Christmas ornament?" I said. "Yeah!" he shouted. Ok, so far so good. He was on board. 

So I pulled out these cool little stars. And my big box of craft yarn and a blunt needle. I made a knot in one end, and then showed him how to go in and out. I didn't stress about a stitch or a patttern plan or anything. I just gave him the yarn and showed him how to go in and out with the needle. He just did a running stitch and followed the edges of the star. It took him a few moments to get a hang of it, but then he was off and running.  there he was perched on top of the coffee table, hardly my first choice of a good seating arrangement, but I did not want to break the spell, so I didn't even suggest he move. Occasionally he needed my help "Which side do I go in on now? Is it over or under this time?" And at one point, after tangling his yarn he sighed and said, "I'm tired of this." And then put it down and walked away. But I just said "ok, you can finish it later if you want." And in a matter of minutes he was back over to where I was sitting asking for a new colour or yarn. "Yellow this time, because its a star." So I got him hooked up with some more yarn and he was at it again. And this time he stuck with it. 
I did my best not to hover or pressure him about it. If he's going to do it, I want him to do it because he wants to, not because I want him to. I don't want to be the hockey dad of embroidery, if you know what I mean. But I must admit that watching him do this made me ridiculously happy. Watching his concentration, seeing him almost make a mistake and then realize it and right himself. Watching him using his fine motor skills and his brain and his hands all at once. The happy absorbed struggle of acquiring a skill. 

And best of all, seeing how pleased he was with the final result. "I made the whole thing Mom! Now we can put it on our Christmas tree!"

Oh, and you may wonder what Mr. Baby was doing this whole time.  Yep, his favourite thing in the world lately. Cuttin'. No wait, his favourite thing is probably "Choppin'" with his sword. But cuttin' with scissors is probably a close second. 

Snip, snip, snippet. The living room carpet is now covered with a fine sprinkling of one-inch-long yarn bits. In a variety of colours. I gave him a chance to embroider too, but after pulling the needle through the star once or twice, he was pretty much done. After all, that yarn was not going to cut itself! And at a basic level its still fibres, so I feel like he was at the same yarn-y party that his brother and I were. 

And the Little Dude tells me that we will be making more of these. "And Mom, you should go back to the store tonight and see if they have other shapes too. Because we need circles. Circles make good ornaments. And then I can do more of that cross-stitch with them." Sigh. My heart is full. 

chalet

Well, we've fiinally done it. After hoping and looking everywhere for ages for just what we had in mind, we finally have out own cottage! It cost us a pretty penny, but oh and it was worth it. The perfect little A-frame, all the classic details that make a little getaway in the country ideal, complete with a balcony and a bell by the door. Not too big, snug in fact, but enough room for a whole family to get away from it all. Just look! See! Isn't that darling? I've been wanting the Fisher Price Chalet forever, and I finally found one. It was in the "showcase" area of our Value Village, which meant that it was not eligible for the half-price sale day, and also that they had an idea of its value, so it was not cheap. Or not as cheap as I'd like it to be. Still a better price than the ones you see on line. And they kindly let me talk them down a bit, which was good. 

And it is in such good shape! The lithos are all bright and gorgous, no scratches and no fading. 

Also, it came with a ton of furniture. Just look at this, the entire nursury suite! And there are bunk beds, a double bed and, couches and chairs, and even a patio set! Cutest lounge chairs ever.

But that all pales by comparisson with the most exciting thing ever. A teeny tiny potty! Really, the Little Dude could not have been more excited about this. It was actually a gift from one of the V.V. staff. We were walking, absentmindedly down the aisle, the Little Dude riding on the front of the cart, and I was distracted by something or other and I ran him right into a pillar! A solid metal I-beam type thing in fact, and he had been looking back over his shoulder and even though I was dawdling along very slowly he still got quite a knock. Bonked his poor little head and ended up with a bruise. One of the nice cashiers saw what had happend and whisked off right away to get us a cold pack for his wound. He wailed for a few minutes, and the kind cashier, to sooth him offered him a free toy from another Fisher Price set she had behind the counter. There were little cars and a merry-go-round and I was sure he'd go for a little cunning little red jeep, but no, he saw that tiny green toilet and the tears were gone in an instant. 
And now we have a full bathroom. Such fun! Now everyone can take a bath and have a pee and wash their hands. I must say, all our little people have a much improved level of hygine.

And I just adore this little balcony. 

And I'm not the only one pleased as punch about it. Best purchase of our day as it satisfys both the collector mama, and the Little People lovin' little people. 

 

notes from the fair

We went to the fair last weekend. I had a busy week last week, and didn't get around to posting the photos, but thought they were still worth it, as we had a lot of fun. I'm not going to give you a complete rundown, because you know what a fair is like: animals, rides, awesome food (beaver tails, ermagersh!) but I will show you the highlights. 

My favourite competition part of the fair is always the Draft Team award. Imagine 6 GIANT horses, beautifully groomed, all shiney and jingley with harnesses and pulling a large old-timey wagon. I don't have a great picture, because photo does not do it justice. They are just so physically impressive, so large and powerful. But I did snap this one of a very slight teenage girl standing in front of them as they waited their turn to enter the ring.
It amazed me how that little person could keep those hundreds and hundreds of pounds of horse and wagon from going anywhere just by standing there. She must have great presence, and they are clearly really, really well trained

And in big news this year at the fair, the Baby is now tall enough for rides. And though he may look fairly dead-pan in this picture, he was STOKED about this ride "MODACYLE!" he proclaimed loudly and repeatedly, as he ran towards this ride. And he went on it all by himself, as his big brother was more interested in the boats.

Speaking of which, I hadn't realized when we left the house that we brought Batman with us to the fair.

He's taken to wearing parts of his the Batman costume that I made him for Hallowe'en when we are out and about. Its quite cute and I'll tell you what, it certainly livens up our weekly library trip. Oh, and also note the light sabres that we picked up at a garage sale on our way into the fair. They light up (natch) and are simultaneously the best toy ever (so exciting! so fun in the dark!) and the worst toy ever (so tempting to whack your brother over the head with!). I have to hide them regularly, but they are exciting all over again when I do pull them out of the cupboard. 

Anyhow, the best photo op of the day came when we were watching the Cray-z-Crew perfrom their bike stunts, and there was a meeting of the minds on the bleachers. I was immeadiatly reminded of this:

It was all I could do not to turn to Hubs and loudly declare "Shit's about to get REAL!" Because that would be bad parenting. But in my head it sounded really, really funny, and I did manage to whisper it to Hubs and we both had a good laugh. Though the "real" part was actually "real friendly" as these two little superheros really hit it off and happily held hands and chatted and climbed about for the duration of the stunt show. (That's Gran Gran laughing it up in the background) As we left, the Little Dude turned to me and said "I can't wait until he comes over for a playdate!" Apparently they made plans to get together and play with lego. I had to break it to him that we didn't know that little boy, and that generally speaking, at least the Mom's need to know each other to put a play date into action. Oh well, maybe we'll seem him again next year at the fair.

Star Wars Rainbow Star Quilt

Finished at last! Boom! There's the full shot. (I've blogged about it in process quite a bit already, but if this is the first time you are seeing it, I'll let you know that its made from vintage Star Wars bedsheets and the solid fabrics are mostly Kona) 

Here's the back. I've had it, like, 98% finished for a couple of weeks now, but all the final hand-sewn touches that always take me a bit to get around to.

Like the embroidered label.

And the hanging loops. They're kind of finicky so they sit there for a little while, waiting for just the right moment.... a television show that is just not too interesting, a long wait in a doctors office. Something like that. And then I get 'er done.

As I finished photographing it this afternoon in the good light of the front room, the Little Dude came out to find me after finishing his nap (he doesn't usually sleep anymore, but he's a little under the weather and really needed a little shut eye this afternoon). Anyhow, we sat there happily occupied for a good ten or fifteen minutes, as he pointed out all his favourite bits and filled me in on the details. (That's Han Solo. Jabba the Hutt froze him in Carbon and Night and then Princess Leia came in disguise to save him...etc) And now all that remains is to pack it up and send it away to its new home.... Goodbye little quilt, we'll miss you!

little squares

I'm getting more and more proficient with my quilting and patch work skills as the months go by, and I've gotten better with all sorts of more complicated piecing, but my favourite is and always will be.... ...squares.

Specifically those quilts made of really little squares called postage stamp quilts. I did a quick search for more specific information about postage stamp quilts and found some interesting thoughts and tips from someone who is really obsessed with postage stamp quilts here. Also interesting is this very old postage stamp quilt that you can zoom in on really close with the little minus to plus bar above the image. 

But I digress. Basically a postage stamp quilt is one made of very small squares. Usually cut 2" x 2" max so the finished square is between 1" and 1.5". Anyhow, I just love the kaliedescope, pixel, grid like nature of them. So fun. But they are a lot of work to cut and kind of tedious to sew. Lots of very little seam allowances to press. Hard on the fingers. 

So I was very excited to find this good tutorial on pinterest for a simpler way to sew them. I did not take pictures of the technique myself, because they have a perfectly good tutorial right here, but I did take pics of my before and after sewing.  The upshot is that you cut out your tiny squares, and they lay them out on a sheet of very lightweight interfacing, and then you iron them to the interfacing and sew all the seams in a given row at once. You are basically batch piecing. You fold it along the line where the square line up, and then sew your quarter inch seam and then use your rotary cutter to trim a tiny bit off the edge of that seam so that you can press it open. The seams line up perfectly and also, no pinning. So awesome and time saving. I didn't explain it that well here, but if you are one of my sewing/quilting readers you're going to follow the link to the tutorial and see for yourself, and if you are one of my friends/relatives here for stories about the kids I can hear your eyes glazing over from here. 

But see how pretty that is? How neat and orderly. How nicely the seams line up. The only problem with it (the finished one on the left that is) is that I sewed all the seams in one direction (from the top down I think) and so it has skewed slightly as you can see from the curve along the right side. I was smarter with the second one and alternated the direction of the seams which corrected for my slight leaning in at the bottom. 

Oh, and this will be part of a project that I made out of scraps from a member of my quilt guild. We all swapped scraps and then are going to make something fun out of them and then we'll give them back as gifts at Christmas time. 

I'll show you my finished project after the swap is finished. Don't want to ruin the surprise!

mug vs. mug

Being a vintage shopper collector is great fun, but I must say, does come with a few draw backs. For example, I always run into storage issues. The other day a cute new mug came home, and there was literally no more room in the cupboard on the mug shelf. So Hubs, helpfully, went into the cupboard, pulled out the ugliest mug he could find to either be packed away in a box, or 'gotten rid of' aka, re-donated to whence it came. However, when I walked back into the kitchen I found he had chosen one of my favourite mugs as the reject. Since that was clearly a mistake, I went to the cupboard, pulled out what was obviously to me, the ugliest mug there, and set it aside to be disposed of. Upon which, Hubs returned to the room and said "you're not getting rid of that mug. That mug is awesome!"

So, see if you can guess which mug is which. Which one is Hubs' favourite and which one is my favourite? If you know us well, I'm sure you can probably tell. Let me give you a few hints.  Here is the bottom of the one on the right. 

And here is the bottom of the one on the left. 

Figured it out yet? I'll tell you more about these mugs. The solid orange one has a thin smooth lip, and a graceful fluting shape. 

It is made of glass, so it has a slightly translucent quality that makes it appear to glow.

The lighter coloured mug has a pleasing heft to it, and a somewhat chunkier lip and handle. 

The inside has a very nice patina that includes a sort of crackle effect, due to age and use I'm sure. 
 It also has a glazed pattern on it that could either be a bagel with butter on it, or a flower, depending on your mood. 

The other one is plain reddish-orange, but is a very rich colour, and since it is made of glass, has a nice quality of being opaque while still haveing a sort of translucency to it. 

So, have your figured it out? Obviously you have, since my pick is clearly the awesome one - its the orange one pictured above. Because its Pyrex (and you know how I love Pyrex) and its beautiful and it glows and feels very nice when you drink from it. Honestly, what was Hubs thinking, threatening to get rid of it? I shake my head at his lack of taste sometimes. 

home improvements

I've probably mentioned before that since we don't own this house, we haven't put in a lot of time and effort into making changes to it. And it used to be my parent's house, which they kept very nicely, but also, is filled with their taste and their choices. So we try to find little ways to make it our own, but without spending too much money or time. We've repainted a few rooms and put up some new curtains, but much of it remains as it always has been. 

But this past weekend we finally got around to doing a small project that I've had on my list for some time now. If you read this blog often you also know that I am a collector of lovely vintage things. However, I walk the fine line between collecting and hoarding because I'm not very good as displaying all the great vintage finds I collect. They get added to the piles or the boxes labled "vintage table clothes: embroidered" and "vintage table clothes: printed". We had to re-arrange the boxes last week because we were trying to find stuff and I noticed how many boxes I have labled "vintage books". I love vintage books. Obviously. I collect old school readers, and old how-to manuals and old medical books. It made me sad that I had all this great stuff and never saw it. I was also at the library the other day paging through some random glossy home-dec magazine and I was feeling jealous about how lovely all these other people's homes were (I consoled myself with the thought that clearly they did not have small children, and if they did they could obviously afford 'help' in the form of cooks and cleaners and decorators). And as I read the tips I noticed over and over again how the decor experts exhorted people to seek out clever, one-of-a-kind flea market finds in order to personalize their decor. And of course I occured to me that I am sitting on, like, the motherlode of clever, one-of-a-kind flea market finds. And that I should quit feeling jealous and do something about it. Because boxes of lovely old things just feel like wasted potential. I should have all these things out in the light where I can enjoy them. 

Of course, the problem is the two sets of ten sticky little fingers that would love to schmeer themselves all over my clever, one-of-a-kind flea market finds. So I had to find a way to put stuff on display without putting them in the line of smearage, as it were. I decided that book rails were the best possible plan. That way we can change the items on it regularly and they can be on view but also up out of harms way. 

So we spent a couple of nap times making it happen. We decided on using the dining room/front room/play room as the place for it. You see it when you walk in the door so it can set the tone for the house, and also, we spend a lot of time there. And it was the biggest stretch of wall that did not have a piece of furniture or a window obscuring it. Here it is before: We'd sort of 'wall papered' the space with two large drawings that one of our MFA classmates had done (Ian Campbell if you are wondering). But they had to come down. We've relocated them to the living room. Then there was the issue of the actual wall paper. I'm not a huge wall paper fan. I mean, there are some lovely, innovative things happening in the world of wall paper right now, but the choice may parents made for this room probably a decade or so ago, is not one of them.

My Dad and I have a running argument about home decor. He feels that neutrality, especially in transitional spaces, is something to strive for. I don't necessarily disagree, but his idea of neutral is a pale yellow I like to call 'eldercare beige' and my idea of neutrality is white. So this slightly textured beige wall paper is way to 'meh' for me, but just right for him.  Its a good thing he doesn't live here anymore, because that wall paper is coming down!

The Little Dude was so helpful. I cannot tell you how much glee he took in tearing off large swaths of wall paper. He enjoyed it almost as much as we did!

We'd had plans to paint the wall white once the wall paper was down, but upon discovering that the wall underneath was very nicely painted a rather pleasing shade of vintage-y green, we decided to forgo the effort and cost of paint and just clean up the wall really, really well. Its funny, I only vaguely remember this paint colour from my childhood. Which makes me wonder how much of our surroundings the Little Dude and the Baby are taking in. 

Eventually the fun exciting part of stripping wall paper was done and we were down to the boring tedious part of cleaning the wall, so I was glad that I had prepared a little painting activity for L.D. to do at the table behind us while we got on with the work. 

Hubs built our book railings/aka picture rails/aka skinny little shelves with some stuff he bought at the hardware store. This is not a 'how to' so I'm not going to go into the details and it mostly happened out in the garage while I was busy washing the walls and distracting a pre-schooler. We got the wall finished and the shelves done during the Baby's nap time, but waited till he was awake to screw them to the wall (because drills are really loud). And I forgot to take pictures of the installation. But they went up on the wall just after dinner, and pretty much as soon as the Little Dude laid eyes on them, he knew what they were for.

Obviously, they are little train shelves for Thomas the Tank Engine and friends. We let him play it like that for the rest of the evening, and as soon as the boys went to sleep, we did some last finishing touches with the paint and then let them dry over night. And in the morning, I got out my six boxes marked "vintage books" and had at it. 

Et voia! Our display wall.

Going through all the boxes and choosing what to put on the shelves was really fun. Like rediscovering treasure. But it was also hard to choose. I just put up a general selection this time, but I think in the future I will pick themes (things that are red, children's books, graphic impact, etc.) and build the display around that. Also, it works for books and artwork and the kid's paintings and record albums and all sorts of fun things. Doing this also made me realize that I am not as good at arranging things as I'd like to be. It made me wish that some of my Montreal friends lived near by, so I could have them come over and make a display for me (I'm looking in your direction jake.m).

Its so nice to see some of my favourite old things though. This book cover makes me so happy. 

And the design on this old box blows my mind every time I see it. 

Another favourite book cover, and so appropriate as I'm constantly surrounded by little people who are daily gaining skill with words. 

The Little Dude is pointing up at his favourite, the picture he made for me with heart-shaped sponge stamps while I was stripping the wall paper the day before. "It says 'I love you, I love you, I love you, I love you, I love you, I love you, I love you, I love you." he says, counting the hearts. (you can see it on the top shelf in the picture of the full wall).

Not bad for something we did for almost no money over the course of two naptimes on the weekend. 

 

vintage fabric jackpot!

Thanks all for your thoughtful and kind responses to my last post. It made me glad that I put it out there. I really appreciate your feedback, and most of all, the fact that you come here to read this blog. Yer the best.

I'm working on a new quilt project. I've been wanting something to keep my hands busy while I watch TV in the evenings, but also something that is portable and can go along to play dates and doctors offices. So I've started piecing a hexagon quilt. Its the english paper piecing method, (note: I can't actually find a link for the specific method that I myself use, so maybe I should get on that and make my own tutorial. But it's late a night right now, so that will have to wait) which some people find tedious, but I just love. Also, the Dutch post-war immigrant in me loves that I get to use up all my tiny, tiny scraps and little bits of thread. So satisfying. Its going to take me forever, as I'll need hundreds and hundreds of these little patches to make a whole quilt. But I don't mind as this is really one of those projects where the process is as pleasing as the end result. Also, I've decided I want it to be a charm quilt, with no two patches the same. So obviously that's crazy and obsessive, which is probably why I find it so appealing. It'll be a challenge, but if they could pull this off back in the 1800's I don't see why I can't too. 

But after a few weeks I was quite amazed to find that I'd made a whole bunch of patches and was somehow through all my scrap. Which is not to say I'd used up my scrap, but that I'd used a little bit of each kind of scrap I had. I somehow don't want to cut into my uncut fabrics (vintage bed-sheets and pillowcases mostly) because what if I need to use them as real pillowcases one day and then there is this annoying little hexagonal hole in them. You see my dilemma. And I really wanted this to be a real scrap quilt, so I decided I needed to look further afield and raid other people's scrap.

That's how many of the real old charm quilts got made anyways. Back in the days when fabric was dear and not nearly as abundant as it is now, women would give each other little bits of scrap to vary the fabrics in their quilts. Imagine, when you made perhaps one new dress a year and carefully used every little bit of fabric that was left over from them. It makes you look differently at every old quilt you'll ever see. Nobody ever purchased fabric for the sole purpose of making a patchwork quilt! Patchwork patterns happened as a result of what you had left over. 

And since I love that idea, I need to find more 'left overs'. So I called up a friend of my mom's who also quilts, and asked if I could raid her scrap. She very kindly said yes, and I headed over to her house to find some little bits. But of course, every quilter has different tastes, and though I want this to be a proper charm quilt, I do have a bit of a colour scheme in mind. Since my scraps are mostly old bedsheets from the 60's and 70's, there is a certain quality to it, of colourfulness and high contrasts. She had a lot of batiks in neutral tones which though very pretty is not so much my style. I did find a nice handful of scraps that would suit though, and was very happy to have them. But she suggested to me that I come visit the quilting group she attends at her church on Wednesdays. They make quilts for people who are dealing with cancer treatments, so that they have something soft and warm and non-institutional looking when they are in the hospital. All their fabrics are donated by members of the church community, and she said they get a lot of old bedsheets and stuff, so I should come and take a look at their scrap. Apparently they have a ton of it.

So this afternoon I headed down there to dig through their scrap buckets. They store their fabric in some cupboards in the church's nursery room, so the Little Dude and the Baby could play while I did some digging. Which was such a win/win situation. There is nothing L.D. loves like a room full of toys he's never seen before. I was there for more than an hour and they were both as happy as clams the whole time. 

And I'll tell you what, that church scrap was AWESOME as they are very organized and it was all in bins marked by the size of the scrap. Brilliant. Wish I was as organized. And they also said I was free to look through their yardage and cut corners off it if I wanted to. As I browsed their stacks I saw some lovely old prints; really sweet vintage fabric. So I asked if they'd be interested in selling any of it. I'd noticed that the quilts they were making leaned towards using the more brightly coloured, current fabric, and most of this vintage stuff was as the bottom of the stacks. So they very kindly agreed that I could buy the vintage fabric from them and they could then use the money to buy things they really needed, like batting and solids and whatnot. 

So have a look at the lovely fabrics I got from them. 

This was the first one that caught my eye. So simple but so fun. The colour scheme is very seventies. 

This one feels very 50's to me. Isn't it lovely?

Ach, and how sweet is this? 

There were a bunch of these little calico prints. The colours are so soft and sweet. 

Here's a similar one. 

And this little sweetie.

Completely different, but just as compelling (to me). I love the contrast and starkness. Also, there is quite a bit of inconsistency in the printing (see the little white bits where there should be blue in the lower right hand corner) but I kind of love that. 

This organic dot is also quite fun, but my favourite part is that it still has the original hand written tag on it. 

This feels so very 50's to me. I wish I had enough to make a dress. But alas, its only a little piece.

And how cute is this? I love the cross-hatching background. 

I think this one may be my favourite. When I was showing these to hubs he commented that they seemed like old lady blouses. He's exactly right, except that I don't think that's a bad thing. This one make me think of a Liberty print. And I would be delighted to get my hands on some real, original Liberty print old lady blouses. 

And that doesn't even count all the good little bits of scrap I got from them! It'll keep me busy for another couple of weeks I'm sure. 

Anyhow, today was a very good lesson in hidden treasure and "ask-and-ye-shall-receive". It makes me think that I need to ask more people if I can look in their scrap baskets. Also, church basements are full of gold. 

 

a day at the lake

It was a first for us this summer. Hubs and I alone for a whole day. All to ourselves. At the lake. Luxury I'm telling you, pure luxury.And by alone, I mean not really alone at all. We were with a lovely handful of our dearest friends. But we were sans enfants for the day, as lovely GranGran and Grandpapa were spending the day with them, allowing us to drive down to Lake Erie to our friend's cottage to celebrate his birthday. 

We try to get together with these particular friends at this cottage at least once a year. Its always a slightly different group, as each year there are a few absences due to travel/schedule/distance/illness. And the lake and the weather always vary (look at the sand bar! So shallow out there this year that it was only up to our ankles!), but I can't remember a year when we did not have a great time. 

Note that this year's recreational sport of choice was Synchronized Swimming with Beer in Hand. 

But if borderline crazy sports are not for you, there is always simple lakeside snacking and chatting. 

As the afternoon went on, more friends arrived. 

There were more visitors to the sand bar.

And more sitters in the chairs.

After I'd eaten enough snacks, read my whole magazine without having to stop and take anyone to the potty, and then laid still in the sun for a whole five minutes, I became restless (I'm a bit type A, so sue me) and I decided to do a little art/photography project. I'd brought along a big box of some selections from my vintage bed sheet collection as I've been toying with the idea of using them as photo backdrops for awhile now. So I anchored them with rocks over the side of the retaining wall above the beach and took some informal portraits of my friends. This is kind of a workshoping/first test of an idea, so bear with me as they are not perfect. It was a very, very windy day at the beach, so the fabric backgrounds are a little more, er, dynamic than I'd imagined, and my lovely subjects are not 'styled' at all. But that being said, I'm pleased with the results. And its such a nice excercise, to take pictures of your friends. 

Val, basking.

Val, smiling.

Shane.

Sara

Shane and Sara (just can't keep those two apart).

Stephen to the right. 

Stephen to the left.

Lovely Lara.

Alan

And the man himself, our gracious cottage host and birthday boy, Vaughn.

And after all that sun and water and sand and photography and laughing and talking, there was a giant meal to be eaten; barbecue, salads and corn on the cob. I love corn so much, I could have had just that and been happy. 

A little last bit of sun to bask in, and then it was time for us to leave. We bid all our friends and good ole' Lake Erie a fond farewell, gathered up our scattered stuff and headed for home. We fell exhausted and sun-kissed into bed, and woke the next morning to find that somehow the boys looked different. Seriously, 22 hours of not seeing them, and I swear to you, they'd grown. How can that be?  

And this morning, as I stood in the shower and rinsed the last bit of Lake Erie sand out of my hair, I smiled and thought of next year.