Thursday, June 30, 2011

another Maisie

Another Maisie to add to the pile of Maisie's I've made. ( doll comes from "More Softies Only a Mother Could Love")

It has been the gift to give to Neve's friends for their birthdays. This little girl requested something red and was quite excited when she saw what it was. She was in the know with the earlier birthday girls and their presents.
I usually give some hair clips and a little coin purse, if time allows. Guess there wasn't time for the purse this time.

Neve drew a picture on canvas with fabric markers. It is a cluster of toadstools and some gnomes. It's the first time she went outside of her people and rainbow themes. I have no idea what the recipient would do with it, but it was accepted enthusiastically. ( I can't believe I spelled that correctly the first time)

And here's the birthday loot all together.


nice first day of summer vacay. Busy weekend this one.
To all my Canadian readers...
Happy Canada Day tomorrow!
Amanda

Wednesday, June 29, 2011

Home Made Ice cream

This year, instead of sewing for the teachers and assistants, I decided to make home made ice cream. I use an electric ice cream maker we got at William Sonoma as a wedding present. I love it!

I use the basic recipe of 1 cup milk, 3/4 cup of sugar dissolved into it, then 2 cups of cream and 1-2 tbsp vanilla. Flick the switch for 20-25 minutes. The trick is the cream. I made some last week with whipping cream. Lovely. The stuff I made in the last 2 days was with table cream 18%. It was more watery when it froze, not as creamy, but still good.
These tags are Stampin' Up! stamps from years ago.

These stamps are from PaperTrey ink. I made different flavours by adding the ingredients in the last 5 minutes.
For cookies and cream, just let the kids have fun crushing oreos in a baggie. The strawberry was sliced and mashed with sugar to help it juice. The strawberry rhubarb was cooked down, cooled and added.

There are so many other flavours to make, but the trick is that if you have to cook anything down, it has to cool completely before being added. So it's a think it out thing, not a spur of the moment thing. When you feel like making it NOW, then it's cookies and cream, or vanilla bean. Oh, we have homemade vanilla that DH made a while back. Vanilla beans soaked in vodka for about a month. nice. the longer, the better. Then I scraped a pod into the cream as it was swirling around in the machine.

k, next up.... This basket was a steal at a yard sale for $2! I grabbed it and ran. It's a great size. I fit all the ice cream containers into it and then some.

And another tea pot cozy. I've made a few more colour ways. Fun Fun Fun. The designer that I got the sweater scraps from has offered more scraps twice now. I still have 3 bags, but I want to get more! Help me. Fun to figure out colour combos. I think this one is my favorite. This time, I used boiled wool suiting for the front and back. Hope it keeps the pot hot.


Whew, you still here?
School is out and I feel relaxed! We played at the sailing club until way past bed time. It's great to see them playing imaginative games. Tonight it was traveling to Portugal on the Hobie cat trampoline. But they came to the picnic tables to stay at a hotel. Hope the kids sleep in tomorrow. I know I will.

Thanks for stopping by,
Amanda

Tuesday, June 28, 2011

this past weekend

hello!
It's been awhile, but that doesn't mean I haven't been busy!
This past weekend, we went to Ottawa so DH could sail in an albacore regatta. Best part about this trip, I got to spend it with my friend from my undergrad days, oh so many years ago. Her daughter is the same age as Neve and they were the best of buddies.
On Saturday, we visited the Canadian Museum of Nature.
What a gorgeous building!

Here are some random shots....
dino world


hey, what's up there?

Pretty deep! Don't try this at home!

This is a 6 year old whale. It is 19 meters long. the adult can get up to 40 meters long! that's a lot of ocean!

Then that night, we went to a Drumming concert at my friend's church. We stayed as long as the kids could last. it was great.
Some Chinese dancers.

Samba Ottawa was an invigorating feast! busy people.

Then on Sunday, we went to Canadian Agriculture Museum
It was a working farm where they experiment with different techniques and procedures. For example, they had 8 breeds of dairy cows. A tractor museum with hands on things, and so many other exhibits.

Angora sheep. They were so used to being touched, that the mother pushed her head up to the railing for a little rub. Then her baby did too. I didn't touch though. I didn't feel like washing my hands. Again. lame eh?

A busy weekend indeed!

Canada Post is back to work! Yippee!!!! I'm expecting at least 5 packages. It will be like Christmas when it all comes in. I'll be sure to post.
Tomorrow is the last day of school. Lots of plans for the summer. Hope the weather co-operates.
Have a good one,
Amanda

Tuesday, June 21, 2011

roving butterfly bird mobile

G'day!
I took my love for the roving birds and butterflies and made a mobile out of them.

I made them mini compared to the regular size and tried to stay within a colour scheme.

The wind was having fun blowing them in a circle.

And watching them from below gives the eye view of the baby it's meant to hang for.

I'm still working on how to tie the top.

happy happy wings of flight!

have a good one!
Amanda

Monday, June 20, 2011

beach fun

hello all,
good news first.. my son won the contest for most original hat at the fun fair! He's so proud of his trophy. It was fun. I must take a picture of my daughter's hat also. The fair was a success, I was a tired lump on Saturday, thankfully my family was a little tired too, so it was an easy day and we'll find out the financial success this morning.

This is what we did yesterday....

a little tea party.
A stop to the beach. We're so lucky to have miles of beach less than a 10 minute car ride away from here. And with that, there are different kinds of sand, water, activities and numbers of people who attend these beaches. In the morning, you decide what beach suits your mood and off you go. Rough isn't it! This is the time of year where I have little hand sewing projects in my bag. For when the kids are occupied at the playground of beach. Next time though, I'll remember to bring some thread!
have a good one,
Amanda

Thursday, June 16, 2011

wanna sandwich?

Are ya hungry?

Take your pick...

Here's the hat half way through it's making process. It's for the Crazy Hat contest at the Fun Fair at school. made from foam and painted.

I may have mentioned that the fair planning has taken over my life for the last 3 weeks... like steady. not to mention the work for months before hand.
Let me help you brother...

Tomorrow is the big day and Rafael has his sights set on winning the tallest or most original hat. There is a trophy involved!

Oops, One hat down!

Don't worry, 10 second rule!

Ah, the world's gone horizontal. no, just the sandwich.

Here's the final product. It took some puzzling, trying, cutting, sewing and perplexations to come up with this system/ I hope they don't judge on it being able to stay on your head unassisted. It definitely needs assistance to stay vertical.

All that and no pickle! you want fries with that? and a large coke.

have a good one.
Amanda

Pixie Pop

Hi everyone,
Here's a great game for the kiddies that I saw over at We Bloom Here, who saw it at Kleas
(sorry for the poor photos, it was a dark, gloomy, rainy day and I was sick sick sick on the couch.) I don't think I even have this in a good story telling order, but here goes..
after making the pixies (most excellent tutorials in links above, find some kind of lever device. I tried the popsicle stick with a dowel, but this combination made the best jump for us. a nail file and a sharpie. Oh, i got the kids to spend some time making the faces on the pixies by 1st sanding a bit of the varnish off with the nail file so i could catch up with the hat sewing in my ill health. They really enjoyed giving them personalities. That activity in itself was amusing.

glue the same coloured pieces of felt inside the carton. If they get it in, it's a point. If they get it in the right colour, 3 points. Be warned, pixies will be flying all over the room until you get the knack for popping.

They spent another few days playing meeting with the pixies. Here's the mayor. He held a very long meeting for about a day. Long winded I guess.

The only picture of some faces. they look like they're having a good time. Maybe the mayor is talking about tax breaks and free popcorn.

And the last shot of an aerial view...


Apologies for the lack of posts lately. I'm on the Fun Fair Committee at my kids' school. There are 3.5 of us doing the whole thing! Crazy. I'll be having a table there with my things. Luckiliy, I have a bunch of stuff leftover from another sale, so that's what they'll get. Ever feel that what you put on the table is not representing all that you can do? I don't have any roving/felted things. Only some birds. What about my penguin and owls and acorns and soap?ugh.

The fun fair will have a crazy hat contest. My son has decided he wants to win the tallest hat. If he doesn't, it should be the most original. It's going to be a sandwich, made out of foam. yep, crazy I am. After making a few little sandwiches and burning my fingers once too many on the hot glue, I called it a night and went to bed at 9:30. yep, woke up at 4:30 with a full night's sleep. So here I am. Maybe I'll have some breakfast now, the sun is coming up and the birdies are singing. :}

have a good one,
Amanda

Friday, June 10, 2011

wool flower clips

I've had these done for awhile now, but forgot about them.

I had needle felted some shapes and wet felted them.

Then I sewed them together.

I like the zig zag stitch in this one

And a sheriff badge for the boys.

They look kinda big in my daughter's hair. here it is in mine.

I clipped it to my ribbon headband yesterday and people thought it was the headband.
I may even make them bigger to go with the fastenator fad now.

have a good one,
Amanda

Wednesday, June 8, 2011

Kickapoo Chronicles Collage- I won.

Did you go blurfing during the Sew Mama Sew giveaway?!
I was lucky enough to win! How exciting!
I won this beautiful collage from Kickapoo chronicles

A beautiful piece of detailing. I waited until the sun came out to get a close up so you could see the subtle shadows from the layers.

You can read more about it and the process on her blog. Kickapoo chronicles She has such lovely work. Thanks Tammy for such a great offering.

Neve was so excited when we opened the package. She spoke in whispers and talked about where to put it so she could see it when she woke up in the morning. Then it would make her happy when she woke up tired. Me too!

Have a good one,
Amanda