colour in felt flowers on a dull day

Actually, it isn't a dull day at all. After 3 days of flooding rain, we had sunshine!

A cold sunshine that will hopefully freeze our pond again. 

After our delight in preparing the pond for skating, 

it rained or was abnormal temperatures +10 degrees Celsius in February? Crazy

When I saw this tutorial on Donni's site, the Magic Onions

I knew I had to try it.

I put a pin on the back instead of a stick. I think I will make some on sticks too.

So easy, so colourful, so happy.

Have a good one.

Amanda

Cotton sewing

We are expecting a family from Syria today.

A little girl and a boy.

I thought it would be nice for them to receive a little toy of their own 

to distract them on the last leg of their long journey.

A Car Cozy!

And for the little girl, A Maisie Doll

Welcome to Canada and Shelburne, your new Home!

We hope you will like it here.

January bl(AH)s

January has indeed brought some snow here. 

We missed two large snow storms across the province in the last few weeks. 

One of them saw schools closed in the whole province, except for our county.

Kids were bummed that we didn't get a snow day.

But into Saturday night and Sunday morning, we got our snow and a canceled church service.

Big deal in our house, I sing in the choir and the kids are both altar servers. A sunny day off.

The most perfect time to test the smaller of our two ponds for ice skating.

Turns out, the ice was thick enough!

This is the first time in our 4 winters here that we are doing this. I am so excited!

The kids are excited! The neighbour's kids are excited!

My daughter facetimed a family from the ice and they came straight over to play hockey.

Here is our portuguese Zamboni team

They finally were able to trim the alder bushes/trees that took over the pond. 

I haven't seen this view before.

Now, my usually very sport obsessed son, 

( He does play basketball 2 days a week, and skating, but that is not enough for him) 

can play outside again.

I am looking forward to a neighbour hood hockey game on the pond with benches and a fire pit next to the oak trees. Hot chocolate, marshmallows and wieners on the fire. Yes, Winter at it's finest.

But most times, you will find me here.

(the most delicious Moroccan Tajine cooking on the woodstove)

And if I'm lucky, I will get to knit a little bit of this.

(look ma, it's not socks!)

 

Oh yes, for record keeping, I must have a picture of my boy, who is now 12!

At the moment, he is heavily into rubiks cube, (and anything puzzle related.. triangles, shape shifters, holes in the middle of the cube), Basketball, skating and dreaming of sailing in the summer.

Have a good one, keep warm.

Amanda

Lucas' bear

A childhood friend of mine had a request...

To make a bear out of an infant 0-3 month sleeper.

Not one to back away from a challenge, I accepted.

Meet the bear.

It was a side zipper onesie with this on the stomach.

I had considered putting this on the belly of the bear, 

but the belly pattern has two darts, one on top and one on the bottom. 

I didn't want the top dart to go into the Tigger face. 

Turns out, it probably would have been okay.

Accompanying the outfit was a knitted hat and mittens. 

The hat of the bear is from the mitten. 

I wet it, stretched it out and put a pompom on top.

I unraveled the second mitten and knit the scarf.

The bear pattern comes from  Abby Glassenberg's book,

Stuffed-Animals-From-Concept-Construction

I LOVE this book. I love her patterns.

The lesson with this pattern is joints.

The best part?! The neck is jointed to the body!

No fiddling with sewing the head on.

I LOVE it.

But alas, my doll joints were too big for the arms and legs, 

so I had to use button joints. 

The eyes are safety eyes with a felt circle on the back. 

The little eye brow did a lot in giving him a little personality.

I am looking forward to making this bear again, but with an enlarged pattern.

It will be made from her late father's corduroy blazer.

That will be fun, with proper jointed arms and legs.

This is a wee one to be sure.

Hope all is well and cosy where you are.

We finally have a bit of winter here today.

Cold temps and all.

Christmas Craft Fair circuit

Whew!

With 3 out of 4 craft fairs done, I am ready to take a break today.

And of course, taking the time to say hello to you is on the top of my list!

This table set up was at the Ingomar sale. 

Jam packed on a 5 foot table.

I can confidently say that most things on this table are gawn.

 

For some reason, I don't have a picture of my sale at the Fire Hall, so I move on to the sale at The Grand Hotel in Yarmouth.

Sorry for the fuzzy... I cleaned my lens after this.

I can confidently say, that most things on this table are available.

Weird show.. Widely advertised and attended, but not a lot of buying. hmm?

 I needed a break from sweater sewing one day, so I played around with cashmere scarves.

Voila... hot water bottle covers. love em

 These cashmere infant hats are soo soft and adorable.

Like my balloon display?

Basket of mittens from sales ago. 

All gone, but I do have more. Of course.

 I LOVE LOVE LOVE this little kid section.

Those puppets please me.

And working with the felt in hair clips and tooth fairy bags. niiice

My first batch of stockings. gawn

My second batch. All available

And amongst the Christmas making, I got to make this little one for a new wee one in the world.

With a reversible dress.

One more craft sale on FRIDAY, at the Lockeport Pavillion 12-4

I will have a few more things added. Hopefully with a kid focus.

For a more up to date view of what I am doing,

check out my facebook page

ta ta for now....

Amanda

look! it's not mittens!

After 2 weeks of sewing mittens, I needed a break.

So I made a few more infant hats.

And some Christmas Stockings!

What a nice change

 Some have the same on the front and back, and some have a solid back

There are more sweaters pulled for making today. 

And now for the obligatory, albeit somewhat not up to standard, photos of Halloween costumes

And the adults who borrowed heavily from the kid costume box.

My husband and I would have won the best couple award, but I went home at midnight to relieve the babysitter. So they gave him the best male. My little badge says, "he's a keeper" HA! get it!

Hope all is well where you are..

Ciao,

Amanda

howdy

Well Hello!!!!

Summer has been here and gone. 

I really need to document it here for record keeping purposes. But at another time.

Guess what comes after summer???

SWEATER SEASON!!!!

My favourite-est season of all!

Here are a few things I am working on for future holiday markets.

Infant hats. With ears. Too adorable.

The usual... Sweater Mittens! Lined with cashmere.

Slouch Hats

So cool. Or is that "sick"? What is the current word for cool?

I will also be working on cashmere socks, Christmas Stockings, ornaments, crayon wallets,

And whatever else I can fit in my limited sewing time.

So here are the shows:

Nov. 14, Ingomar Christmas sale... Firehall

Nov. 21, Shelburne Christmas sale... Firehall

Nov. 29, It's a Grand Christmas, Yarmouth, Rodd Grand Hotel

Dec. 4, Lockeport Christmas Sale... Market Square

More specific details to follow.

--------------------------------------------

So. now that you're here, will you play detective with me? Let's see how well social media works.

Guess it only works if you are reading in the right place at the right time. :}

I had a customer at the Guild Hall farmer's Market this summer. She ordered 2 pairs of cashmere socks.

You were closing your cottage on the weekend you picked them up from me.

I carried your business card around the whole month and threw it away on the same day that I needed to contact you.

You work at the Bank of Montreal.  I thought it was Bridgewater, but I called and they didn't know of anyone who had a cottage this way.

So.. is this you? Do you know who I'm talking of?

Please, have her contact me.

Thanks.

Hope all is well where you are!

Cheers,

Amanda