500th post GIVE AWAY !!!!!!

This is my 500th post. Where has the time gone? I started as a paper crafter and ended up a sewing crafter. Just today, I was a felting crafter. I love to be versatile and put my oar in many waters.

So to celebrate, I am giving away 2 prizes. I'm showing 3, but giving away 2. I was only going to offer the skirt and car cozy, but then realized that the winner may not prefer a child's gift. So I added the wristlet as an option.
On with the show....
1st up is a teal/brown/black wristlet with butterfly details and whimsical polkadots. For this beauty, I followed the tutorial on
Two Peas in a Pod Designs


Next choice is a car cozy. I got the tutorial for this one at Homemade by Jill

Please note: cars are not included.

And the last choice is this awesome pom pom skirt

I'll have another post all of it's own for this skirt. Can't wait to make some more. I got the idea for this from Jessica at Oh So Happy Together


So there you go. Join me in celebrating 500 hundred posts. All you have to do is comment here. Tell me where you're from or how you found me or nada. Just a hi. I'll pick a winner next Thursday, March 4th. Please make sure you leave a way for me to get in touch with you, should you be one of the 2 winners.

thanks for looking on the 1 or two posts or the 500 of them. (right mom?)

Cheers,
Amanda

from a vest to a slipper....

Howdy,
well, it's 3 am. Been awake since 2. Went to sleep at 8:30pm. yep, little messed up here. SO... what else is there to do at 3am, but procrastinate on doing tomorrow's lesson plan by surfin' da web?
Here's the vest I bought last fall with visions of slippers...

And here's one slipper.. (like my purple socks?)
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I took apart an old slipper and used it as a pattern. For this slipper I used wonder under on the lining fabric. Nice and orange. Looks great in there. 2 problems with that. The wonder under wouldn't stick to the wool felt. AND it made my needle all gummy. It proved to be a very very bad idea. It also made my thread break, numerous times. A mess I tell ya. And the lining didn't catch all the way around, so now it is kinda folded over and stepped down. But it doesn't stop me from wearing them. Except on really cold days when the bamboo flooring (I hate the stuff) is cold. Sends the cold up through me from the arches of my feet I tell ya.

Anyhow, as you can see from the back of the slipper, it's worn often. There's only one picture as the other slipper isn't finished it's blanket stitching around the top. that doesn't stop me from wearing them either. :}

hmmmmm, oh yeah, this is my 499th post!! My next one will be 500!! Can you believe it? so.... I think a giveaway is in order.
I have 2 giveaways for you, but am tweeking one of them. i'm kinda excited about it.
so check back for my not so often giveaway.

now, to go plan some music......

thanks for looking,
Amanda

SNOW SNOW SNOW

We finally got some snow!! Fluffy movie snow, it's warm outside and we can make a snowman kinda snow!
And the kind that's hard to shovel.

But when you get your first major snowfall of this kind for the season at the end of February, you don your snow clothes and go out to enjoy it. Even if it is 7pm and you should be doing bedtime routine stuff.

We finally got to use the snow brick maker we got for christmas. Thought we'd have to save it for the sand. :}


Hope you get some snow to enjoy!

wristlet- written word

I've made a few things I've made before in the last few days while I figured out what I really wanted to sew.
Here's a wristlet similar to here.Go ahead, click, it tells you where I got the idea from in the first place and the tutorial for it.


The fabric is from a t-shirt at Urban Planet. It was on the rack outside for 4 bucks! Couldn't pass it up. Bought extra large of course to get maximum fabric for the price. And here is what was across the back!!! Love the red swirl...

And a bit of oomph for the inside...


This one is marked for a relative in Portugal who is tres cool. Thought the script fabric would do the trick. Now to get it in the mail.....

Thanks for looking,
Amanda

tulip toes

Taking a bit of a break in sewing. Not sure what to start next.
But i did want to show you something that makes you think spring...

Are those little toes in the tulips?

My little window angel, given to me by my uncle oh so many years ago....
WOw dirty windows or wha? It's on the outside, between the screen and window. I'm not about to clean that with the chill out there. So you'll have to look at a dirty on the outside window!

Do you see the snow? NO???? Me neither! We had lovely big fluffy movie snowflakes that immediately melted upon touch down!! How sad. It snowed all day. and nada to show for it.

Oh for a bit-o-snow....

Thanks for looking,
Amanda

oh Mr. Fox, where have you been?

I've been working on this guy for a few days.

I know, he looks like a mouse! But he's a fox. I hope I don't give him some identity crisis. We'll just have to see what his new owner thinks he is and I'll go with that.
Is he a bad fox/mouse?


I got to use buttons with this one. Makes the eye thing a whole lot easier. The movable arms and monogramed heart. I wish I could have had him a little longer.


Here's a look at how long his legs are and how tiny he is....


Too big to sit in the plant.


Sorry for the flash photos. It's a dull day and he had to go to a birthday party.

Mr. Fox/mouse is from the book, "Sew me, Love me"

Thanks for looking,
Amanda

hearts hearts hearts

Thursday saw a flurry of heart related activities around here.
Valentines were being written, mama was whipping up some felt bracelets and the Shower curtain was updated.(last week)

Oh, almost forgot, the lady bug note in the top picture is from skip to my lou. Mine has been altered a bit. You still have time to make a few.

For the bracelet, I just cut the felt with my scallop rotary cutter blade to fancy it up and glued a heart on it. For the ties, I crocheted 2 colours of thread and sewed it on each side.

Some of the kids at the parenting centre are always interested in what I'm making, so it was nice to give them something of their own.

And the long shot of the curtain. Yes, there are still snowflakes on it, it is still winter.

And close up. I used stickyback felt stickers from the dollar store, but I punched holes in them instead of sticking them. The stick is VERY sticky. And just sewed them on.


Hope you're having a very heartful weekend.
Amanda

hear the lion's roar... ahem

After putting my lion in a bag for a week, I finally finished him. Sometimes, I just get stuck. It was 3 days before I tried the arms. When i did it was so easy. then another 5 days to try the eyes. I didn't want to use buttons, so the shape of the eye, should I use a different colour, felt, embroider??
I was due to meet the owner today, so I HAD to do it. At 11pm last night.


I'm ok with it. I added subtle eyebrows and a nose. Here's another look at the tail...


his arms move so he can ask for a hug.. ahh...


he's quite at home in the jungle...


And likes to pose for modeling gigs. What a charmer. I put a felt heart on him. I think this will be my signature. I did it
here for Bella's friend, Lily.


The pattern comes from the book "Sew me, Love me"

Thanks for looking, Off to finish my BIG turtle!
Amanda

Felt Valentine heart pins

Hello,
carrying on with my felt theme....

Some heart pins for valentine's day. I snapped these pics as i was running out the door. I've given away twice this much already. Some were hair clips, most on pins.

Just a little jolly to brighten up the Feb. blahs. We finally got some snow. yeah! Something for the kids to do outside. Now to find the spray bottles for coloured water snow painting I bought back in December....

thanks for looking,
Amanda

wet felted rocks

I've been building up to this for awhile...

Wet felting.
After seeing so many nice felty things on this site the Magic Onions
I decided to give it a go.
So the kids and I rolled up our sleeves and got the dish soap out.


I wasn't happy with the way it wasn't working, so I googled around some more and found that I should have done the stones in a few layers and made each layer a little tighter than what we did. But it was a little quiet time for all. And the warm soapy water was appreciated on the cold day.


thanks for looking,
Amanda

yum-o break

Hubby has been busy in the kitchen this week.
One night I went to bed early with the smell of ribs boiling on the stove. i could just imagine the overnight marinade and the scrumptious ribs on the grill the next day. It didn't disappoint!
Then, I challenged him to make this no knead bread that I had at a neighbour's house last week. Well, he's made his 2nd loaf in 2 days. This time, whole wheat.
Yesterday, it went with a batch of homemade baked beans, Newfie style. Fills you up, full as an egg I tell ya.

And the latest in his canning, bottling phase is orange marmalade.

Yesterday, the house smelled so good with seville oranges. And the knife I used to cut the bread is the knife he used to cut some oranges. A bit of orange on bread is indeed a good thing.
So here's a snap of the marmalade on said bread.


Yes, some good eats have been happening here.....

thanks for drooling,
Amanda

phone photos

Hubby came home with a card to get my photos off my phone. I've had it for almost 3 years, but could never get the photos off. It was pretty cool to see the kids so little and a few places we visited over the years.
I often use the phone to take pics of inspirational things when I'm out.
Like this crochet blanket!!!!

I'm not quite sure where it's from, but I think maybe Anthropologie??? Not sure. My one trip there for 3 minutes before they closed. drool drool.

Here's a pic I had taken this past Christmas of me in my caroling garb. Luckily, it wasn't a cold day for that 3 hour gig in a little, wee, tiny strip mall. There was even a time where we just stood in a little patch of sunlight with no wind and sang and sang and sang. There were many grateful people stopping and commenting at that place. Maybe that's why I choose that gig every year.


This is where we spent a lot of the past summer and will probably spend this summer there also. It is a beach about 5 minutes from here. We would meet friends under the tree and have to move our blankets throughout the day for it's shade.
All the children were most happiest there. No squabbles, many imaginative games and adventures and just a big buffet of food for the taking. And the adults actually had many opportunities for real conversation, uninterrupted. And many a
tooth fairy bag stitched up. Ah, the lovely days of summer.


Oh, here's a recent project. My son's teacher has 3 boys in hockey. So I imagined she spent at least some time at the arena. So I whipped up these little handwarmers. I used the same kind of patchwork as found in
these wristlets. Then put rice in them. Warm them in the microwave for a minute and you're good to go.


Off to go family skating tonight. it's a calm day here and not much below zero. skating at night is a fun way to welcome the weekend. Rosy cheeks and a bit of hot chocolate and smelling of fresh air before bed.

have a great weekend,
Amanda

brave little lion

Remember this??


here's a work in progress...


He needs eyes.. I can't figure what to do with the eyes.... I don't want to use buttons as it's for a little boy. Maybe some felt circles with an X? just embroider some? have to play around a bit, but my mind is stuck.


It's also stuck on how to sew the arms on. I have to read the front of the book again (Sew Me, Love Me) and get a doll needle.


look at the little tail. I love the knot on top.

So there you have it.. a work in progress..
thanks for looking,
Amanda

mesh beach bag

How about a little bit of summer thinking?
I got this idea from Amanda Blake Soule's Handmade Home
She made a treasure beach bag made from window mesh. I decided to make a larger bag for the beach towels and other beach things. It sounds like a great idea. You don't go home with sand in your bag to track all over the house and it won't get soggy when you throw wet towels and bathing suits in it.

I made this one for my niece who will be going to Florida in a few months. The one for my nephew is waiting for DH to put new needles in my serger. yep, I broke both of them. Sewing on mesh is not easy on the machine or needle. This bag was done with the sewing machine and a zig-zag stitch.

I put a little hook inside to clip on keys, waterbottle, etc.

it is rather large, but she is 11, so it won't be as big on her as it is with my kids.
Look at Neve, I think she can fit in it herself!

My lion is all machine sewed up and waiting for me to put the details on it. I love the wool fabric. yum. I can't wait to start making the mane. It will be the icing on the cake... I hope.

thanks for looking,
Amanda