Owl meets penguins

Once there was a wise old owl who was hangin' out, lookin' for some fun.

He heard a noise around the corner....
Penguin Party
Yep, the penguin posse was on the move.

They stop and have a chat. "What are you fine gentlemen up to this evening?" says the wise owl.

"Well, we were all supposed to be gettin' on a plane for parts around the world, but we missed it," the front man said.

The owl, being wise, knew of a short cut to get to the airport. "Follow me," says he.

In their excitement, they joined together in a conga line, singing down the road.

Singing sea shanties and causing some commotion all the way down the street.

Yep, I think they may miss the next plane. Rowdy bunch. Be careful wise old owl. Remain wise.


If you're expecting one of these in the mail, it's that much closer to getting there. Delay in getting the proper envelopes.
Apologies.

Have a good one,
Amanda

GIVEAWAY WINNER!!!!

OK, You'll have to trust me on this one, because I can't figure out how to get the Random Generator thingy over here on my blog and I'm spending too much time trying to figure it out.
Anyhow, the lucky number is 98!
So the lucky commenter is Brynn From Seasonal Gnome.
who said,
"I'm from Michigan. What a wonderful giveaway!"




Congrats Brynn! I'll contact you through email.

Thanks everyone for the commenting love. It's nice to feel validated and that people over the world like your stuff, not just your family members who have to be polite!
Hope to see you back sometime!

Have a good one,
Amanda

Sew Mama Sew GIVEAWAY!!!!

Welcome to By Hook & Thread! I'm so excited that you're here for the great giveaway.
Sew Mama Sew May Giveaway!
Today's theme is Red and Grey.

Tea pot not included.
First up is a tea pot cozy made from reclaimed sweater ribbing. The back is in once piece, also from a felted wool sweater.

It will keep your pot warm for the 2nd cup after you've read through a bunch of other giveaways.

Along the same lines is a tea bag cozy. Now you can bring your favorite tea with you.

And something for the little man in your life (or wee lass) ARRRGGGGG!

Here is a needle felted ladybug ring.

And the back, I love the little heart on the back. (it's hard to take a picture of a ring that you can't put on your hand. I had the wrong lens and couldn't back away far enough.)

And lastly, a little sweater pouch. Coins? bandaids? hair clips? Up to you. It isn't lined.

So there you go... a whack of loot in red and grey waiting for you!

And as a bonus, one of these guys, he has a bit of orange, but he' also grey!

Just tell me where you're from. If you follow me, write a 2nd comment telling me so for an additional chance to win! I will ship internationally. I will leave comments open until May 25 in the evening after the kids have gone to bed. Winner will be selected by random generator.

Comments are now CLOSED! I'll be back in a minute while I count things up.

Thanks for stopping by. Hope to see you again!
Cheers,
Amanda

Penguin party

In addition to the spring swap, I signed up for a bird swap! This time, instead of making 15, I just make 2 and send it directly to the recipients.
I hemmed and hawed about what to make, started things and changed my mind a million times. I finally decided to make these penguins from Wool Pets. (yes, I caved and bought the book as a bday treat)

Fun to make and quite the personalities.

They have a few secrets between them.

And I hope they can keep in touch as they travel separately around the world from one another.

In addition to the penguins, I made a little 4x6 pouch. It has vinyl in the front as a peek a boo case. The one I made for myself has a playground emergency kit. You know, band aids, wipes, elastics, needle thread, safety pins, hair elastics, mini spoons, mini pencil, and a few tea bags. I also make a larger one for kids treasures. I'm hoping to do my 1st tutorial with this pouch soon.

See how you can see the lining? The back is red denim. I love red denim. Must get more.

So there you go, some birdies will be boxed up and sent in the mail, if Canada Post doesn't go on strike on Tuesday. grrrr..


Make sure you come back tomorrow for the gigantic "Sew Mama Sew" giveaway here and in blog land. You won't want to miss my red and grey theme.

Cheers,
Amanda

Evergreen Brickworks

There was no school today and there was sun! Yes, sun! After a few weeks of rain, we set outside for our adventure.
Today's adventure was brought to us by Evergreen Brickworks
It is a cool place that has been undergoing major changes in the last few years. An abandoned clay quarry that is now a destination for a bit of nature in this city.
This is on top of the hill looking down. There is much more to see, but I had the wrong lens on the camera to take it all in.

Here's the quarry in 1920

And when it was closed in 1985.

At the top of the hill, you could see downtown and the CN Towerpoking out.

The Bloor Viaduct That has quite a history all it's own.

First thing we saw was a huge living wall. Here's a close up.

And the first thing we did was to loose a few heart beats b/c Rafael fell off the wall with a sickening thud and crunch. He landed on his knees, but the thud was his water bottle. thank goodness. I bent down to ask a few questions, looked up and there was a man kneeling down from the Emergency Medical team. Yep, the tent was about 19 feet away. Cool. I stepped back and let them do their job.

And here he is milking not wanting to walk. But he did want to go up the hill. Kids. huh.

Neve found a lady bug.

Turtles,

Beautiful scenery

Artsy picture with the bird and sun. fluke.

Snails
. You can see there were many stops on the way. Oh and fish in the waters.
On the way out, I stopped upon this sculpture. Pretty cool.

There was so much we didn't see. Our friends visit often and we all had a great time. So much to see, do, stop for and every moment is a photo op when there are 5 kids that are fairly colour coordinated! But alas, the parking meter was running out. Time to go home. Next time, we'll pay for all day parking! and bring daddy.
I even got a bit of sun. nice.

Have a good one!
Amanda

Spring Swap

I just finished and snail mailed my things for my first swap!


Roving butterflies.
.

I usually put them on a stick, but in the interest of postage, I opted not to include it in the swap.



And how interesting are the rules for Canada Post.. let me indulge if I may...
I put them all in a compact box. It would cost about $9 and take 4-6 weeks for it to get to the United States! Yikes, i need them there next week. So the next price option for a few weeks would cost $2o. ??huh? But, if I put it in several envelopes, it goes as letter post and can get there in a week. get this.. for $2.86. Yep. Under 100 g in a letter sized envelope...$ 2.86. The nice post mistress helped me figure it all out, gave me envelopes, helped stuff and address envelopes and even wrote out some custom forms. Nice. The most important point, it will get there faster. Like I'm hoping next week kinda fast to make the deadline.

There's 15 of them in there. And you know the best part of a swap, I'll get 15 things back! hurrah!
Some Spring flowers from my friend's garden. They even smell good. A little token of the 4th anniversary of my 39th. tee hee.


Thanks for stopping by,
Amanda

colours about!

Just a few colours that caught my attention this week. Pics from my phone.
We've had many a session with nail polish. Piggy Paints are an awesome polish, no scent and kid friendly. We're hooked.

Some butterflies. We also bought the book by Klutz called "Nail Art". It has great pictures and how tos on different nail design. So easy when you have a toothpick. I wish I had taken a pic of the teapot I did on Neve's toe! cute.

A trip to Homesense brought lots of colour. Of interest was this cushion.

Anyone know what this stitch is called?

And this bowl. That's a lot of rolling paper!

I just hope they used a lot of glue to keep them on!

I am sick. ugh. Woke up on Saturday with a swollen uvula. And fever and chills and an achy body so achy I could hardly walk from the couch to the washroom. I did make it to the bed for a few hours. I woke up with half an onion next to me! Hubby's aunt mentioned that it would take the sickness away. I did wake up a little better and was able to sing for 1 mass. And yesterday wasn't too bad. But the bug has moved into my ears and starting on my sinuses. yuck. A trip to the clinic for me today. How do you know if it's bacterial or viral?
Hope you find some colour today!
Have a good one,
Amanda