lego heart

This is not my idea.
it was in an advertisement in the side bar of someone's blog. Rafael was quite excited that he had those two pieces, somewhere, so he dumped the lego bin in his quest.

A string and a snap, voila... a necklace.

To hang your lego mini figures on.


have a good one,
Amanda

Sunday Sighs! aaahhhhh

After a terrible Saturday weather wise, we certainly got our allotment of sun today. And by not doing much!
After a trip to our veggie garden for some staking and weeding, we came home to enjoy our own yard. I'm hoping that it will be used this year. Now that the kids are older, I'm going to get rid of the big toys in the yard such as the slide, kitchen, ride in car and see saw.
In it's place, I've rearranged some furniture. The eating, drawing, playing games area.

Hangin' out in the hammock swing.

This tent. oh, this tent. I bought the stakes to make a tee pee and realized I really wanted more space inside, so I rigged this thing up. A bolt of fabric that was given to me years ago and some cafe clips. these things are awesome. I'll have to take a picture to show you. I slipped them over the bamboo and clipped it onto the fabric. done. It' not very strong though. The wind would wreak havoc I'm sure. working on a better solution.

Chicken on the rotisserie with mesquite wood chips. yum. We always brine our poultry for a few hours before cooking. This came off the grill perfectly golden.

As a treat, i thought it would be fun to have a marshmallow roast in the back yard. Because of city bylaws and the fact that we are on a corner lot with half the neighbourhood trudging outside our fence, we couldn't get a chimnea. So I got a wee portable BBQ and a small bag of coals.

We set it up and lit the coals way before supper was done. You know, no dessert until supper is over. By the time we were ready, the coals had cooled down. A bit of fanning was in order. Not enough.

So daddy got serious. After all, bedtime was coming.

Yes, success!

The kids had a grand time roasting them up.



Yup, we'll be doing this again. I hope. Hanging out at home in the yard is a novelty for us. Some fun times ahead.

have a good one,
Amanda

spin top

I saw a tutorial on how to make a spin top from wooden wheels a while back, but I can't remember who did it. If you know, could you please let me know so I can give proper credit?

EDIT TO ADD:
"There are a number of places that this seems to have come from but Kleas seems to be the originator.
http://kleas.typepad.com/kleas/2011/02/simple-wooden-tops.html
Both of these credit Kleas so I would assume that is where the idea came from.
http://webloomhere.blogspot.com/2011/03/tip-top.html
http://www.thecraftycrow.net/2011/02/make-your-own-wooden-tops.html "
Thanks to my reader Mhairi for giving such a comprehensive list of sources!


These are fun to make. And pretty easy. I think next time, i will paint the stick instead of the wheel.

3 reasons: 1) It's easier to paint the stick. 2) when the top gets played with and knocked around, I'm thinking that the paint will get chipped a few times on the wheel. 3) it's easier to paint the stick. yes, it's worth saying twice!

I bought 1/4 inch dowels, but they were too big to fit in the holes, so I drilled out the holes with a 1/4 inch bit. (DH has a drill press and it's fun to use)
I cut them into 2 inch pieces and sanded one end. (not pictured) Then i sharpened the other end with a regular pencil sharpener and sanded the point flat.


The spinning is a thing of beauty.

have a good one,
Amanda

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