More Simple Gifts

Yesterday the boys headed out to the garage to have their own workshop time.  There're some 'big doin's" going on out there.  They've come up with all kinds of neat things in the past.  When they came back in E showed me some of the things he had made.

This one actually holds three candles but he needs to get making some more and we just haven't got to it yet.

W spent the afternoon with a friend and then went back out to the garage with S in the evening.  When he came  back in he showed me this.

He still has some work to do to finish it up and now has plans to make one with a "horsey" head as a play toy.  Fun! 

I had time to finish knitting these slippers (which are waiting to be felted along with some pothandle holders).

And I did some needle felting too.  Fun to do some little acorns...or "Fuzzy nuts!?!?"  as my husband said in his 'what are you up to now, woman?' voice when I showed them to him. ;-)

Such fun to take time to make things.

Simple Gifts

I finally put away the fruit dehydrator yesterday (I think I've got enough dried apples now) and we've used up almost all of our garden tomatoes so that must mean it is time to get started on Solstice and Christmas gift making. ;-)

We like to make all our gifts and find that if we get started in November we can usually do this quite easily.  We always choose some simple gifts as well.  This year I wanted S to make some log candle holders with the boys (E likes to make beeswax candles too).   S decided to do some test ones on Wednesday and quickly became hooked on making them.  He brought these ones in to show me.

 

I'll tie these together with a strand of raffia.  This one pictured below is my favourite and I quickly claimed it for our seasonal table.  The pumpkins and acorns are still on our little nature table but this joined them yesterday and now I'm eyeing  up the greenery in the forest around us.

The boys like this one below and it found a home on our coffee table.  It is desperately crying out to be surrounded by greenery and pinecones...mid-November isn't too early to start wintertime decorating, is it??

So...hopefully S will let the boys have a turn to make some too ;-) and they will be able to give these as simple gifts to family members (although they are also getting requests for more flower pens).  We are big fans of non-plastic type gifts (except for Lego, of course), consumable gifts and, there's something to be said for a gift that, once tired of, can just be tossed out to decompose, be composted or burnt. ;-)  Very earth friendly, I should think.

Thrifted Boots on a Walk in the Park

Last week E and I had some time on our own in town while W was at Lego Club.  We wandered along the creek looking for things to take photos of.  We were practicing "seeing". ;-)

E got such a kick out of spotting these mushrooms, we would see them way up on the top of cut off (or broken off) Cottonwoods - at least 30 feet up, usually higher.

These ones we found just barely out of the ground, it's actually hard-packed crush. 

Imagine something so delicate growing out of hard-packed crush. Mushrooms are amazing.

Then we "saw" our shadows.  And we had to play our shadow game so we went from a  lovely hand holding walk along the creek.

To a shadow karate show down.

Hi-yah!

And, J, these are the thrifted boots I was so excited about.  Love them!

Fixing Felted Clog Slipper Bottoms

For several years now I have been making Fibre Trends felted slipper clogs to give as gifts to family.  They have been a favourite gift to receive.  A few people (myself included) have worn holes in the bottom of them and still refuse to give them up.  This past week I fixed my son's pair for him before the bottoms got really worn out.  I had picked up a black suede skirt off the $1.69 rack at the Salvation Army thrift store just for this purpose...it only took me about a year and a half to get around to finally using it. ;-)

Here are the well-loved slippers.

I just drew a rough outline of the slipper bottom onto the suede.

Cut them out.

Then used some of the leftover wool from the bottom to stitch the new suede bottom on.  The suede is not slippy so it works well for slipper bottoms.  When I finished these and W was happily wearing them I said I better get started on fixing Dad's slippers.  E said that I wouldn't have to fix his...because he didn't even have any yet.  Poor fellah. I'll have to remedy that this Christmas. ;-)

After finishing his I decided I would tackle my much more worn pair.  This pair is probably about 4 or 5 years old and should have been fixed a few years ago but I kept wearing them and managed to wear a hole right through both thicknesses of bottom.  I had tried a few quick patch jobs before by just needle felting some roving onto the bottom but these didn't last long.  Don't they look sad?

I had a knitted and felted rectangle on hand that I had made before to use as a patch so I cut that up and stitched it on with thread to cover the bits that had holes right through.

Then I decided to use one of my husband's old wool socks as an extra layer on the bottom before putting the suede on. (I never like to throw these out because I always figure I'll come up with some good use for them and now - much to my husband's dismay, I'm sure- I finally have)  I ended up deciding that I didn't mind the way this looked at all so now I think I will just leave it like this as that way I'll still be able to toss them in the washer when I need to.

And because I didn't want them feeling dowdy with that patched bottom I decided to give them a bit of ornamentation too.  I needed felted a daisy on the outside edge of each slipper - looks pretty and helps me know which slipper belongs to which foot. ;-)

Now...to repair my mom's,  my dad's, my husband's....

Thrifting on a Thursday

Hello...my name is Heather...and I am addicted to thrift stores. 

Yesterday we were headed out of town to spend the day with a friend and the boys and I decided on a wee stop at a favourite thrift store.  Well...I had to get a cart!!  It wasn't all for me, mind, I was finding things I knew my friend would love too.  I gave her a quick call to be sure she wanted the goodies I was finding and, after a quick twist of her arm ("Want to come meet us at your thrift store?  We're here and finding good stuff.")  she zipped down to join us.  She got her own cart and we were off.
Colourful vintage pillowcases.

Thick woolen blanket.

And enamel goodness.  Love the colours.

Really, how was I to resist?

The reason I first called my friend from the thrift store was to find out if she wanted a pyrex dish.  I had found my own last weekend and there was one of the same style on the shelves just waiting for a good home.

Last weekend I also found a super soft merino wool blanket that I bought with a project in mind but I don't think I can bear to cut it up now so I might just add a soft trim and perhaps dye the blanket.  I have several packets of Tamarind flavour Kool-aid which I think will make a gorgeous natural colour.

I love seeing these old labels too, and things made in Canada or England.

Any other thriftshopaholics out there?  ;-)

Handmade for Girls and Fairy Houses

My boys have always loved getting and giving  handmade things.  Since they were babies I've made them all kinds of things - clothes, teddies, warm woolies, toys, chainmail...too many things to remember, really.  S has made them all sorts of goodies too, their favourite, I think, being wooden swords and shields.  I love making things for my boys!  And...I desperately love making things for little girls.  Pink things, flowery things, aprons, skirts, art totes, knitted Barbie clothes...girly things.  During the last few weeks I've taken a bit of time to make a couple things for some of my young female friends and, I have to say, it brings me at least as much joy making the gifts as I hope they get having them.

Last week I made these needle felted critters. I've made these before for my Spring wreath and for hair pins.  This time I left them as is because I wasn't sure if they would be better off on barrettes or elastics for this particular girl.

I particularly love the swirly bum this fellah has. ;-)

I think they will make very sweet hair clips or hair elastic decorations for wearing on pigtails or braids.

I'm also learning how to embroider and am enjoying learning as I do things.  I had fun learning to embroider letters with this rag bag and book mark and wanted to learn some more.  I found this link and decided I HAD to make one of these fairy houses.  Had to!  Fortunately I know a little girl who is fond of fairies so I had someone to make one for.  They're meant to be a Christmas tree decoration, I think, but I can see them being a fun year round play thing.

I'm pleased with the way it turned out.  I do need to find out how to go about properly knotting off each colour because I would have liked to do a different colour for each flower but couldn't think of a way to tie it off on each flower without making an extra knot on the outside which kind of wrecked changed the look of my french knots altogether.  Very fun though and I think perhaps my boys need a fairy house gnome home for themselves. ;-) 

I do love handmade!  Don't you?

Another Gorgeous Autumn Weekend

This was a weekend filled with favourite things.  My lovely husband knows his loved ones well enough to know that if he'd like even a little road trip that the promise of a thrift store (for me) and a bakery (for the boys) is all that it will take to win us over.  We stopped off at an out-of-town thrift store that we don't go to often and were quite happy to see a $5 a bag sign on display.  We skipped in the door only to hear the lovely woman at the cash desk tell us that they were having a special  sale.  $5 a bag and the second bag for free!!  Imagine that.  I found two wool sweaters for felting, a suede skirt for slipper bottoms, a pillowcase(to make into a shopping bag), some wool yarn, embroidered linen, two sets of wooden knitting needles and some other goodies.  W found a plain suit jacket and a clown wig perfect for dress up.  E found some knitting needles, a new make-it-yourself kaleidoscope kit, and a soft flannel shirt.  W also bought  a good tripod for $10.  He has been wanting one to use in his stop motion animation movies and was delighted to find it.

We went to the bakery for a delicious treat each...but then were so awed by the choices we decided that we needed two each!!  ;-)

Plus an extra to share.  Oh my!

We stopped off for a walk along the creek.  The leaves were just too much to resist so we had to stop.  This is such a beautiful time of year along this creek and I always want to walk there. 

When it is windy the leaves come blowing down and it is such a fun game to try to catch them before they hit the ground (and much harder than you think).  I remember a game show from when I was young where the contestant went into a clear chamber and money would blow around at them and they would have to catch it.  (Anyone remember that?  I've no idea what it was called.)  Anyway, that is what we play with the leaves.

They are surprisingly difficult to catch but it is fun to try. E especially loves it right now and W used to adore it too. And me? I'm always happy to play this game, will never outgrow it and don't mind at all that other passersby think we are nutters. (and believe me...trying to catch these will have you looking like a nutter!! See below.)

And to finish off the weekend...
Time with friends.  An end of harvest celebratory tomato pie (with plans for next year to make personal sized ones with lots of  variations).  A last of the season bike ride (in costume) which the mountain bike club calls the Death Ride...now is that a name to set a mama's mind at ease? 
And...as ever lately...wood chopping.  Yesterday I decided to chop a Whole Lot of kindling.  I filled three of these big plastic garbage bins.  S got these free from the dump when the city changed over to the new waste pick up system and they have come in handy for all sorts of things.  Sadly our hatchet seems to be MIA so I had to use this ax.  I ended up with a huge popped blister but after putting some nettle (bits left over from my infusion) and a few fresh smushed yarrow leaves on it seems to be healing exceptionally quickly.

So now we have a huge supply of kindling and it is protected from the rain and snow.  Very handy, even if not very attractive, storage solution.