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. 

Pumpkin Faces, Pumpkin Seeds, Pumpkin Bars

The other day our homelearning group went to a pumpkin farm and had a fun morning.  The corn maze and the pumpkin slingshot were big hits with my boys.  (I have a feeling we will be making a sling shot like this very soon)

Since this farm had lost most of their pumpkins to an unexpected hard frost we stopped off just down the road and found another farmer cleaning up his field.  We bought two pumpkins from him and he gave the boys three more.  They set to work carving them while I took care of the seeds.

Some I saved to plant next year and the rest I roasted - a spray of olive oil on all and then some with Herbamare and some with Bragg's.

I also had some pumpkin defrosting to make this pumpkin bar recipe a friend had told me about.  I liked the recipe because it called for applesauce - something I happen to have  a  lot of on hand.

I mostly followed the recipe except I used my own pumpkin puree instead of canned so I used a bit more pumpkin and one less egg.  I also added a titch more applesauce.  I don't have pumpkin pie spice so I just used these spices to make up the called for amount - cloves, fresh ground nutmeg and cinamon.

I made the icing with a block of cream cheese, a spoonful of butter, the cinnamon and then a big dollop of honey as a sweetener.  Delicious.  The icing really, really makes the bars.

Then we had a delicious tea time while the snow came down and we were cozy  inside.

These bars are incredibly moist.  I had to cook them for about 10-15 minutes longer than the recipe called for and they came out just right.  Definitely a keeper recipe.

Rose Hip Syrup and Rose Hip Elixir

E is showing more interest than ever in wild foods and herbs right now. I think finding the Shaggy Manes and enjoying them so much really encouraged him to learn even more about the plants around him. Yesterday we went out collecting more rose hips so that he could make some rose hip syrup. We found a few different recipes online and came up with this method. He took photos of the steps and was quite pleased with the taste of the end product. It seems there are a lot of bugs going around just now so we will be using his syrup this week to help ensure we stay healthy.

We decided to grind them in the food processor and then cook them for a moment in a bit of boiling water.  We set them aside for 15 minutes and then strained them.

He had to strain them several times to get the syrup clear of the hairs from the seeds.  Then he put the rose hip liquid back into the pot where he had already warmed some honey.

We all got a taste test and the rest was tucked into the fridge to be used up over the next week.

I got to use his leftover  rosehips (the ones he had after the first straining)  for some elixer.  I'm thinking they will still have plenty of goodness left in them and we didn't want to just throw them in the compost. 

I put them in a jar and added some brandy.  Stirred in some warmed honey and that's it.  I'll add it to the cupboard with my elderberry elixir and wait patiently (or not so patiently) until it is done.

Welcoming the Winter Weather

This year I'm quite happy to welcome the winter weather.  I look forward to days spent in front of the fire with the boys - learning, crafting, playing, reading, baking.  We've already got icicles hanging from the roof tops and snow on the ground. 

This is the first year in many that we haven't had to be pruning trees, raking leaves and collecting nuts at this time of year so I've had some time to knit instead.  When I finished my first pair of wrist warmers I quickly realized a second working pair would be necessary.  First I had to finish a pair for a birthday present and then I set to making another pair for myself.  After being teased by W that "these fingerless mittens are brilliant, mum...except me fingas get cold.  It sure would be nice if these mitts had fingas knitted onto 'em" (all in a strange sort of cockney type accent) I decided I would make an extra long pair for myself - sort of wrist/knuckle warmers. 

I'm pleased with the way they turned out and, by the looks of the weather, I finished them just in time.  I also managed to use up most of three skeins of yarn from my stash too. :-)

And, seeing as how there is snow on the ground and a definite chill in the air it seemed like an awfully good time to get the crock pot out - that way when we do have to go out at least we get to come home to a warm and delicious smelling dinner in the house.  This is the first time I've tried making this in the crockpot, it's a sort of black bean enchilada. 

I basically mixed up the ingredients I would use for black bean chilli - black beans, a jar of my canned tomatoes (plus a couple very ripe tomatoes I needed to use up), spices, and the veg on hand (zucchini, green pepper, corn and red onion this time) and layered it in the crock with some corn tortillas which needed to be used.

I did three layers and ended with tortillas on top.  I put the lid on and cooked at high for about 3 hours but would normally use low heat if we were out for longer.  Just before we were ready to eat I topped it with some of my canned salsa and with grated cheese and put the lid back on for 5 minutes so the cheese could melt.  That's it.  We served it with guacamole.

Love having dinner cooking away while we are doing other things and, even better, there is enough left over for dinner tonight if I cook up some squash to go with. ;-)

Nettle Love

I've been meaning to do a post on Nettle since we moved here and E found a little patch of it growing down the hill.  I was thrilled when he showed me. I picked it throughout the summertime and now have lots of nettle dried and tucked away for wintertime.  It dries quickly and easily.  I have very high regard for this herb as I think it cures (or prevents) a number of ailments as well as giving a constant source of nourishment to a body. It is full of vitamins and minerals and doles them out in a very balanced way. 

This year I am also making a sort of seasoning mix (a friend's idea) with a bunch of dried herbs, veg and nettle in it.  We've used it in smoothies, hair rinses, the homemade dog food we make, for plant fertilizer, in smoothies, cooked in soup and on pizza (or anywhere you would use spinach).  We've tried it juiced with fresh apples.  Delicious...and delightfully green.  I've got nettle seed salt in the cupboard.  Nettle beer in the pantry.

But, most importantly, to me is this most basic use - I drink a quart of nettle infusion usually every day.  I know that some people don't like the taste but I credit this herb for giving me my health and energy - energy to live this life full on...the way I choose to live it - and I find now that if I miss a day or two of it when we are away that I really start to crave it.  I make mine in the morning or afternoon and, once it cools, I tuck it in the fridge to enjoy the next day when it is dark green and full of goodness.

The best source of information I have found on the many uses for this herb is in Susun Weed books.  I am a big fan of her books (so much so that I even bought one of them new and anyone who knows me knows that That is a Big Deal!). ;-)  Here are a few links about the health benefits of nettle and how to prepare the infusion.  I would urge everyone to give this wonderful plant a try.