Goodies and Greenery

E and I have been enjoying watching A Victorian Farm and A Victorian Farm Christmas together.  It's fun to know that the way we decorate our home is not unlike the way a Victorian farm family decorated their home for the holidays. 

(we drove by these guys on our way to find a tree, by the time we got the camera all we could get was a bum shot)


We've been collecting greenery on our walks for some time and last weekend we set out to the woods to get our tree.  We came home with red cheeks, a sweet little tree (which, I admit, took some getting used to after two years of massive trees) and assorted other greenery (we are fortunate enough to have yew, ivy and lots of other greenery right on this property including these gorgeous red berries, no holly but oregon grape leaves do in a pinch).

I've had some fun making two simple green decorations outside - one in an old milk can and one in an old cream separator.

The rest of the greenery has been placed throughout our home - I couldn't resist tucking a string of white lights under some old glass insulators on our mantel.

Simple, lovely and all able to be tossed back outside afterwards to compost - my favourite kind of decoration. ;-)

We've been doing a bit of baking, some of our favourites - toffee, brown sugar buttons, seedy crackers - with shortbread, gingerbread men, thimble cookies and nanaimo bars still to go.

Yesterday we made a treat for our favourite canine companion and, since I've been working on planning a new business, E and I talked about a business idea for him - homemade dog biscuits sold at the farm stand.  This batch - carrot, apple, molasses - seemed to go down a treat so it will be a keeper recipe.  Happily we have our own very willing taste tester dog (and actually E tested them out too as they are made with ingredients that non-furry creatures can also enjoy). ;-)

And, I don't usually like to post photos of myself (camera shy and all that) but I thought I would share this one because I wanted to show this great hat.  I wear it all the time because it is so warm (felted wool). I've had so many compliments on it and I love being able to say, "Thank you, I got it at the dump.".  Fun to see the looks that gets.  This summer we were camping on a little island and they have a re-store at their dump, it is a place where people can drop their stuff off and then others can buy it for a small donation.  There is a similar place up near my folks' house (although things are free at that one).  I LOVE the idea of this and wish there were such places at all landfills.  Such a wonderful idea and interesting to me that it is often in island communities where you will see these.  I'd like to be able to say that I usually look much tidier than this but, no...that's me, hair knotted in a bun, stuffed in a hat and off I go. ;-)

Now...to get back to that knitting.

Garage Sale Goodies

I'm know I've posted before about my love of garage sales ( the posts in my Thrifty Goodness section are about garage sale or thrift store finds).  We like to get everything we need (and lots that we want) at garage sales and thrift stores for many reasons but recently (since moving again and having to pack, move and unpack all our Stuff!) I've been trying to avoid going to garage sales in order to stop getting more...well...stuff.  But, I have to admit that it really is quite hard for me to break this habit, especially because my husband loves garage sales too and has no intention of staying away from them.  So, the last two weekends we've found some great stuff.  Last week we stopped off at one on the way to the garden and these are some of the goodies we found.

I'm always on the lookout for these Bakelite utensils - we all love using them - but I've never found so many all at once before.  E spotted a big bag full on a table and snatched them up quick. ;-)

I've been looking for an old metal watering can for Ages!

I HAD to get this casserole dish because it matches my thrifted bowl set...right?

And then this Saturday morning we walked to a great one in our neighbourhood and found these goodies.

We also hit one a few months ago and I found this. 

For $20 for a spinning wheel I really couldn't be expected to resist, could I?  And I manage to justify all this to myself quite easily because I tell myself that I need it all for my farm market when we get our farm. ;-)

There's just something about finding such treasures, isn't there?

Thrifty Thursday...a Day Late

This move brings us back to our old neighbourhood so we were happy to return to our old home branch of this library system and see our favourite librarian again.  We're also back by our old favourite thrift store and so we thought we'd better stop off and see what they had.  I was happy to find two very fun handmade aprons.  This one I LOVE because of the pocket on the front, the whole flowered part is just one big pocket - perfect for clothespins, seed packets or all sorts of other things.

Plus I love the little ric-rac trim detail on the pocket edges.

And this one I love because it is reversible.

How fun!

I also found some lovely linen napkins in a very cherry spring colour that I couldn't resist at 4 for 25 cents!

We put them to use that night when E made us some Hungarian Mushroom soup for dinner.  It was beyond delicious!

There is just so much to love about thrifting - the unique treasures we find, not consuming more brand new goods, no packaging and very inexpensive.  I always especially love finding someone else's handmade things and enjoy giving them a loving home where they will be used and loved.

Vintage Melmac Plates

Apparently I truly cannot resist thrift stores (anyone who knows me knows this but one would think that I would be able to show some restraint when we are in the middle of packing up all our belongings to move).  We went to a thrift store on Saturday to find an old metal trunk for W (his plan is to fit all his stuff from his room into the trunk for the move) and as we went into the store I could be heard to say (quite firmly), "We are ONLY looking for a trunk, we're not getting ANYTHING else!".  And then....

Yes, exactly!  How was I to resist?  Vintage Melmac plates...made in Canada!  Perfect for my picnics.  Beach days.  Tomato pie at park days.  One of my favourite colours.  And, they fit perfectly in my vintage picnic basket (er...better make that, baskets).  Really...how was I to resist?  Anyway, since the picnic basket was being packed and moved it might as well be filled with pretty plates(plus that way I can leave the flower ones I found this summer in with our camping supplies and not have to swap them out each week through summer to the picnic basket).  Right?  Right??  Thankfully my family loves me very much and no one pointed out that I was the only one buying something and it wasn't, ahem...a metal trunk.

Felted Sweater Hat and Needle Felted Sweater

Well, apparently I was having such a relaxing holiday that I managed to forget all about posting these two gifts - my favourite handmade things from this Christmas.  E had told me that he would like to get a hat with earflaps (what I consider an Elmer Fudd hat) and so I was delighted to find a pattern for one in this fun book (Warm Fuzzies by Betz White).   This made up quickly and easily on the 23rd from thrifted sweaters, already felted, I had on hand.  I was quite happy with how it turned out and I am thrilled with how much he loves it.  He has worn it constantly (even inside the house) since.

I also really like this gift - as a mama to two boys I am thrilled when I can make something for the little girls I know.  I was very pleased with how this one turned out too.  I started it quite awhile ago but somehow got sidetracked with other gifts so it was a good feeling to get it finished.

The bumble bee is a 3 D needle felted bee that I stitched on (the same kind I make for wreaths and hair barrettes). 

The ladybug is needle-felted right onto the little pocket.

And...I couldn't very well leave the back of the sweater plain, could I?  No, I didn't think so either, so I did a little dragon fly.  Fun.

Felted Sweater Patchwork Quilt

I've been collecting wool sweaters for a couple years now and finally decided to make the quilt I've had my heart set on.  Some of the sweaters came from the thrift store and some were passed along to me because they had been shrunk or had a moth hole or two.  I love that this quilt is made almost entirely of sweaters that would likely have headed for the bin otherwise.  I felted the ones that were not already shrunken - all I had to do to felt them was put them in my ( top loading) washing machine with hot water and a tiny bit of dish soap, I let them agitate until they were shrunken enough then spun them and hung to dry.  I do have a tendency to overfelt sometimes because I have too many other things on the go (and, apparently, a short attention span) and I forget to check on the felting progress but I've decided to keep the superfelted sweaters for making thick, warm slippers.  Here is a bit of information on felting in case you are wondering more. 

Once they were dry I decided on how I wanted my quilt to look.  I wanted to have some big squares (all the less sewing and cutting to do) and some random-ish squares.  I decided to use one of my cutting boards as a template for the big squares and then I used a mandarin orange box lid for my smaller squares.  Two of the (smaller side of the) box lid blocks would equal one length of the cutting board squares ( I know that doesn't seem to make sense but hopefully it will once you see the photo) 

By using the width of the box lid but making the "smaller squares" any length I could have my random look without having to fuss much.  The beige block here is my cutting board size and you can see that for every block that size I used two of the smaller blocks across.

I planned out where I wanted my big blocks, because I didn't have too many I only used 3 per row (and alternated their positions) and then filled with smaller blocks (of all different lengths), mostly cutting as I went - I was trying to use up most every bit of each sweater.  I put one strip together at a time and then sewed the finished strips together as each one was completed.  When I put my first strip together I immediately knew I would want to make a patchwork scarf with any leftever bits.  Here is the first strip...

in progress

 and here it is at 6 strips wide.  This is Just the right size for wrapping around me for movie watching on cold evenings but...I still have a few more big blocks so I think I'll make it at least one strip bigger so that I can share if needed.  Perhaps I can convince all the males in my family to watch one of my (favourite)shows with me if I offer to share my quilt with them??  And since it was almost getting dark and the colours weren't showing up very well inside...

I asked W to take an outside photo for me.  I haven't even clipped the threads off but I can tell you that I will already be using this tonight.  I love the warmth and softness of the felted wool and I especially love being able to re-use something old to make something new.  So fun

 
(You can click on the photo to enlarge it)
I couldn't resist using a couple of blocks with the pockets still on from an old cardigan - now, some people might think that would be handy for holding the TV remote but I'm thinking it looks just the right size for a big bar of chocolate. ;-)  Could I be any better prepared for an evening or four of Pride and Prejudice?  I think not.

Thrifty Thursday

I realize it is Friday and not Thursday but my computer was not cooperating with my thrifting post yesterday and so...can we just pretend it is Thrifty Thursday?

I got this at the thrift store some time ago but didn't get around to sharing it here.  I've found several pyrex goodies lately that I've brought home and so when I found this I started to talk myself out of buying it.  Thankfully my oldest son (who loves everything 70s) brought me to my senses by telling me I "needed" it because it had a sunflower on it.  Such a smart fellah, he is. ;-)

 And, it has come in very handy for making all kinds of zucchini casseroles (perhaps he wouldn't have encouraged me to buy it had he known how often he would be served zucchini casserole from it?).

I've been using these grated zucchini and onions in all manner of ways - so far their favourite has been as part of the filling in black bean enchiladas.  I do love the extra bit of sunshine feeling that this dish adds to our meals.

Finished Picnic Blanket and Tomato Pie(with zucchini)

I finished off handstitching the binding on my picnic blanket the other day and took it for a test run at the beach yesterday.  While it seemed Huge! when I was trying to work on it in the house when we spread it out at the beach it seemed just right - a good size to sit on with several good friends.  This is the backing and one of my favourite sheets.

When I looked through my stash of thrifted binding I realized that I didn't have enough of any colour that would work.  The finished edges of the striped sheet that I had cut off caught my eye and I had an idea.

I decided the use some more of the striped sheet to make a wide binding tape.  I love the way this finished off the blanket. Here's the front.

And the back.

Yesterday before heading to the beach E decided he wanted to learn to make our favourite tomato pie.  We had picked some of our tomatoes and had been looking forward to our first tomato pie since last Autumn.  I made the dough and then we did the rest together.

Dough

1 1/2 cup flour

5 Tbsp butter (my recipe is ripped on this part so I can't remember exactly what was called for but anywhere around 4-6 Tbsp works well)

1/2 tsp salt

1/3 cup grated cheese ( we used Asiago this time but have used all different kinds and find it delicious)

3-4 Tbsp water (just enough to give you a nice dough)

Cut the butter into the flour and salt until it looks like oatmeal.  Add the grated cheese.  Add water until it forms dough.  Can chill in fridge.  Roll out the dough and put it on the baking pan BEFORE you start piling on your ingredients - things will NOT go well if you assemble it on your counter top and the realize when you've got it looking beautiful that you still need to put it on a pan. Trust me.

We like to put pesto on the dough and then we sprinkle some bread crumbs (this helps absorb some of the tomato juices so it isn't a soggy mess by the time we eat it at the beach later).  Then we put on zucchini (you didn't think we would be eating anything without zucchini, did you?).

Then layer on the tomatoes.  Lots.  E is just getting started in this photo.

Put on the topping mix.   This is about 2/3 cup mayo, 1/2 cup of grated cheese, lots of fresh garlic, salt and pepper and some romano or parmesan.

Then fold the edges in.

Bake at 350 for about 30 minutes or until golden brown.

Enjoy!  If you only make one tomato recipe this summer then I really think this should be it.  It is beyond delicious.

And makes a great beach dinner with a fresh salad.