I hope everyone in Canada had a wonderful Canada Day. I know that our family sure did. Last week, our middle daughter noticed that Groupon had a half price special running for two hour tours on the Tall Ship Kajama and e-mailed me the info. After talking it over, we decided to buy four tickets and then book ourselves on…
After we arrived back in Ontario and until Dave’s contract started in western Ontario, we stayed with our daughter in Toronto. One thing I didn’t mention in that post is that our daughter lives in a tiny one bedroom apartment in a walk-up on the third floor. She gave up her bed and bedroom and slept on her couch so…
Need a quick to knit pattern to use up all those balls of yarn leftover from other projects. These Scrap Hats are the perfect project! They knit up quickly from whatever worsted weight scraps you happen to have. The pattern is for an adult size hat or as we call them in Canada; toques. But once you’ve knit one, you’ll…
Last year, one of the items on our son’s Christmas wish list was a set of throw pillows to match the striped comforter we bought for him to use at college. We chose other things from his list to give him but I kept the pillows in mind for a future gift. Earlier this fall, I was lucky enough to…
Way back in the spring when I was looking for a cabinet to house the Singer 15-91 that I purchased on e-bay, we came across this cabinet. At first, we thought it was another 15-91 but upon checking the serial number, we discovered it was instead, a 201-2. The cabinet wasn’t exactly what I was looking for, but we decided…
This year, each of our children received three handmade gifts. Our oldest daughter lives and teaches in Shanghai, China. Even before we knew that we’d be in Southern Ontario over the Christmas season, we knew that she would be flying here with her partner to spend Christmas with her partner’s family. That meant that her gifts needed to be ones…
Many years ago when we were posted to CFB Suffield in Southern Alberta, to earn extra money to help pay for Christmas each year, I sold my handmade crafts at farmers’ markets and craft fairs throughout the year. One of my most popular items was stuffed Christmas elves. I would sell out of them almost every week and have to…
I am so pleased with the results of last night’s Friday Night Sew In. I was able to complete both Christmas stockings and on Monday they’ll be mailed off to Lyanna over at Purple Panda Quilts for her Stocking Drive to provide a handmade stocking to each of the foster children served by the agency she works for. After finishing…
With just two months to go until Christmas Day, not only must we continue to carefully budget our dollars but if we are planning to complete handmade gifts for those on our list, we will also need to budget our time wisely. Inspired by the one hour table runners I made during October’s Friday Night Sew In, I thought I’d…
There has been a lot of secret sewing and embroidery happening here. But those will all have to remain a secret until after my parent’s 50th Wedding Anniversary, a certain December birthday and Christmas. What I can show you are the fabrics I’ve picked out to make a stocking for the Stocking Drive being held by Lyanna from Purple Panda…