It came, it came !

Bloggy friends are amazing !
I've been waiting for a Vogue sale forever (at least it seems like it). Not long ago Joann's had a .99 sale and I received an email asking if I wanted a V1250.

Today I got a present in the mail and it only took 6 days to cross the country and hop across the border :-)

...and just look at the cutie pie that traveled with the pattern.

THANKS G !

Go DAD !

Tuesday, I made bread - Dad watched.
Today, Dad made the bread & I just talked him through it.

Here are the fruits of his labours...


I got the first taste :-) It is exactly as it's supposed to be :-)

He did a good job.

It never works this well at home...

My sister has a great recipe for bread that she makes regularly (and perfectly !). I've tried it a few times and while it tastes good, it never rises particularly well and is heavy-ish.

My Dad has also tried it once, unsuccessfully. During my last few visits home, he has said he wants me to watch him make it and tell him what's wrong. Yeah, sis lives in the same city, it's her recipe, she makes it perfectly and he wants ME ? to show him ??? So since I'm visiting for a longer time this trip, we planned a day. Today.

In actuality, since I hadn't attempted it in a while, I made it and he watched. THIS is the finished product...




Don't they look fabulous ????!!!! So far, I'm happy :-)

Then 'someone' (not naming names 'DAD' LOL) couldn't wait for them to cool before tasting. So we cut off a few pieces. Here is the middle of the loaf shot...

OMG! I have NEVER made bread so light and fluffy. They were a hit.

And Dad ?
Well, we have another date before I leave on Friday for him to make a batch himself.

Vacation - almost over

Only a few more days left, but it has been a great vacation so far. DH takes a lot of pics of me (that I don't like !) but he took this one last week at the Toronto Harbourfront and I do like it - It sums up my feelings exactly about this whole time off, can you tell ? :-)


Last week, it was all about family, friends, food, shopping...you know. For the first time we attended a RibFest - OMG it was good (and I decided then and there to not watch my food intake at all and just enjoy myself) !

Many of our outings were to flea markets. I came across 2 Singer buttonholers, both of which I'm sure will fit one or some of my machines - and hopefully they will work. They always seem to have good reviews, I've wanted to try one.



The couple we visit live about a 5 minute walk from the Ravine (a large park space with walking trails and bike paths, right near downtown Toronto). For the first time, I took the pups one morning for a walk there and was surprised to find there was a packed trail for walking parallel to the paved bike path. Just like walking in the woods - and so peaceful at 7am. Look :

My neurotic Pom, turned into quite the adventurer and just loved the walk - he led the way everywhere :-)

Deceiving - this was high enough to walk under without ducking.

The end of that log from the other side.


The shopping/fabric acquisitions...remember the bag ?...


6 knits from Fabricland - 3 are rayon/spandex blends, the other 3 are poly/spandex blends. The 3rd row includes fabric from the Fabric District shopping - top to bottom are, black twill lining for an upcoming project - if it works, you'll see it. If not, well...Next down is a leaf print in (I think) cotton. Both were from King Textiles. Next one is a rayon print from Downtown Fabrics - I loved it but am not sure exactly what I'll do with it. The 2 pieces on the far right are both wool from Sue who so generously parted with some of her stash to both Connie and I. The top one is in 2 pieces and there is enough to make a skirt. The other is not quite enough to make pants, I don't think.


Last year, we went into Archie Fine (& Sons ?) to find that they cut the ends of their rolls into pant lengths and the more you pick the less $ per piece. I wasn't prepare to spend for a bulk purchase then but intended to check it out again this year. The 7 pieces above were all $15/piece - I can't go wrong with that if they make wearable pants. The colorful print is strips of gauzey fabric sewn onto a lightweight cotton backing. Connie, Reethi & I all bought a bit. This is one repeat and I think I'll just gather it to a 2" elastic for a waistband.

Need a bit of help with today's purchase. Any ideas are welcome.

We stopped in our local thrift store and left with a bag of stuff for $15 ! Including the fabric below. The plaid is a fluffy wool that I figured for a skirt but it might be TOO fluffy - I'll see.

All of the other pieces are remnants, 6 are labelled Zegna, and I DO mean remnants ! They are all half-width and range from 32-40" long. Like, say, really big swatches ! There are 11 pieces and the rolled up bundle was only $2.99. I couldn't leave it there, but have NO IDEA what to do with pieces this small ! What do you think ???


Oh, I almost forgot...the boxes I brought home. Well, one was a Featherweight (given to me by the friends we were visiting - GIVEN !) and the other was a Singer 66 RedEye found on Kijiji - it belonged to the seller's grandmother. It had originally been treadled but she was keeping the cabinet - it was gorgeous ! The machine in the middle is one of the 99s we bought last year.

2nd Annual Sewing Buddies Day !

...and here we are this year !

Reethi, Connie, me & Sue

Thursday, Connie drove in for the day and both Sue and Reethi booked the afternoon off for Toronto Fabric District shopping and lunch. As expected, we had a wonderful day. Connie & I met early morning and after a kick-start of coffee and a catch-up chat, started right in. We hit a couple of shops before meeting Reethi, Sue and Connie's daughter Leah for lunch.

Afterwards, we shopped ourselves out before seeing Reethi off to an evening engagement and Connie and I took Sue up on a supper invitation. Her husband, Rusty, did the honours of chef and produced a wonderful fish/seafood supper. Sue gave us a tour of her sewing room and we chatted more about sewing. She had sorted thru her stash the previous night and had a pile of fabrics that we were able to choose from to take a few pieces home.

When it was time to go home, Rusty offered to take me on the bike. Oh, I haven't been on a motorcyle since we sold ours about 10 years ago - and couldn't resist - although I tried, LOL. I'm not nervous and once Rusty determined that, it was a great ride - I was very comfortable and really enjoyed myself. Now, this meant it was quite the production to get me home. Sue followed us in the car, because I bought too much fabric to fit in the storage of the bike and she offered to bring it. Thanks guys !

This was a quick post before we leave for home tomorrow but here is a quick look at the fabric bag - I'll detail it once I'm able to take it all out and get pics.


A couple other things are coming with me this year - a teaser pic...

Real pics once we get home.

So Ready for Vacation

8 1/2 working hours til vacation - yes, I'm counting hours LOL

We'll be in Toronto visiting friends and with a bit of planning ahead, Connie, Sue, Reethi and I have a girls' day (oh, yes - Fabric Shopping on Queen Street) scheduled for Thursday
I CAN'T WAIT - see you soon ladies !!!!!!!!

This is us - last year


I was going to write a 'real' post, but, you know, this pretty much sums it up !

Fair warning - giddy gloating to follow LOL

What a day ! BFF and I made plans to see HP7, part 2 today - in 3D no less. My whole life, I've had monocular vision. I only use one eye at a time. After an eye surgery 20 years ago, my Opthamologist told me I would develop binocular vision - I can now use both eyes but it takes concentration - this was the first time I could actually 'see' 3D. It was a GREAT finale !

No, that wasn't the gloating. We bought tickets for the 4pm showing and had the whole day to fill. Temps today went to above 30°C with high humidity - we decided indoors was best - the mall it was. I need tops so shopping was in order, if I found anything. Actually, I need everything...almost everything I own is too big.

Here it comes...

Since last October, I'm down 26lbs. For some reason, I figured I'd be 'maybe' down one size from a 12/14 to a 10.

We started in Sears. Picked up 2 tees to try on. Size ? BFF says 'try the small'. SMALL ? Say what ? I haven't tried on or bought anything smaller than a large or x-large in many, many years !

We wandered around the dress department picking a bunch (7) of size 10s - I was being VERY optimistic.

In the fitting room - the small tees both fit - the dresses were ALL too big, way too big. We went looking for size 8s. Found them all in an 8 plus a few others. Back to the fitting room with another armload. Aha, 2 fit. The others ? ALL too big. BFF went looking for 6s. Two of those went into the 'to buy' pile. In shock, I bought the 2 tees and 4 dresses in small, 6 and 8. OMG ! Normal is 12/14, remember.

Further down the mall, we passed a little boutique with more cute dresses outside (oh, it was sidewalk sale weekend). On the return trip back, the saleslady said the dress rack had been marked down a bit more since we had passed earlier. Between her and BFF they hustle me off to the fitting room picking up dresses on the way. More smalls and 6s ! No willpower, I bought 3 more.

I'm still a bit giddy - I KNOW the weight has come off but had no real idea how that translates to fitting clothes. For the first time, I own more than 2 dresses at once and they all fit to skim the body. It's going to take some getting used to, to wear clothes that are not baggy.

Wanna see ?

From left to right - coral/brown cotton w/belt, 3 poly/spandex knits all with wrap top and some type of ruching at waist, cotton knit tee dress (for the house only !), green/blue cotton/spandex sheath, brown/black poly/spandex knit w/cowl, 3/4 sleeves and belt (will be good for fall)

OK - gloating's done - and now,unless I want to go through this again in September, I need to get sewing ! I'll need fall/winter clothes too :-)

Happy 4th !

Happy 4th of July to all my American friends !!!

A quiet week

My 10 days of possibilities turned into 10 days of 'do whatever'.

I spent some time painting :-)




Lots of walking and I managed to get the bike out 3 times - think I'll try for 3x per week as much as I can - all this exercise was great for stress relief.

A bit of baking...
Hubby's coworkers were happy to see some of this cake show up at work the next day.

I tried a recipe for an oatmeal bread that was a complete bust - it didn't rise and it tasted icky - it hit the garbage before it even cooled off.

What else ? ah, time sitting on the deck and reading - the weather cooperated pretty well all week so there was deck time every day - lazy, lazy, lazy

No real sewing - I played with the narrow hem foot on my Singer 99, it was fiddly but not too bad. It makes a pretty cool hem. I traced Kwik Sew 3299 - I promised DH t-shirts ages ago and he's still waiting.

No gardening either - well, not entirely true, I spent a couple hours today with a friend redoing one of HER beds ! Mine weren't touched all week.

All in all it was the stress busting week I wanted. This was a familiar sight all week...what a life, eh ?


Tomorrow - back to real life.

HAPPY CANADA DAY !