Craft At Last

First, let me say that I seriously have to remember to turn the flash on when using the fancy new camera. Bleh.

Now let's move on to a cutie baby blanket for a coworker's soon-to-be-arriving grandson.

I know it looks awfully yellow thanks to the no-flash thing, but the background is white. In real life, it's adorable squares with B's and bunnies and primary colours (plus green) on a white background.

It's so darned cute for a baby boy and my coworker was thrilled to receive it. That's what makes each of these blankets worth doing - the joy it brings to the recipients.

And then a shot of the fabric on the back, and you can see the colour better on this one.


Finally, I have a little photo of my little harvest of little tomatoes.

I consider myself lucky to have any at all after the strange spring we had. But I certainly won't be doing any canning this fall! Not sure whether that's good or bad - less work but fewer home-grown goodies over the winter. Always a trade off.

Have a great weekend! M

What? Thursday Already?

I find it hard to believe that it's time for another Thrifty Thursday post. Where does the time go? Okay, that question is best left as the subject of another post, possibly on a different blog. For the here and now, we'll stick to thrifty finds.

In the now famous-in-my-world box of goodies was this absolutely lovely, lovely flower bowl.

I had to say it twice because it fills me with such girly glee whenever I look at it.

It needs a clean and polish but the details on it are so very pretty, almost delicate. In the top photo, you can see a bit of the engraving work on the side.

And this shot shows the grapes and leaves along the edge. (Sorry about the wonky colour!)


It makes me think of girls in ringlets and Victorian dresses, cutting roses and arranging them in bowls like this for their tea tables. How very Anne of Green Gables.

Believe it or not, I actually have photos of crafty stuff I've been doing. Unfortunately, I need to upload the pix and the camera is elsewhere at this time. I'll try to get it done for tomorrow, along with some more shots from tonight's quilt school.

Happy Thursday, M

Quilt School

My mom and I signed up for a paper piecing class at the local quilting store. I've wanted to learn this technique for a while now and I have to say it's a bit fiddly at first but I think it'll be useful for certain designs.

Here's Mom working away at her sewing table in the classroom.


And this is what her block looked like by the end of the evening.

I'm hoping to make a table runner for the living room out of my blocks.


And this one belongs to Myrna, my sewing table partner and funny lady who talks to her fabric just like I do!


I love how three different sets of fabric give three entirely different looks to the same block. It's one of the many cool things I love about quilting.

Happy Monday, M

Free Fridays Instead?

Oops, I missed Thursday altogether this week, never mind the Thrifty Thursday. So instead, I present Free Friday.

I got this really cute lamp for free. It's for my spare bedroom.

How did that happen? Well, I work for a film production company these days and it was a set decoration that wound up in an accountant's office. When I asked if I could buy it, she gave it to me as a house-warming gift. How lucky am I?

This beautiful little vase was in that giant box of thrify finds from last week.

Although it's not technically free, that box was so jam packed and so cheap that I feel like half the stuff in it was free. (That's my story and I'm stickin' to it!)

Such pretty things I've been finding lately.

In crafting news, I went to quilting school last night. Woot! I did manage to get some pix of what we were working on but I didn't get them uploaded this morning. I promise to give more details over the weekend.

Happy Friday!

Evolution of an Apple - A Photo Essay

Happy baking!

Thrifty Thursday Wowzers

Seriously, guys, this is a doozie of a thrifty find. I still cannot believe it when I look at this haul.


This was a box full we brought home from an estate sale on Saturday. (There are actually a couple of items missing from the photo, too.)

The sale was being held by one of my mom's coworkers and we helped with the setting up. As our reward, we got pile-o-goodies for $50 in total. Crazy!

Some close ups of my purchases:

Silver tray- love the detail


set of 5 knives - with gorgeous Bakelite handles from early in the last century


a pair of beautiful plates with such scroll detail on them


and a silver chafing dish - can you see that handle? yippee!


All the silver had those important maker marks on them, the china tea cups had stamps on the bottom, and the antique books were in mint condition. I don't know much about their market value but I love each of the pieces because they fit in with my 100 year old house and because I love to recycle such things.

I felt so fortunate to be so rewarded for helping someone out.

Do you have any heirlooms that you love to use and display in your home?

Happy Thursday, Travellers, M

The Weekend That Was

It was my favourite kind of weekend - highly productive.

1. New duvet cover on new winter duvet.

That's right, I said winter. It's been cold and wet here for two weeks and a sudden autumn is upon us. No slow decline into the fall for us.

2. A curtain for the closet door. No more gaping hole into the dark abyss that was my closet. It's cleaned, organized and a light installed. Hurrah!


3. Potato bacon soup ready for lunches.


4. Chicken stew in the crock pot. It makes the house smell yummy for hours and hours.


5. Salmon quiche all prettied up with a red pepper star for tonight's dinner.


Not a bad way to while away the hours.

Hope you had a great weekend. M

Thrifty Thursday Continues

The thrifty tale of the treasure box begins on my first trip to its store of origin in over five years. It was an overwhelming experience, all those delights, and even more so because there was a huge sale on.

This little cutie came home with me that day for 50% off.


Its new home under the sewing table/telephone desk is the perfect spot for keeping knitting supplies.


Supplies like cotton yarn for dishcloths, rolls of dpn's and crochet hooks, and some recycled sari silk yarn from Nepal.

Mmm, mmm, good - thrifty good, that is.

Happy thrifting, Travellers, M

Living Life From Scratch

Anybody who knows me, or who reads this blog regulary, knows that I am a sucker for homemade cookies and homemade soup.

In fact, I was in a bookstore/coffee house on the weekend and saw some giant ginger cookies. I remarked to my companion that buying them takes away all the fun of making them. While some people might consider that a twisted way to look at it, I call it "enjoying the process." And here at Sugar Bowl House, life seems to be all about enjoying the process these days.

So I present ginger cookie dough:

Doncha just love that vibrant colour, courtesy of the new camera?!

And, a shot of the little yummies while they're baking. (Excuse my less than stellar oven cleanliness!)

The recipe for these delicious little morsels came from allrecipes.com and I modified them a bit by adding vanilla and extra spice. Next time, I think I'll try adding fresh ginger, too. Mmmmm.

Then, while the cookies were in the oven, I whipped up some corn and shrimp chowder. The yellow is awfully bright in this shot but it was very tasty none the less.

Sorry I don't have a webpage to direct you to for this recipe but it's a modified version of a soup from an older (as in pre-internet) cookbook. If you're interested in it, just leave me a comment and I'll send you some details.

I love to share recipes with friends. A recommendation or a taste test can open new doors in the kitchen and that's always a good thing. Got any favourites you'd like to pass on?

Happy Wednesday, Travellers, M

New Views

At long last I have purchased a new camera. Voila.

It's pretty fancy and I have lots of playing to do in order to learn how to use it to it's best advantage but I'm having so much fun taking tons of pix of every little thing around the house.

Other things accomplished this Labour Day? I put together a collage on the top of my pretty desk. There are some old photographs, cards and postcards, pretty things that I have enjoyed over the years, all nice momentos.


I also spent some time finding fabulous bargains that I'm saving for Thrifty Thursday. On the crafty front, it's been limited to new dishcloths for my own kitchen as my back has been bothering me too much for sewing.

To fill the rest of my long weekend days, I've been walking the dogs a lot. So here's a pic of our sweet, but usually very serious Laddie boy. He's such a handsome baby.


And here's another one of him - smiling his little face off!

I love my new camera!

Happy holiday weekend, fellow Travellers, M