The Big Reveal!

 Not such a big reveal, just the bag I finished last weekend, and sent off to it's new home. I received confirmation that the parcel arrived, so I will reveal it to the world.

This is the Heidi Clutch by Swoon.  It started out as a scrap of fabric, that was asking to become a bag. This was further confirmed by the fact that I had everything I needed in my stash. If I needed more confirmation, I had the perfect cork fabric to match.

This is the back of the bag.

The phone pocket on the back, and the cute charm on the zipper.

The bag opens out.

The inside is open. Not my usual pockets on the inside.

Of course, this is the strap I showed you last time.

The strap is my own design, the pattern has a wrist strap, but a crossbody strap is so much more convenient.

Meanwhile, my 8 YO helper learned how to wind yarn into cakes this week, and a new pair of socks have been  started.

And we turned last week's jam into Strawberry JamJam muffins. (JamJams are a cookie popular cookie from the Newfoundland.)

The muffins have a dollop of jam in the middle. The recipe can be found here.

https://dairyfarmersofcanada.ca/en/canadian-goodness/recipes/yogurt-strawberry-jam-jam-muffins

Decisions

 I have been missing because the contractors arrived and the reno began. We are still sorting through "stuff" and deciding what should go where, and if there is a way to give stuff to people who can use it.

We have made 2 trips to drop off Ewaste, 5 bags of books have gone to the annual church book sale, fabric and patterns have gone to be freecycled, along with kitchen items, toys, and other useful things. Sadly, some of the "stuff" just has to be thrown away. No one wants old textbooks, broken plastic items, and other such treasures. Some days I feel like my head might explode from all the decisions.

When the workers get too noisy, I have been hiding, either knitting in the sunroom with the pets, or spending time organizing my sewing stuff. 

These are my very alert guardians.

I have gotten some knitting finished.

These are my April socks.

And a pair of  baby socks.

I finished one fingerless mitt, but then spring arrived. I must finish the second one.

Easter came, and I made a family favourite, Easter cupcakes. 

This year is the 100th anniversary of the forming of the United Church of Canada. The local region decided to make a quilt to commemorate the occasion, with one block for each "pastoral charge".  I don't know who is going to put the blocks together, but I was asked to make the block for our congregation. (What were they thinking?)

This is my block. It is a six inch block, and I was asked for 4 sections about the church. Just try to do four ideas as 3 inch triangles. Everyone seems happy with it, so it is off the join the rest.

While I have been organizing my sewing room, I have been rewarding myself with a few minutes of sewing. Just a small project I can work on in small bursts. Today, I finished this little bag from 2 1/2" squares of Shweshwe fabric. I discovered I had been gifted with a bag of scrap strips from someone else's quilt. I don't remember who gave it to me.

Spring is finally here, so I have some pictures of our gardens.

I saw a cute couple looking for a new home, the other day. They were checking out our backyard.

I think they decided that there were too many dogs in our block, so they have gone elsewhere.

In Like A Lion Cub

 March came in, not like a lamb, but like a rather small Lion. There was more snow.  We got 109.3 cm of snow in February, in 12th place for the snowiest month on record. The snow has continued into March.  Today and tomorrow we are above zero, but that ends tomorrow night, and we are back in the freezer again. 

It seems like a good month to bake. Yesterday, I made Peanut Butter Oatmeal Cookies, to have with our coffee.

It was Shrove Tuesday (or Mardi Gras, or Pancake Day) so I made pancakes for supper. They are Oatmeal Apple Banana Pecan Spice Pancakes. When my kids were at home, they would eat a double batch in a single sitting. I made a single batch, and half are stored in the freezer for another day.

We had local maple syrup with them.

I finished the Trail Blazer Socks. I missed finishing in February but it was close.  So two pairs of socks for 2025.

I have decided that March will be a good time to finish three WIP's that I have sitting here. All of them are single skein fingering projects, two small shawls and a cowl.

The first one is a very small scarf, that uses a 30 gm ball of fingering. It is called Boublay by Laura Nelkin. Beads will be added.

Aren't the colours great! The yarn is Uneek by Urth Yarns. The colour is "54". There is purple still to come.

Not much sewing accomplished, but the knitting is going well.

Preparing

 Advent is defined as the season of preparing. I find my days have been filled with preparing lately.

In our tradition, the Advent candles, lit on the four Sundays before Christmas, are green, blue, yellow and red. This year, I found some cat proof candles, since setting fire to the cat is generally a bad idea.

I have LED candles that I can set to the colours. For Christmas, I will set out real candles, but these are much safer when I don't have anyone to guard them.

Many gifts have been sent. I can show you a few.

Two pairs of little socks were commissioned by a friend for her great-granddaughters. They are now on their way in Great Grandma's suitcase.

 The dog bandanas for this Christmas are in some silly fabric I found in my stash. My Christmas stash has been greatly depleted in the last few years, since I haven't been doing in person shopping.

I made this lace scarf back in the summer, and finally got it blocked. It is on the way to its new home.

This is a closeup of the lace border. The yarn is alpaca and silk in a lace weight, that was in my stash.

I was asked for a red hat, so this week, I made a red hat.

It is my favourite hat pattern, Bankhead. The yarn is Knit Picks Brava.

I did lots of baking to send to family that don't bake. For my baking I go for taste over appearance, so the shortbread is just rolled into balls and squashed with a fork. Add sprinkles and they look sort of Christmas-y.

We put up the tree, and Emme helped.

She really gets into her work!

I had a birthday and a creative friend made me this card.

It is very fancy, and very non-Christmas-y. I have gotten a lot of Christmas cards with Happy Birthday written in them, over the years. The colours in this card are more my style.

i hope to get some knitting and sewing done this week, The sewing has been lost lately.

More Masks

 I seem to have disappeared again. However, I've been knitting, and reading. Of course, back to school in Ontario means more masks. Little people are going to in-person learning for the first time, while some are returning to school after a five month break. 

I have lots of fabric, so I don't charge for my masks, parents have enough on their plates right now. Instead, I ask for a donation to our local food Cupboard, of back to school supplies. I said yes, too many times, so it turned into a bit of a marathon. I finished 27 masks for elementary students, by Sunday.

I discovered that my vintage Singer does a nice job on the top stitching, and isn't bothered by the multiple layers.

She is 82 years old and still shines like a debutant!

The masks have all been sent to their new homes, but now I have requests from university students! So, I guess there will be more masks in the future. I bet they don't want Paw Patrol, although I think Super Dinos might go over well with the university crowd. 

However, I have plans for a bag first. I need a new cross-body bag for walking. 

Meanwhile, if you drop in for coffee, today, I have Orange Zucchini Bread. 

Waste Not!

 My son makes his own craft beer, in his kitchen. Among the byproducts of brewing are "spent grains". These are the grains used in brewing, boiled to get all the sugars out of them, and then strained out and discarded. They are low in carbohydrates and still have a lot of nutrients, so lately, people have been looking for ways to use them, besides throwning them into the "Green Bin" (municipal composting). 

After my son gave me some from his latest batch, I made dog cookies.

In addition to 4 cups of grains, I added some flour, peanut butter, and an egg. Then I mixed them with my hands, and rolled them out.

After 3 hours in the oven, they look very sturdy.  However, the dogs give them 2 paws up.

Spencer Ogg Designs posted a video tutorial for a new pouch. She calls it the Bummity Bum Bag, but I thought that with a bit of work, it would make a nice pouch for carrying masks to school. 

I had the bright idea to make them from denim, and that turned out to be a bit of a problem, but in the end, my lovely vintage Singer was up to the task. Turning them right side out was a challenge. 

They hold three masks, nicely.

Yes, I made more masks.

The "waste not" part of this: all of the fabric was from my scraps. The zippers, stabilizers. hardware and appliques were in my stash. The only materials specific to this are the filter fabric and elastic for the masks.

Is it Spring, Yet?

We woke up two mornings, last week, to snow. I'm seriously over winter. I want to sit in my sunroom and knit, but it is still too cold. We are still in self isolation, with no news of any loosening of the restrictions. I miss my time with friends and family. Video just isn't the same. So, I guess I need to find more things I can control.

The sourdough experiments continue.

Pizza was less than successful. The crust was way too thin.

Raisin buns were much better. I made a half batch, so we didn't have to eat them all week.

I decided that I needed to finish this pair of socks.

I have the first sock finished and the second one is just at the heel, so they should be done in a few more days. More Turtlepurl Yarn.

And as a hopeful sign, the hepatica in the front garden is in flower.

I need a new sewing project, I think.

This week, I had to say good bye to Dolly Dog. She has been my companion and sewing room supervisor for 16 years.

This was from an adventure we took to the East Coast.