My Legend

A couple of days ago marked the anniversary of my dad's passing.  It's always a refective time for me  because he is someone I aspire to be. He was a quiet, gentle soul and was always slow to anger. I think I can count on one hand how many times in my lifetime he was angry with me. (Not something I'm very  good at but I'm working on it.) He was always a patient teacher and I recall the first time I drove a car. Up till that point tractors was all I knew to drive (I was 13) He thought it would be a good idea for me to give the car a try. I remember telling him I wasn't ready but he thought I was. Everything was fine until I drove into the yard and almost into the barn. He quietly got out the car looked at me and said " maybe we'll try again when your 16."

 He was a survivor of WW 2 in the Netherlands and that in itself is an entire story all on its own. He loved a good joke and a good prank and would bring flowers to my mom for birthdays, anniversaries or just because. 

I was 17 when he died, he was only 56 and as I sit with tears streaming down my face missing him like crazy I know his legend will live on in the stories I tell about him to my children and grandchildren. He will forever and ever be in my heart. I miss you and love you my dearest dad.

The Best Laid Schemes

The best laid schemes of mice and men often go awry according to the poem " To a Mouse" by Robert Burns.  How so right he was!

My plan... To have an Etsy Shop up and running 2 months ago. 

The reality .... It takes a long time when you are making your own stock, adding a baby to the collection and doing everyday stuff. Then add spring to the mix and now your outside doing spring clean up, oh and you're finally getting serious about selling your house and revamping a vintage trailer. And then there's your daughters wedding this fall.....

My list keeps growing but I'm so close to having my shop open. It has pictures and descriptions already it just needs a bit more tweaking before I open the doors.

But I won't be selling just aprons now either. 

Pillow Covers have also been added to my inventory!

I'm really happy with these. I guess sometimes working slowly can have its advantages. :)

Tea and Queen Victoria

I adore tea. I have an entire shelf in my kitchen dedicated to tea which holds many, many brands and flavours of teas. I've been slowly making the switch to only loose leaf because you just can't beat the flavour that exudes from a loose leaf tea.

A couple of years ago I posted a recipe for Springtime Lemonade which I also made into an iced tea. With my rhubarb coming on in full force I thought I'd pull this recipie out for the long weekend and to celebrate the Queens birthday. But I got to thinking, why not try it hot since, as usual, our start to summer is a little chilly this weekend. Using some of the rhubarb concentrate that I had just made I mixed it with a vanilla roobiss and a bit of honey. It was heavenly and pink!

This summer I plan to dry a lot of things to make my own tea's with. Rhubarb is the first one I'm giving a whirl. If all goes accordingly I'll share my tea recipes with you. Happy Victoria Day ! :)

It's been a While.

So remember a lonnnnngggg time ago, we bought a trailer.

 A 1965 Avion.

Today it went from looking like this...

To this!
 M'lynn, Isaac and I spent the morning ripping things apart. The plan is to have a wrap around sofa in the front instead of the dinette. Penelope had to come see what the hub-bub was all about, and make fun of M'lynn's socks.

More pictures of what it looked before are here. Hopefully the ball is finally rolling on this project and I can tell you all about our merry adventures. :) 

Coco

While watching the UKs Sewing bee last year, a couple of girls stood out for me. Lauren, who now owns and operates Guthrie and Ghani haberdashery and Tilly, who designs and sells her own patterns under the name Tilly and the Buttons. I've continued to follow these girls through Facebook and their blogs.

While I was out thrifting one day I came across some very 60/70s looking fabric, but not being a real fan of clothes from that era I stood with fabric in hand debating. It came home with me because after some thinking I knew what I wanted to make with it.

Enter one of Tilly's patterns named Coco. It has a 1960's feel to it and it caught my eye when she introduced it to the world and in my eyes the fabric and the pattern were made for each other.

Tilly had mentioned in one of her blog posts that she had whipped up a top one night for the next day so hoping I could do the same I spent this past Saturday afternoon doing just that.

Look it's sunny out!

The neat thing about this pattern is, it can be made into a dress too.

I'm hoping to add a few more of these to my wardrobe. By the way the cost not including the pattern was $2.00. :)

I've linked to Sewing Indie Month

Sew for Victory

 I wasn't sure I'd have the time but I picked something simple and sewed my little heart out to be part of the Sew for Victory. Then as luck would have it the deadline got extended, which was great because my camera battery died as I was taking pictures. So if you're a fast sewer you can still join, you've got till Monday night!
I made a 1948 Simplicity blouse from a pattern I bought last year.

Heres the trial run to see how the pattern fits.

A few minor changes and I was ready to go.

               A couple of months ago I thrifted this polka dot fabric and knew I wanted to make this blouse.

And here it is! It fits just like I thought it would..beautifully and I can't wait to wear it. Now you might be wondering why I'm not wearing it to show you. Its because I tried it on with a modern day skirt (which was what I was going to wear it with) and it looked horrible. I tried it on with a pair of pants and again I still wasn't pleased with the look, so I've got nothing to wear with it.

It looks like my hem is off, its not, just a little wacky picture taking on my behalf.

I like these cuffs with their homemade cufflinks.

This is what I'm hoping to pair it with in the near future.

This and a skirt for some summer fun.:)