Spring for Cotton.

My Spring for Cotton outfit is finally done. When I first thought of what I was going to sew I thought it was going to be a simple pencil skirt and that was that. But then as I laid in bed my mind began to wander and two hours later I had a new plan.
Before Christmas I wanted to make myself a winter coat but as time began to slip away I had to let the idea go..for now. At the time I was also having a hard time finding a vintage pattern to meet my criteria of what I wanted my coat to look like.
This gives you some idea of the look I wanted.

Via Pinterest

Then I found this pattern.

McCall's M6800 and I was back in business

To me View A of the pattern was close enough to give me that vintage feel of the coat I was looking for. 

To complete my outfit I thought why not throw a skirt into the mix too!!

This is my ten gored skirt pattern that I've now made 3 skirts from. It's a super easy pattern and out of all my skirt patterns it is my favourite.

Now for fabric...

The first thing that springs to mind when you say cotton( at least for me it is) is quilting cotton but tucked away for the last 20 years, yes 20 years, is a piece of denim that I held onto. When I bought it, it was the last of the last and I think I only paid $2 a meter.

Then a couple of years ago I had bought a Michael Miller cotton print that had caught my eye. Now  armed with the fabrics and patterns from two different decades my sewing plan was coming together.

Meet my souped up jean jacket and beach tent skirt. hehe

The whole sha-bang cost around $25 to make.

Shoes-Globo shoes bought two years ago

Purse -Thrift Store

Shirt-Old Navy bought two years ago

Necklace -Thrift Store

Petticoats- made my me

Sunglasses-prescription so now I can look ultra cool.

Now remember my clothes need to make other outfits and this is no exception. My daughter had given me this blue knit fabric as a gift and I thought how perfect for Sewaholic's Renfrew . I had it done in about an hour, bonus!!  Who doesn't love fast sewing clothes. Great with jeans but its going to pair nicely with a few other things hanging out in my closest. 

I went grocery shopping last week sporting my new jacket and Renfrew....in the snow.

So from Vintage to 2015. I think it works just fine! :)

  

Van Gogh

Last week when I did my thrift store remakes for the Anniversary party I didn't take pictures of the display. Sometimes I'm just not thinking of pictures, I'm thinking of getting the set-up just right and then I breath a sigh of relief when its done and forget pictures. It's a bad habit and one that irks my husband sometimes. I apologize if you were at all interested in what the display looked looked like but it did have a springy feel I can tell you that. Today I'm sharing one of the items.

I hoard chairs, like I really hoard chairs, which I've mentioned before. You could come shopping in my house for a chair it's that bad.   I think in part it's because I'm still trying to perfect my upholstery and I"ll deem them not quite worthy and hold onto them. At some point I will have to let some go. Either that or have a great game of musical chairs!

I like these little cast offs from what may have been part of a dining set at one time. They are great for adding just a bit of fun or whimsy to a boring table if its redone that way.You could use in a bedroom or just have sit in the corner till you need and extra chair.

I went for fun bright colours. Mostly because I wanted to use my new  van Gogh chalk paint or fossil paint as they like to call it. I adore the variety of their colours, I mean Starry Night or Sunflowers how great sounding are those!! 

The colour that I used is actually called Van Gogh and its such a beautiful shade of blue and everytime I look at it, it makes me cheery.

I used a vintage fabric from my stash and used new foam for a nice comfy seat. I gave it a sanding, distressed it and sealed it with beeswax polish.

I bought the the trial size paint pot of approximately 6 oz for $15.00 and I can tell you that its going to go a long way which is a wonderful thing  ( more bang for my buck) because I've got a couple of other things to paint this merry colour! :)

Want to revisit some of my past chairs?

blue chair

purple chair

Brown chair

Black chair

Ginger Maple Syrup Cookies

Things have been busy here on the old homestead which is why things have been quiet on the blog.
The 30th Anniversary of our little town thrift store was a great success. I've got a few projects to share with you yet that I did up for my display. I got over my hump and have been sewing up a few things one being my Spring for Cotton project. My yard is now in need of attention that the snow is gone so can a get a YIPPEE!!!

One springy thing that finished up a couple of weeks ago was the Maple Syrup Harvest. Isaac helps out sometimes at a local sugar bush and when he comes home he smells like maple sugar goodness mixed with a hint of woodsmoke. It's probably what Santa smells like. Anyway on my travels through Pinterest I was checking out maple syrup recipes and I didn't find many in the way of baking. I found plenty using maple extract but nary a one using pure maple syrup. Now I've baked with maple syrup before but I thought maybe I'd find something new. No such luck. I've made Maple Chocolate Chip cookies before but thought I'd give some ginger ones a try. Here's the recipe I've adapted for Maple Syrup.

 Maple Ginger Cookies.

3/4 cup butter fairly soft
1/2 cup maple syrup
1/4 cup molasses
1 egg
2tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1tsp cinnamon
1 3/4 tsp ginger
2 1/2 cups flour

Mix butter, maple syrup and molasses together. Add egg. Mix in your dry ingredients till everything is well combined. Shape into 3/4 inch balls and roll in sugar. Place on cookie sheet and bake 10 to 15 mins at 325. 

Thats it! A super simple, soft cookie without all the refined white sugar. ( just a smidgen for rolling) I hope you give them a try! :)

Here is some information on baking with Maple Syrup from Maple Syrup World.

Maple syrup is a well known sugar substitute among those who strive to use less refined sugar. This is because maple syrup has many properties that are good for the body, making it a sweetener plus a healthy boost. With antioxidants that support the body’s immune system and heart health as well as several beneficial vitamins and minerals, maple syrup is a great sugar substitute in any recipe. The conversion of maple syrup versus cane sugar in recipes can vary depending on the recipe, but typically one cup of white sugar can be replaced with 2/3 to ¾ cup of maple syrup.

By replacing sugar with maple syrup in your cooking, the sweetness is still very much present. Maple syrup is around three times as sweet as regular sugar with fewer calories. Another interesting benefit to using maple syrup in cooking is that it has a low glycemic index, making it an ideal sweetener for those who suffer from diabetes.  Organic maple syrup is very nearly a super food, with vitamins and minerals and antioxidants already inside and sweet on top of all that. By choosing organic maple syrup, you are ensuring the purity of the product as well as the sustainability of the growing process the maple syrup comes from.

Maple syrup can be used in the place of sugar for just about any recipe, for it is just a matter of learning the substitution ratio.  To replace white sugar with maple syrup in general cooking, it is ideal to use ¾ cup of maple syrup for every one cup of sugar. When it comes to baking, that same amount is used but also be sure to reduce the amount of overall liquid in the recipe by about three tablespoons for each cup of maple syrup substituted. In order to replace honey with maple syrup in cooking, it is an even switch—one tablespoon of maple syrup for one tablespoon of honey, and so forth.  It is a good idea to turn your oven temperature down about 25 degrees from the original cooking temperature when trading maple syrup for sugar in a recipe. This is because the maple syrup caramelizes at a lower temperature than sugar does.

Replacing sugar with maple syrup in your cooking can be a great adventure. Take the time to experiment and learn how the maple syrup can best enhance the recipe at hand, for cooking healthy can be fun as well as tasty.

Sun and Surf.... make that Ice.

I've lost my mojo. I can't seem to sew a stich without having to rip it back out so I'm taking some time off from all things crafty. I'm feeling sort of lost not making something ( ok weeelllll  I'm making a spring wreath but that's it) but this loss of mojo happens to me once and a while and I need some time to just be.

 So in letting things be, me and my boy took a 25 minute drive and went to Goderich to grab some groceries and thought we'd head down to the beach on this wonderful spring day. If the name sounds familiar it maybe because it was hit by a tornado in 2011.

Right now Lake Huron is only 45% ice covered but it looks like a lot more.

I found sand!

Not exactly beach weather but we enjoyed exploring and soaking up some sun regardless. :)