To Market, to Market to buy a Fat Pig

Well maybe not a pig for certain but for me the past couple of weeks I've been deep into Christmas merry making and its felt odd thinking Christmas with leaves gentle falling and spooky pumpkins aglow. But one can't help but feel festive when preparing for a Christmas Makers Market.

My daughter Ashley is putting together the sale and what I love about a Makers Market vs Craft Show is the variety. Anything hand made or locally grown may be at a Makers Market so meat, coffee, honey, candles, chocolate, and crafty things can be found. One stop shopping! 

So what crafty things have I come up with? Here's a bit of a tease.

 Ugly Sweater stocking!

I've got a few furniture pieces coming along as well. Keep checking my Facebook Page as I add more teasers! :)

A little Help Please.

A couple of years ago I found this huge piece of fabric still on the roll at my local thrift store. I put it away till a project came to light and now is that time. What I want to know is from era do you think its from? I wasn't thinking that is was very old until I watched Bomb Girls ( 1940's)  and the fabric they used for drapes reminded me of this one.  I can't even tell you what I think its made from except that it seems to have great drape ability. So any guesses????  :)

Mittens Kittens!

                                                    

I'm still learning this whole knitting thing and thought what better way to learn a few things then to knit some mittens. For me learning to knit socks and mittens are easier to rip out and start over again on my brain verses a sweater... that I just invested a whole week into and only have one sleeve now instead of two because I made a huge mistake by using the wrong size needle and didn't notice till I was almost finished....but I digress. When it comes time to try something with a pattern, mitts will be a small enough project for me to learn with, plus I'll have a completed project instead of a lot of practice swatches.

So with Roger working night shift and weekends I thought it would be the perfect weekend to have a Harry Potter marathon and learn to knit mitts. Yup, you heard right I finished the mitts in a weekend and I am by no means a speed knitter. They are not perfect and I'm in fact happier with the second mitt then with the first so I'm making progress. I'm also happy they will keep my hands toasty on these cooler fall days. :)

Fall Flavours

Somewhere along the line I may have shared this recipe but I'm going to do share it again because it is the most versatile recipe and one that I should make more often. (I've also been in a baking mood, :) blame it on the weather)

It is a recipe for the humble Coffee Cake.

This cake has been baked in so many flavours...cherry, strawberry, blueberry, blackberry, raspberry, peach, rhubarb, strawberry rhubarb, apricot, mixed berry but rarely has it been apple.
I used to bake it for friend who owned a road side stand and almost never did I bring one home that didn't sell. It has been requested for birthdays and loved by guests. I've even made it gluten friendly if the need arose it's just that interchangeable but like I said I just don't pull this recipe out much.  I don't know why because it's always a hit.

With Canadian Thanksgiving celebrated yesterday I had some leftover cranberries and thought they would be perfect for a coffee cake. So Cranberry Coffee Cake it was!
If you change the filling and make your own like I do it needs to equal approx. 2 cups of filling and a 9x9 pan works well instead of using a springform pan.

The recipe can be found on the website here but I've also added it. Enjoy! :)

APPLE STREUSEL COFFEE CAKE

2 1/4 c. flour 3/4 c. sugar 3/4 c. butter 1/2 tsp. baking powder 1/2 tsp. baking soda 1 egg, beaten 3/4 c. buttermilk 1 (20 oz.) can apple pie filling 1/2 tsp. grated lemon rind or 1/2 tsp. cinnamon (optional) 1/3 c. raisins Combine flour and sugar in large bowl. Cut in butter until mixture is crumbly; set 1/2 cup of mixture aside. To remainder add the baking powder and soda; set aside.Combine egg and buttermilk; add to dry ingredients, stirring just until moistened. Spread 2/3 of batter over bottom and part way up sides of greased 9-inch springform pan. Combine pie filling, flavorings and raisins. Spoon over batter. Drop spoonfuls of remaining batter over the filling. Sprinkle with reserved crumb mixture. Bake at 350 degrees for 1 hour.

A Truly soft and Chewy Pumpkin Cookie.

Pinterest. Many of us use Pinterest to find ideas or recipies and over time I've found it very useful. I find though that as many as I've pinned do just that... stay pinned to my boards never to be seen again but I really wanted to try this one.

Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cookies

I followed the recipe to a tee (except I dropped the cookies instead of rolling them) and I can tell you that this is the best pumpkin cookie I have ever had. They are not cake like at all. I cannot tell you how many pumpkin cookies I've made that were. I think its because its because there are no eggs in the recipe but your pumpkin acts like the egg. Who knew?

So thank you Pinterest for a great cookie to add the recipe box and to have for our upcoming Thanksgiving. :)

The Baby Girl gets Married!

See this picture.

I want to frame it so badly because those are my babies and by the look on M'lynn's face life as I know it between the 4 of them will not change. That the addition of another son-in-law will not make Isaac less annoying to M'lynn. That the age span between the sisters and brother that concerned me at one time should have never been a worry.  (Contrary to M'lynn's annoyed face she does love her brother and he loves her back.)

See this...

The bridesmaid dresses were made by us. Meaning Ashley made hers,  the mother-of the groom made her girls and I made Amy's. We used this pattern.  Super easy and super comfy.

See this...

The flower girls and the other little girls all matched.

It was made from this pattern.

All four dresses were made from sheets. Yes sheets. We search high and low for a fabric in the wedding colours but found nothing. Little did I know that the answer was upstairs waiting for me to find it. 

See this.... 

The doors are from my garage, the logs from my wood pile the chairs the bride and groom are sitting on from my dining room.

Borrowed picnic tables from town with burlap runners. Wildflowers picked from the side of the road that morning and little pumpkins to pick up the orange in her colours.

We prepared all the food and served and ate from vintage dishes.

We tested out our night time look and we realized we had more Christmas lights then we thought hiding in the basement. So if anyone needs to borrow lights I seem to have an abundance.

See this....

I made the bow ties. This was truly an easy make and youtube helped us learn how to tie them.

Christmas is coming!!!! it would make a neat gift!!!

See this...

This is what all the hub-bub was all about. 

 Not including wedding attire (which was really not all that expensive), the food, flowers, things borrowed and help from friends and family we came in under $1000. And that my friends is what a small wedding budget can look like.  :)

Photo credits go to Anneka Zehr and Amelia Lloyd.

It's Over

Last week was a bit of a blur and the week before that I sat at my sewing machine and made a 1950's jacket for me, two little girls dresses, and 5 bow ties so also a blur. ( I also made a bridesmaid dress but had that done weeks ago)

This week I've been recouping and have gained a nasty cold. Oh well, better this week than last.

This is what I sewed myself for the wedding.

Here's the pattern and here's where I bought it. Fragolina on Etsy.

Here's what it looked like on me.

All the fabric for it was thrifted by either my mom or me. So I stayed with my rule of buying nothing new. I was tempted to give in and buy myself something but after having many compliments I'm so glad I didn't.

The skirt I made myself last year and upon thinking about it, I decided that if I were going to make a skirt it would be very similar so I went with what I had. I did however make myself another petticoat and wore two of them. A white and a black. I had some serious poof going on.

Tomorrow I can show you the rest. I'm letting our bride and groom check out their pictures first, I thought it was only fair. :)

Picture courtesy of Amy Lloyd