mushrooms and strawberries of felt

my needle made up a Fragaria vesca (strawberry):

my version of Amanita muscaria
(made on the beach in jamaica!):

smells good in this here forest...

linked up to:

montego bay

Wa'ppun?

back once again from afar. we were in jamaica.

Twas splendid!
beach - pina coladas - coconut juice - fresh fruit - coffe beans roasted in front of us - lazy rivers - craazy cab drivers - cocoa bean - Jamaican friends - beach reads - snorkel fish visits - beach pails and shovels - tin drum - dat a shot (its fabulous)

beach and reggae beat, rock wit mi.

spring into prarie

oh hi.
its been a while!
we were on a bit of a spring tour...
Visiting family,friends and the farm (the one i grew up on)

It was a fantastic trip.
Driving around Saskatchewan during spring melt allowed us the observation of plenty of goosey gander pairs, water flowing - and NOT flowing, snow melting and falling.

Meanwhile, back in our own town- a "state of emergency" for the flooding!
People were evacuated from their homes. basements full of water.
We are grateful for the dry basement.
If water came anywhere near our cracked foundation - we'd be in trouble.

aanyhoo, here was a nice prairie walk one day. Attie in the Jack Wolfskin.


Here is a field planted to winter wheat.
They plant it in the falltime so it comes up first thing in the spring.



And what a surprise I find in a ditch puddle pond,
a whole community of slugs in their shells!

and one floating on the top with his mouth wide open!


















little A had both her naps in the wolfskin this day.


and off they went



I was really thinking on a century ago when this land was filled with farms - a family on every quarter section. When you had to walk to school, or to visit friends and family.
When you would meet someone on this road ON FOOT,or on a horse!!
The youngins runnin all around in the fields chasing gophers


What a whimsical vision that is. I'd give anything to behold it.

Thrift store fruits in the big town.

Living in a small town means you need to go to a bigger town once n a while to get supplies that you can not get in your town.
Attie and I took a wee trip into Weyburn.

So, Naturally, you must go to the thrift store first...
It would be a shame to buy something brand new when you could get it for a fraction of the price, be re-using, and also majically "running into" other items you may want/need!!

There are ENDLESS crafting books at my thrift store.
like this here one:


How often do we write where the book came from (address included) on the first page.
good ol' columbia house. this is so cute...


more wonderful finds.

drawer=$4.00, $12.00 at canadian tire.
$2.00/meter for fabric, probably $10.00/m at a fabric store
a whole roll of elastic for 2.00? alright. i am set.
steamers, quilt binding, bells, earring backings, magnets?
all in the same section.

why does it feel so good to be thrifty?!

This would have been an awesome unit if half of it wasn't missing. Only once I got home and had a look at the manual did I realize it was useless. sad. i wanted to weave!


I even splurged on that. it was 9 dollars. I will be taking it back!



then i went to canadian tire because i remembered these willow baskets that had gone down to $2.00 and I thought i would get a couple...


well, they went down even more - to $1.50
so i got more than a couple!


and then the most exciting part
and the main reason for the trip:




I am going to try making soap!
so i needed all the materials
and library books on the subject.

attie had a blast at the library!
Rippin around, up and down stairs, making too much noise!

does anyone make soap?
have any tips/recipes?
cant wait to try it!

trying my hand at needle felting

I got myself some felting supplies long ago,
but you know how you'll have that project sitting in the box...
waiting patiently till you're ready...
and so it did for about a year.
until now!
I finally tried felting!
how therapeutic it is!
jab jab jab jab.

a little patch for somewhere...





tried a head, which turned into a doll.
strange lookin thing!



Attie likes her tho!
thats all that counts.

jab jab.

kimberley & the collect callers

Kimberley.
a sunshine of a person and wonderous song writer/sing 'n player.


here, listen to the bike song, and the rest!


then ya could listen here if ye wanted.

miss ya, Kim!

Planting!!

yay for planting seeds.

We dragged out all the various containers I saved from last and passed years.
soil, peat, sand and vermiculite.

here's what attie's up to whilst I prepare the containers...
sensory heaven for her.

put the mix in the containment devices

umm, getting progressively dirtier and looking rather mischievous...

but very happy!!

This here's wild blue flax seeds, a native wildflower. They had to be stratified (go through a cold spell - ei.refrigerator) and scarified.
(rubbed between sandpaper or soaked in hot water)
I got em from Blazing Star Wildflower Seed company. Out of Aberdeen, SK. I'd like to order more, they have all kinds of wildflowers!
My goal is to get my back yard 1/2 in native plants this summer.

My favorite, Johnny Jump ups. They used to grow all over our farm, growing up.

I swear that I was watching and trying to avoid this,
but she had to test it out...

She's not sure what she thinks.

got er done!

is it ever nice to dig in the dirt again!

smile.

latte and a letter

I love my little espresso maker.
It makes one good shot which gets added to heated soymilk.
Which gets drunk by me and gives me a kick start to me mornin'.

and is a lovely addition to a pen,paper,paint and stamps!
Here it comes, Sara!!


I am always looking for a pen pal...
If you love letter writing as much as I do, lets exchange addresses!

are you serious, mother nature?

yes, this is April 2.


Must've left the door open a crack...




and just look what glory is taking place out there:



This here is a good old prarie blizzard.
The road and sidewalk were completely bare of snow yesterday.


I suppose we weren't done with that kicksled after all?

cutie pants

Attie has some new pants,
because some motivation passed my way this morning.

These particular pants are made from a brown linen skirt I got for one dollar at a thrift store.
The ankles are elastic'd because she is learnin to walk these days
and I don't want her to trip on her new big pants.

I love making kiddles pants.
They're take very little time and fabric with such cute results.

here are some pants we made for our little buddy Fynn:


he gets a little moose.

There are some wonderful tutes about making pants.

Here are Solveig's "10 minute trousers" at Randomness by Petchy.

Here is Amber's free pattern for baby pants at Make Baby Stuff.com

And Rae's great Basic Newborn Pant tutorial at MAde by rae.
also her tutorial for tights.
She's selling an awesome pattern for Big butt baby pants. Perfect for cloth diaperers!


cheers to baby butts.

birdhouse for rent

What a BEEAutyful spring day!
It inspired some outdoor woodworking.


Those birds should be returning soon,
i thought it is high time I made a house for someone to occupy!

(Attie had a 2 hour nap in her stroller which allowed this to happen)




made from scraps in my back yard.



I hope it has all the pre-requisites for a birds needs, I am new at this...