It's only a five minute walk but sometimes it feels a world away. Some benches are in the shade so it's perfect to sit, have lunch, and listen to the splashing fountain and the birds. It is quite nice right now with all the flowers putting on the last show and these are my favourite. How can you be blue once you have gazed upon these little faces?
I made curtains. Not something I usually do; I don't even care for curtains. But in the process of making these ones for TG's apartment in Toronto, I realized that I really like sewing and I can actually make curtains (Mr. Cowboy helped) that are nice enough to hang even though I had to 'patch' them up because I didn't have enough of the beautiful toile fabric.
And these are reversible; TG's idea and she picked out the fabric.
The white cotton cutwork is a tablecloth that I just bought two weeks ago at the big sale at VV. I think it looks really sharp. Hope TG likes it.
We cannot go out into the garden without a bowl; the tomatoes are small but there are lots of them.
The beans have made it all the way through the deck but, sadly, no beans this year.
Another great book from Frances Mayes - The Tuscan Sun Cookbook. I made Giusi's Ragu and it was good but the recipe did not call for chili pepper flakes so I added a pinch or two just to liven it up a little.
Two full moons in one month; hope everyone enjoyed the blue moon last night.
And yesterday I found a wonderful package in my mailbox from the giveaway at French General. Lots of neat notions that I am planning on using on my next set of cards to sell at the store.
I dropped off my tote bag today at Findlay's; mine was the 13th bag entered in the charity auction to benefit the food bank and Habitat for Humanity. The public votes for their favourite bag and the person whose tote gets the most votes wins a Brothers sewing machine.
For my tote bag I chose to make it using plain canvas-like cotton. I stencilled the back with an off-white fabric paint. Really like how that turned out. For the front I used three colours, outlined the stencil with embroidery thread and added buttons to the centers.
The butterfly print I used for the lining is one of my favourites. Went crazy with the pocket and used a paisley cotton from my scrap bag. When the lady at the store looked at my bag she said she liked the inside better then the outside.
I had no response to that.
In a matter of hours, I made these shorts for TG with fabric that she picked out of my stash mountain. Couldn't resist adding the label from my collection.
For our last hike together we climbed up to the top of Gibraltor Rock. Just the four of us at the top treated to an airshow between an eagle and a hawk.
Looks like someone is getting ready for winter.
No, this is not our summer place. We are still looking.
This top sheet has been around a long time; the fabric is so thin that it doesn't take much to put a tear into it. To mend it I cut the back from one of my old white t-shirts and stitched it onto the sheet with embroidery thread and large basting stitches. Then I went around the whole square on the sewing machine. It will be going back to UBC with Maura; I'm hoping it will last one more year.
