The end of January

This month has raced by so quickly. It's hard to believe that my mother has been gone for four weeks now. But at the same time, I feel like it was forever ago since I saw her last. Between trying to get a B&B up and running so quickly and tending to my Mom's estate, my days melt into each other.

On a brighter note, my youngest son Alex just got a new, "second chance" dog from the Toronto Humane Society. His name is Baxter and I am thrilled to have a new 'granddog'. I haven't met him yet but will this Sunday when both my sons come to visit. My eldest son Jay is visiting from Victoria BC for a week.

crocheted throw

When my mom died she was working on an afghan made with worsted weight cotton. She had just started her project before she got really sick so she was barely into it. So I had four large skeins of cotton and an afghan project from a pattern I'd done before. I didn't really want to do it again so I made a throw from a Leisure Arts book called Our Best Baby Afghans. The pattern is called Itsy Bitsy Spiderweb.

Sometimes we overlook great patterns because they are in baby books. It never hurts to baby yourself though. This afghan is warm and just the right size to wrap up in while sipping hot cocoa.

I changed the border a bit. I did a sc all around. Then I worked *ch3, sc in third ch from hook, skip next sc, sc in next sc.* Repeat pattern. It's nothing too fancy but just enough to make the afghan look finished.

If you dig deep enough

Here is a picture of a sweet little clock I picked up at the thrift shop for next to nothing. I don't know why no one else scooped it up unless it's because they couldn't figure out how to get to the clock to put in a new battery. The clock face twists off. It works fine and will soon be happily situated on one of my guest room tables.

I need to find frames for family photos. Mom and I were going to do a wall with family portraits and pictures. I still plan on doing it but it pains me that she won't see it. Here is a picture of my late brother Rene when he was a little boy around 4 years old. He died at just 29 years leaving behind a wife and two small children. He's been gone for twenty-three years this coming March but it sometimes feels like yesterday. He was a cute little guy.

slow progress

I have been stripping a wallpaper border from my bathroom walls. It is a dark blue border that looks like draped fabric with gold tassles. Not exactly my idea of the perfect B&B bath setting.

As I mentioned in an earlier post, I bought a chandelier at a thrift shop that I am going to make over. The sink in the room is too small so we are painting an old wreck of a double dresser (not antique) and we are going to make that into a sink.



We are not sure if we're going to put in another corner tub or not. Most of them are suited for two persons but that's too much water and I like to bathe alone anyway. We are playing with the idea of an airjet tub. I'm not sure if it would be a novelty and end up not being used. The corner tub we have now is a whirlpool tub and I very rarely use it. It did come in handy once when I wanted to wash a small rug that wast too large for my washer. I just tossed the rug in the tub with some low sudsing soap and let the whirlpool do the rest. It turned out quite well but it did take forever to drain enough to lift it from the tub.



The toilet has to be replaced. It is the most shallow toilet I have ever seen. That is not a nice option I can tell you! Because we are opening a B&B, I will need a strong flush toilet anyway.

vintage patterns

Paul and I were at an auction with my Mom not too long before Christmas. We bid on a whole bunch of stuff and won most of it. One of the lots that Paul won for three dollars had a box of vintage patterns in it. At first I thought 'big deal' but as I went through them I found myself becoming very excited. They are a real treasure. I can't wait to get started on some of these. They range in size from 9 to 22+. The sizes are more realistic than today's size standards. My sister-in-law has offered to come out and give me a hand mastering my serger. I've had it for about 4 years now so it's time I made something.

The pattern above has a post mark on the envelope for 1942. The pattern beside it has an additional pattern inside that is cut from newspaper from WW2.

"What one loves in childhood

stays in the heart forever."

~Mary Jo Pulney

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They date all the way up to the stylish era when Simplicity patterns exorbitently priced their patterns at a dollar. My goodness, can you imagine getting a pattern for that price now? A lot of these ones were priced at twenty-five cents. Whoooa.

"Nothing makes a woman more beautiful

than the belief that she is beautiful."

~Sofia Loren

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I plan on making costumes with these patterns and perhaps a few dresses for myself. Most patterns are easy to adjust up one size or down one so the whole box of patterns offers a fit for almost anyone.

Whoever owned these patterns must have really favoured a couple of them because there are duplicates in different sizes.

"Oh, never mind the fashion.

When one has style of one's own,
it is always twenty times better."
~Margaret Oliphant

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There are also a few girl's dress patterns and one Mommy and Me set.

"Fashion is general:

style is individual."
~Edna Woolman Chase

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"When you are feeling low about how you look, it's important to put the magazines aside, and practice looking in the mirror and focusing on all that you have to be grateful for. Stop comparing youreself to the made-up fantasy images presented by the media; instead, be the best that you can be given the attributes that you have."

~Kristine Carlson

I love these two little gems. #9081 and 9257. There is quite a difference in the two sizes but I'm somewhere in the middle so I'm hoping to work something out.

"Fashion fades.

Only style remains."

~Coco Chanel

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"Those whose ideals of love face the future instead of the past will find it a very tender, beautiful, and spiritual expression of the human longing for a mate who shall be also friend, companion, and inspirer."

~Richard Wightman The Things He Wrote to Her.

There are about thirty more patterns but I posted only a few of my favourites. I was hoping to have my give-away for a few of the patterns left in the box in March but as there seemed to be no interest in this post I will hold off until this blog is more established.

"Fashion mocks individuality.

Style celebrates it."

~S.B.B.

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Fashion guesses,

style knows.

S.B.B.

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A promise to keep

I did promise my mother many times that I would always move forward and never cling to grief. That's a tough promise to keep. But I am ready to try. I know I will never get past losing her because I still mourn for my father and brother after twenty+ years. But it is a kind of loving grief that I feel for them now. I know they're gone but they are still both so much a part of who I am.
My remaining dog Brady is lost. We moved here in July and my youngest son went back to the city after two months. A couple of months later, Brady's constant companion Beulah, my dog of almost 13 years, left us. Than a couple months after that, Mom passed. I can tell you, Brady is sticking pretty close to Paul and I. That's okay though, what's life without a dog to spoil?

If I don't shake a few things up in this house I will begin to believe it's a sad house and I know that's not true. It is one of those houses that you feel at home in the moment you walk through the door. I don't want to cast a gloomy shadow on a house that radiates love. So for Beulah, my mom, the former residents of this house and for Paul and myself, I am ready to live in love with life again.

This is a little off topic but I just can't resist. Here is a picture of Amos (A. Mouse) the rat. He is gardening in a plant arrangement I have on a side table. He just digs a hole in the center and chills out while Paul and I watch some television.

We are going to turn this big house into a B&B I think. We've got lots of work to do and I know it will be an on going hobbie. The bathroom on the second floor is completely off white. Clean and tidy enough but boring. I have picked my colour scheme for the room based on a teddy bear, cream and sugar set, from two of my collections and a button wreath I made several years ago. I just hot glued white and off-white buttons to a styrofoam wreath. Paul has to do a bit of repairs in the room but then it's mine. I am moving furniture around but I need to put my personal stamp on the bathroom quickly. I also found an old chandelier at a place called Beyond the Blue Box. You buy stuff by the pound there. I got the chandelier for a dollar and I plan to give it a facelift and put it in the bathroom. Hopefully I'll add a pic tomorrow.

Painful Goodbye

Happy New Year everyone. I would have posted before this but on the second day of January, my mother passed away. It really wasn't expected. She was undergoing chemo with great hope. She did get a lung infection but that was clearing up nicely. However, part the the cure for the infection caused her to go into renal failure. She died at Wednesday evening after being taken to the hospital in an ambulance. I didn't get there in time to be with her and I am crushed. As we talked many times of our parting, I know her greatest wish for me would be to let her go. I will attempt to respect that wish as I try to pick up the piece of my life which is feeling very empty without her. She joins my father and my brother. I have no other siblings so I'm feeling very lonely at the moment. My husband of course is awesome. And my youngest adult son is spending a lot of time with me. My eldest son is across the country so we have to settle for telephone hugs.

I am fortunate to have two aunts and an uncle as well as my late aunt's husband to lean on as well. They are great but I can't help wish I had another sibling to call to share this terrible grief. The above picture was taken less than two months before her passing.

So here sit in the beautiful old century home that was to be my mother and my latest scheme and project, wondering how I will ever pull this off without her.

Another December almost gone

This year is certainly coming to a speedy close. We weren't planning on anything this year for New Year's Eve due to my mother's health but my son called earlier and he's coming up for three nights. His friend Shani is going to come too and she will also bring my mother-in-law. It won't be the party to end all parties but we will at least be able to sit around and play a few games while we toast in the new year.

I'm sure many of us are down to our last few dimes with the end of Christmas. I made these money socks many years ago but plan on giving out a few more so friends can start to "sock" away a bit of money for next year's shopping. These can be hung on a door or on a hanger in the closet but I perfer to put them inside my "sock" drawer. That way I'm less tempted to borrow from it and I'm remined every day to put a bit of change in it.

There's a game my family and friends all enjoy at our house parties. You need about ten bargain shop gifts and two decks of cards.

• Lay all the gifts on the table in plain sight. Then deal the first deck of cards to each person until all the cards are dealt. Some people may end up with an extra card depending on the amount of players. Now the fun begins.


• The host or hostess takes the second deck and places it on the table in front of themselves. Now they pick up the top card and show it to the players.


• The player with the corresponding card from the other deck gets to pick a prize from the table. But he or she must hide the prize on themself so the other players can't see it. Continue in this manner until all ten prizes have been claimed and hidden.


• The next card turned up will not offer a prize but the person with the corresponding card can now claim a prize of their choice from one of the other players. The trick is that they must name the player they believe is holding the specific prize they want. ei: "Joe, I'll take that scrub brush you have hiding behind your back."


• If they don't get it right, they lose their turn and the next card is turned up. If they do get both the player and prize right, the said player has to relinquish the prize which will again be hidden on the person holding it.


• The game continues until all the cards have been turned up. It is funny how easily we can forget who's holding what.


• Play this only with people who are good sports. You don't want friends squabbling over a roll of duct tape, a box of mints or hair bands.

It was a Merry Christmas

What a wonderful Christmas in spite of the lack of gifts this year. There were a few gifts but nothing like the past years. My son came home to help me with his grandmother and that was gift enough. Oh, that and his wonderful fiesta dip! He makes this every year and it is beyond good. Not exactly diet food but every once in a while it's great to have a major cheat. I have honestly never seen a dip dissappear so quickly over the years as this one. I have included his recipe below. We serve it with tortilla chips but you can use veggies or whatever your favourite dipper is. We try and tell ourselves that the vegetables on the top of the dip make it a healthy choice. Whatever works, right?

1 8oz cream cheese

1 cup sour cream

1 cup mayonaise, not salad dressing.

mix together and spread out into a shallow dish. Chill at least four hours. Next spread a small jar of salsa over top of the first layer. Now add about 1 or 2 cups of grated cheddar cheese. Top with chopped tomatos, green peppers. Add a few hungry people and that's it.

I am so thrilled that my mother came home from the hospital for Christmas. It seems that we will be spending Christmas morning with the VON. Can't complain though. As I mentioned in my previous post, this Christmas has a different flavour all together. I have been lost as to what to give my mother. What do you give someone who has incurable cancer? Warm socks, a neck roll, a new housecoat . . .? Then I found a wonderful pattern that just seemed to hit the mark. A love ball!

I cheated a bit with mine. I didn't add wings because my mother is feeling a little angel overwhelmed at the moment. Plus I just glued on felt circles for the eyes. I only finished it a few hours ago but I am glad it will be under the tree for her in the morning. I found the inspiration for this at Crochet Me . Thank you so much for sharing this wonderful pattern!!! She can hold it or just sit it on her table. No matter what she does with it, she will know it was made by me to express my deep love for her.

Here is a little craft I do with recycled Christmas cards. I use canning jar lids. Just spray paint them gold. Cut out a circle from a card to fit inside the centre of the lid and glue it in place. Next place a thin line of white glue around the edge of the card and sprinkle glitter on it. After the glue is dry, shake off the glitter and glue two lids together with a ribbon sandwiched in between the lids. Voila! These are easy and make lovely bow substitutes.

Looks like a white Christmas here in my little corner of the world. Right now it's fluffy powder but as soon as it warms up it will be snowman time. Both Paul and I love building snowmen although they are rarely men. Usually they are snowdogs. Below is a pic of my snowman pins in a shadow box. Hopefully tomorrow there will be a new pin under the tree for me :-)

Pondering Christmas

I was hoping to get some more Christmas crafts posted but life has a way of getting in the way of blogging. My mother has cancer and is not doing well. Yesterday we made palliative care arrangements and it has left me crushed. The chemo is knocking the stuffing out of her. It's her fear that is the worst part of all this. She is confident in her faith but she's not ready to go. We bought this house just this past summer with wonderful plans for some great adventure. Now it seems she will not be a part of that adventure and it no longer seems that important.

Just last month, I had to say goodbye to my most beautiful dog of almost 13 years, Beulah. We were eating homemade cookies and after she scored a bite of mine she turned to my husband for a share of his. Before he was done, she was in a grand mal seizure. The doctors tried to stablize her but 34 hours later, we had to say goodbye. There was no way the doctors could bring her back to her former self. It was the right decision but I can't stop crying. Our other dog, Brady is moping and looking for his best friend. That just adds to my sadness.

Above is Beulah looking beautiful and to the right is her upside down on the couch. That was her favourite position. Below to the right is Brady waiting to fetch something, , , anything, , , please? No, he's not morphed. He really looks like that.

One thing I am finding in the midst of all this upheaval is that Christmas has very little to do with presents, glitter and feasting. Those are holiday festivities. Fun things we have created to give a festive air to a much more important message. The birth of Christ was supposed to be the birth of peace on earth and goodwill towards all men.

I'm sure next year I will be more into the festive side of the holidays but this year I am more focused on the deeper meaning of Christmas. After all, what gift could even begin to compare with the precious time I have left with my mother, the happiness given to me by my dog of almost thirteen years and the joy my remaining dog faithfully offers to me or seeing/hearing from my kids?

I hope everyone has a Merry Christmas or joyous celebration of whatever path you follow. Remember to take a moment and look past the gifts and into the eyes of our loved ones, both two legged and four. I wish you might find the kind of love that was born to us over 2000 years ago.

collecting

I wish I could get a better picture of these but the glass reflects the flash from my camera. I have been collecting Christmas Tree brooches for several years now. People always comment on how pretty they are. They just sparkle in the light and you can't miss them. I also collect snowmen brooches but the glass from that shadow box got broken in the move and I haven't had the time to repair it yet. Maybe I'll just take the glass out all together this year.




Paul and I had to walk downtown today to get some Ensure from the drugstore for my mother. Happily, we are very close by. The walk was nice going because we had the wind at our backs but coming home was a different story. There is very little traffic today. The snow has created wonderful drifts in the yard. I want to get a picture of them before Brady goes outside to fetch his ball and pee on them.

Can Christmas be so close?

It's only 10 days until Christmas Eve. Where does the time go? I think this is my first year of being so completely unprepared for it. I have a few trees up, have done a little decorating and have purchased some gifts but I haven't even started my Christmas baking. Today, I promise myself.

To the left is a pretty little snow scene on top of the corner shelf. The house is cut from 2x8 inch lumber and the snowman and trees are from 1 x 6 inch lumber. The white paint splattered on the finished pieces add the excellent effect of snow. It's a simple design from a Christmas book that I no longer have. I can't even remember the name of it but I will try and find out. I made several projects from that book. Most of which one of my sons stole when he was setting up for his first Christmas in his own place. No matter. What greater compliment is there than that?

In the opposite corner to the picture above there is a small Christmas tree adorned with crocheted snowflakes. I need to make more but that will come after Christmas. In front of the tree is one of my bears in a child's rocking chair that Paul picked up at the auction a couple of weeks ago.

Here is a snowflake ornament that was a gift from my friend Jill. The ladies in this next ornament represent Lisa and I. She is another friend and though we don't get to shop together, we dream about it. I like to imagine the shapely dame in the black dress is me but I think it is more likely her.

more quilts

This is a flannel rag quilt I made for my mother. It has flannel on both front and back and has quilt batting sandwiched in between the layers. I made this for her because she is always cold. Since her cancer has returned and she is undergoing chemo, she has lost a fair bit of weight and is often feeling weary. The quilt is now too heavy for her. She now wraps up in a flannel sheet by the fireplace. I suppose I should take the quilt upstairs because this old house is drafty and cold.

I love fabric yo-yo's. You can make so much from them. This is a bed topper I made several years ago. It still sit on the guest room bed. My mom has made a bag load of yo-yo's but has not put them together. I am hoping to get that done for her before Christmas but if not, then in the new year.

This is a quilt I made for my mother-in-law. It was inspired by Cynthia Walters' technique found in Snippet Sensations. I was going to make her a bed quilt to match but I don't think she was too impressed with this. Oh well, not everyone likes the same things. I know she was greatly impressed with my Mammy quilt, below. It was made as a celebration of Canada's role in the emancipation of slaves through the underground railroad. It hangs in the third floor hall and opposite and over the stairs in my tumbling block quilt. The borders are from the same fabric so even though the themes having nothing in common, they compliment each other beautifully. I hand pieced the tumbling blocks while watching a lot of old movies. The templates were made from contruction paper which made it easy to work with. I was working on a grandmother's flower garden but I was using plastic templates. I find them a little hard to work with and gave up on it. I still have all the pieces, I just need to put them onto paper. Someday . . .

Those who sleep under a quilt,

sleep under a blanket of love.

~Author Unknown

vintage ads

When we moved into this house, I was generously gifted a box of magazines from the previous owners, Ken and Nancy. The magazines are mostly BH&G, a few American Homes and Chatelaine . They date back to 1934. What a treasure. I have really been enjoying these old magazines. It's like a walk down memory lane. My mother's memory lane too.

What really makes me laugh is the old ads. Many of the products are still around but most have long since disappeared. All the better for us. I can comfortably tell you that I have never done my dishes or vacuumed my floors while wearing high heels!

I plan on posting some of these ads from time to time. That is after I starch my apron, take the curlers out of my hair and make sure I have a steaming hot dinner on the table for my husband as he walks through the door. Hey, I love the idea of yesteryear as much as so many of us do but I wouldn't trade my microwave, jeans or blowdryer for all these wonderful products. As for my husband, we take turns cooking. He's a man who knows his way around a kitchen and I love him all the more for it.

recycled Christmas cards

ere is a sweet little project to recycle some of those Christmas cards you received from last year. I cut out an oval shape out of clear plastic as a template. That way you can centre it over your card to get the best image. You can use two card front but I like to use one card front and the Christmas greeting from inside for the back. Place the two ovals together and punch holes around using a small punch.

To crochet:

Rnd 1: Sc into any hole, chain 4 or 5 chains depending on how far apart your holes are. Sc in next hole. Continue around. Sl st into first sc.

Rnd 2: Sl st into chain space. Ch 1, sc, hdc, 2 dc, tr, 2 dc, hdc, sc in chain space. *Sc hdc, 2 dc, tr, 2 dc, hdc, sc in next chain space.* Continue from * around, Sl st into ch 1. finish off.