Three little piggies went to market...

...and look what they came back with. For me, having access to so much fresh fruit and veg is one of the best things about living in the Niagara Region.

There was a basket of peaches, too. Beautiful, sweet, ripe Niagara peaches. But they were quickly peeled and turned into this:

And while I am usually disappointed with the results when making pie (i.e. soggy crust, burned edges, filling too runny/too undercooked/too sweet/not sweet enough), this time it was amazing. *pats self on back*

Maybe I like making pie, after all. My husband will be thrilled.

Fun with felting

Here's a photo of my first knitted and felted bag. Previously I have made a number of bags from felted wool sweaters and blankets (sadly I didn't take any pictures of those ones). My thinking was always, why bother knitting and then felting when you can just buy wool sweaters and skip right to the fun part (i.e. shrinking wool on purpose)?


However...this yarn was calling to me. This sweet little bag is made of 3 skeins of Noro Kureyon (I forget the colour # and I don't have the ball band anymore - whoops). It took about 3 trips through the washing machine with hot water to get it nicely felted. Feeling ambitious, I decided at the last minute that I wanted a lining, so I made one and added loops for the wooden handles. Incidentally, I think you can buy cute handles online and sometimes in craft shops, but I have a drawer full of handles I have cut off bags I find at thrift stores. I like repurposing them on new (cuter) bags. Also, they cost about $3 instead of $10 for new ones.

Collections

Collecting stuff is fun. Half the fun is finding stuff, and the other half is when you get home and the new item takes it place among its "siblings" in the collection. When I find a new piece, I like to take out the whole collection and look at it. Rearrange the pieces. Think about what pieces I want to add, and whether I should weed out any (not often). Collections make me happy. I'm sure this is something I come by honestly. My mom's father was a packrat and he amassed huge collections...a shed full of antique metal milk cans...dozens of crates of old vinyl records...old tools...furniture...you name it, Papa had one (and likely two, or ten, or more).

Finding collectibles is SO FUN. Whenever I'm in a thrift store or antique shop, I keep an eye open for certain things. Some of my favourite vintage finds are: books (particularly children's books), pyrex (especially red, pink, or aqua pieces, and if they are lidded refrigerator dishes, even better), certain tableware, old fabric and sewing notions, and aprons. (I'm not sure why I love vintage aprons, and I have not for the life of me figured out how to display them, but I just can't help myself when I see them.) Sometimes the things I like are too expensive. I tend not to buy those things, as much as I would like to. I just don't see the point; it's not much fun to have a collection that consists of only two or three pricey items. And even worse, I wouldn't want to use them on a daily basis for fear of breaking or ruining them. I much prefer being able to scoop up new pieces whenever I want.

Milk glass is an excellent collectible. It's inexpensive, it's relatively easy to find, and it's pretty. It's also practical - I use it all the time. I like the curvaceous shapes and creamy colour. The hobnail pieces are like polka dots, but in a subtle, white-on-white way. Now that I think about it, they're kind of feminine.

The compote really looks girly with its slender stem and ruffled edge.

This weekend I found the squat little pitcher and the tall vase with the long neck and round bottom. I think I'll stick some flowers in them. See? Happiness, for only $4.50.