A present for a relative

I took a break from all that sewing for myself and have been working on something for my mum's cousin over in England who just retired on her 60th birthday. There was a long countdown to this day so I wanted to make her something to mark the occasion. I also know she very much appreciates the thought put into handmade gifts, even simple ones and it is always fun to sew for those people. This is a simple hot pad with patchwork and embroidery made with bits of material I had in my stash.

Henry and I are back in our regular routine since getting back from the vacation. We are appreciating the scenery and the nature that's a short walk away instead of a 4+ hour drive.

Henry's really working on his vocabulary too. He learned boat (bo) and rock (waw) while we were away. He still gets plenty of opportunity to show us rocks around here and he did point out a boat to me in a picture in a book the other day. And he's really into noses. He's been pointing at ours for a couple of weeks now and just a day or so ago he found his own by running his hand from the top of his head down his face till he feels it and he says 'no' in the sweetest voice. It's my number one goal at the moment to get a good video or picture even of him doing this but it hasn't worked out so far. He also likes grabbing onto his ears and pointing at our eyes but I've only got him to say 'eye' a couple times. I usually am very firm about him not touching my glasses but when he gently moves them out of the way so he can poke my eye it is so sweet I just have to let him. Oh and door, he started saying door all of a sudden usually when he wants you to open it and let him outside.

Summer Vacation

We just got back from a week away. We rented a cottage just outside of Tobermory, the tip of the Bruce Peninsula and did some hiking. It was just a 4 and a half hour drive from us. We had some rain but managed to get out and hike a bit each day. The Bruce trail goes for over 800 km so there was loads to do. It was a great area with lots of beautiful scenery. We took 651 pictures, here are a few of my favourites.

exploring the shore at our cottage
the flowerpots of flowerpot island
a shipwreckexploring caves

feeling the moss which we seem to have taught him is called "cool"

hiking along beautiful shoreline

Henry driving his train on Daddy's back while in the ergo, he also had most of his naps and plenty of snacks in there this week

playing at Singing Sands Beach

A glacial pothole at Lion's Head

the cliffs at Lion's Head

It was a great week, an awesome first family vacation just the 3 of us.

Nature Walk

Henry and I went on a nature walk this morning in Hillside Park, just a 5 minute walk from our house.
We explored the forest.


We explored the creek.
At first Henry only wanted to throw rocks into the water.
But then I put my feet in and he thought he might like to too. He liked to walk in and out of the water but only right at the edge while holding my hand.
And then he got more adventurous and wanted to walk down the creek right in the middle. Luckily he was happy enough to hold my hand while we walked along the creek a bit.
And on our way home we saw the most exciting things - cars!

Clothes for Amy

Ever since I got my Japanese pattern books in the mail I can't stop sewing. All of these clothes are from thrift store materials. Most of the patterns are from Happy Homemade Volume 1. This book is full of very simple clothes with small details like gathers and pleats that make them interesting. And the clothes are just my style - loose tops made of woven materials. Not flattering or fashionable but still make me feel cool. I still have more things that I want to sew from these books and a few winter versions in mind.

This is 'D' from Happy Homemade. I have worn it a couple times already. It also looks nice over a long sleeved T so this is the winter version as well.

This one is a bit of a mix of several of the patterns. They all have the same base size/shape so you know the sleeves of one will fit onto the body of another. So I just made a simple T-shirt because that was all the material that I had. I love this striped gauzey material that I found at the thrift store. This one really fits in with my casual wardrobe too. It is a bit restricting in the back so I added about an inch to the width of the back in subsequent tops.
These shorts are from the other book that I think I remember was called in English 'One Day Dresses and Tunics' but I can't seem to find it online right now. This is all I've made from this book so far but there is more on my list to make. These are made from a table cloth. It was fun to decide where to place the pattern on the shorts. And I added seam pockets.
These shorts are T from Happy Homemade, I just made them a bit longer, added the pockets, and made them flat fronted instead of having the elastic all the way around.

This is E from Happy Homemade, the yellow one here. I am learning more and more about fabric choice. This was a really nice fabric so it made a really nice top - lovely and drapey. I wasn't sure about the sleeve ruffles but I am glad I did them. I am finding it difficult to do a nice even hem on these wide tops - must work on that.

Henry at the Table

Taking and looking at pictures of my Henry is definitely still one of my absolute favourite things to do. I am in love with this series of pictures that Kevin took on Tuesday. Henry wasn't sitting up here long, just trying it out while Kev and I finished up our dinner. I think he got sad because I told him not to chew on the table.

Henry's Book

Kevin and I made Henry a little book yesterday. I took or found pictures of all the things he loves to point at and say their name and put them together in a little photo album for him. Kevin did something similar for his first birthday, made him a little story book about Henry's day that featured pictures of Henry and Henry has just recently started to really love that book. This new one has no words, it is just about pointing at pictures. It features several balls, cars (real and toy), an airplane (his new favourite thing to point at), and a couple pictures of his favourite dog Wilson.