Flea marketing

I've mentioned it before, but how great is the Sunday Market at the St. Lawrence? I go there fairly often but sometimes I really just don't find anything I need to bring home. Last week I went and kept finding things. The first item was the tin tartan picnic basket pictured above.

I saw one just like it in the window of Liv (by Au Lit Linens, on Eglinton) and was thinking "note to self - come back when the store's open and try to buy it". I see lots of these on ebay too. The faux bois ones are nice, and another fave motif is the faux basket weave ones. Price for this one: $30.
The second item was this pretty green planter. I have a thing for vintage planters, I put all kinds of things in them. Such as buttons and trim or office supplies. Price for this one: $10.

My favourite area in the market is the shop in the corner called Antiques at the St. Lawrence. I found a charming vintage Peek Frean tin there. Why don't cookies come in these anymore?? I use these tins for sewing supplies and it really does keep things organized. That's right, I'm pretending it's practical. Cost for the tin: $8.

Then last but not least, I've been keeping an eye out for one of the above for months. It's dark green, made of cast iron I suppose, very heavy, and it has a nice decorative detail to it. I'm wondering now if you know what it is? I'll tell you later but you can guess if you like! Price for the fabulous mystery green item: $20.

I try to set up some kind of budget before going to Sunday Market, such as "if you find something really great you can buy it but don't spend more than $50". This time I was in a splurgy mood. But I was still trying to make sure it wasn't a question of being tempted by things I don't really need that would just lead to clutter and regret..

Whether or not I needed the items pictured, I leave up to you to judge (in your head.. I don't really want you to tell me if you think I'm nuts). But suffice it to say they certainly made me very happy. That was a good day.

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Springtime branches

It's that time of year again. I brought some Forsythia branches in last week to force them to bloom. I thought it might have been too early in the year, the buds were quite small and brown and kind of dry looking and it didn't seem like they'd be ready to bloom any time soon. But it worked!

All you do is cut some branches from a tree that blossoms in spring. If you can find some cherry branches, those are gorgeous. Then before you arrange them in water, clip an extra cut at the bottom of the branch so that it can draw up the water better. Wait a few days and you will see your branch start to blossom.

A nice way to cheer things up inside as you wait for your garden to bloom.

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I re-love the IKEA dining set

Sometimes I post something and then I think it needs a little follow-up. In this case it's the IKEA Fusion dining set. I loved it when we bought it and it did fit perfectly into our kitchen eat-in area. But I was never really happy with the cushions.

The set comes with the seats covered in a black matte vinyl? fabric. I really didn't like it. So I used an aqua and white striped fabric I had on hand to recover them. But I made some mistakes. First of all I didn't pre-wash the fabric and I had bought it 2nd hand so it turns out that there were dusty marks on it. I didn't notice until later.

Also I didn't remove the black fabric that was already there since it was attached with about 1000 staples. This isn't a good idea because it doesn't feel right and there was a subtle dark shadow from having the black underneath the white and blue striped fabric.

So this time I was determined to do it right. (if something is worth doing, etc...) For some reason I was picturing a green and white print and finally found the perfect one at a fabric store on Queen West. The best part is that it was a fabric that was usually $19/yard but I found an end piece that was around 1.5 yards for only $10! The green colour was exactly what I was looking for, and it was a nice upholstery weight with a lovely smooth feel to it.

Bradley helped remove the 1000 staples and I attached the new fabric and now I re-love the IKEA dining set. Yay!

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Knitted bag: After!

Ok, so the Toronto Craft Alert Get Er Done Giveway worked. I finished the lining for my knitted bag yesterday. I also worked out a way to line a bag like this with a handle as part of the main shape, so I can show you that too. I think that was the main reason I was procrastinating... I wasn't sure at first how to do it.

First of all, this is why you have a stash. I was able to just rummage through my fabric to find one that would work. I wanted one with some stiffness to offset the floppiness of a knitted bag and give it some structure. I chose a pink upholstery fabric that went with the colours in the bag and had a pretty motif of bunches of white daisies.
So I cut out the main lining piece, attached a pocket to it, hemmed the top ends of it and sewed the sides together.Then I cut two strips for the top part, folded them in half lengthwise and sewed them together. This creates a strip with a finished edge to be the top part of the lining. As you can see in the picture the back of the fabric has a lot of threads for the daisy embroidery, so this helps prevent snags as well.
These are the finished strips.

Then I turned the bag inside out with the main part of the lining pinned in place and the top strips pinned in place. Then hand sewed the strips to attach them to the main part of the lining, except for the areas where the gap was for the handles. Then I hand sewed around the handle gap and around the top of the bag to attach the lining.

It's hard to describe but hopefully you can kind of see what's going on in the picture:And now it's finally done! I have too many bags now so this one may make an appearance at the Hunt & Gather Trunk Show...

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Toronto Craft Alert: Get Er Done Giveaway

Is it wrong that I procrastinated in posting my craft slacker project? So this is it. I craft all the time, as you know, and I'm pretty good about finishing things. But I do have my share of unfinished craft projects. Let's call it the basket of shame. For some reason I like to knit bags and pouches - almost as much as sewing them - but I never seem to get them finished.

Sewing the linings and zippers for knitted projects can be pesky. So this is the batch of knitted but not finished things I'd like to finish. The main offender is the knitted bag, which has nice stripes made of blended yarns and I really like it, but it needs a lining. That's it! It's been sitting around for years. I'm guessing it was abandoned in 2005. Well this is it's big chance to get finished.

It's not to late to enter yourself, all the details are on the Toronto Craft Alert website.

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