Halloween!

Ok so kiddo wanted to be a zombie for Halloween this year - we got all the clothes at Value Village for a total cost of $12. These first two pics were taken just after we cut up all the clothing. You can see his cute face here too :)
And then these are on Halloween evening after I did his makeup.





The blood is made from Maple syrup, powdered milk, a bit of cocoa and red food colouring. It was pretty difficult to wash off at the end of the night - sticky but looks real doesn't it?

Fall Y'all Bloggy Giveaway!

CONTEST IS NOW CLOSED!
Check out who won here.

Check out more great give aways at Shannon's Bloggy Giveaways!

Ok I am a slacker and didn't remember that the Fall Y'all Blogger Giveaway started today - so I am not prepared - however....

I will be giving away a great Mystery box full of goodies! Think teas, lotions, bubble bath, maybe a book, some chocolate - you get the idea.

Leave me a comment (make sure I have your email address!) before Friday November 2nd at 9pm to be entered in the draw - I will pick one lucky winner and notify them via email by Monday.

Canada & U.S. Residents only.

UPDATE: Please make sure I can access your email address - several comments I have checked have private blogger profiles - meaning I can't see your email addresses and that means you can't win - wouldn't that suck! Make sure I can access your email address!

Thanks!

Couple more basement update pics

The guys came back to put up the cabinet doors for me and install the quarter round in the kitchen/dining area. I looks really nice down there now.

More basement updates - new flooring

We had the basement painted last week and the flooring in the basement was done this week. Wood laminate in the kitchen/dining area and carpet everywhere else.

The living room.The kitchen/dining area.

Current state of bathroom.
Carpet in hall & back room.
Decorative column.

A view into the kitchen area and of the other decorative column - that unpainted area on the wall will be covered with a cabinet.

A strange view of the hall closet and new carpet.

View from the living room into the kitchen - carpet in living room - wood laminate in kitchen - those blue boxes are weighing down the transition strip between the carpet and wood floor as it was glued to the concrete instead of being nailed.The bedroom carpeted.

I be sick :(

DH & I both have colds - he brought it home the other day. I am all stuffy and my throat is getting sore. So far DS is fine.

DH has been home 2 days. That is very unusual for him - he has to be feeling really poorly to stay home - he is however, calling in to meetings today. Just pushing the mute button often so he can cough :)

I am sitting at my desk in my comfy thrift store sweater and have a nice scented jar candle lit (not that I can smell it very well - but still). I am going to make a pot of green raspberry tea in a bit to keep me warm.

We had the carpet in the basement apt installed yesterday and the hardwood floor for the kitchen/dining room will be installed on Thursday. I will update with pictures later today.

Since I was sick yesterday, I was lazy and didn't plan dinner - we ended up ordering pizza - but they had a buy one get one free deal - so we got two large pizzas and ate most of one last night and a whole one in the fridge for tonight.

Look what came in the mail today!

I bought these 5" quilt squares off eBay - 30 pcs of 30 different fabrics all in pink shades. I bought two packages.I am going to add a strip of this fabric around all the squares in one set and then find a different pink to trim the other set of 30 in - then I am going to put sashing of yet another pink between alternating blocks - that make sense?

Note - these are not yet attached - I just placed them this wasy for the picture.

Friday Again

A little chilly here today - only a high of 15C. Not turning the heat on yet - wearing a sweater (my new-to-me one from my thrift shopping), and drinking tea keeps me warm.

Still at the task of washing all my new fabric finds - this is SO time consuming. Each has to be tested in a bucket first to ensure it doesn't run and then washed with other like coloured fabrics if it doesn't. I still have about 6 more pieces to go.

I have been perusing quilting blogs all day and wanting to create so many different quilts now. I have so many I have to finish first.

I have worked a bit on my antique rose lap quilt - I started this quilt years ago - I have now gone as far as I can - because I have run out of the fabric and still need one more block for the middle and then backing and binding - I will hunt up some fabric on Saturday that will at least coordinate with the rest. I am thinking something like the light green to lighten it all up a bit and burgundy or hunter green for the back.


I also layed out my denim quilt to attach the batting and back - haven't done anything yet - still thinking on how best to approach this. I was mistakenly under the impression that I was to sew all the edges together and then tie it - but now I may have to bind it (?). I dunno, I'll wait and see.


And finally, I have been working on my multi-block quilt - I have done a couple more blocks and have played around with how to place them - still several more to make of course, and I have to find a fabric colour that will tie all the others in together.


So no major plans for this evening - watching The Ghost Whisperer and then Moonlight with the kid.

Have any of you seen Moonlight yet? The leading man is SO good looking, even for a vampire :) My son is getting tired of how many times I say Mick's eyes are dreamy LOL.

Kind of a cheesy show - it has been done SO many times before but a nice bit of fluff for a Friday evening.

I am going back to Value Village tomorrow with a friend, so I will be posting if I find anymore fabulous finds - we are going to look for Halloween costumes for da kid, but you never know....:)

Have a great weekend!

Works for me Wednesday - Cleaning in bursts

I find I work better - housework especially, if I set a time limit and rush to get things done in that time frame.

This really works for me and I often get into a groove and just keep cleaning past the alloted time.

Just now I set the time limit at 30 minutes and got the following done:

• Tested a large pc of fabric for colourfastness - it ran :(
• Put it in the washer by itself.
• Tested 2 more pcs of fabric that didn't run and were like colours.
• Emptied dishwasher - put dishes away
• Filled dishwasher and ran
• Emptied dish rack - put dishes away
• Washed all remaining dishes by hand
• Took fabric out of washer and put into dryer
• Put 2 other pcs of fabric into washer
• Took Lysol wipe and cleaned powder room mirror, sink, faucet, and toilet. Dryed everything with a clean rag.

For more great tips on what Works - check out Works for me Wednesday over at Shannon's place.

Thanksgiving Weekend

Tomorrow is Thanksgiving here in Canada - we don't tend to make a big ta do about it. Growing up we did - as it was a big thing that all 6 kids and spouses and children attended. Now we don't do that anymore - we used to all get together at Mom & Dad's house - now that they are gone - we don't get together as often. Kinda sad - but we are more scattered about and no one really had the space to get everyone over - I suppose we do now - but I don't have a dining room set and don't plan on getting one - so I don't know how I would seat more than 6. Maybe I will try for a post-holiday get-together in January and just not serve a sit down meal.


Yesterday was 27C here - gorgeous weather! Today it is only 15C - Brrrr! I went out grocery shopping this morning - I should have brought a jacket.


K is headed to Home depot a couple cities (Ajax) away to get this desk & matching bookcase for J's room. The two home depots nearby are all sold out.



I really should be washing all the fabric I have bought recently - I just love looking at it - it is kind of like when you were a kid and got all nice new clean school supplies - it was almost too nice to use. And I wish I could just use this stuff without washing it but I know I shouldn't. It is just a hassle to test each one for colour-fastness.

If anyone has any suggestions on how I can use all those lengths (and there are several) of lace I got at the thrift shop yesterday - please tell me - I bought them because they looked so nice and were cheap but I haven't the first clue as to what to do with them.

More thrift store finds

So today I spent the day with my sister again. She picked me up at 7:30am and we headed out to find some yard sales - we only found only but I scored these two framed cross-stitch pictures fro $2 each! The frames alone cost more than that - they now look great hanging in my laundry room.


These are new fabrics I bought at WalMart - $4, $3.77 & $5.98 a metre.


Then we drove a few towns away to go put a vase and silk flowers on my parents grave.
After that we hit the local Value Village. I found more great buys.


There is about 6 metres of this fabric. It was $6.99 .This one is about a metre - $1.99
A little over a meter - $1.99
These are window toppers but I will rip the stitching out and use for quilting - $2.99 for two long window toppers.

I am planning on making a quilt out of several brown coloured fabrics I have - this will be the back. It's about 2 metres - it will only be a lap quilt - this is a wool like fabric - $6.99
More fabric for backs of a quilt - this one has about 8 metres! $4.99
About 3 metres - $4.99
About 3 metres of this one - $1.99


About 3 metres of this one too - $2.99Then I found this mystery bag of laces - $1.99

Here is what we have inside - several metres of at least 6 different types of laces. Here are four.And another four.
Near the cemetery - there is this house - two years ago I first noticed it - it wasn't finished yet then - it looks finished now but still seems empty - I love this house. I looks like a castle to me.