All's right in the world!

So I finally have my sewing machine back and in working order! Yeah - it's been a long hard 2 1/2 weeks. But in that time I collected lots of treasures to work with and I scored a great 2nd hand work table!

I also got my work space organized and now I can actually find stuff!

I had this cd cabinet that I turned sideways and was able to really utilize it for storage!

I made these great and incredibly cheap thread organizers for under $10.00! I bought bamboo cutting boards at the Dollar Store and used 2" finish nails and then mounted them with double sided tape.

Pretty cool right?!

And check out this awesome tote made out of a recycled dog food bag!
Recycled Tote

My Sisters Keeper

Mondays are always laundry day for my sister and I. And whilst our washers and dryers are hard at work this is our time to catch up on each others lives. We live about 400 kms away from each other so this is done in the comfort of our own homes but we couldn't be closer. And this week we had lots to catch up on - she's been out of the country since Dec 28th so we've been missing our weekly chats. She shared with me all of her shopping adventures and Beals bargains - and yes, people she can smell a bargain! While I, on the other hand told her all about my second hand shop finds and about this amazing artist I encountered at the Seaport Market who will make your grandmothers antique china into jewelry! My sister has fallen heir to our grandmothers collection of china teacups and saucers so we've decided to commission this young lady to craft some pieces for ourselves and for our Mom as a surprise for her. If any of you are interested I would be happy to pass along her business card information.
I also spent the day exploring ways to further grow my business and researching ways to bring people to my blog. If your reading this then hopefully some of what I've ventured into has worked!
Tomorrow my beloved sewing machine will be back home where it rightfully belongs and I am too excited to begin some of my new projects - and I'll bring you guys along! Right now I'm going to try to fashion some jewelry out of the odds and sods of leather and suede bits that I've been sparing from the trash bin....

Just a Sunday

Started the day off with a very cold walk to the park with Floyd.

My ever eager walking buddy! Came home and had a nice hot buttered rum hot chocolate - Yum!
Still no sewing machine so I had to busy myself with other things. Baked a cherry pie - my favorite! I`m worse than Homer Simpson when it comes to pie - just can`t resist! Then I slow-baked some ribs in the oven with a honey mustard sauce and even though I don`t eat meat myself, they looked amazing and my son said they were the best ribs he`s ever had and his girlfriend claimed they were better than Jack Astors! So I`m feeling pretty proud and thought I`d share the recipe -

Honey Mustard Barbecue Baked Baby Back Ribs
2 racks of baby back ribs
1c orange juice
.5 c honey
.5 c yellow mustard
.5 c ketchup
.5 c cider vinegar
2 T worcestershire sauce
1 T soy sauce
1 t of your favorite hot sauce
Preheat your oven to 300 degrees
Arrange the ribs in a large roasting pan. Whisk together the remaining ingredients and pour over the ribs, turning the meat once or twice to evenly coat it.  Cover the pan as tightly as possible with foil.
Bake the ribs for 3 hrs. Remove the foil and continue baking for another hour, turning the ribs a few times to baste them.
Arrange the ribs on a serving platter. Pour off any fat that has accumulated with the sauce and pour the sauce over the ribs. Serve and Enjoy!

I threw some whole garlic cloves wrapped in foil in the oven and served the ribs with baked potatoes with roasted garlic and sour cream. And had a side of fresh squash that I had picked up at the market yesterday. Very yummy!

And because I had so much idle time while everything was in the oven, I created a new -
Treasury List
And I did it using Shmetsy.com. Wish I had known about this site months ago - what a quick and easy way to create a treasury and then to notify all of the featured artists at once is a real time saver! And other than that I just tweeked my ads a bit.

So all in all it was a day spent in the kitchen and not my workroom but tomorrow`s another day!

Virgin Blogger

Ok so as the title would indicate this is indeed my very first blog post! So where to begin.... Well I spent the better part of my day today in salvage mode as my sewing machine is still at the cleaners - well being serviced! Started out at our city market - left armed with a french baguette, fresh Gouda, and some wool roving - can't wait to try my hand at dry felting! I love the colors - so excited!

Next I hit up as many second hand stores as my legs would allow - kind of a disappointing day but I did score a couple of pieces of 100% wool clothing so wet felting will also be added to my list of projects! I did find some great suede pieces but they were a little pricey so I decided to wait for a sale day to pick those up. They were very out-dated, fashion wise so I'm pretty sure they will still be there - fingers crossed!

Being without my sewing machine for almost 2 weeks has at least afforded me time to get my work room cleaned up and organized but, note to self - get a spare sewing machine!!! Must check Kijiji immediately!

Came home and checked my e-mail (as always) - well had to great my furry little loves first!

And while I had no Etsy sales today - darn - I did have a very pleasant surprise in my inbox. One of my bags  was featured on someone else's blog! How cool is that?! I was so completely thrilled!
http://juliemarieshop.blogspot.com/p/sellers-showcase.html
So, of course I visited her shop and just had to share one of her items with everyone.

Gorgeous Wristlet/Zippered PouchI love the colors in this set!! Beautiful!

So all in all a pretty happy day!