FAVOURITE THINGS FRIDAY....BAGS!

I love making bags!  I'm the bag lady of the family.  I used to make jean bags with jeans about a size 6 for kids.  I'd put fabric pens in the pockets, and put a strap on the jeans so that the kids would have little overnight bags to bring to Nana's house.

Then, I started making these jean bags as birthday gifts for granddaughters' friends which were always a huge hit.

Tory, granddaughter of mine went to a girl's house recently, and saw a jean bag.
She knew it was made by her Nana, so she
asked the girl where she got it.   From her
babysitter when she was 5 she said.

Yep, my other  granddaughter Courtney  had given it to her as a birthday gift that many years ago.

So, I still make bags.  The recycling experience has been awesome for me.
One year, a friend and I made the jean bags in larger sizes for groceries as
Christmas presents.  A big success.

I'm still stopped and asked where I got
the jean bag I use weekly.

The bags above were given as gifts of course
and are used all the time.

The little travel bag is a cake.  Not made by me, but I loved it of course and if I was to get one of these, I'd definitely eat the kangaroo on my way to Australia.

These bags you see were made this week.
Today, the two with the red straps are copies of my mother's 50 year old bag with me making the larger one as I up the anty on my bag lady experiences.

On rainy days here at the cottage, I can
be found at the machine making bags.  This little one I made last year to try and please my mother, but it wasn't heavy enough for her.  Not substantial she said..get canvas.

That is canvas, but light, so now these are all doubled and are used by my mother and the cast offs of her displeasure are used by the grandchildren and their friends.

I used to have cards made up called "Baggie Jeans"  just so that I'd have a different card with which to identify my bag lady status.

So the tradition continues.

AUTUMN DAY ON THE LAKE!

I've said that our friends Mary and Bob are here for the week.  Well the weather isn't the greatest at times, so Mary decided to knit.  These fingerless gloves are a huge hit with young and old.  So very cute and so simple to make.

I make them for charities at the hospitals and also am now making them for shelters so that people can feel good at times of need.

We have had rain on and off, but when the sun came out yesterday, we packed up goodies and took an afternoon boat ride on the lake.

We came upon this sweet cottage all locked up, sitting forelorn on a point of the lake.  I hadn't been to this end of the lake for a few years and didn't remember this little beauty.

This is happy me with Wilson the Wonder dog on the lake.  He loves putting on his very cute red boat coat.  It was such a great day that after this photo was taken I removed the jacket as it was just too warm.  Imagine, September 28th...

As we cruised the lake, we saw a little waterfall that was trickling down and we all commented that next year we would be back in the spring to see the gushers!


I have been quilting a bit.  I had this fabric which was my mother's material from the Virgin Islands.  Well her little pouch that has been her favourite for 50 years, finally bit the dust, so I took the bag apart, copied the bag, quilted this little bag for her.  The ends are recycled from her canvas bag and she will just love it.  On the right top is Tortola BVI...Bliss for my mom who is 92 yrs old.

 Oh, and the bear has visited our neighbours again.   We are told that it will probably be back and back for the next couple or years.  OMG!

MONDAY'S CHILD...THAT WAS ME YESTERDAY...

 Yesterday was my birthday.  Oh I don't dwell on it because I've had more birthdays behind me than I do coming to me.   My friend Mary arrived with a blueberry pie (which is my fav) and it was the most delicious ever.  She used 5 cups of blueberries so you know she didn't skimp!

It's been fabulous fall weather and of course lots of people get married in the fall.  The door was at a country wedding that my daughter and her kids attended over the weekend.

Isn't that just the most clever way of using an old door?  The bride's family live on the farm where the wedding was held.  I am definitely going to look for
an old door like this!

 I wish I could say I took this photo of the sunrise last weekend, but alas, it was taken by someone else.  The person didn't leave their name, just the photo on a weather site.

Isn't it just perfect?  It looks so eirie.

We have many strange mornings at the lake in the fall.  We are now being inundated with falling acorns.  They are
everywhere!  It's taking one's life in peril
to walk near them.  Or worse to step on
them on the ground.  They are like ball
bearings.

Fall days at the cottage also bring a calm to the waters that sometimes the reflections are such that it is hard to tell up or down in the photos of scenery.

The pines are blowing their needles this year also and when there is a breeze, it's
raining pine needles. 

Here is a photo of the wedding people all dressed up.  Our boy loves dressing up.  The life of everyone is so busy these days that to get together to have a photo op is special.

The days are getting shorter for sure.  We are now quite dark by 8 pm.  But that means we get to see the beautiful stars at night here since there is so few people on the lake it is very dark indeed.

THIS IS SO CUTE!

Roz sent me this from California.  It took forever to arrive at our little post office.

Roz said she sent one to Israel and Italy too and they had received theirs a while ago.  Snail mail for sure.

Anyway this is so cute.  I expect that when I travel to Florida this fall that this will carry my needles.

I love this.. it's like a little purse and
it is so delicate to see. Thank you Roz

I noted on her blog that she had a cook book in print too, so have a boo there.

It is an absolutely beautiful fall day here at the cottage. So much so that we took our last cup of coffee to have on the dock.  Those days will come to an end soon enough so we take each as it comes.

While I came up from Whitby on Friday,
it was raining for most of the way, but still
the colours of autumn are breathtaking.

I took this photo while driving up highway 35 to Dorset.  It doesn't do the colours justice, but still the trees are in full autumn bloom.

The loons are busy here too when the lake is calm out our way.  There is lots of little bass at the end of our dock so the loons get a full feed.

Yesterday a humming bird was at our flowers who are looking pretty sick these days, but Helen, who is only a few cottages away saw a fat hummer getting his last feed from her feeder before heading to warmer climates.

All around us there are closers.  The lake is beginning to have fewer and fewer of us hardy folks around.  Next week there will only be a couple of us here, but for the Thanksgiving weekend, many return to close for the season. 

Just an update on the bear issue....the bear is gone...hopefully for good, but we are ever vigilant at night.  Just so that he doesn't tear the door off the garbage bin we have left it open....no garbage in it, but he doesn't know that.