Alice in Wonderland- Alice does the Futterwacken.

Market Day ~ a new lifestyle ~ 1940's style

After watching the 1940's House, twice, my husband and I have decided to make some changes to our current lifestyle. We decided to try to purchase our groceries from the local farmers. We have three days a week where the local farmers meet at our central market square and today was the first day to try to implement the beginning of these changes.

It looks like I will be able to purchase veggies, preserves, vinegars and even spices. I will be able to get meat there also but no fish. We purchased eggs but no chicken and no cheese or milk. There is a local dairy here and we are planning a trip there this week to see what we can get our hands on. As some of you know we already made homemade ice cream this year so I need to find some milk! Hahahahaha

My back is still not in the best of shape and I now have an MRI appointment to see if we can find out what the issue is. Due to this I have managed to put on a bit of weight (about 10 pounds) as I am unable to workout as I normally do. I feel this new way of shopping for food will also help us to implement better eating habits. If we have to bake muffins ourselves we will most likely have them less often... you get my meaning.

So Here is what we purchased today:

Fresh farm free range eggs! One was broken when I got home... booo! I will have to be more careful on my next outing. These cost $3.00

The tomatoes seemed to be the most pricey at $4.00 for three! Although they are on the large side. The Red potatoes are lovely however a big shock to me when I washed them. I was scrubbing them with my veggitable brush as I normally do and all the skin started to come off. They are so delicate and have nothing added to make the skin tough... new to me! They were $4.00.

The zucchini is fabulous and cost $.50 a piece (we purchased two)! I LOVE zucchini as does my husband so what a bargain that was! They are also HUGE compared to what we have been purchasing at the local grocery. Then green onions are also huge and cost $1.50

$2.00 for Asparagus, again much larger then we are used to seeing. I steamed these right away and I have to tell you they are delicious ~ far more flavourful than the grocery ones!

Now I am a big salad girl and this lettuce was nicely packaged, already taken apart and a nice mix of different lettuces in one bag. $1.50 for this fabulous selection.

So a total of  $17.00

Now I will have to keep track next time of the prices just to be sure of what I am spending but this seems to be much more food for much less money than we are use to paying. Not to mention that we are eating locally which is suppose to be much better for you.

We also purchased two thick pork chops for grilling but they are still frozen and not so appealing looking as far as a photo goes..hahahaha. They cost $4.00 for the two of them. The Butcher seems to carry a great selection so I will keep you posted as to what's great and not so great!

For some strange reason I am more conscious of what I am doing with the food I purchased today. I washed everything (my Mum would be so proud) I even washed the eggs! I feel almost protective of my purchases, drying them gently and letting them dry naturally in the kitchen windows late day sunlight. I also feel much more aware of what I am getting for my money. I honestly normally just grab stuff off the shelf and don't even look at the price. Its rather exciting.

We also started a nice herb garden this year and have been able to use our own seasonings.

Now the next thing to implement back into the routine is walking to the market and to work and not using the car as often. This one is a bit more difficult to get started... I can do it!

It will be interesting to see if anything happens with my health, weight and just general well being... We really are a wasteful society in todays day as things are so accessible. We forget sometimes what it is like not to have. Being the 1940's girl I thought I should try to do my part to live like a 1940's girl and this is a good start!

Bright Star - A Room Of Butterflies

Where Blogger’s Create party ~ Welcome to Seraphim Bears Studio Spaces

My Desert Cottage - Where Blogger's Create party

Hello everyone:

For those of you who are new to my blog I should first explain what I do. I am a teddy bear artist making one of a kind collectible bears for the adult collector. I am also an award winning quilt and doll artist.. in my spare time hahahahaha. I work full time helping to run a family business of brewing wine but no matter how tired I am at the end of the day... I am still an artist at heart and cannot live without my art so I always find time for my bears.

I think I have the biggest creative space of anyone I know... that is because my studio is only a name not a place. I work whenever and wherever I can.

 My Tiki garden workspace (built for me by my husband) where on beautiful, sunny, hot days I sit with my mohair and in shaded delight and cut bear parts so they are ready to be packaged for rainy days of sewing when I am confined to indoor spaces.

 Or I sit and work on my deck in the company of my Pug and am inspired by the view of my garden.

There is always time for a pug kiss!

I have a portable vintage Singer Featherweight machine that comes with me everywhere.

My Featherweight and Janome

My new quilted teacup design was originally created for a new set of bears...to be seen in the URSA awards contest... now I have fallen in love with them. They will be available in many colours to give you a lovely place to display your Seraphim teacup size bears. "Spot o tea" anyone?

I also have two other machines one of which was my grandmothers Singer 319K which needs to stay at home as it is super heavy and in a cabinet and the other is my modern Janome used for all my bear accessories and quilts but not for making the bears themselves.

My dining room with a big window directly behind my work space is great for fine detail work!

Working in the house on the Janome 6600 making a quilt for my grandmother's 90th Birthday.

My lounge area for rainy day creativity... in the company of my handsome Italian Greyhound. The inspiration flows naturally for beautiful expressive bear faces with my IG ,  pug and two Siamese cats around who have the sweetest most expressive faces.

I am an only child and travelled most of my growing up years and therefore found a hidden gift in having a forever changing scenery. I find inspiration in unusual places and can work wherever there is an outlet... or no outlet as I have been known to whip out my needle and thread and create in the middle of the woods.

How can you not be inspired by the beauty offered by life itself? This rabbit visits me often and is so absolutely stunning... I see another bunny creation coming soon!

I cannot tell you how many times I have come up with a new design or name for my bears and quilts while lounging in the tub with some nice bubbles. It's my favourite place to design. My mind is relaxed there and I keep all my art magazines, a pad of paper and a pen handy so I can either jot down an idea or name or browse through fabulous colourful pages that trigger my creative side.

Try ending your day with a 10 to 20 minute bath and keep a pad of paper and pen handy... you'll be surprised at how many ideas you get when you have a quiet moment to yourself.

My machine and I ARE my studio and in that my surroundings are forever changing and I am never short of inspiration whether it be something new in my setting itself or the people around me. I cannot tell you how many times someone has walked by and seen me sewing in a public place and began an inspiring and interesting conversation with me that has later influenced a bear or quilt.

Here I am all set up at the family business of brewing wine and beer. In-between setting up customers I sew with my handy Featherweight. My customers are forever sneaking behind our barrier wall to see what creations are being made this time! They are almost always the very first to see a new bear or quilt and have many times been the influence for a name, new colour choice or design.

I hope you have enjoyed a little peak into my forever changing creative space. It has been fun sharing with you and I welcome you to continue following my journey in creativity.

Don't forget to join me back here for the "A MAD TEA PARTY"  blog post. It's a Wonderland blog party celebration hosted by A Fanciful Twist on June 26th. Its going to be wonderfully mad!

Sneak Peek URSA entries

Hello everyone:

Just wanted to give you a sneak peek of my latest set of bears that I am entering into the URSA awards this month.

I think it is pretty obvious but I know what they are. Can you tell? How many? What size? 

The deadline is June 21st so we're almost there and then I will post a link so you can all go and vote for your favourites!

I am working to get another bear done for the awards also but we shall see if TIME is on my side, I don't want to be too late... (Hint for the above)... hehehehehe

Cats Love Wine

Hello everyone:

While I am here working to get the final touches done on my bears for the URSA awards competition I thought I would send you out a little hello and show you a couple photos of an interesting bottling that took place at our business...

Isn't that just cool!

Cats love wine

Cats love bats

Cats love wine

I just had to share this with you as it is not a sight to be seen every day!

Purrrrrrrrr

Short can still be sweet

Today I did a little "victory rolls" in my hair. I was really happy with the way it turned out. It's a little difficult to deal with as my hair is really short for these styles, but I still think it turned out sweet! This is after a long day at work in one of the hottest days ever... we are having a heat-wave and our air conditioner broke at home. We lived through two days of that over the long weekend (of course) and today we got it fixed! Yay! Thank Goodness I had all that homemade ice cream in the freezer.... hahahaha!