Targa 10

Yesterday was a great day for a bike ride and I got to try out my new Targa 10.  Actually it's not so much new as it's just new to me.  My brother finished the bike he's been putting together for me over the past two months.  He bought almost every part used, even the seat here which looks brand new to me.  The seat is nice and padded with a built-in light on the back.

Last year I had to borrow his red Serengeti when we went for a few bike rides and I found I had to lean way forward on it as if I were racing.  It was hard on the back and I had to ride standing up every so often just to stretch out my shoulders.

The Targa is really comfortable by comparison since the handlebars curve back and I can ride it sitting very upright.  What a difference!

The cork handlebars are really unique and add a nice touch to the look, as does the gold bell.  There's only a bit more work to do on the bike; a kickstand and an old basket that he's going to attach over the back wheel.  Really cool - I enjoyed riding it yesterday to the Doors Open events around the city.

It Fits!

Dave sent me a photo of Anna with her new dress on yesterday - turns out that it wasn't too small after all.  What a relief!  Cute photo.  Happy Birthday Anna!

Anna on her 5th Birthday

Fabulous Five

After finishing the Easter Weekend Birthday Top for my mom last month there was one more sewing project that I tackled before focusing on packing for the new house; that was a little dress for my friend's daughter Anna who turns five tomorrow.

I bought a small dress pattern back in the winter and had to ask a mother at Fabricland how to decipher clothing sizes for children.  She advised that the single-digit sizes matched approximately with the age of the child so I found a pattern that included pieces for sizes 5-10. 

On Queen St. I had managed to score some great fabric end pieces  to put this dress together.  The skirt was a soft micro-fiber that was a brilliant shade of blue. I loosely followed the instructions but mainly created the dress based on what I had already learned from my last few sewing projects. I chose to double-up the layers for the top portion so that there was a clean lining of the same fabric on the inside.  Then I sewed the top and matching lining together with cream-coloured piping along the neckline for some detail.

Cream coloured trim to make the skirt more interesting

After mostly finishing the construction of the dress I decided to add some more detail and pops of colour.  I chose red buttons along the front and red binding to close off the arm holes.  On the back of the dress I put in a matching red zipper and red binding to create a bow.  Normally I like using invisible zippers but didn't in this project so I could show off the lovely red colour.  Finally I added some extra cream stitching along the seams of the skirt to give the dress a more complete look.

Since finishing the dress last month I've thought to myself often, why didn't I make this a size 6 just in case it doesn't fit Anna?  Having seen her earlier this week (after a long period of not seeing her) I'm now skeptical it is too small, and unfortunately the fabric is not stretchy.  I think it would be a little heartbreaking to see her realize that she's outgrown her birthday dress before having worn it even once!  Well I guess I'll find out this weekend.  Even if it just lasts for this summer I'd be satisfied!

Cream stitching along the seams of the skirt

Are Dandelions Really The Enemy?

Today Mike and I are taking advantage of the gorgeous 24 deg weather and spending it in the front yard trying to get rid of several years of weed growth.  The people previously occupying this house were renting and clearly weren't too invested on how the gardens looked.  Our neighbours were quite happy to see us both out there this morning attacking the dandelions and we got several comments from people walking along the street. "A long way to go..." one man said as he smiled.  "God help you!" another couple sympathized. It made me laugh.

It's sort of odd that people spend so much time getting rid of dandelions which, when you stop to look at them, are actually quite nice, I think.  They're like happy cloud balls.  Well as you can see in the photo below our whole front yard is covered in happy cloud balls!  I went around clipping off the heads to try and contain the spores while Mike meticulously uprooted them.  Our yard is going to be pretty splotchy when we're done removing all of these from the lawn!

We had some visitors while we were gardening as well.  Two stray cats came around curiously  to see what we were up to (I assume they are stray since they didn't have collars).  I still had the camera out from photographing the dandelions so I managed to catch a picture of them sneaking up on Mike.

This black and white cat came right up to me while I was kneeling in the yard and gave me a great big stretch. It was pretty cute.  They stayed for a few minutes snooping around and then moved onto the neighbour's yard.

Ok, well it looks like our lunch break is over so it's time to head back out to finish up the front yard!

Construction Challenge

On Sunday Mike and I sat down to enjoy the season finale of Amazing Race Season 20.  I used to watch this show religiously but then stopped after a few episodes into Season 8 when they had the Family Edition (whose horrible idea was that?)  Anyway I started to pick up the show again half way through this season and forgot how much I love watching the challenges.

After enjoying the season finale and feeling completely charged up Mike and I decided to start assembling the new dresser we had picked up from Ikea in the afternoon.  Our clothes are currently still randomly strewn about the bedroom or hidden in boxes somewhere and we've been itching to properly unpack.  This is what the new dresser looks like.  We couldn't believe how perfectly sized it was, just right for the little   alcove in our bedroom (maybe an inch clearance total).

The time on the clock was 10:16pm.  We laid out all the wooden pieces....on the mattress, on cardboard boxes, on the floor.  Then we found the bag of screws, washers, and dowel pins for assembling everything together :O

Oh dear.

We separated all the contents of the bag into nice neat piles.  By now it was 10:30pm.  Somehow the energy I had gained from watching strangers on t.v complete a day of physical challenges was already draining from my body.  We decided this particular challenge would have to be tackled another day and packed it all back up.  Phil Keoghan would be shaking his head right now.