Do you shop at your local mall?

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I plan on going to the mall this morning.  I haven't been in ages.  What I mean by a mall is where are a number of stores are all under one roof, and you can go from store to store without going outside.

Going to the mall used to be such a big deal but nowadays I think they are a thing of the past.  Not sure if it's something to do with age or just the sign of the times; but maybe malls are on their way out?

I do a lot of shopping online, got a couple of parcels this week and honestly it is a heck of a lot easier ordering online than dealing with parking the car and fighting the crowds of people.

I could order online what I want from the mall, but you know what I could do with a few extra steps in, so walking round an air conditioned mall doesn't seem like a bad idea this morning.

Do you go shopping in the mall?

A few more photos of stock from Appleby Lane..

I made this pair of dinner plate cozies.  They are just like the soup bowl cozies but for dinner plates.  I have some large dinner plates that are 11 inches wide and they fit great on these.  They will be on my store site for $25 a pair.

 I made a matching pair of soup bowl cozies as well.  The back fabric is black on both sets.  They are fully reversible, washable, and they are 100% cotton, so are perfectly safe in the microwave.  The soup bowl set is $15.  If you take the matching pair of both the soup bowl and dinner plate cozies as a bundle it costs $35, so a savings of $5.  There is shipping on top of that, but I have a shipping special on at the moment.

I do have a couple other sets of soup bowl cozies ready to ship (see below).  I can make other's if you have a specific colour that you would prefer.  They make a perfect housewarming gift with a couple of soup bowls and some "fancy" soup mix........or make your own soup mix in a jar which is pretty easy. 

I am amazed these pouch and wristlet set's have not sold yet?  They are so useful and very versatile.  With the cork bottom and detachable wristlet/key ring they can do double duty.  Not sure which one I like the more?  How about you?

As not everyone goes onto Facebook, if there is something that catches your eye and would like more information about, or too order, please feel free to leave me a comment; I won't publish it and we can sort something out.  I have a "stash" of different fabrics, so let me know what you like and I can see what we can make for you.

Also if there is something you would like me to make let me know.  I am always open to new ideas.  Meanwhile if you click on this link it will take you to my Facebook Page.

"If I don't do the work, then I will pay the price."

So I haven't been well for a little while.  Nothing exciting, just niggly stuff that is more annoying than anything else.  Anyhow, I was back at the doctors the other week and ended up having to go and have my blood work done.

I got a call and had to go in too see the nurse practitioner.  It turns out I am on the verge of being diabetic unless I do something.  I have two choices, I either lose weight and exercise or they will put me on medication for diabetes.

So I have decided I will go with the changing the way I eat and take up walking again.  I have until the end of August to lose some weight and get my numbers down before I see the nurse practitioner in September.  I have to have my blood work re-done at the end of August.

We are going to see a dietitian and someone who will educate us on diabetes.  I am saying we in this, as I figure there is a good chance if I am on the verge of being diabetic is, dh will be as well.

So wish us luck.  I have been watching what I eat since Tuesday and have managed to walk over 10,000 steps everyday since.

This is how I am feeling............

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I hate summer colds...........

Great Customer Service........

I have been meaning to write this post for a couple of weeks now but keep forgetting.  I ordered business cards and stickers for Appleby Lane through Vista Print.  Our daughter had the Appleby Lane logo made through someone for me, and I wanted to use the logo on both the cards and stickers.

To cut a long story short when I recieved my order everything was way too small.  I could barely read it with my glasses on and using a magnifying glass!!  So I called them and admitted that this was my mistake and asked what I should do.  Without hesitating they said no problem they would reprint everything bigger and send it back to me no charge.

So Vista Print will be getting all my business from now on.  Have you used Vista Print?

I love the look of my business cards, simple but effective I think:

The one thing though I do forget and that is too check my Appleby Lane yahoo account...........just going to do that now...LOL

The garden and what is growing in there.....

as we didn't plant this garden it's always interesting to see what pops up next.

 I was a little disappointed to see that the peony is white as I love red peonies......however it is still really pretty.

 White seems to be a theme in the garden I have discovered.

Now to get rid of the weeds!!

R's Bag......

As you know I make bags for the special people in my life.  I recently made and gave "R" an early birthday gift of this sling-a-long bag.  I was very pleased with how it turned out. I used Tula Pink's De La Luna fabric line on this bag.  "R" loved it as well.

This is my sling-a-long bag and I use it all the time: 

 This is the one I made for my daughter.

 That's it though for sling-a-long bags for now though!!  I won't be making them for my shop as they are too fiddly and time consuming.

All about Appleby Lane today.....

I hope you don't mind but I wanted to show a couple of new things I have made for the shop, for those of you who don't use Facebook.

I made a couple of lunch bag/key fob combo's which I love.  I even made a video online asking people to buy them asap, as I am very reluctant to part with them....LOL  They are around 11 inches high by 13 inches wide and are $45 CDN plus shipping (there is a flat rate shipping special going on at the moment).  100% quilted cotton on the outside with a waterproof lining inside.  They are a great size and hold a lot including your water bottle.

I very nearly made myself a handbag with this, rather than the lunch bag!!

 This is a farm themed one.

Another thing I have made are these project bags.  They are so, so useful for all sorts of things.  They are all around 10 inches wide by 8 inches tall.  They are made with 100% cotton fabric and some are made with linen also.  4 outside pockets and two pockets inside, one which is ideal for your cell phone.  I wouldn't be without my projects bags......yes I have multiple...LOL

Which one is your favourite fabric combination?

Then finally I made another three knitting totes.  All are $45 each, not sure which is my favourite fabric combination?  The words and the lime green lining, make it just pop.

 The pinky/purple lining goes so well with the outside fabric.

 This is a one off, as I have no more fabric left of this, so if you own this no one else will have one the same.  It will be as unique as you are!

If you want any more info about any of these products, leave me a comment, and if you know of anyone who would like any of these, please share this post with them.

Thanks, Gill Appleby Lane

It's that time of year again.........

I am suffering.  How about you?

Happy 36th Wedding Anniversary to us

It was actually a hot sunny day when we got married which was a minor miracle being as we were married in the UK.  We actually got married in St. Lawrence's Church in Appleby (hence Appleby Lane!!) and here is a link to the church and it's history.  It earliest part of the church was built around 1150 and added on from there!!  Yep, the British have some old buildings!!

So back to us, 36 years later, two children, moved to another country and we are still married. 

As dh always says, "if he had killed me right off he would be free now!!"

As I point out; "no one forced him to get married...LOL"

At the end of the day we would be lost without one another.  We are as different as chalk and cheese, him being quiet, me being the opposite.

I dedicate this song to him!!






(The dancing sucks in this video though doesn't it?)

So close your eyes and imagine this..........

hang on a minute that won't work, as you need to read what I am about to tell you!!

So on Saturday at Paige's party they had a bouncy castle.  So before everyone arrived, there was only the girls, their parents and dh and I.  The girls asked me to go on the bouncy castle and I said yes (THAT WAS THE WRONG, WRONG ANSWER TO THEIR QUESTION ON REFLECTION)

There is a small opening that you crawl in........that should have been an indication that this wasn't a good idea, but no I decided to give it a go.  There was a small platform that was made up of blown up material you crawled on to get to the opening.  Well when my "delicate" frame got onto that I didn't get on in the middle and I fell down to the side.  However not to be deterred I tried again and got my head down to my butt through the opening.

At this point I am sprawled on my stomach like a beached whale but couldn't haul myself through the opening, so dd is pushing me by my butt through the opening.  I get through the opening and the girls think this is great fun having their Nana in a bouncy castle and are bouncing around like lunatics. 

Meanwhile I am trying to stand up and failing miserably.  So to cut a long story short I made up a game where Nana lay on the bouncy castle floor and tried to catch and tickle the girls when they bounced past.  Which I have to say they thought was a fun game.

After a while Nana was pooped and decided to get out while the going was good.  So I wriggle out feet first land on the blown up platform on the side again, so end up rolling off the platform and onto the grass which was on a slight incline.

Both dh and son-in-law are shouting, "are you alright?"

Me: "I"m fine (my dignity isn't!)"

Fast forward to Sunday morning, and I guess I'm not fine.  It feels as though someone has kicked me in my right butt cheek, and all down my right leg.

So the moral of this story, if you're over a certain age and weight, steer clear of bloody bouncy castles!!!

I think we will end up calling this summer........

The wet Summer of 2019.  You get the odd dry day, interspersed with lots of wet days.  So whenever it has been dry I have been trying to make an extra effort to get outside and get some gardening done.  Wednesday just happened to be a dry day and I was home, so in and out of the garden I was all day.

One job I did get done was get an edge dug around the tree closest to the road on the front, as it had merged into the grass.  This was the before:

 This was the after.

 We have two trees in the front garden, this being the other garden bed.  I got that dug over earlier in the week.

From these photos the grass doesn't look too bad, but believe me when I say that it is more weeds than grass.  Luckily for us the weeds are green 😉

I also dug up a bag of weeds using my handy dandy dandelion/weed extractor that I blogged about here.  I also cut the back grass, and the side of the house grass (the one we re-sodded) and "whipper-snipped" all the edges.  So all in all a productive day gardening wise.

My goal is to try and get one area a week cleaned up.......figures crossed I succeed.  How is your garden doing?

I've unleashed a monster..........

namely me, with posting video's on my  Appleby Lane Facebook page........

Fortunately for you I have no idea how to post them on my blog...........even though I tried😉

I am tired........

Tuesday was all go for me.  I left the house at 9 am and didn't arrive home until 3 pm.  Got a couple of jobs done though, so that was good.

Had a visit to our family doctor and again came to the conclusion he is a pill pushing doctor.  If in doubt he give's you pills.  Do you have a family doctor like that?  I was his first appointment after the lunch hour and he was 20 minutes late {{{SIGH}}}  Was it time well spent at the doctors............no and I can see a visit in the future to him again with the same problem.  Meanwhile I'll do what he says for the next month and go from there.

I did manage to get an hour in the garden when I got home weeding one flower bed, so that was also a good job, jobbed as I always say.  

Did some sewing after supper and was not at all happy with the results {{{SIGH}}}

So I am going to wrap up Tuesday in a small package and say goodbye to it and welcome Wednesday with new eyes and refreshed attitude..................

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Focus Gill..........

Must say my mind was all over the place on Monday.  Therefore I didn't achieve as much as I would have liked during the day.  Then I got onto the computer and time just flew by and everything came to a standstill.

One thing I was doing was looking for a lunch bag pattern with handles.  I found one, and set off to make one.  I found that the instructions were not clear and the further I went along with the pattern the more unclear it was.  It got to the point where it totally didn't make sense.  I was ready to throw the computer/sewing machine/me out of the window.  Then I had a light bulb moment 💡.......why don't I just sew it and take no notice of the instructions.  That is what I did and I made my first lunch bag.

 It's lined in waterproof material.

It's not perfect but now I know what I am doing, I will make more for the shop.

Busy few days

What with getting everything sorted out for the Facebook Shop and everything we have been up too these last few days have been a whirlwind of activity.

I picked up these two on Friday morning, Nora had a PD day at school:

Here they are having Kraft Dinner, and blueberries along with a YOP Yogurt drink and water for lunch...........all while watching Alvin and the Chipmunks.  Can you see the fabric on the bottom of the photo, got a big parcel delivered on Friday!!

Anyhow back to the girls.  You know if I could only bottle up a little of their energy and drink it I would be a whirlwind.  They never stopped all day, and neither did their grandparents.  I finally got them to sleep around 9pm.  Nana and Grandad were in bed not long after!!

Saturday saw them sleep in until after 7am.........which we were glad about, as it meant we were able to get up and have a tea before they materialized!!  We were having a bike ride around the block before 9am.  Though Paige's legs get tired peddling up the hilly bits so we weren't out long.  Grandad then had them to the park..............remember we live by the park...........such a blessing.  

At the beginning of Friday Nora could only manage getting across two of the bars on the monkey bars.  By Saturday she could do five of the six.  Next time I expect her to go right across.  When their parents picked them up before lunch, dd helped me with the Facebook Shop while their dad took them to their uncle and aunt's house for a pool party.  I dropped dd off there and they never left until after 6 pm.

We had a dump run Saturday afternoon to get rid of a pile of garden waste, as we are putting in a garden.  Then we had errands to run.  I picked up fish and chips for supper and they settled heavy on both our stomachs.  The older we get the less we can handle greasy food.

I sewed this custom set for someone on Saturday night, while dh watched woman's soccer.

Sunday the sun was shining and I hung the laundry out and ironed it all outside as well. 

However despite the lovely weather the mosquito's were out in force.  I mean we have mosquito's here the size of small birds I swear.  Poor dh was bitten to death working in the garden.  I cut the grass and even I was bitten.  They even got into the house despite the screens.

So in the afternoon we hibernated as it was too hot for us.  I spent some time doing some sewing, trying a new to me project which I hope to sell in my shop when I get all the kinks worked out.

So here I am writing this on Sunday night wondering where the weekend went too?  Did you have a busy weekend? 

Appleby Lane is now up and running...........

As I mentioned before it is a Facebook only store.  The link to the store is on the side bar, but also here it is.

For the people who do not use Facebook, I will do a post once a week updating what I have added to the shop, and if you are interested in anything just post a comment (I WILL NOT PUBLISH IT) with your email and I will get back to you.

The search for the store you need to search Appleby Lane 64 on Facebook.  I am also on instagram @appleby.lane64  I will say I am very new to instagram and don't fully understand it all, so again a learning curve for me.

As you will no doubt understand this is a work in progress and there will be many updates and changes while I am doing it.

Things will settle down and get back to normal on my blog, hopefully in the next week, as you all must be getting fed up of hearing all about Appleby Lane...LOL

Again, I will say thank you for putting up with me regarding this.  I would love it, if you could pass on the info on my shop to your friends.  I will be holding a giveaway in July to thank everyone for their support.

Appleby Lane - Tote's......

I actually like making tote bags the best of all things, no idea why?

I am very proud of the knitting bags, as this is my own pattern and as I knit I think it will work perfectly for it's purpose.

The bag itself is around 17 inches wide by 13 inches high.  It's 100 % cotton fabric and has fleece interfacing on all the exterior fabrics and light interfacing on the rest.  They are $45 each, and are heavy duty and well worth the money in my humble opinion.  They are made with love, as I thoroughly enjoy making them.  I just love this fabric combination, the red just pops and red is my favourite colour.

 It has a magnetic snap and two big pockets on the inside for all your bits and bobs.  On either end of the bag there are two outside elasticated pockets that are around 8 inches deep.

 Closer look at the inside pockets.

 Exactly the same but different fabric.  Isn't this a fun fabric?

 Again a close up look at the pockets.

 This bag will hold a lot.

I do have a little of this yarn fabric to make another knitting tote.  It's yellow, coral, teal and grey.  I should be listing in the next few days, time permitting.

The Farmer's Market Foldable Totes, are made with an indoor/outdoor type fabric.  They are 16 inches high and 14 inches wide and fold down to around 6 inches square.  They are not lined but are durable, machine washable, and all the seams are enclosed with french seams.  These are so useful and so pretty.    They are $15 each.  Do you like the sunflower buttons, very Farmer's Market-isque!!  

Thistle Canvas Tote,  17 inches wide by 15 inches high.  Fully lined with a large pocket and a magnetic snap closure. $25  Heavy Duty, prefect to carry around everyday.  I could see this being used as a book bag.

 Green leaf cotton lining.  Matching large pocket.

I will be making more tote bags, I just haven't had time to make more before opening the shop.  If you have time check my Facebook Page Appleby Lane by mid-afternoon Canadian time on Saturday.

Appleby Lane......its all about the pouch today!!

These pouches I make are great for all sorts of uses and although the cork ones aren't washable, you can wipe them down with a damp cloth.  All are a decent size.  The one I have I carry all my sewing stuff in it.  They make handy cosmetics bags, a great place to put all your hair stuff in, or can be used as small clutches when you don't want to carry your regular sized handbag/purse.  All come with zipper pulls.

1. Farmer's Market and Natural Cork Pouch with cotton lining. 10" W x 6" H $20

 2. William Morris Print & Blue Cork Pouch with cotton lining. 10" W x 5" H $20

 3. Owl and Teal Cork Pouch with cotton lining. 10" W x 6" H $20

 4. Flower and Natural Cork Pouch with cotton lining. 10" W x 6" H $20

 5. Tula Pink Raccoon with Blue Cork Pouch with cotton lining. 10" W x 6" H $18 **Missing a row of top stitching, so price reduced, does not affect the functionality of the pouch.**

 6. X-Large Linen and Blue Cork Toiletry Bag with blue laminated cotton lining 10" W x 9 " H $25

 7. X-Large Linen and Grey Cork Toiletry Bag with pink laminated cotton lining 10" W x 9 " H $25

 8. Tula Pink Cotton Pouch 10" W x 7" H $15 (machine washable; just unclip zipper pull)

 9. Cotton + Steel Moth Cotton Pouch 10" W x 7" H $15 (machine washable; just unclip zipper pull)

10. Black and Red Yarn Pouch with double inside pocket 12" W x 6 " H $20 (machine washable; just unclip zipper pull)  Matching key fob available.....and matching knitting bag (see Saturday's post)

 11. Word Knitting Pouch with large inside pocket 10" W x 7 1/2" H $20 (machine washable; just unclip zipper pull) Matching key fob available.....and matching knitting bag (see Saturday's post)

Tomorrow, I'll showcase my bags and totes.