Summer Wreath

This project started out as a spring wreath, but since I only just finished it, I'm now calling it my summer wreath.

The wreath foundation is made from burlap upholstery webbing, wrapped around a foam wreath form.

There are tutorials all over the blogosphere for how to make fabric flowers.  Suffice it to say that a lot of twisting and rolling were involved.  I used some fabric glue to hold them together, since it is easier on my fingertips than the glue gun. 

I put the flowers on by sticking sewing pins from the dollar store through the centre of them and into the wreath form.

I was looking for something to put on the other side, since it looked a little unbalanced and I was tired of making flowers.  I remembered that I had kept the black metal house numbers that we took off of our house when we painted it two years ago - I put up some bigger, bolder ones on the house.  I dug out the old numbers and painted them with some craft paint.  Then I stuck them on by putting pins through the screw holes.

I'm quite pleased with the finished product.  And - a nifty feature - since the flowers and numbers are simply pinned on, I can reinvent the wreath for other seasons as well.  At the rate I move, I had better start making some fall flowers now!

Peggy's Cove

Peggy's Cove is said to be one of the most-photographed locations in Canada and it is pretty much a tourist must-do for anyone visiting Nova Scotia.  Which means that, as a Nova Scotian, I kind of forget that it exists most of the time.  Last weekend we were looking for something to do to do - we'd been in a bit of a fog with colds, trips, and lots of rainy weather and we really needed a break.

When Owen got out of the car at Peggy's Cove, he announced that it was the best place ever and that he was never going to leave.  So I guess we made a good choice.

The Peggy's Cove lighthouse is a Nova Scotia icon, no doubt about it.  But the real star is the landscape and the sea.   It is almost otherworldly.

The kids loved climbing around on the rocks.  We stayed far from the water - the waves are treacherous.  But it is not a place for the faint-hearted parent, regardless.

After all the rock-climing action, we retreated to the village for ice cream.  And not your run-of-the-mill ice cream either. 

Dee Dee's Ice Cream is a company that makes ice cream right in Peggy's Cove.  Let me tell you, it was delicious.  (I had a scoop of the European Dark Chocolate and a scoop of the Mexican Chocolate. There's never enough chocolate, right?

I totally want to go back - both with the kids and maybe by myself so I can take pictures (and eat ice cream) without having to monitor whether anyone is about to fall off a cliff.