Welcome 2023

 Hello! Here we are in 2023 and I have so many idea's that I would like to try this year. I will really have to budget my time wisely, of which I am not very good at ☺. 

I start each day with a cup of coffee and Pat Sloans daily video on YouTube. She has so many good ideas!  If you don't already watch her, you should give it a try. She usually gets a giggle or two out of me. This month she is sharing her idea's on getting our sewing rooms organized. I am in the process of getting all of my fabric's organized in open containers, by color and holiday. After I get this all done, I will be on the lookout for storage units to place them in. Whew, a BIG job, but it will be so nice when I get it all done. Here is a link to her website: www.ilovetomakequilts.com.

I have been struggling with which direction to go with my Etsy shop. The items that sold the best were the repurposed items that I had made. I love creating them, although they can be very time consuming which really cuts into my profit margins. So, I am trying to figure out how to create nice items without spending too much time on them. I am very fortunate to have two friend's that share their overflow of vintage laces, cutter quilts, doilies etc. with me to use in my project, which is a real blessing.

I did get a little cross stitching in over the holidays. I finally finished the Prairie Schooler Santa 2005. I can't decide if I want to mount him on sticky board to put on a stand or make him into a pillow. Decisions, decisions.

Another love of mine is small quilts or mini quilts. I have made a few and really enjoy making them. I came acrost a Kathleen Tracy book about them several years ago and became hooked. You can find her on facebook and instgram. I am working on one now that is a gift for a friend of mine, so I can't show you yet. I will put a picture of it in my next blog post. 

I have a favor to ask of you. If you see this blog would you please leave a comment for me. I was getting them but the last few blogs there hasn't been any showing, so I am wondering if maybe something is wrong with it. Thank you!

These winter months is a perfect time to get some sewing or stitching done. Enjoy the process and Happy Sewing/Stitching!!

Blessings to All❤

 

Fall is Here!! 

The leaves are turning to beautiful golds, oranges and reds and have started drifting down to the ground. On a nice calm day, I love to watch them fall, it is so peaceful and relaxing to see them floating down from the trees. The mornings and evenings are now much cooler and perfect for hot chocolate and making S'Mores by the fire pit. I also spied some bittersweet on our rural gravel road coming home the other day. My mom loved to decorate with bittersweet for the Fall season. It was a yearly event for my family to go bittersweet hunting that we always looked forward to. We would all pile into the car and Dad would drive down many country roads and we would all watch out for it hanging from the trees and bushes. Mom would pack a thumris of hot chocolate, sandwiches and fruit for a picnic after we had picked all of the bittersweet we could find. Those were the days. 

I have been working on designing a small Fall wall-hanging. It isn't turning out the way I had hoped it would. I tried to put a pieced leaf on the bottom border, but when I set it together, well, it didn't fit! Then after I got the leaf on the pumpkin appliqued on, by machine, I didn't like the placement of it either. Not sure what I am going to do with it, just might end up a UFO, for a long time. Below is a picture 

Cross stitching has become a real love for me. I really enjoy sitting down in the evening and working on my WIP's (works in progress). I'm not really into Halloween much anymore. This holiday used to be a fun one, with a bit of spooky. Now it has become so gruesome and grotesque. I did want a little something, so I decided on a dough bowl pillow to add to my collection of the different holiday ones I have made. I am designing one using some aida cloth that I hand dyed with boiled blackberries. It turned out a nice purple color that I thought would be perfect for a small Halloween stitch. I used an older book by Laura J. Conley, that a good friend gifted me with, for thee letters, and for the motifs I am using the Donna Kooler's 555 Fabulous Cross-Stitch Patterns. Here it is still in progress.

I am also doing the Fat Quarter Shop's Christmastime SAL in cross stitch. It took a while for me to make up my mind if I wanted to do it or not, so I got a late start on it. Needless to say, I am behind, but I am working on it every day so I can get caught up. The peppermint will have to be frogged out since I changed my mind on the colors I started with. I decided to use the called for in stead, except for the dark red. All are DMC. The fabric is an 18 ct aida cloth that I dyed a pale pink using strawberries that I boiled to make the dye. This picture doesn't show how pretty the pink color is.

I have several more projects that I am working on, but will save them for another post.

So I will leave you with one of my favorite Fall pictures. If you love Fall and like to look at beautiful pictures that catch it's essence, go to my Pinterest page, "Fall, Best Season of All".

Blessings to all.

September is Here! Fall is Just Around the Corner 

A Little Bit of Quilting, Crafting and Cross Stitch

At our house September is the beginning of Fall. I put out the wreathes on the front and back doors on the first and start my decorating the day after Labor Day. Fall is my favorite season. So many beautiful colors and yummy scents, like spiced pumpkin, dried leaves, a barn full of fresh hay and spiced apple cider. The days are becoming shorter, so evenings out by the fire pit with a nice cup of hot chocolate is delightful. 

I love the happy sunflowers starting to bloom. They are one of my favorite flowers, which is good since it is our state flower. We have a verity of small, wild sunflowers blooming in our pasture now. Couldn't resist running out and cutting a few to put out on the deck.

I am a fan of Pat Sloan and watch her YouTube video's every morning. She is so delightful and always has lots of smiles. I really like to start my day with her, right after I read my bible. She has so many great ideas! Wish I could make everything but just don't have the time. She showed a really cute wall hanging of a blue bird, I think it is called 'The Blue Bird of Happiness'. She suggested making the bird in any color that you would like...so I made a red bird. It did have a couple of very small pieces in it, like the bird's beak and the little skinny legs.  It was still easy and fun to sew. 

I am designing a new fall wall hanging for this year. It is still a work in progress, but here is a peek at it now. There are a couple of things that I think need to be changed. We will see how it ends up.

I made a Keepsake Keeper for my granddaughters' birthday. I came across these looking thru Pinterest and thought what a great idea. It is made from repurposed linens, laces, ribbons, buttons and vintage jewelry etc. Creating something using repurposed, vintage items is very fulfilling. 

My cross stitching has fallen a little bit behind since I have been working on quilting and client's work. Since it is September, I did pick out the sampler that I'm going to start for Sampler September. It is Nessie Mitchell 1929, design by MommaLovesYouGB. It is a black sampler; I will be using 18 ct Aida that I hand dyed and DMC 310 Black. My plan is to start on it this weekend. 

My hope is that all of you have had the opportunity to do some kind of needlework, sewing or crafting this past month.

I want to wish everyone a happy and fun Labor Day!

Blessing to All,

Jan

Fun, Exciting New's from Fat Quarter Shop!

If you are a fan of Fat Quarter Shop you probably already know about the QAL that is going to start on Oct. 31st. If you don't, here is a bit of information about it. The pattern will come from Lori Holts newest book, 'Scrappiness is Happiness'. I watched Kimberly and Lori on You Tube announcing and showing all of the quilts in this fabulous book. The QAL quilt will be made using a block from each of the quilts featured in the book. I love the happiness of these quilts, especially now with all of the unrest in our country and the whole world. I hope you go over to You Tube and watch the video about this new book and QAL. I think you will become excited too.

Also, if you go to the Jolly Jabber Blog, that is the blog site for Fat Quarter Shop, you can get all of the information about this upcoming QAL.

Happy Sewing everyone!

 

 Summer is Going Fast and A New Endeavor

 Some Counted Cross Stitch Too

Here we are, the first day of August. Most of summer is already behind us. It certainly has flown by fast. I didn't get to plant many flowers this year, but what I have are looking so pretty. How I wish flowers could bloom all year long, ouside, in Kansas.

Here are some of the flowers on the deck. It was very hot the day I took these pictures, so they are a bit droopy. 

The Rose of Sharon bushes are blooming now along with this pretty little blue flower ground cover. Sorry I can't remember its name. 

I love Kansas wildflowers. Here are some that I have transplanted from the pasture. I didn't get a picture of the ones that bloomed early, but are now gone for this year.

It's been so hot here that the roses don't look very good right now. Maybe next time I will have some good pictures of them.

I finally got my Blackbird, Red Sampler done. This is my first sampler, and I can't wait to get it framed. It is worked two over one on 14 CT Aida cloth that I dyed with tea. I have found that I like doing the letters, they go quickly.

For my 'Christmas in July' stitching I just chose one thing to work on. It is the Prairie Schooler 2005 Santa. I haven't gotten very far on him but hope to get him finished pretty quickly now that I am done with the red sampler. 

I have several vintage linen table clothes, etc that I have been going thru and sorting out. I was looking on Pinterest and got some ideas of how to repurpose them, so I made a few things for my Etsy shop.

 Here is one that started out as a small table scarf. I had so much fun playing with different lace's, ribbons, buttons and fabrics for this project. I am very pleased with the way it turned out. 

I have some more repurposed linen items in my Etsy shop, fabraholic4.etsy.com

they are selling rather quickly so hope you hop on over and take a peek at what is left. New items will be listed in a couple of weeks. 

Hope you all have a great August and are able to get some stitching and/or quilting done. Enjoy the outdoors also with a nice cup of coffee while watching the sun come up, early morning walks, picnics, horseback riding, playing fetch with your dog or just sitting on your porch or deck with a friend and having a cup of tea. 

Take care and blessings to all.

 A Graduation Quilt, Some 4th of July Projects and a Free Tutorial

 I want to share with you the quilt I made for my son's niece for her high school graduation. It was so out of my box! The pattern and the fabrics were not something I would have chosen for myself, but it was so good for me to experience something different. I have to admit I struggled at first, but as I worked on it, I found myself really enjoying the pink color. I have always liked pink but just never seemed to be able to work it into my color scheme in my home. (Except for when my daughter was a little girl, her room was in pink). Here is the finished quilt and I am really pleased with how it turned out. The quilter did a really beautiful job of picking out the perfect quilting pattern.

The name of this pattern is 'Chandelier' 

I learned about it from a Missouri Star Quilt Co video.

The 4th of July will be here very soon, so I thought I would try and come up with a few items for my Etsy shop. fabraholic4.etsy.com, I made a couple of hot pad holders, a star swag, four mug rugs and a large pillow that can also be used as a table topper. Stars are one of my favorite shapes, so I had fun making these items up.

The little flag mug rugs are very easy to make. 

Here are the directions:

Materials needed are one charm square or 5" square of a star fabric.

One fat eighth of a small white on white patriotic print.

One fat eighth of a patriotic red fabric.

A piece of batting about 10" by 10"

You will use the charm square as is, cut two strips of the white fabric 1 1/2" by 5 1/4" and 1 1/2" by 9 1/4".

From the red fabric cut three 1 1/2" by 5 1/4" and two 1 1/2" by 9 1/4". These will be trimmed down to size after you get everything sewn together.

Sew the shorter strips together, using a 1/4" seam allowance. Now sew these strips to the right side of the charm square.

Next sew the longer strips together and then sew these to the top portion. This is where you will want to square your flag up to about 8 1/2" by 9", or what looks good to you. Choose one of your left- over fabrics for your backing about 1/2" larger and layer your pieces in this order: from bottom up. batting, backing face up and then your top face down. Pin or wonder clip together and sew around perimeter with a 1/4" seam allowance, leaving an opening for turning. Turn, push out your corners and press. Sew 1/4"all around your flag. You may want to go back, and hand sew where you're opening for turning was. All done, enjoy!

All of these 4th of July items are my designs.

I have been working on my red work counted cross stitch sampler. The pattern is a free one from Black Bird Designs. This is the first sampler that I have made so it is worked on a piece of 14 ct aida cloth that I tea died. I am anxious to start on my next sampler which will be on linen.

As you can see I am not quite done stitching this. Just need to finish the border. Since I worked this on aida cloth I had to adjust the bottom a bit. Can't wait to get this finished and framed.

I have a few more finishes that I will share with you next time.

It is very HOT here in Kansas, so it is a good time to stay inside and work on sewing and stitching. Hope you-all are having a great summer.

Blessing to you all!

Valentines Day Will Be Here Before We Know It!!

Getting a few heart swags made for my Etsy Shop.

I had some left over pieces from a cutter quilt that I had made some wreath's out of and a few other items. I was thinking of how I could use them and that's when I came up with the idea of making heart swags for Valentines Day. So I gathered them up along with some other supplies and started making them. What fun it was to design them and then put them together. I embellished all six of them with vintage buttons. I LOVE vintage buttons! Here I am getting started...

I ended up making three of the three heart swags and three of the seven heart swags. I mentioned that I was getting low on my cutter quilt scraps to a friend of mine and she offered me a few of her's. That was so kind of her, now I can maybe squeeze out another seven heart swag.

These six swags are now in my Etsy Shop. If you would like to check them out here is the link fabraholic4.etsy.com.

I have a couple of other ideas going around in my head that I would like to get made up for this year. Guess I better get busy and get them started and made. Valentines Day will be here very soon. I will post them as soon as I get them done.

My cross stitching has suffered a bit while making these swags, I did get one valentine chart done, now I have to figure out how to finish it. I'm thinking about just putting it in a frame because it turned out too large for a bowl pillow. I am getting a lot of idea's from flosstuber, mamalovesyouGBMichelle. She shares a lot of free charts offered by different designers.  If you need a positive pick-me-up check out Anna of Stitch Roadies. I love to watch her video's in the morning after my scripture reading. She is so nice and very positive. A wonderful way to start the day. 

Looking forward to tomorrow, my daughter is coming over and we are going to make Valentine Cards. We haven't done this since she was a little girl.We might even bake some heart shaped sugar cookies!

Take care everyone!

Blessings to you all.