Doll quilt

or wall hanging....I'm making it with the intention of it being a doll quilt, but it can just as easily be a wall hanging. I went through my fabric and started to work on this earlier. It is taking longer than I would like it to, but I'm very please with how it is turning out. This will be the first item in my etsy shop (I almost hate to sell it, I like it so much!). 6 squares done, 14 more to go!

The darker color is purple even though it is showing up blue


Without the flash so you can better see the colors (still not a great representation of the colors)

That's life

I am thankful for my leaking home, my car with bald tires, and food on my plate....I really am. I am blessed. With the economy, my hubby's lost pay, and our health, things have become harder and harder for us to afford and maintain. Since at this time I am unable to work outside the home, I am going to open a little etsy shop. Still exploring ideas of what I would like to sell, but here is the shop's web address.... http://www.etsy.com/shop/KellyNeedlearts My younger daughter is currently helping me to brain storm ideas! Hoping to have my first item up in the shop tonight!

Gift bag picture

I moved the bow off to the side, so you could see the picture on the fabric. Not only is this a great way to not use wrapping paper...it is a great way to get the picture you want on your presents....I could always find Santas, reindeer, and Disney Princess paper, but I was never able to find (locally) Nativity wrapping paper, so now I can make my own!

Gift bags

I made a gift bag today to wrap a gift in, took a picture, but now I can't get it onto my computer....oh well, maybe hubby will fix the problem tomorrow and I can show you all the gift bag. I'm pleased with how it turned out. I have never really cared for making draw string bags, but the Green Bag Lady has a great pattern on her site that I'm very happy with....you simply sew the ribbon at the seam....no more trying to figure out how to get the draw string to look good! I think it is great and plan to use it for all the gifts through out this year.

Now to find time to make a baby quilt before Saturday!

Some more mice and a picture of my Aunt

Today my girls and I went to visit my Great Aunt who isn't doing well. I was there a whole 45 minutes rubbing her arms and back, talking to her and she didn't respond at all. During that time I put her rosary in her hands and felt compelled to take this picture. After 45 minutes she woke up, put the rosary over her head and around her neck, she then perked right up and was great for about an hour and then drifted off to sleep again. Those beautiful hands use to spend hours each day praying, I love her so much!

A little bit of stitching

I cross stitched a few nights this week, I haven't taken a picture of my progress yet, but I will work on that! Tonight while watching some movies with my younger DD, I am working on some Valentine's Day presents. My older DD loves to read so I made her a cute bookmark from http://weefolkart.com/?q=node/380, I changed a few things, but the idea and pattern is from that great site. For my sweetheart hubby I made a heart.

Reusable lunch bag

With my efforts to reduce my evironmental impact, I'm going to make my hubby a reusable lunch bag to take to work. Normally he takes a brown paper bag, but once the ones we have are gone, I won't be buying anymore. I'm going to look and see if there is a pair of courdery pants that my daughter has outgrown that I can use to make this... http://weefolkart.com/content/reusable-lunch-bag-directions#comment-2146 How cute is that!

Cute craft projects

Here is a site that lots of free patterns for cute craft projects!

http://weefolkart.com/

Quilts for a good cause

Please visit http://tallgrassprairiestudio.blogspot.com/2010/01/neighborhood-to-help-neighborhood.html Sadly I don't have the funds to bid myself (I started the bidding on the green one, but that was to get it going, I knew I would never win), but this quilter is offering 3 of her quilts for auction. She will then match the winning bid and donate all the money for Haiti.

Another birthday card

Ok, I think I like this one better, it did take longer to make and hurt my hands, but I think this one is the winner!

Birthday Card

I'm making all the cards I'm sending out this year, at least that is the current plan. I decided to try sewing a candle and attaching it to card stock. Not sure what I think yet. It was hard to cut the opening. I added the yarn after realizing that the white fabric against the white card was just not working. I could also stitch cards, so I may end up going that route.

More cans and inspiration!

I do save fabric scraps, but I rarely save salvage or teeny tiny pieces. No more, I save it all now! I recently discovered a wonderful blog called "Green Bag Lady" found here http://greenbaglady.blogspot.com/. She saves all scraps and uses them to make dog beds! What a great idea! I have two dogs and two cats and they sure could use "beds" in the new school room where they are now spending a lot of their time. Using a clean spagetti sauce jar, I'm collecting all my pieces. Once this is full I will empty it into a larger container until it's time to make a bed. The instructions for making these beds is found on her blog here http://greenbaglady.blogspot.com/2010/01/pet-beds-101.html She also has patterns for making a grocery bag (I was sent one, I'm number 8088!), produce bag, and gift bags! I have some beautiful Christmas fabric that I'm going to make into gift bags through out the year so that when Christmas comes I'm ready! Thanks Teresa AKA Green Bag Lady!

I'm a saver

I think many crafters are also savers. Since we purchased our home almost 3 years ago I have been saving "recyclables"....tin cans, glass jars, butter tubs....now the collecting has paid off! With the new school room comes new areas that need things, like pencil holders, button holders, "catch-alls". Without spending any money I'm making some cute pieces for the room and wanted to share with you how to make them yourself!

Supplies:
Piece of fabric measure your can for size
Glue gun
Clean tin can
Beads, buttons, ric rac if you want to add decorations

Cut the material to fit your can exactly top to bottom and add an extra inch around so that the start and finish overlap, I didn't worry about folding the top and bottom edges over, if you have fray check you can use that, but I don't, so I'm not going to worry about the edges (I really think with the hot glue holding them, that they will be fine!). Start at the seam of the can using the glue gun and apply fabric as you go around. Glue seems to dry very quickly on cans, so make sure you press fabric to can firmly as you go. Once you have your material glued to your can all the way around you are done! If you like you can glue ric rac, beads, or buttons as decorations, but I'm pleased with my can as is.





Lovin the chalkboard!

Emma drew her plans for an invention, I made a list for Bree and a note for Keith, and Bree added her "Danny Pino" part (she has a crush on Danny Pino who she saw one day when I was watching Cold Case).

Chalkboard paint!

Wow, this stuff is great! We painted a part of one wall with chalkboard paint, waited 3 days, conditioned it with a piece of chalk and it works great! The paint isn't expensive, but we already had a can from when we purchased the house. It can be used on so many surfaces. We hardly used any to paint this wall, so we have plenty left over. I will probably do an area in each of the girl's rooms. I might also do an area near the kitchen to make notes and lists.

Fabric

A good friend of mine stopped by last night with some fabric. She is an interior designer and brought over some leftover material from a previous job. I'm very excited with how it will look in the room. There isn't much fabric, so the plan is to make valances.

Here is the material


Against the wall color

Love this quote

Mildred Lisette Norman wrote, 'Anything you cannot relinquish when it has outlived its usefulness possesses you. And in this materialistic age, a great many of us are possessed by our possessions'.

I first heard this quote last night while watching "Criminal Minds" on CBS. For those who don't watch, every episode begins and ends with a quote. This one really caught my attention. I did some research and Mildred Lisette Norman is a real person (I'm not always sure the quotes are "real", but this one is). To read more about her, check out this link http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peace_Pilgrim

Clutter be gone!

I have a book by that title, but I think the book just adds to my clutter! I have read it and other books about eliminating clutter, but so far they haven't helped. Today, however, I realized how much my clutter is stealing from me. I would love to sew, haven't sewn in a while, but I can't, because clutter is keeping me from my sewing machine, it is keeping me from doing other things I enjoy, and it is stealing my precious space. I'm so happy with our new school room, I'm inspired to get the rest of our home looking like this. There is no clutter in here, plenty of space to move around, and a nice fresh clean feeling (but that might just be the green color). I have always assumed that I would live to 80 and have plenty of time to enjoy my life and do the things that make me happy, but life is short, there are no guarantees. A 42 year old woman died recently leaving 11 children, the youngest born over the summer. It just breaks my heart. After giving birth to her 11th child they found out she had cancer and by that time there was nothing they could do.

One of my biggest problems is what to do with the stuff I don't want. I can't deal with freecycle or craigslist anymore! Too much stress! I would like to have someone come pick it all up when I have enough boxes, but all the thrift shops in my area require that you have furniture in order to have them pick up and sadly we don't have any extra furniture. I guess I just need to box it up, fill the car and take it there myself. I don't know why that is so hard for me.

My mother is another issue, she is a hoarder and she can't stand for me to give anything away that she feels is worth money. I had some things stored in her garage and she asked me to clean them out, I went there and tried to throw almost all of it away, she pulled everything back out of the trash and said "hey we can get a quarter for this at the yard sale"....so nothing was accomplished there and she hasn't sold a thing! I was on the phone with her last night, she is planning on coming here on Saturday to look through all the things I'm giving away, and I know she is going to cart most of it home...the problem? When she goes into a nursing home, retirement home, or to live with Jesus, I'm the one that has to clean out her house. So I'll be stuck dealing with all the same clutter I already dealt with! I have tried to tell her that she doesn't need it and not to worry, but that only leads to more stress.

Today I'm going to tackle some of the boxes that left this room (the school room) and have no where to live. We don't have an attic and our basement takes in water, so if something doesn't have a "home" out it goes! Off to tackle the books!

Making progress

I'm making progress on Many Mansions! I'm very excited about that!!! This was an UFO for quite a while. Here is a picture so far...



I'm hoping to have it finished by the end of the weekend so I can start on "Snowflakes" by LHN and then start the Doxology Sampler by Margaret and Margaret.

Forgot to tell you

I found a free bookcase! I went to my mom's house to grab a sewing machine that I need for the class I'm teaching and while I was there I asked her if she had anything that I could use as a bookcase. She had an empty bookcase in her basement! It appears to be handmade and is simply beautiful. Not as large as I had hoped, but I will just have to reduce my book collection to fit the shevles.

Some pictures!

Here are some pictures of the school room...


Emma using the school room (I'm going to make new curtains at some point)


The taped off area for the chalk board paint


Cross Stitch leaflets organized in the filing cabinet!


First coat of chalkboard paint


After final coat and the tape removed. The yellow spot on the wall is just the sun shining in!

Oh I need to vent

Not sure this fits the catagory, but I need to vent to someone! I have been working hard to clean out my house and find new homes for the items I'm getting rid of. One time someone stole stuff that was left for someone else, tonight I received a nasty email because someone else picked up an item and this person said it was hers. I give people a very reasonable amount of time and benefit of the doubt to come and get items. I have had a bed sitting in my driveway, blocking my husband's car since Saturday. The person has had since then to come and get it...I emailed her several times and they went unanswered, so I gave it to someone else, now this person is mad.

It really makes it hard to clean out my house, when I have to deal with so much grief. I'm trying to not get upset, but this woman has my address and she is mad....of course I think the worst is possible. I just don't know what to do. I need to part with things, but if I have to go through this every single time I part with something, I just can't do it anymore. If my husband has his way, it would all be in the trash! I just hate for things that could be used to go into the trash. Oh well, I need to calm down and let this go.

Good night!

Been stitching away

In my free moments I have been trying hard to completely "Many Mansions", a piece I started years ago, but always put down for another pattern. I want to start the second pattern by Margaret and Margaret, so I need to finish this one so I can start that one :-) I want to post a picture, but right now I don't have a way to get the pictures on the "new to me" computer. I will work on that!

Hugs

Forget John Deere....

Think Limes and Lemons LOL. It is bright, very very bright! I do love the colors, just not sure I would have picked them for the walls LOL. I'm hoping that once we add curtains and furniture it won't "scream" so much. Hubby said he didn't think so, so I told him that we could paint them again and he said no, they look just fine LOL He really doesn't like to paint!

Still painting

Think "John Deere" green and yellow....what was I thinking?!?!?!?!? The room needs a third coat of paint and I really thought I would only need two. Thankfully I think (hope really) that we have enough left in the can to get that third coat on the wall. See we are on a "no buy" year and I can't go out and buy any more paint. The paint we are using has been in our basement for a year or so now. We purchased it as "oops" paint, which is paint that is returned or made wrong and sells for just $5 a gallon.

This is the first year we are trying this and we are actually a little excited. For years when we needed something that we could afford we would just go and buy it. And if it was something we couldn't afford, but was on sale and we really needed it we put it on credit. Well not this year! For an entire year we aren't going to buy ANYTHING except food (we are even limiting that!) and gas for the car. No clothing (unless it is completely needed and from the thrift shop), no new patterns, no new fabric, no soda (I have been soda-free since two weeks before Christmas), no toys, no books.... If we *need* something than we will either find it on freecycle.org, craigslist.org, or trade for it. Right now I need a bookcase for the room we are finishing. I have looked on craigslist and freecycle and even posted ads, but so far no luck....so I'm going to be patient and accept that right now the room won't be exactly the way we want it. We are choosing this path for many reasons. One because we are already blessed with a house full of stuff and I'm sure we have almost everything we need here! Two because we are trying to reduce our impact on the world around us, both environmentally and socially. Third because we really don't have a single extra penny. Fourth because we want to be an example to our children that things aren't really all that important.

Oh how I would like to go!

http://www.stitchingretreat.com/stitching-retreats-2010-register-now-for-spring-or-autumn/

How cute!!! Oven dress

I could make these to match the apron bag holders I want to make!

http://stepbystepcrafting.blogspot.com/2007/06/oven-dress.html

Great project from recycled materials

Found this great website while looking for a bag pattern.... http://www.allfreecrafts.com/sewing/index.shtml most (if not all) patterns appear to be made from things you already have in your home!

Bag ladies

I was looking through my Connecting Threads catalog that came in the mail today and saw this adorable pattern for "Bag Ladies". Go to http://www.wpcreek.com/ click on "new patterns" and it is called "Bag Ladies". I would love to make these, but I'm on a "no buying" year, so I will either have to find a free pattern that is similar, create my own pattern, or wait until another year. It is just so cute, I had to share it!

What am I thinking!

Well I went into the spare room today to see how much work is ahead of me. At this point, it might be easier to move and start all over again! After looking at the walls, I think I need to pick another color. I don't want to be sad every time I enter that room. Now to pick a color. It will have to be a color that we already have in the basement (when we purchased the house 3 years ago we purchased some oops paints, so I will use those). Mainly I have green, I believe. Since they are oops paints they were only $5 for a gallon of paint, but I only have a gallon of each color and I will need at least two gallons to paint the room, so maybe I will do two walls with one color and two with another. Then paint a huge section of one wall with chalkboard paint (also something I already have in the basement).

I think this entire project is going to take much longer than I think it will!

The big clean out!

With the new year, I have new big plans! Clutter has taken over and I want it gone! Starting on Monday I will be doing some major cleaning out! After school with the girls, I will tackle the "spare room". It was suppose to be a nursery, but years of infertility and the recent health issues have changed any hope of that happening. So I'm trying to find the courage to go in there, clear it out, and make it a usable room. My plan is for it to be an office and a school room. I painted the walls a beautiful blue in hopes that we would have a son, so I'm trying to decide whether I should paint it another color or keep it. Tears are welling in my eyes just thinking about the room.

My plans - pull EVERYTHING out of the room and start with a fresh clean slate! Paint the walls, either with a second coat of the current color or a brand new color. Paint one wall with chalkboard paint. Paint the trim. Replace the light with something brighter...hopefully I will find a light in the thrift shop. I might even get ambitious and make new curtains for the room. It only has two small windows, so it shouldn't be too hard to make some curtains. Wish I could replace the carpet, but that would be too expensive, so I might try to borrow a steam cleaner and give the carpets a good cleaning. After all this is done, I will start moving things into the room. I will only bring back office stuff, school stuff, and craft stuff that fits into the closet (I already have shelving in there for my craft supplies). Then I will have to figure out what to do with the rest...including the crib.

I don't think I'm gutsy enough for "before" pictures, but we will see.