Take a peek at the new Christmas Ornament!

 

Our 3rd annual Christmas Ornament is available to order now! You can find it on our website.

I'm always happy to be working on the annual Christmas ornament, but I'm extra excited this year because it will be made with fabric from my very first fabric line!  I can't show the fabric until the end of October (when it will be available for your local quilt shop to purchase), but it will be the tree design you see above. The ornament is available on our website, and we will leave it on there until we just don't think we can make any more!

Start your Christmas shopping now - these make terrific gifts for your family and friends. They are unique and you won't find them anywhere else. We paper piece (fabric sewn to a paper foundation) and solder each ornament ourselves.  Each ornament measures 1 3/4" - a little bigger than our pendants - so you can see it on your tree. The box is made from our yardsticks, but is unlike any of the others that we sell. The lid slides on and off to protect your treasures inside.    We haven't been able to find any extra hours in a day, so we will be making a limited quantity of these, so be sure to order now!  Please keep in mind, they WILL NOT SHIP UNTIL MID-TO-LATE NOVEMBER. Please understand that if you order other items, we will hold them until we ship the ornament. If you need the other items now, please order them separately so they don't get lost in the chaos. The ornaments will be shipped in batches, as we get them finished.  International shipments will go first,  then to anyone who ordered other products, then in the order they were received.  But, don't worry - we intend to have them all shipped by the end of November - in plenty of time for decorating and for gift-giving.

As you know, we offer many great gift ideas.  Our jewelry is so unique and is always a great choice.  Make sure you browse on the website - we have more items than ever before. Don't forget that the notecards have been discontinued, so once they are gone, that's it, I won't be able to get any more.  Only $6 for five adorable note cards!  And the socks - they make such great stocking stuffers.  Keep checking back, as we will be adding more colors.

Head on over to our website now, start your Christmas shopping, and get your exclusive 2020 Christmas ornament!

Something old, something new...

Isn't it kind of crazy how many of us spend loads of money on a wedding dress, then pack it up...never to be seen again?  Well...unpack it!  We are now offering a new pendant!  You send me a small piece of lace and we will make it into a pendant that you can wear and keep close to your heart!  The samples below were made from the same lace, I just cut it out of different places.  

Something else that I think is kind of cool is that they match whatever you are wearing.  Since you can see through the lace (some more than others), this will go perfectly with every outfit!

The following two pictures show the same pendant, just on different fabric.  Pretty!  This one belongs to a friend whose daughter (who is young and cool, lol!) saw it and wanted one for herself!  What a special gift that you could have made for your daughter and/or granddaughter!  

To order, just go to my website and order, then follow the instructions given to send the lace to me and we will turn them into a beautiful keepsake for you!

My Garden Quilt

I did it!  It's finally finished!  

I have always loved the Primitive Garden quilt by Primitive Gatherings, so when my friend, Nancy, gave me the pattern for my birthday, there really was no excuse not to make it!  But we all know how that goes - a million other things needed to be done first.  Finally, in May of 2016, I started a Facebook Group, where we encouraged each other to keep going on this quilt.  If it weren't for that, I probably wouldn't have even started this quilt.  But...since I was the admin of the group, I had to have my block finished each month! It was a fun group, lots of people sewed along, some finished and some are still working on it.  The group is still going now if you would like to join, follow the link - you have to be approved - be sure to answer the questions.  I'm still one of the admins, but someone else is doing all of the work now!

I made a lot of changes to the original pattern to make it my own.  Here is the original...

You can see all of the changes that I made - here are the details, with pictures below.

The cat on the left side represents our five outside kitties.  

I replaced the garden hose on the right with a United States flag. This flag was designed by a member of the Facebook group.  She also was kind enough to post a layout of how to put this all together, because that is not included in the pattern.

The cats in the center are our indoor cats (at the time that I started this quilt), Ozzie and Callie. They replaced garden tools and gloves.  I like how Ozzie's tail hangs down into the sashing.

I replaced the small center block (potted plant and seed packets) with a bee skep and flowers, and added bees all over the quilt because my husband raises bees.  Boomer hated the bees, as they chased him one day and I'm pretty sure he got stung on his butt, hence the bee placement!  The bee skep block was part of a pattern by The Little Red Hen.

The plaid wool for the center birdhouse was from a suit that belonged to my dad.  He used to wear that suit to church a lot (a long time ago!) and gave it to me one day.  I think he was going to get rid of it and Mom knew that I may have a use for it!  I add a little piece of it to a lot of my wool applique projects.

I didn't really care for the look of the Bible verse on the original, so on the bottom of the quilt I added extra sunflowers, pumpkins and our dogs (at the time) - Bailey and Boomer. I wanted Boomer to be with the strawberries because he used to "help" me pick berries.  When he was a puppy he made it very interesting - constantly jumping around in the patch.  I used to stick strawberries in his mouth (he liked them!), or throw them so he would chase them so I could pick a few more.  When he got out of puppy-stage he was a little easier to pick with.  He always came and hung out with me when I picked them.  Something ate all of our berries this year (probably because Boomer wasn't here to chase them away), but every time I went to check the patch, out of habit, I always looked to see if he was coming.  I miss him!

When my dad passed away in January, my quilting friends, Jill, Vicki, Becky & Kim, gave me a tree to plant in our yard in his memory.  It is replicated above Boomer.

It took a long time for me to finish this, but I sure am glad that I did!  I should also mention that as usual I had all of the blocks finished - including all of the sashing pieces, but my Aunt Nancy sewed it all together for me.  My planning wasn't perfect and there was a big space above Boomer's head that I couldn't decide what to do with, so I put it all away for another year or so (sheesh!!).  One day I saw some pictures that Sharon Lacey posted on Instagram of a version of this quilt.  She had done the machine quilting on it, and we started chatting back and forth.  She agreed to quilt mine when I finished it, and that was just the push I needed.  It was just crazy to have it sitting in the closet with all that work in it and that close to being done!  When my husband suggested adding Dad's memory tree, I knew that was the answer!  PERFECT!  

Here are some close-ups - the pictures are kind of washed out, but you get the idea!  This was before adding the binding - I'm hand stitching it down now.

Here are some pictures that Sharon took while she was quilting it - she did a beautiful job - I just love it.

This quilt truly is a labor of love by family, friends and me!

The new website is ready for you!

What's New??

Tons!!

Visit our website to find out!

(But please read the rest of this post first!!)

Well, it's official - all of the shows that we had lined up for this year have been cancelled!  It's really depressing, but at the same time, probably for the best. If we can't come to see you at shows, we decided to bring the shows to you by adding a whole bunch of items to our website!  Our entire website has been completely re-vamped and we have almost tripled the amount of items on there!  You have to grab a cup of coffee (or whatever else strikes your fancy) and go check it out! 

There are so many new things that I really don't even know where to start!  So this may all be a little random, but here we go! 

I love this metal sewing machine!  It includes the ball of twine and the scissors, and is also perfect for a spool of thread!

And clipboards...we now have THREE different sizes!!!

Are you familiar with Deb Strain?  She designs fabric for Moda and also designed these note cards.  They are all adorable and are blank inside so that you can add your own message.  The sad thing is that these have been discontinued, so once they are gone, I won't be able to get any more.  I bought a bunch when Deb told me they were discontinued, but don't wait too long to get yours.  Only $6 for five adorable note cards!

SCISSORS!  We have tons of them and they are all cute!

We took so many new boxes to the show in Dallas,and then brought them all back home when the show was cancelled.  We've added several new shapes and sizes - take a look!

We have the cutest little animal pin cushions, and some really cool patriotic ones as well!

And be sure to check out these great rulers.  The first one would be a pefect little gift for a quilting buddy who has been quarantined for too long!  Mail them to your friends - we all love a fun mail day!

The others are all Bloc Loc rulers.  If you haven't tried them, you really should.  I hate to trim, but if I need to, I will always use the Bloc Loc.  For flying geese blocks, they fit right up into the V of your block, nice and snug...no slipping.  They make trimming easy.

We have added a huge amount of new jewelry, scissor fobs and needle minders.  I included almost all new pins, and a bunch of earrings.  Really lots of everything, you just have to browse for yourself.

And lastly (for now anyway) is super exciting...we are now offering all of our patterns as downloads!  Now you don't have to pay shipping and wait for them to show up in the mail!  

So, what are you waiting for???  Since the quilt shows are cancelled, shop from home now! GO CHECK IT OUT!!

Happy shopping - hope you have a great week!!