Stitching in the Barn

I saw this wreath on the Charm About You blog while I was scanning Quilter Blogs over the holidays and watched the video at the bottom of her instruction page   and saw a lovely new years wreath in it. In the new years wreath the similar fabrics were paired and I thought they looked like hearts.  I asked my daughter if my MIL would like the wreath in Valentines day fabrics and she thought it was a great idea. We are blessed to have a crafting thrift store nearby. She went and picked up several different fabrics at $3 a yard. It's funny because I donated some Valentines day fabrics to them in the past year because I never thought I'd use Valentines day fabric. She brought home some lovely fabrics, I already had a Dresden plate ruler and I cut an 8 inch strip from each fabric and made a total of 36 hearts over the past 2 days. We only need 20 hearts for the whole wreath. My daughter is going to arrange them into a wreath and add some gems and decorate one side ...

I do more than just stitching in my barn. Last weekend I made soap. I never thought about making soap before last year. I never felt like I could live like "Little House on the Prairie", being raised a city girl, but I've got chickens, make my own bread (by machine) and make my own soap. The reasons I do these things is because of my health. Living with homemade products lets me see exactly what goes into it and I make sure there' are as few chemicals in it as I can afford. I use organic flour for my bread because the chemicals they use now on commercial bread are way beyond any that our bodies can handle long term. I've had great results so far cutting out a lot of everyday stuff for natural equivalents that work and cost less, even organic. Making my own soap is one of my favorite ways.

Recently I've done a lot of my sewing on this baby She's a nice green tea colored Sears Kenmore model #158.15160.

It's been a long time but I actually got some projects done. I've been focusing on sewing my own clothes and making thrift store items fit. I've had a lot of success this past weekend on both fronts so I'll have quite a few posts scheduled for the next week or so. I think I've caught a fall sewing bug! I took a 3x large knit shirt I found at the thrift store and took it in 2 inches on each side to fit me. I could probably take in a bit more but loose & comfy is OK. Then there was an unknown size, long, purple, knit camisole that gaped a lot under the armpit that I just darted in on the side seams and now it fits beautifully & hides my bra. The most I spent on those two items together was $4 so I'm pretty happy with that. I had a skirt that was two sizes too big with stretched out elastic in the back of the waist. It also had a facing instead of a waistband so I took out the elastic, sewed three channels into the facing around the waist and threaded i...

I had a fun and busy weekend. Saturday, me and the husband went to the Dallas Quilt Show . There were many amazing quilts. The artistry and craftsmanship was a big step up from the last one I went to . Unfortunately, I can't post photos but there are a couple at the link. I came away with a lot of inspiration and motivation. We also saw a quilt my husband would like me to make for the bed. It was a lovely french braid quilt with Poppy fabric and black and white prints. So I'm scrapping all my other ideas and I'm going to focus on that one. We were both completely quilted out by the end.  I did find and buy this Our Lady of Guadalupe fabric panel. It's folded in half, the other half is the same. Sorry for the blurry picture. I'm sure I'll post clearer ones some other time. I'm not sure if I want to make one quilt or 8 individual wall quilts for my friends and family. I had a pattern for a rose that would go great with it but I couldn't find it....

After making my first two pincushion thread catchers , I knew I had to make one for my daughter and that she wouldn't like the same design for the pincushion part. She absolutely loves jasmine tea so I thought a teacup pincushion would be great for her. I looked on the web for a teacup pattern to sew but I didn't really like any of them or how they looked. We went thrift shopping for some buttons for her and I found this teacup without a saucer. It was even on sale!

So I couldn't help myself & went back to Jo Ann's yesterday. I was supposed to buy some Kona solid white there but I couldn't resist the sale and I could get it with a 50% off coupon this week. I went to a different store & they had the patterns on my list that I still wanted and the 1 inch bias tape maker I couldn't find at the other store