Sunday, December 1, 2013

Stars

 I am making crochet stars for Christmas ornaments for my family this year. I used fabric stiffener on the back of these so they keep their shape and they are easier to work with. I think I will back them with printed paper and hang with ribbon and add a few beads.
I also made a few new pieces of jewelry, this is just one of them. I like to make bracelets because I have big wrists and nothing store bought fits very well.
  I started a new job with Fed Ex two months ago, that's why I don't blog very much right now. I was hired for two days a week and full time the month of December. Well two full weeks of training, a week of fill in for vacation during Hunting season, and a jump start on the holiday season before Thanksgiving and now we're into 6 days a week deliveries. Wow, no wonder there have been no blog posts..........lol! I did a lot of stuff early for craft shows with Mom and she shows it on her blog, flicshasews.BlogSpot.com   

Monday, September 30, 2013

Tomato time

 I have been very lucky this year, someone gave us a bunch of tomato's to can up. Mom and I spent the day canning salsa and regular tomato's. We finished the day with 40 jars of salsa and 27 jars of tomato's. I love salsa with black beans and corn so that's what I made and Mom wanted tomato's for cooking.
I'm always thankful for help in the kitchen, it went so fast with Mom cleaning and coring that sometimes I couldn't keep up with the chopping, good thing I have a nice food processor. I made a huge kettle of goulash with the tomato's that were left over(ran out of small lids and big mouth jars). I made it just like my Grandma Allen's, then I felt just like I was a kid eating dinner with my grandparents.........I loved it! Then I had so much left I had to share with a small disclaimer...if it's terrible I'm sorry, it tastes just like my grandma's........and I never said she was a good cook............

Sunday, September 29, 2013

Jane's B-day

 My Mom made this western theme apron for Jane, the pockets are the shirt cuffs. She trimmed it in western fabric leftover from tablerunners. Jane came and sewed with us for the day and she wore the apron all day long. The purse below is what she worked on with us. Mom gave her the fabric and I showed her how to make it. We had a fun day sewing for her B-day.

Baby Gifts

 Just a shot of some baby gifts Mom and I made for some new babies. The top is for a set of twins born earlier this week.
 This set goes to a baby who is waiting to show up in November, and nobody knows if it's a boy or girl yet either.
 
 I finished my sample embroidery bib also.
Oh and Crazy Sheep..........lol

Friday, September 6, 2013

Baby Bibs

 I have been working on these bibs for days.........ugh! I did all the embroidery in the evening while watching TV (not listening) or in between other things. I kept trying new things with the machine or thread or patterns so it's been a learning experience too. Some patterns have way to many thread changes to make them cost effective for craft shows but they are gonna be cute gifts.
 I also learned how to apply snaps, oh my it was a headache! Still not great at it but after 45 minutes and lots of ruined snaps I think I have the hang of it. Oh and it would of helped if I would of bought all the tools required to set those cute brown and pink plastic snaps........now I have to find the setting pliers if I want to use those snaps and have them set well.
 I fell in love with the dog print and just knew it would make the cutest bibs.
I am really glad they are done, what possessed me to make 16 of them at the same time?  Oh yeah I'm crazy and think  "if one is good, 16 is better".

Thursday, September 5, 2013

Crochet

 This batch of baby hats will be traveling oversea to Jordan. There is a group called LILY collecting stuff for Syrian refugees. Mom made the bottom 4 hats on the small Kifty Knitter Loom.
 This batch goes in the craft show pile. Who doesn't need a baby camo hat? Or a sparkly blue slouchie beanie?
This scarf is so much prettier in real life. There is two different sparkly yarns and 4 or so different browns and tans. I love the texture the variety of yarns create.

Well Mom and I are off to another craft show this weekend, it's called  The Country Market and it's held at the Old Scenic Pilger Rest Area on Hwy 275  east of Norfolk Ne.
  It's an outside show with over 60 vendors of various crafts, antiques, produce, lunch and activities. I'm looking forward to it and I know it's going to be lots of fun!  Oh it's Saturday and open from 9-4.

Wednesday, August 28, 2013

Cross body bags

 I made this little bag for myself last week. I wanted something I could wear while shopping that would be hands free. It's 8 by 11 inches with a front pocket for my cell phone and a zip top. I added a LONG strap. Being a large girl I wanted something that didn't cut me in half when I wore it or anything to heavy to drag along the body in weird ways. I used regular interfacing to keep it lightweight and loops to add the strap, or hook keys to if I don't have room in the bag for them. This fabric came into the Shoppe awhile back and I fell in love. It took me a long time to decide if I wanted it for anything. I wear a lot  of brown and it looks so cute with my coral summer t-shirt too. I keep my BIG purse in my car and this one fits inside if I think I need to carry both. My chiropractor advised me to give up the BIG purse in favor of my neck and spine health.
Mom and I made these the other day, she found the fabric and thought it would be perfect for a friend of hers. I like these bags and I know there are more in my future!

Hats.........more hats...

 I am starting to branch out, look, a scarf to match. I think this set is for me. Both Mom and Sara don't like it because it's browns and they say the hat is wonky. Well I kind of like wonky and I wear lots of brown in the fall and winter so this suits me perfectly.
 The top hat is a regular adult size and the bottom hat is a large. Same contrast yarn, two different shades of brown for the base yarn. Sometimes I like to make almost the same thing with a little tweak to make it better or different.

 This hat actually has an orange crown, just can't tell in the pic, my model is getting tired of me.....
 Another set I might keep......short scarf with a loop on the front to tuck the end in so it stays around the neck. Same loop on the side of the hat to gather it up just a bit.
I made a slouchy beanie in camo yarn, Sara said it's just a brown and green hat.

So I guess I spent to much time in my chair creating hats..........

Sunday, August 25, 2013

Craft Show

 Two more runners finished before the show at the beginning of August. The pink one was a sample for a kit I made for work. The Grinch runner and it's  longer twin runner are leftovers from my Grinch scarf my Mom made for me last Christmas. I like the Grinch until he gets a large heart, then he's just no fun at all!
 Well here's a stack of hotpads all ready to go, my Mom did the binding on them for me.
 She thinks I just like to run fabric thru the machine, I think she's right. Who doesn't like mini quilts?
 ( Maybe I like to keep her busy binding too!)
Well the craft show went ok, it would of been better with more traffic but a crafter never knows what to expect at a show. Mom and Sara did the show for me and I'm really glad they could because I went to a quilt show in South Dakota  to vend for work that day. I guess we will do a few more shows this Fall, have plenty of inventory! (or lots of gifts)

Saturday, August 24, 2013

Border Print Tablerunners

 A couple weeks ago my Mom agreed to help me with this project, she had no idea what she was getting herself into.......I am showing pic's of 25 out of 30 tablerunners she helped me complete in 3 days. I gave a little demo at quilt group on how to make these with the wedge ruler and they were great fun, that is if you only make one at a time. After group I had lots of left over fabrics. Soooooo I cut them ALL out, Mom started sewing the tops together, I ironed and pinned, she stitched around them and I turned and pinned them so she could quilt them. Now we did take turns sewing and ironing when her back would act up or one of us would have to get up and move around and stretch a bit.
 I must admit I bought a lot of fabric but it takes a lot to get one runner, why not cut the leftover up and make more runners?
 I love this pink runner with fruity drinks on it.
 Oh and who don't need a Birthday runner?
 Roses are always good with blues and golds.
 Angels and birds?
 Rodeo fabric is really popular too.

 Laurel Burch Christmas is outstanding, love the rich colors.
 Didn't think I liked the earth fabric but made up into runners I really am pleased with the way they turned out.
Oh the most likes at the craft  show was the western runners. Cowgirls like anything western and these really are cute.

My Mom promises to hit me if I suggest making more runners............but I'm sure if I would of bought the fabric she  showed me at the shop in Norfolk she would of made "just a few more" with me.......

Friday, August 23, 2013

Halloween Wallhang

Roseanne is at it again, this little wallhang is a sample for kits at The Quilters Candy Shoppe in O'Neill Ne. I quilted it and Mom added black binding for us before I took it to a quilt show last week.

Thursday, August 22, 2013

Sneak peak

 This is my very first Monster, he's not finished yet. I got a new embroidery  disk with 25 different little guys on it. Oh how much fun these are going to be!
 Sample for baby bibs. I don't have a big enough hoop to do  the bibs the way it shows on the pattern but Mom had a basic pattern that was the perfect size so I'm good to go on bibs.
I got two balls of this cotton yarn on sale a few weeks ago, they made 6 dish cloths in Halloween colors. Gonna have to find my pattern if I want flat cloths, mine seem to have a bit of a ruffle, except for the last one I made, shown on the left. I made them all in one day, in the car before the quilt show, at the show and sitting in my chair with my feet up at home after the show. I hope to make hotpads and dish towels to match the Halloween theme.

Hot/Cold packs

 I made Corn Heat Packs a few years ago and they were a hit with family and friends.
 Well in my cleaning and sorting out in the studio I found a few left over corn bags so I made them covers and took them to the craft show in early August. These are so nice right out of the freezer too.
These packs are from the $ store, just little pillowcases on them to keep them easy to use. Who wants to slap that plastic right onto bare skin?

Wednesday, August 21, 2013

More Hats.........

 Sara had a request, could I make a Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle Hat? "Well of course my dear." I said.
 So I looked on Pintrest at TMNT hats and this is what I came up with.
 Sara is very retro in her turtle love so I went with the round eyes like the 80's cartoon.
 Next she requested a slouchie beanie, she even picked the yarn. She loves it and wants to wear it when it's 90 degree's outside, ugh!
Well my hat model started school last week so to show off the latest hats I just plopped them down in my chair. I'm keeping the brown sparkly one  and the black one for myself. (well at least for now, who knows, I might keep them all!)