In today’s post, I am going to show you the transformation of a dress that I took from a baggy/frumpy/awkward fit on my body to something that makes me feel comfortable and happy when I wear it.
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In today’s blog post, I am sharing a link to a free pattern that I used to knit a modified Copycat Cowl.
I have not been sewing as much recently—I will share why in the personal update at the end of blog post—but I have been knitting more. I recently finished this knitted cowl, and I like it so much that I wanted to share it with you!
Also, included in the post is a new business (Hearthside Textiles & Tea) update.
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My friend, Cheri, asked me to share the pattern that I used to make the cotton squares that I had listed in my shop update because she likes to crochet. I thought that there might be others who are interested in it as well so I am sharing it with you on my blog.
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In this blog post, I will show you an easy way to piece 40 strips of a roll of precut 2 1/2” strips of fabric into a quilt top. The finished size before borders is approximately 55” square. In a future blog post, I will show you how to add borders to make a larger quilt.
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Hi, yes, I am still here, and I am still creating! The past two months have been busier than I like life to be, and finding time to sit at the computer to write has been a challenge.
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It seems that with zucchini, it’s either feast or famine. Two years ago, I had so many zucchini in the garden, I didn’t know what to do with them! Last year, I didn’t and this year, I have had a few, but my plants are starting to die so I don’t know whether I will be able to make this recipe as often as I would like. My family also loves zucchini bread so I will use some of the zucchini for that as well.
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Have you ever noticed how easy it is to complain about life when things aren’t going easily? I found myself telling two of my friends this week that even in the midst of a hard week, I was seeing how God was providing small gifts in a variety of ways to help me through the week. But for some reason, I felt that I had to disclaim that because I don’t believe that this life is for our comfort and that God is going to ease every burden, but this week, I became convicted that too often I just share with my friends the things that are going hard, and not the ways that I am feeling God’s presence and answer to prayers.
We agreed that as friends who have known each other through thick and thin for over 20 years that we don’t need to have a filter—we can share the good, the bad, and the ugly with each other. And, today, I am sharing a bit of my week with you. Unfortunately, I realize that you only see the highlights of my life here—the more of the beautiful and not the ugly. It’s hard as a blogger to know how much readers want to know about my personal life versus just coming here to find inspiration for creative ideas.
But today’s post is about my week. If you were hoping for a bit of creative inspiration, don’t click or scroll to read more this time. It’s all personal today…
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I haven’t baked myself a birthday cake in years. But according to my girls, you haven’t actually turned a year older until you have eaten cake. And so, I decided to bake a cake for my birthday this week. I bought ingredients, reached out to a friend to ask for a tried-and-true recipe, and started baking.
And, then, I modified the recipe. Which was…a bad idea…
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When my cousin asked my daughters to be flower girls in her wedding, we excitedly agreed! The couple was engaged for nearly 18 months so I waited to make the dresses because I knew the girls would grow a lot in that amount of time. It seems that Ellie is stretching out of her clothes these days nearly as fast as she did when she was a toddler. So, a couple of months ago, I settled on a pattern and ordered the fabric.
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Yes, I am still here! It’s been awhile since I wrote a blog post—mainly because I haven’t been creating anything to share about.
I have been trying very hard to reduce stress in my life, which means slowing down, and saying no when I try to put too much on my plate. One of the things that I have been putting energy into is the vegetable (and flower) garden at my parents. I am still very much a novice at gardening, but I am enthusiastic. My parents have the knowledge and experience, but lack the enthusiasm, so between all of us, I hope that we will have a successful garden!
In this post, I share a new garden design, and a few of my favorite varieties of vegetables.
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In this blog post, I am going to give you a quick overview of how I turned an old button-down work shirt into a comfortable, Edwardian-era-inspired, dress.
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For many years, I have appreciated the embroidery skills that my Grandmother displayed on her amazing crazy quilts. I began using the featherstitch about six years ago, and learned how to make lazy daisies, but I hadn’t tried many other stitches.
Part of my ethos, both personally and professionally, is that items I make and items in our house need to be both beautiful and practical. I don’t have any plans to make velvet crazy quilts—but I do plan to learn all of the stitches that Grandmother used…AND…put them onto practical items.
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I haven’t posted for awhile because I didn’t have any new creative projects to share. Instead, I have been focused on completing another green and white Shoofly Star quilt. I finished it last week, but even more exciting is the announcement that I am opening registration for my first in-person quilting class!
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We typically go visit my parents once a week. Although they live less than 20 minutes away, and my girls want me to take them every day, the going and coming is usually a production—my girls pack up things to take; they always want to eat while we are there; and they are always sad to leave. So, it’s always a several hour process.
A couple of weeks ago, the girls asked if we could go over for breakfast one morning, but morning chores and school lessons take time to complete so we didn’t get there for breakfast—but we did arrive before noon. I wasn’t planning to stay long, but I took along a quilt to work on anyway because I like to have something to do with my hands while visiting.
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Inspired by braided rugs, I decided to make some coasters that looked like miniature braided rugs with a modern twist—ones that were neutral in color and made with new fabric. Using Robert Kaufman Kona Cotton 57" PFD Bleach White fabric, I made coasters, which led to making a Christmas tree skirt, and then braided fabric baskets, which I will show you how to make in this post.
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Greetings again, dear reader! When I last posted, I had no idea that it would be such a long time until I wrote again! I had some rather severe chronic health flare-ups over the past six weeks. I honestly feel that I am a month or more behind schedule. But I am trying so hard to go with the flow, realizing that life is not in my control…
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I had this idea of a temporary fix of hanging an antique white quilt on the wall to add some coziness to the room and to add some white brightness along the largest expanse of blank wall. Because I eventually want to add a large mirror and a faux fireplace mantel or a board and batten or bead-board wainscoting to the wall, I didn’t want to drill lots of holes into the wall on which to hang the quilt.
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Because not everyone who has an interest in sewing has a sewing machine, I decided to share this tutorial for a hand-sewn drawstring bag. The idea came to me this summer when I made drawstring project bags as gifts for participants of the crochet workshop that I offered in July.
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Are your hand towels constantly falling to the floor? No? You must not have young children or dogs, then. One of my daily frustrations is keeping towels to stay in place. And while I have come up with several sewing solutions, this week, I thought of a no-sew solution that is also decorative!
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