Keep searching; Lucky me!

My daughter was innocently picking clover leaves one day two years ago waiting for me to pick her up when she found a legendary four leaf clover. She greeted me with a huge smile, and excitedly explained her find. I was in disbelief. All my life, I was convince that since I had never seen a real one; they must be just a myth, a legend, make-believe that was passed on by superstitious people for generations. What I realized when holding this one in my own hand is that her luck was from her keen observations and persistence. Her attitude of continuing the search, all the while believing that it WAS possible to find a four-leaf clover lead directly to her success.

Hold on to your belief. Hold on to your positive outlook. Hold on to hope, and luck will find you.

Clowns aren’t that scary; neither is quilting without a pattern.

It all began with a garage sale. Like many of my other projects I was digging through an enormous pile of fabric searching for unique vintage fabric and a steal of a deal when I spied some hand embroidery. Red, aqua marine, green, and brown on a white background. When I see these bits of hand work I can’t seem to resist. I think about who the artist must have been. Who was she? For whom was she willing to take her precious time to give to the task of pulling thread and needle through cloth? I do a little hand embroidery and I know it takes a lot of time so I can’t stand to see it in a pile of things to be discarded, even when there are tears and stains on the piece. Would one throw out a Monet just because it had a little rip? Of course not, so I also respect the hand work of others who stitch with love.

So begins this project: A Circus themed baby quilt. I will try to attach as many pictures as I can to show you the steps but please forgive me if my new Blogging skills show my novice posting practice. No, I don’t yet know how to rotate these pictures to their upright and secure position.I’ll keep you posted in several different posts so please follow me to see them all.

The first picture is going to be the center block. The next is what it looked like when it came home. It’s stained and wrinkled but a diamond in the rough to me. I took advise from Pinterest and tried lemon juice to fade the rusty stains with a good deal of success. Pour salt on the stained area and pour lemon juice over it. It helped but did cause it to spread so lots more lemon juice later, then my favorite stain remover, Clorox 2 color safe bleach, then a bit of real chlorine bleach, and it was better. It’s now barely noticeable and I covered the remaining small tears with coordinating fabrics in circles and stars that are all backed with fusible iron on adhesive. I plan to stitch them down later so they’re more washable; it is a baby quilt after all. Picture #3 is the four outer block centers after washing, trimming, stain removal, and application of the fabric patches to cover stains and holes. Last is the mix of fabrics I am using. They are all from my stash. It’s large and I will not need to purchase anything else but maybe some batting.

By the way- the embroidered piece cost me just .50$

Stay tuned for more to come.

DIY Valentine Pennant- Vintage Hankie LOVE

Turn vintage hankies from garage or estate sales, or grandma’s trunk into a beautiful banner to express your love. Read on to learn how….
Photo of our family holding the LOVE banner. It was a windy spring day so we couldn’t get it to photograph well that morning, but I was glad to get a piece of something so personal into our family photo shoot:

Here’s how I made it.

You will need:
_4 vintage or reproduction handkerchiefs
_1 circle crochet doily
_Letter stencils
_Paint Brush and palette
_6 feet 3/4″ grosgrain ribbon
_4 feet extra wide satin blanket binding

Carefully press each hankie with an iron, using a press cloth and spray starch. If you choose to use a circle doily, as I did, for your letter “O” you will pin it into place on the hankie and use either a large zig-zag stitch on your sewing machine or hand stitching to attach it to the center of the hankie.

Protect your painting surface using freezer paper, foil, or other waterproof surface. Use a piece or two of Scotch tape to keep your stencil in place. Carefully paint in the inside of the

Crafter’s Tip: For the Duck Tape Crafter-How to clean scissors.

Beautifully printed tapes, fabric tapes, metallic tapes, and even scented duck tapes are now available everywhere. Pinterest is full of ideas for crafts you or your children can make using this stuff, but the sticky residue it leaves on your scissors can make them useless.  I have a solution for you!  I use a product that’s been in my cleaning supplies for years now, called Goo Gone.  Squirt a generous amount onto the sticky blades, allow to sit for a minute or so, then carefully wipe with dry paper towel.  Cut the paper towel with the blades as well to ensure the adhesive residue is removed completely.  Wha-la!  Clean scissors are now yours again.  I’ve used Goo Gone for many other uses; I’ll share them on a later Tip date so be sure to follow my blog for more useful tips, sewing tutorials, and more.

About me

About.

Why write a blog?

Why write a blog? I am not a person of endless words who loves the sound of my own voice. I am rather, a more introverted people person (yes that’s possible). I enjoy other people, most of the time, and genuinely desire to help others, to teach, to encourage, and to share. I enjoy sharing what I have learned, what I have created, and hope to inspire others to use their creativity; or their many other God-given gifts.

Most importantly of all. I spent some time praying about a year ago asking God to give me clear vision for my future; for the plans he had in store for me. I was feeling, once again, like I have a few times in my life, that I was at the beginning of some sort of new journey. Feeling that what I was doing at that time wasn’t exactly, what God wanted for me. I spent at least a couple of hours one morning ,after dropping my girls off at school, praying and seeking an answer. This is the answer I felt I received. It was a moment of clarity I felt had to be recorded before my procrastination allowed it to be forgotten, so I typed it quickly into the notes section of my phone:

I was a teacher for 10 years. That’s how I defined myself. Then, a Pampered Chef consultant/director for 4 years, that’s how I defined myself. Then, a vision for God’s plan for me:

I am a wife and mother, homeschool teacher, a Bible study teacher, Blogger, Sewing instructor, and crafter/artist. I seek to be a friend, spiritual leader for my children, and apple of God’s eye; a favored child who does her father’s will, obeys his commands, and serves through His example.

I have hesitated for a year now, so here it goes…I make mistakes, loose my patience, and fall short of goals daily. I’m not an eloquent writer; will make countless grammar mistakes, but here I go. Publishing my first blog post.