The creative things people think of!

Hello my friends.  Summer has flown by and my daughter had already started school and my son starts on Tuesday. It is hard to believe that my vacation time went by so fast!  I have managed to do some wonderful things and I will follow with an update, but this post is about the clever things people think of. 

Last night my husband took me to dinner to Rooster's one of our favorite restaurants in Ogden, Utah.  It's a block from THE one and only famous cross stitch store, Shepherd's Bush. If you haven't been there, then put it on your bucket list. 

Roosters has the most fabulous food!  I don't think I've ever had anything there that I didn't want to try again and again.  Many people feel the same way, as it was unusually busy for a Thursday night and we had to wait about a half an hour for a table. 

Running over to Shepherds Bush would have been my first choice, but sadly, it was closed, so we decided to walk up and down the streets of historic 25th street. We read the signs that talked about Ogden's colorful history. We read about three famous "ladies of the night" and how their brothel houses were center stage during the days of the railroad construction. One lady wore her finest clothes and walked down the streets with her ocelot. Can you imagine the site?  

If that wasn't entertainment enough we enjoyed the colorful pianos that were set out in front of stores along the streets. 

Pretty soon we started to notice crocheted items wrapped around the lamp posts and in the trees. 

The colorful, crocheted items were around planters...

...the statues...(this has to be a favorite). 

..and even the bike racks. 

It became a treasure hunt of sorts. We found little creatures on the top of the buildings. 

and at the bottom of the poles. The store responsible for this?  I am guessing it is this one. 

The Needlepoint Joint, located next door to Rooster's. Here you can see their giant knitting needles displayed. 

There were so many more items I didn't  take pictures of.  Next time I will!!

I applaud their creativity and hope that people will appreciate the time and effort that went into this endeavor.  For those too far away to visit, I hope you enjoy the pictures. Perhaps it will inspire other historical areas to do something clever to their areas as well. Not a bad night to have to wait for a table!  

Have a great day everyone!  

Patriotic Week!

Hello blogging friends!  I wanted to show you a few patriotic finishes that I have worked on during the past year.  I love patriotic things. 

This project was done at girls camp last year. I was one on the leaders that had to go and supervise 25 girls between the ages of 12 and 17 for 5 days.  This definitley helped me stay sane!  

 This is by Little House Needleworks and I'm not sure of the pattern name. An oldie but a goodie!

I finally quilted this little wall hanging by Primitive Gatherings.  It was a class I took a year and a half ago by Lisa Bongean. It was a great project to learn how to perfect my embroidery stitches on.  

This is a wool project I worked on several years ago, but I've never shown it on my blog. The pattern was from an awesome book called Serendipity by The Ginger Cookie Company. The needle punched flag is my own design. 

I finally got this little sheep mounted onto my rolling pin. I saw this idea on a blog that has sadly, since been removed. I attached Velcro on the back so I could add other holiday designs. So far I haven't stitch anything else. Someday!  

I have had these two little designs in my stitching stash forever and I finished them up recently. They are both kits from Shepherds Bush. Both really fun to stitch and not too complicated. I messed up the cutting in the pincushion so one side is smaller than the other!  Ugg. I hate I when I do that. I managed to make it work but it bugs me a little bit. 

This is not a patriotic piece but I just got this quilt ready for the quilters last week.  It's called Winter Wonderland and it's by Crab Apple Hill. It has been languishing in the sewing closet for at least 5 years. I had half of the embroidery blocks stitched and the pieced blocks were done at a retreat several years ago. So I pulled it out at the beginning of June and made a goal to get it finished. I stitched on vacation for a week and finally saw the light at the end of the tunnel when getting the last block stitched. The border was tricky and I had to do some stretching to make it work. Hopefully the quilter can make it lay flat.  I can't wait to get this one in the wall for Christmas. I love the results but it was not my favorite project to do. Sometimes that is the way it is. 

This is my current stitching project that I hope to finish up today. It's new from Blackbird Designs called "In Full Glory".

 A friend kitted it up for me and changed some of the colors. I love how it is turning out!

This is my current quilt project called Farm Fresh by Buggy Barn. I have had the appliqués prepped for a long while and decided it was time to sew them together. I'm really trying hard to finish up old projects. They can be such a pain, but half the work is already done so they go fast. I'm using the starch/freezer paper method and sewing them on with invisible thread. 

This little quilt is by Primitive Gatherings and was given to us in the class I took from Lisa. It was done using those little 2 1/2" squares from Moda that come in a little package. It was so simple and easy to do. I think you could do this for any season using appropriate colors. 

Last of all before I forget and this goes in the decorating closet until spring, I finished up this set this morning. This is "March Hare" by All Through the Night. It was a most delightful project to work on the past few months. 

I found this wonderful grey dot linen fabric at my local quit store and wanted to do something fun with it. The pattern calls for the pillow on black wool but I changed it. I love the ruffle. You will need about a yard of fabric if you want to make this. 

That's all for me today. I have work to do. I have been working on a commercial building design for a friend and have been spending a lot of time at home. I'm grateful that it is summer and I can finish projects!   Thank you for those wonderful friends that leave me comments. I really appreciate them. Enjoy your summer!!!

Catching Up!

So I have been really bad at posting lately. I am not sure if anyone is even reading this blog still, but If you are, thank you!!!  I don't know why my life seems to be so hectic right now, but with two teenagers going every which way, I don't seem to have the life I had before. Not that it was easier by any means. 

I also got a job...more on that later. 

So I have some finishes to share. This is a wool and cotton quilt called Pennies from Heaven. I started this about a year ago and my sister-in-law did the quilting on it. I love the way this turned out. It was not the easiest pattern to construct and after it was put together I noticed some flaws, but it's done. and I will be thrilled to have it on my wall. 

I have several quilts back from the quilters. This was an exchange that we did in quilt guild called "Girl Gang". I'm not sure of the designer. I added the red triangles and piano keyboard. It's a really soft quilt that will get a lot of use at our house. 

This is my first Kim Diehl quilt called Idaho Farm Girl. It was also an exchange.  I really love the colors in this quilt and I can't wait to make another Kim Diehl quilt. I found out yesterday that she is retiring from teaching after 2015, so I hope to be able to find a class to take from her. She is one of my all time favorite quilt designers. 

This is a bullseye quilt that we cut out with an Accucut machine. I used the craziest throw away fabric to make this. The funkiness adds to the appeal. 

This was also an exchange quilt. I added a row of flags and intended to use this as a picnic quilt. My SIL quilted this for me and did such an amazing job, there is no way I'm using this outside!  This is going to be on my wall or bed this season. 

I finished Peter and Peep by Brenda Gervais and got to enjoy him for the Easter season. Once I sat down and focused some attention on him, he went pretty quick. The crocheted lace was made by my mom for my birthday. Which makes it even more special. 

I went to a retreat in April and we all made these hat pincushions. It's a pattern from Need'l Love. 

For my birthday, a friend of mine gave me this darling bird pincushion. She gave me the wire basket the year before and I just put the two together. I have sweet friends!

I pulled out the old punch needle and made a gift for a friend a few months ago. I decide to punch the same design twice so I could have one too. This is by Brenda Gervais. 

I had been recovering my cushions for my patio furniture. Not my favorite kind of sewing but I love the results. 

I still need to make slip covers for the bolster pillows. They will be out of a grey geometric. That is on my agenda today!

So my daughter still has her ballet performance next week, we are just finishing some major construction on our deck and I'm cleaning the garage and I got a job. So I guess I have the right to feel busy!!! Right?  

 I am working as a design consultant for a company called I4C.  We are doing some marketing and advertising right now and I am suppose to start a blog to show trends and forthcoming designs. So please watch for it!!!

We just finished some work for Donny Osmond Home (we redesigned their inspiration catalog for their manufacturers) and we will be meeting them at market in July!  It is an awesome job, that I love!!  What do I do?  Well, consulting with clients on designs, colors, and trends. We do customized trend presentations and swot analysis on businesses. The business owner Mike Collins, is a long time veteran in the furniture design business and is a genius with drawing and furniture design. If you have bought an outdoor set at Costco or Target recently, he probalably designed it. It was an opportunity that I couldn't pass up.  

I hope I have time to sew and do the things I want to do!  One thing is for sure, that I will be doing more social media so you will be hearing from me soon!  Please follow me when I get things up and running. I will keep you informed on all the good decorating ideas coming out.

One hot trend right now is...cross stitch!! How awesome is that?  

Enjoy your sewing time friends!  

Lots of sewing!

Hello all of my blog friends. I think an update is in order as I feel like I have been cranking out projects as of late.  First up, during Christmas  I was commisioned to make a quilt for my daughters ballet teacher, by her husband.  Commissioned is a loose word. I did all the piecing pro bono, because I have appreciated everything she has done for us.

 I had this quilt kit in my stash and added a few borders to make it Queen size. I hated to give it away because this quilt looked great in MY bedroom.  Isn't that the way it goes?

I made this little sewing set for my mom for Christmas. This is from Milady's Needle called Ann Blockley's Pin Cushion and Scissor Keep. I stitched it on 40 count linen with my own conversion of Gentle Art threads. 

When we were at the Attic needlework store in November, I noticed that my mom picked up the pattern several times to admire it. I decided to sneak it into my purchases and make it for her. The buttons on the scissor holder were a bit tricky so I opted for a pre made trim on the pincushion.  

The dolls got dressed up for Christmas!  Caroline is wearing a dress made out of blue silk that I finished this year.  

We took a Disney cruise a few weeks ago for one of our Christmas presents. My daughter and I ran the 5k on Castaway Cay, Disney's private island. 

I started running during the summer and I absolutely love it!  I'm not running any marathons or anything, but as far as exercise goes, it's one of my favorite things to do. I don't like running in the cold and snow. I cannot wait for warmer weather again!!!!

My poor daughter struggled with the run. She was less than enthusiastic after mile one. A picture with Captian Jack helped her smile again. 

We took an unexpected trip to Washington D.C. on our way home from our cruise. It was great seeing all of the sites. My kiddos are growing so fast!

Of course we had to visit the American Girl store in D.C. and my daughter used her Christmas money to buy the new girl of the year, Isabelle. They are both ballerinas. 

Do you remember the Shores sampler I finished a few months ago?  Well this is the house that my husbands great grandfather built in 1796 , near the nations capital. We had to drive by and take a snap. It is obviously under a huge renovation at the moment. I want to go back when they have restored it in all it's glory.

Over Christmas break, and a few times into January, I got together with my favorite Sister-in-law, and we sewed up a bunch of projects.  She is in a monthly sew group and she wanted a place to store a duplicate of all of her favorite sewing notions.  I wanted something for retreats and classes.  

We were first inspired by the Portable Creation Station pattern by Pine Mountain designs. We changed the front pocket to a hanging design so it could be removed. The pattern comes with an iron tote as well and I have one cut out but not constructed yet.

As we started sewing we found other patterns to add to our obsession. We needed an Abbey Bag by Abbey Lane Quilts, to hold thread snippets and pins.  The Sewing Caddy (not sure of the designer) we put inside a brochure holder from Staples to hold all of our pens, seam rippers and odds and ends. 

The clear plastic thread holder is a modified pattern by Kerry Stitch called Needle Nook. We didn't do the appliqué on the front, just used the same focus fabric from the tray. 

The bag to hold everything in is from Fig Tree and it's called The Bella Bag. 

It feels great to be organized and prepared for a sewing day out of my own sewing room. No more forgetting my seam ripper or needles!  I can just grab my bag and go. 

I got together with another friend this month and we made these wool Halloween friends. They are both patterns from Threads That Bind called Crow Catcher and Perfect Potion.  Talk about a fun sewing day. We were suppose to be working our wool quilts, Pennies From Heaven, but had a rebellious hair and decided to do something totally different. These wool friends were hilarious with their funny fingers and facial expressions. I can't wait to decorate with these guys. 

I made 6 of these Crazy Quilt Hearts for friends at Christmas time. I changed the fabrics from blacks to creams. The pattern is called Christmas Heart by A Piece of Work. 

On the stitching front, I've been working on Peter and Peep by With Thy Needle and Thread. I'm anxious to finish him up and move on to something new. He is taking a loooonnng time to stitch!  He is easy on the eyes, but I have messed up plenty on this guy!  Sometimes I think the lower count fabrics are harder to stitch on!  

Last of all I picked this up from the framers. It is my ABCD 1817 sampler from The Scarlett Letter. I love how tiny it is. It looks great tucked on a little shelf in my hallway. 

That's all for me today. I hope you are enjoying your sewing time!  Until next time dear friends!