Fabric bulletin board

Well, I've been needing one of these, but didn't get inspired until I asked my dear granddaughter, Raven, if she wanted to make one. I needed to see if I could make one first so I could help her. I "googled" fabric bulletin boards and got a variety to choose from. I decided to put foam board on top of the stretched canvas so the thumb tacks would stick (stay) better. I love my fabric and the pictures of course;-) Thankfully, I had all supplies on hand. I might need a new heavy duty stapler before we make hers though. ...sigh....

President's Day....one day late:-(

I made up this pin yesterday morning. It's nice having all the materials on hand. I had made up some pins years ago and had some flags left over.

HAPPY VALENTINES DAY!

Happy Valentines Day! And Happy Birthday to a very special friend of mine, JoAnn, born on this day! She is a "sweetheart". I'm thankful the Lord brought her into my life about 16 years ago. She lives in the Dallas area where they got lots of snow this last week. It is snowing here right now and I have to go to work soon..... Anyway, yesterday I spent time making these pins. I started out just making the center part, but felt it needed more, so I made a large yoyo to put behind it. Lettie from Polka Dot Pineapple gave me the original idea. She is such a creative person. She amazes me with what she comes up with. The center pin is from the scrapbooking section of Hobby Lobby. Shhhhh don't tell anyone I went there, since I work at Michaels. lol What can I say, I was in the area when the idea hit me;-)

Have a Wonderful Day!

This one... that one... hummmm

I wanted to make a "grocery bag" for a friend at work. She admired the ones I made and used to bring my "stuff" to work. She also had given me some cotton yarn to get me started on making cotton wash cloths. I found some fabric I really liked and thought she would also.... that's a good start, right? I had bought a bolt of both fabrics, at a very good price, on an online store a few years back. I've used them for a quilt or two. I THOUGHT I would add some fusible fleece, that I had, to give it some body. I made it and said, "Naw" too much body. lol I'll keep it to use on trips. This is how it looks:

And then I made a bag like the ones I carry to work. It looks like this:

But..... I always wanted to take a plastic bag apart (make a pattern)and try to make one to resemble the bags we get at the grocery store, but never got around to it. but..... the other day, after I made the second bag, I read in an e-mail about this sight DIY BAG LOVER and guess what I found??? Yup, the grocery bag pattern I wanted to make myself. Yippee! It has directions to make a pocket to fold itself into when not in use and I did make it....(I took the picture with pocket showing) but I might just make the pocket for the sake of having a pocket. It is just too hard to fold the bag into the bag:-(. That's ok. I don't need to fold it up. I REALLY LOVE how it turned out and will make one for myself. This one will go to my friend.... I think. lol

After I took pictures of the first two bags, I put them on the bed. Austie, I believe, thought I put them there for him to "try"them out. I think he liked them because he slept on them all afternoon. Isn't he sweet? I just wanted to mention that I'm never sure how these pictures will show up on my blog because they seem to arrange themselves for some reason. lol I just can't seem to figure out how to make them STAY where I put them. lol

Have a Wonderful Day! More later.....

Kathy

dish cloth

A friend at Michael's was making a bunch of cotton dish cloths for Christmas gifts. So, I thought I'd try my hand at crocheting again. I bought some Fily Sugar'nCream 100% cotton yarn. I used a G crochet hook and chained 40, then used a double crochet stitch to get a 10 X 10 dish cloth. It took almost the whole 2ozs. It looks uneven, but it isn't. Actually, I am quite proud that I finally learned how to get the ends straight. I think I'll make more.....

Quick and Easy??

Hummmm..... it said for beginners.....I was beginning to doubt my abilities....... Well, I was looking for a quick and easy pattern to satisfy my craving to do something quilty and finish it quickly. A new magazine had a hot pad that said for beginners and looked easy because I already knew how to make a 9 patch and knew how to applique. It was just a matter of picking my fabric. I even had insul-bright to sandwich inbetween layers to keep hands and tabletops from getting too hot:-) I had my plan to cut 2" strips, (experienced quilter kicking in. lol) sew them, cut and sew them together(again to make 2 nine patch) to make a 9 patch instead of cutting 2" squares and sewing them together(like pattern said to do) PLUS for my applique I was going to sew fusible interfacing to applique pattern (turn)to avoid raw edges or hand edge turning. I had a plan, until the directions said my 9 patch, sewn, before adding triangles, would be 4.5". hummmm.... mine measured 5", 2+2+2-1 in my book is 5. That threw off the applique fitting right(the heart shaped part).... so after alot of ripping out and sewing over and over, because I was determined to get this right, I figured it out and was able to make the adjustments to the second one to make it work. The first one is ok.....I finished the second one the next day. I was determined to NOT have anymore UFO's. My cousin Gails voice was playing in my head to make sure I finished it. She is my inspiration to try and finish what I start because she does so much and finishes them before moving on. So, quick and easy for a beginner?? NOT!! Not for me anyway. lol The first one is always the hardest for me. Now I could probably whip one out alot quicker since I have it all worked out. I put notes on the pattern so I'd remember the changes if I was to make it again.... and I just might do that.

Until next time..........

Have a GREAT DAY ALL. Stay warm...

Afternoon with Raven

I spent the afternoon with Raven baking. She made the pies.... sweet potato, pecan and peanut butter. Then she made Florence's pecan fingers and white chocolate covered pretzels. I supervised and did the cleaning up afterwards. She then did some decorating and even found time to play the Wii with her Papo. We had a very enjoyable day. Here are two pictures of her with the pecan fingers. She will be celebrating her 13th birthday on December 26.




Wishing you All a Very Merry Christmas and Blessed New Year.
Have fun and Be safe.

Kathy aka Kela

Carol's Holiday Gift Challenge

Carol Doak posted a challenge on her Yahoo group. We were to make a gift using one of her blocks in it. I decided to make a lunch bag. It was a REAL CHALLENGE because I didn't have a pattern. I put fusible fleece on one piece of fabric to give it some body. I made the block from the 4500 member block using colors from the main fabric for the bag. I decide to use the block to make a pocket on the bag. I backed it with the light purple fabric like that in the center of the block. I used velcro for closing the bag. It folds over and catches onto the other piece of velcro. I am quite please with how it turned out. I love butterflies!

Snowman Wreath

Raven and I finally got together for some crafting and she made a snowman wreath. We got the idea from the Michael's web sight. Hopefully this weekend we will decorate some glass ornaments. I forgot to take a picture of some I made before sending them off to Fernando's family. So here is Raven and her wreath.......

Happy Holidays.... Merry Christmas to All! Be safe and God Bless,

Kathy aka Kela

Table runner

Here is a table runner I just finished. I made it for a challenge. Here is a better picture. We had to use at least one block of Carol Doak's and make a tablerunner. I like the way it turned out.