At some point, we decided  I should make it for her, so she brought me a wonderful stash of linens, hankies, & embroidered pieces to chose from.  It was hard to decide!  I kept asking myself – “what would Bev do?”.  She has a very unique gift of being able to “edit” and her discerning eye has saved me many times.  Only Bev. can be Bev. – too much pressure!

 She loves soft, romantic, clean, crisp, vintage-inspired pieces in the way that I do, so it was a joy to make her bag, even if it was hard to have her “eye”.    She loved it in the end.. I love the brooch an the silk flower on the vintage tag.

There were a few things in her fabric basket that I didn’t want to send back when I was finished.  But,as she said, “now you kow what I’ve got tucked away”.  She brings her Junk Bag to work each week, but what I can’t get over is how pristine and pretty her bag looks!  I think it’s another of her special super powers!

Last weekend at Picket Fence’s annual quilt retreat, I met wonderful, talented women.  This is Terri and her sister Marsha who was visiting from Missouri.  They both made Junk Bags, but with a crazy quilter spin to the pattern using wonderful, interesting embellishments.  I love seeing how they used their imaginations – crazy quilters find the most ingenious ways to use so many different elements in their quilts and projects.

Donna, Lisa’s daughter, who is in the education field, worked on finishing up the Mother’s Love quilt with the rouched borders.  Donna is also a knitter and crocheter and does wonderful work. 

Barbara, who I didn’t get a photo of, was working on two Cute as a Button Baby Jackets for gifts.  She is expecting a new grandbaby girl, Lilly, so she put an L on the little girl’s pocket.  She fussy-cut the letter from my Sweetest Gifts fabric.  Both jackets are lined in cotton flannel.

Three glorious days in the quiet country sewing with friends and getting projects finished, what a wonderful treat!  Thank you Lisa for putting together a lovely experience!

PS: I promise I didn’t pay these gals to work on my patterns at this retreat, but what a wonderful  thing to get to see!  I learn so much watching others create and it helps me as a designer to see what the patterns and fabrics can become!

My fabric swatches came!  We have been working with Benartex Fabrics to design this wonderful line and up ’til now, it’s been on paper.  This week, the girls and I got to see the prints on fabric for the first time!

We squealed, we oohed and we ahhed.  There were fabrics everywhere!  It just looks so beautiful!  It has been such a pleasure working with Benartex on this project!  I just  could not be any happier with the colors, the detail and how quickly this has all happened.               

We each have our favorites already!  Look at all the choices!  This purple and green argyle fabric is darling.  I can’t wait to get yardage of thes fabrics and start sewing models for Spring Quilt Market!

I am working on a free downloadble quilt pattern to use with the new line.  Seeing the fabrics all together like this makes the combination of colors/prints  for the design easier.  This alphabet fabric comes in two color ways, one more suited for boys, the other for girls.  It also has numbers and punctuation symbols!  I can’t wait to personalize a quilt with a name.

I had the opportunity last weekend to join my friend, Lisa of Picket Fence Quilts (here in Wichita) at her annual quilt retreat.  I got the fabric swatch samples earlier in the week, so I took them with me and had a chance to make a couple of small projects.

The pattern I used was Little Scraps from This & That.  It was agonizing trying to sort through my odd shapped swatches and then CHOSE the combination to use.  I wanted to use them all!  The project was fun and I added some lavender inside to make the notebook holder freshen my purse.  I made one for Steph and Bev.

Faux Crochet Granny Square fabric!  I have displayed this baby afghan Tamara Gonzales, my sister made and carried it to market after market – finally it made it’s way into my fabric line.  Tamara really did a wonderful job on the stitches and her work really looks lovely in cotton cloth.  Check out Tamara’s blog with Leisure Arts, Tamara’s Take  for all kinds of crochet ideas.

All I can say is that I am so excited, so grateful, so pleased!

I have been spending quite a bit of time with Ava lately, I had the priveledge of babysitting for Angie and Travis last month when they took a short trip to an out of town wedding.  All Ava, all to ourselves. 

Angie and Travis have worked with Ava to teach her sign language and she really communicates so easily and readily using her hands instead of whining for what she is after.

I wanted to make her a soft baby book for quite some time, and finally got it done over the holidays.  I think she is just hungry for more words, more information.

I used some fun fabrics to make her pages, pockets on each page and a little something to go inside each pocket.  She dove right in and opened all the pockets with her chubby little hands!

She’s so busy, making all kinds of  sounds, she knows just what to do!  She’s big business!

It  amazes me to see her mimic what she sees the grown ups do.  We bought a  little kitchen set for her to play here grandma’s house.  She is turning knobs, talking on the cell phone, opening the doors on that thing as busy as she can be!

I used fabric transfer paper to put a photo of Mark and myself onto a shape she could pull in and out of one of the pockets.  

I enjoyed this project, and I think Ava did as well.  Thank you, Angie for taking the photos for me so I could see her reaction!

I received an email of this fun version of the Junk Bag pattern from Marie and Greg Dick.  Marie works at Cottonwood Quilts in Hutchinson, Kansas.    This Snowman’s expression is precious!  She is doing a Dessert Club in January and will use the Junk Bag pattern.  She also sent me another version of the pattern.  I love that these projects look so different depending on your color scheme and the words you choose!

Thank you, Marie for sharing your project, I love the scalloped edge with the buttons and the crocheted flower!  It is very exciting to hear this pattern is being used in your classrooms!

My dear friend, Lisa had a Christmas Open House at her quilt shop, Picket Fence on Saturday and  invited me to do a short presentation on making gifts and wrapping gifts and to introduce my Junk Bag pattern.

Click on the image to download a .pdf of this handout, also listed in Helpful Hints.

Steph and Bev joined me to help with handouts and door prizes.

I also got to see projects that friends are working on and projects they have finished.

How much fun are Wanda and Sandi having?  I love it!  Sandi brought her bag she made to show me.  She crocheted this lace.  I love this idea, very clever Sandi!  The crochet lace is Tamara’s pattern from the bed-skirt in one of my project books, A Mother’s Love.

This was taken inside Benartex Fabrics.  Look at it all stacked up!

This is a view that a Kansas girl doesn’t see everyday.  I had the hardest time getting a sense of direction in the city.  A view like this helps you know where you are!

This is the beautiful church that I mentioned in a previous post.  I  just loved that you could walk in off the street.

I have photos from my trip to New York, designing my new line of fabrics with Benartex!  This is just as the Christmas tree was being set up in Rockefeller Plaza.. I got goose bumps!

The staff at Benartex were so welcoming and friendly, I can’t say enough about how much I enjoyed this designing process.  I laid out my patterns and models along with notes on the conference table and the group of us discussing ideas, plans and the direction of this line was so delightful.

David and Susan took me to a wonderful Itallian restaurant one evening and it was nice to have the time to get to know them.  The food and atmosphere were wonderful, very authentic Itallian food.

Of all the shopping opportunities in New York, Tinsel Trading Company was the one place I wanted to go.  Look at this window display!  I think this is a must do if you are in New York.

This display made me want to go home and decorate for Christmas.  I love the pink vintage inspired trees.

I could live right here.

This antique ribbon case full of vintage ribbon is amazing.  I have never seen one before.

Emilee was a wonderful travel companion on this trip.  We each took time to see and do things we were interested in, Emilee caught up with friends.   We walked and walked!  On one afternoon we walked passed a church from 1776 that was open and took a peek inside.  The architecture was amazing.  Not far from there a gentleman directed us to a wonderful overlook of the Statue of Liberty.

New York City is amazing, people and information, sounds, smells, food vendors and crazy taxi cabs and cyclists everywhere.. While it is wonderful to visit, and experience it, I am happy to now be home!

Setting aside a dedicated space for sewing and crafting is, to me, the difference between enjoying your project and completing it versus a stash of “someday” dreams and unfinished projects.

A “creative space” means different things to many people. I know lots of women who have sewing rooms, even large studios,  but whether your space is a separate, dedicated room, or just a small work table in a common area, the 2 most important functions it should serve are providing you the opportunity to personalize it, and having the freedom to walk away and come back to your work, undisturbed, when both time and inspiration are on your side.

I love painted furniture, this pink cabinet houses my stash of buttons, sorted by color, my scrap-book materials and boxes full of crochet embellishments, ribbons and trims.  Clear containers and a label maker are indispensable tools for organizing!  Vintage purses are another favorite for filing, sorting, grouping and transporting odds and ends I need for teaching.

Magazines, blogs, Flickr and other photo sharing sites are full of beautifully arranged and organized craft/sewing rooms of all sizes and for all types of crafts.  The following links are fantastic and dreamy..

Pink Studio, Quaint Handmade , here you will find photos of her lovely guest room/sewing room.  Her blog is also full of some of the most beautiful photography I have ever seen.

The Domestic Diva , she provides links for designing your craft room, chosing color, organizing techniques.. awesome information.  Plus, great sites to visit to see what other sewer’s rooms look like.

Flickr: you can spend hours here, I entered Creative Spaces and found a “pool” of kindred souls.  Click the link to see a wall of buttons I love!

For me, it’s about soft pastel colors, antique and vintage textiles, beautiful pottery that store my utensils, tools that match my color pallete, down to notepads and pencils and clips!

This is an imortant subject to me and one that I will talk about regularly on my blog.  Until a crafter feels inspired, comforted, and free to work, frustration overrides the joy of the project itself.  I encourage you to claim your space, surround yourself with what you love, organize it and maintain it!

More on this later!

For my birthday a few months ago, Bev. bought me the new Rachel Ashwell, Shabby Chic Interiors.  It is a beautiful book, inspirational rooms!  All of us at JCD are crazy about our books and magazines, Fortunately, while we have similar tastes and hobbies, we have different criteria for purchasing books and magazines.. so, we often will beg, borrow, share materials so that none of us ends up broke!  Not to mention that I have joined a book club (which I love) that can put a little ding in the cash flow.  I am calling it my continuing education – books are required.

Speaking of reading materials.. Steph’s birthday is this month, so Bev. and I  surprised her last week with lunch, brownies and gifts.  We usually pool our efforts and funds for gift giving.. Bev. made the beautiful “friendship” gift tag and I picked out these fabulous magazines and wrapped them with with some fabric I knew Steph would love, pinned the edges and topped it off with a fabric corsage pin (gifts within gifts!).

I bought Journaling, Where Women Create, Artful Blogging, and Stitch (open with awesome tank top), and had my hands full with at least another 5 or 6 that I had to walk away from!  I think she liked the gifts, we all had a hard time finishing our work and often had to flip through pages during “down” time.