Category Archives: Sewing

Catching Up

Chickens, Daffodils, Dandelions, Family, Gardening, Grandchildren, Reflections, Sewing, The Farm, , , , ,

Hello and welcome. It’s been pretty quiet here on the blog lately so it’s time to do a bit of catching up.

Sewing Projects

I spent a lot of February and March sewing for Jackson and Addie. The first three photos are things I made for Jackson. (I apologize it some of the photos are a bit blurry. Sometimes my hands are not as steady as I’d like them to be.)

T-shirt for Jacksom
Spiderman shorts
Spiderman Hoodie

Jackson loves Spiderman. My sister had sent me some Spiderman fabrics that she wasn’t going to use, since her grandkids have outgrown the Spiderman phase.

On Easter, when I gave Jackson and Addie their outfits, Jackson looked at the things I made for him, then looked at me and said, “You are the girl!” I construed this to mean, “Thank you Grandma. I love them!” 🙂

My sister also had some extra cat fabrics. Addie loves cats!

Cat Nap Pajamas

The patterns on the fabric are difficult to make out in the photos, so I added close-ups of the fabric.

Close-up of fabric
Pants for Addie
Close up of fabric

I also made myself a summer turtleneck.

Turtleneck I made for myself.

I love the way it turned out, and my husband complimented it several times when I was wearing it.

Farm Views

We’ve had a lot of rain this month and much of it came last week but on the nice days I’ve been getting out to enjoy the weather. I love watching the world come alive in spring and each day we’re seeing more and more – flowers opening, plants sprouting, leaves unfurling.

These photos were taken early last week.

Since then, we have a hen or two that are sitting on eggs, so, you’ll likely be seeing chick photos in a couple weeks. Also, dandelions are blossoming and the fruit trees are beginning to flower, so the bees have plenty to forage.

Plantings

Each year since 2019 I have potted up pansies to display in the bed alongside our deck. In past years my husband was able to get them from the greenhouse where he worked in 2019. They are a wholesale business but allowed him to come and purchase a couple of flats.

This year, in March, when he tried to call them, he was only able to leave a message, and he never got a return call. I was disappointed but ready to accept that we would not have pansies this year. My husband didn’t give up so easy. He began calling around to other local greenhouses to see if they had pansies. Mostly they were not open yet for the season. Eventually he got a message back from one of the greenhouse owners that they thought they could help him. Several phone calls and about three weeks later he picked up a flat of pansies.

I couldn’t be happier!

My husband also picked up a package of pansy seeds so we can start our own plants next year.

I did have them set out along the deck but brought them in for a couple of nights when we had the temperature dipped down below freezing. Hopefully we are past that now.

My husband started some cabbage, broccoli and cauliflower plants in March. They are now big enough to be planted in the garden, and we are hoping things dry up enough this week that we can get them planted. We also have some potato seedlings that we will plant as soon as the soil is ready.

Other News

This is so exciting!

It was the last week in March when I received my preview copies of the book my story in being published in, Chicken Soup for the Soul, I Can’t Stop Laughing. The book goes on sale next week, on 4-27-26, and I will be doing a separate post about the book and about the process of being published in this book.

One of the benefits of having a story in the book was that I received 10 free preview copies. When I told my family that I would be getting them and that I would be giving them out, they decided they need to hold a book signing event. I was honored.

On April 4th we met at a local coffee shop for lunch, and I signed and passed out copies of the book. (That’s me at the far end of the table.)

As a congratulations gift my family gave me this beautiful garden statue. It says, “The Garden is my Happy Place.” 🙂 You all know that is true.

Thanks for visiting and Happy Spring!!!

Catching Up

Aloe Soap, Apple Pie, crochet, Making Soap, Pie, Pumpkin, Reflections, Sewing, Snow, Weather, Winter

Hello and welcome.

I’ve fallen a bit behind in my posting so today I’m going to be playing catch up.

From the Garden

Back in early October, my husband harvested our squash and pumpkins. Like nearly everything else, we had a nice crop this year. I put a lot of squash and pumpkin in the freezer, and we’ve been including squash in our meals once or twice a week.

We shared some with family and friends and still have some fresh in the storeroom.

I made five or six pumpkin pies in October. They are my husbands favorite.

By the end of the month, he had his fill of pumpkin pie, so we finished the month with apple pie.

But we still enjoyed some butternut squash with dinner.

Crochet

I dropped off the meandering paws afghan (can you see the paw prints in the crochet pattern?) that I made earlier this year at the Humane Society. A donation for them to raffle off at their upcoming pawzar fund raiser.

Soap Making

I also made a batch of soap in October. We liked the aloe soap that I made earlier this year so much that I decided to make that again. If you’d like you can find the recipe in this post.

Things to Celebrate

The holidays will be here before we know it – Thanksgiving in November followed by Christmas then the New Year. As usual I will be spending time making Christmas gifts for the kids and grandkids over the next several weeks.

But first we had (granddaughter) Addie’s birthday to celebrate last Saturday. I made her this hoodie and a pair of matching black leggings. I didn’t get a picture of her wearing it, but it was a perfect fit.

On Sunday we celebrated a Detroit Lions win over the Washington Commanders. Our Lions currently have 6 wins and 3 losses and are in first place in the NFC North division.

We are hoping to celebrate another win this coming Sunday when the Lions play the Philadelphia Eagles who are in first place in the NFC East division. It should be a good game. GO LIONS!

Winter Comes Early

Sunday, November 9, was our first snow of the season. Even though it snowed most of the day it didn’t really start to accumulate until it was getting dark. We only had about an inch of snow around 8:00 p.m. but when the dogs got me up to go outside around midnight this is what I saw.

We had about for inches of snow and it was still coming down. By the time we got up Monday morning the snow was finished, and we had between five and six inches on the ground (and everything else).

We do need all of the precipitation we can get because we had such a dry summer, and since it will melt away as the temperatures warm back up later this week this snow really was a blessing.

Thanks for visiting? Are you looking forward to the holidays?

2024 Homemade Christmas Gifts

Christmas, Crafts, Reflections, Sewing

Long time readers know that I usually spend the month between Thanksgiving and Christmas making Christmas gifts. This year was different as having to deal with my dad’s affairs left me little time for crafting. I did, however find myself with about three days before Christmas to whip up a few things. Fortunately, the gift(s) I had planned for my daughters were a simple pattern that I had made a few times so I was familiar with the process.

Regular readers also know that I like to make practical/useful gifts. This year I decided to make reusable shopping bags. My husband and I started using these bags earlier in the year and like how sturdy they are. They can be packed full, and we can just grab the handle and carry the bag without having to worry about the bag ripping open. The biggest problem we have, and my daughters mentioned it too, is remembering to take them along when we go shopping. We are getting better about it. I suggested to my daughter that after they are unpacked, they should be left by the door (near your shoes or coat) so when you go out next time you will remember to take them along to the car.

I had some fun fabrics that I had purchased when I saw it on clearance for $0.99 per yard. One of those deals that I couldn’t pass up even though I had no plans for the fabric at that time.

Bag made with Dr Seuss fabric
Bag made with Snoopy fabric.
Bag made with Dr. Seuss fabric.

The bags doubled as gift wrap since I just put all the other gifts we had for the girls in their bag. No wrapping required.

Last week when my youngest daughter called me, she said that she had just got home from grocery shopping. I asked if she had used the bag I made her and she replied, “yes”. That made me happy! 😀

Do you use reusable shopping bags?

More Projects Finished

crochet, Reflections, Sewing

Hello and welcome!

Today I’m sharing two more projects that I completed in February.

The first is a crochet project that I started in December. It now adorns the back of my husband’s recliner unless it’s nap time in which case we might find my husband snuggled under it.

If you’ve followed my blog for a while you might remember the puppy paw print scarves that I have made. This time using the same basic stitches I made an afghan. The free pattern can be found here.

The finished afghan measures 56 inches wide by 74 inches long. It took about 8 skeins of yarn. I began towards the end of December and worked on it an average of one hour each evening, so I would estimate that it took me about 60 hours to complete. I will admit there were a few times that I discovered I had missed a stitch and had to frog (rip out) a couple rows of stitches to go back a fix my mistake.

The other project that I completed in February was the hoodie I made for Addie.

This one came together a bit quicker than the one I made for Jackson because I had an idea of what I was doing but it was still a long and complicated process because there are a lot of pieces to assemble in this pattern.

After finishing the afghan I started crocheting a baby afghan that I hope to have finished in a couple of weeks. I’m not sure what my next sewing project will be, but I expect that my sewing will slow down as the weather gets nicer and I begin to spend more time outside. Is anyone else looking forward to gardening season? 🙂

Recent Craft and Sewing Projects

Crafts, Reflections, Sewing

Hello and welcome. I thought I would share some of the craft projects I have completed in the last couple of months.

For Christmas I made cork boards as Christmas gifts for the girls.

My husband’s father used to own a wine shop where he sold wine making supplies. When he passed away my husband inherited a lot of the wine making supplies. For over a year we had large bags of corks stored in the barn that we had no idea what we would do with. When one of my daughters mentioned wanting a bulletin board, I had an idea. I used a top to a banker’s box for the frame and covered it with some scrap fabric that I had on hand. I ran some jute through the side of the box as a hanger. Then I hot glued the corks in. The picture above is one of three that I made.

I was very pleased with the way they turned out and the girls loved them.

I made this bear with some scrap fabric and a bag of stuffing I had. Since I used buttons for the eyes, she (my husband decided it was a girl bear) was made completely with things I had on hand. Her name is Melody.

When I came across this free pattern/tutorial for a shopping bag/purse I decided to try my hand at making one. For this my sister and I made a trip to the fabric store and selected the fabrics. Selecting fabrics is at least half the fun, especially when you have a sister or two to shop with. 🙂 The inside of the bag is completely lined with the solid blue fabric and has pockets like the ones on the outside done in the flowered fabric. Thus, the bag is reversable.

This hoodie for my grandson, Jackson, is my most recent sewing project and I have just started one for his sister Addie. While hers will be made of different fabrics I am using the same pattern.

I have to say with each of these sewing projects I’ve learned something new.

Thanks for visiting.