As I’m designing items for sale in my flea market booth, I am considering several things at once.
~ People want to buy something handmade that someone else made
~ Time invested in each item vs. how much to charge
~ What do customers want to purchase? Practical items or splurges?
I discovered by putting some hotpads out that they sold very quickly. It was right before Christmas so gift giving could be a big motivator. Handmade makes it a one-of-a-kind item.
I can quickly make simpler designs, but a more complex design may be appreciated and purchased sooner. Or not, I ...
read moreI started this back in the summer, it became Part II of a wedding gift. Cute - a modern version of Christmas trees.
I haven’t sewn or quilted for a while, once I got the last baby quilt finished. My husband advanced progression in the Alzheimer’s disease. He was placed in a nursing home where he died peacefully. It has been a rough several months for me, but I’m learning again all that makes me happy.
First, I wanted something to fill my time like a part-time job, but without the exposure to public. I will have to live as if my immunity is very low, just to protect my health. I found a flea market in a place I ...
read moreChristmas is just around the corner! I feel the holidays should be spent with family and friends, not buzzing around finding last-minute gifts. If you’re still trying to decide what to gift your crafty friends who love cross stitching, look no further. These gift ideas for cross stitchers start with everything needed to get stitching and round out with different notions that will add fun and flair to stitching projects.
You can shop my Cross Stitch Holiday Gift Guide, full of my personal favorite cross stitch notions that double as great holiday gifts!
For me cross ...
read moreIt’s the jolliest season of them all! That means it’s time to deck the halls and spend time with loved ones. It’s also time to check names off your gift list! If you’re looking for ideas for your fabulous quilty friends (Kimberly’s Stitch Squad, I’m looking at you), I’ve gathered some of my favorite gift ideas in this Holiday Gift Guide for Quilters to help you with your holiday shopping.
Patterns are perfect for gifting quilters, and quilt books really deliver! Scrappiness is Happiness by Lori Holt is full of ideas ...
read moreI love this one, and I think I say that each time I finish another quilt for another grandchild.
What a bonus it was, when I used some print fabrics as backing squares! My scrap baskets overflow and being able to use larger squares of some of the prints made me feel as though I was making progress in using up the scraps. Well, as any quilter can tell you, it hardly made a dent. It feels as though some of the fabrics will live forever and probably reproduce. I see fabric from dresses made in the ...
read moreMy mom pieced all of these and sent them to me for quilting and binding.
The first is a wall hanging.
She bought the fabrics and panel in a kit from Jordan Fabrics. I added backing and binding fabric from my shop.
See mom, I got them done!
He is a real hoot, and busy all the time. He loves the toys with a push button that unleashes a lot of noise, but he also concentrates on a new skill and works until he masters it. He did that with the bubble pop silicone toy, stacking toy blocks, and I’m sure he will do the same with this.
I found it on Pinterest. It’s simple, and the goal is to feed the beads through the buttonholes until you reach the end. Both sides have interesting fabric. I chose leftovers and made each side a 9-patch, though ...
read moreHere is the last handmade gift I received. Last, but certainly not least!
It's called a Hold Tite. The link will take you to the free pattern.
It's a holder for these SewTite notions. They are magnetic and the holder has metal inside for the magnets to stick to.
As you can see, I have a nice collection of several styles of SewTites. They are great for holding small pieces (applique pieces and English paper piecing and probably other things too) instead of using pins or clips to hold things in place.
And there is also a place ...
read moreMy sewing friends are always so creative when it comes to gift giving! I got two adorable little items: a teeny-tiny pin cushion and an adorable needle book.
The pin cushion is so stinkin' cute! The pin in it is a small applique pin. And it looks huge because the pin cushion is so small.
She went to Harbor Freight and looked around to see what she could find that she could repurpose. This is a bolt screw cover less than 1" in diameter.
Someone else made me the needle book. Here is a close-up of the inside.
Celebrate the spookiest day of the year with the 2021 Spooky Box from Fat Quarter Shop! This box is oozing with phantasmic fabric and eerie items that will have you howling with delight.
This assortment of fat quarters from Hometown Halloween by Kimberbell for Maywood Fabrics delivers frightful fun! This 7-piece bundle will give you thrills and chills with bats, witches, spiderwebs and even bunting. Glowing with rich Halloween colors, this fun bundle will haunt you with sew many quilt ideas!
Check out the full Hometown Halloween ...
read moreI didn't make ornaments the last couple years. Just too much other stuff going on. But I was determined to make some this year.
These are in progress but almost finished. When this photo was taken I needed to add a little embroidery to a couple of them but by now I'm just doing a running stitch around them to finish them off. I will hopefully have them all done soon and ready to be sent off.
I did have the pattern for these in my shop, but they are sold out at the moment. However, if you ...
read moreWe’ve launched the Mini Quilt Advent for 2021 and I’m so excited! As a quilter, this is the Advent Calendar I always wanted. Everything in this Advent Calendar is unique, and designed to inspire you to create! We’ve only made a limited number of these Mini Quilt Advents, so head over to Katrinkles to pre-order […]
