There must be something in the air.

That lovely fall air.

I am just loving all the fall splendor here in Nebraska. I can’t get over all the colors and beauty I see every day. I feel like a little kid getting so excited to go for a drive out of the city to see field after rolling corn field all golden and beautiful. As we head back to the city it is reds, oranges, bright yellows, acorns, pinecones, and the like everywhere. Up in the trees, flying in the air,  and laying on the ground. I love it.

I don’t know if it is the change of season or what, but this last weekend I found myself cutting my fabric scraps into 2″, 3.5″, and 6″ lengths, looking up how to reupholster a chair on YouTube, and digging into the closet under the stairs looking for the box of yarn I have saved for christmas stockings. All on the same day!

I couldn’t believe it. I actually wanted to do something crafty.

By evening, my mind was going every which way and so I regrouped and decided on one project for now. After all, this sudden burst of creative energy could leave just as fast as it came. I decided to abandon the idea of matching knit stocking (it is so much faster to just sew them, and easier on my wrists too) and to use the yarn for another christmas decor project. I’ll let you more about it if anything actually comes of it. For now I will take a deep breath and calmly let this area of my life enter my mind and hands again.

 

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I know it is late but I’ll have a Halloween post up later this week. I just can’t pass up the chance to show you our little frog this year.

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Presents 2-12 :: Button Magnets

These may not be new and exciting for this years Birthday Give Away but I sure do love making them. They are just so simple to put together and yet add so much to the refrigerator or other magnetic surface. I did all the fabric covered buttons on the way home from Vicksburg and had the paper circles cut out and magnets glued on in no time at all. A quick easy project. I love these little tins too. They are just perfect for showcasing the magnets as well as keeping them from sticking to each other.

Remember, you are entered to win one of these magnet sets along or any of my gifts for this months Birthday Give Away by commenting on any of my April 2013 posts. My goal is to post every day this month and so you could be entered up to 30 times if you comment on each of the posts this month.

I hope you like them

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Button Magnets

While I’m finishing the final stages of the second quilt, I want to add these next two gifts.

Super strong magnets attached to fabric covered buttons. All are covered in Amy Butler fabric except one that is covered in Anna Maria Horner fabric. All packaged up in a little tin.

 

I just love these cute magnets. I have a set that I use myself and they are by far my favorite on the fridge. I hope you love them too.

 

 

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I’m Home…

…and feeling refreshed, refocused, and empowered. Every mom needs a vacation now and then.

I loved every minute of it.

I’ve attempted to write a post about my vacation many times without success. There is just too much to talk about and tell you. So, as I get my thoughts and photos organized, let me show you what I did have time to work on.

Crochet Stones

I found these stone on a black beach in Maui. Here is the beach and the surrounding area.

The water was so blue and the surrounding area so beautiful. I especially loved the contrast of the blue water with the black beach.

With the help of my uncle these and a few other stones were retrieved for souvenirs. With the exception of the water line the entire beach was covered in these smooth volcanic rocks. I knew right away I wanted to crochet covers for some of them and spent the majority of Sunday relaxing and enjoying the company of family while working on these. What ever wasn’t finished was saved for the plane rides home. A couple were given as gifts for family but these are for you. They range in size and weight.

I hope you like them.

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Filling the Shop

I mentioned a bit in an earlier post about balance. I have been working on that a ton lately. Trying to balance my chores, personal family time, this desire to sew, sew, sew, errands and the many other things that I want to fill my day with. I want to start working in this blog again. I love this space and have had big plans for it in the past but most of them are still waiting to be realized. We will have to see how things pan out in that department but I did want to stop in and say hello and let you know what I’ve been doing.

There has been lots of making. Nothing new, just more of my favorites. The good old items that are familiar and easy for me. This kind of making is so refreshing for me. When making things like these my brain can rest a bit from the overload of ideas that sometimes burden me when I sleep and yet my nerves are settled and calmed as I sit and create.  I made enough to set up a table at the local farmers market. I had coasters, magnets, notebooks, tissue pouches, notecards, zipper pouches, and a couple other things. Not one sold. I had fun though. Thisbe joined me with some dipped marshmallows and made a few dollars. This was more of a yard sale site/flea market rather than a farmers market, not quite the place for hand made goods. Thisbe did get inspired to go through our two huge tubs of stuffed animals, so we may be back to this locations, with a different type of goods to sell.

Upon returning Thisbe set up shop in the front yard and I got to work taking pictures of my items to sell in my etsy shop. Here are a few.

I’m working on getting my items loaded in the shop. It will be slow but some should be added daily.

I’ve got a new twist planned for my birthday give away this year and I am hoping that I can fund it with things that I make. So all sales in the esty shop, 100%,will go towards supporting my give away this year.

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Creating without the guilt

With this new chapter in my life I am learning a lot about the balance of how I spend my time. Today I had the most refreshing 30 minutes covering some buttons for magnets. No guilt at all. The house was cleaned, all the chores and items on the to do list had been completed and it was only 11:00am. Now sometimes it is very appropriate to clear your schedule but today the time was had because I had earned it.

It was also refreshing to be able to look over, just out the window, and see Bron creating as well. That’s my girl.

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Paper – Fiber – Fabric

It’s been awhile.

I’ve sure missed working like this with my hands

I love it.

Feels so good.

I think I’ll do it again soon. All of it.

Freshly Spun

Fabric Note Cards

No real purpose for these, so, into the shop they go.

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More quilt photos and another gift

It has been quiet here for a few days. I have been struggling getting any decent pictures and battling a cold. I think I am on the winning side of it all now.

I just wasn’t happy with the photos taken of the quilt on monday. You can see the whole quilt, which is good, but no detail, which is bad. So here are few pictures of the quilt on the rocker.  I am much happier with these. If you haven’t already, make sure you comment on my last post to be in the drawing for the quilt.

Next up are these cute button magnets. These were made this summer but I had quite a few for my give away last year. They are made with super strong 3/4 inch magnets hot glued to the back of a 1 1/4 inch fabric covered button.

I hope you like them.

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step by step

My creative time is definitely in slow motion around here. Instead of sitting at the machine for a couple of hours or cranking out projects left and right, I am slowly, and I mean slowly working on some projects.

I’m so glad that these magnets are in the final stages. You’d think they’d be quick and easy. They are, just not these days, not in my house anyway. Half of the buttons were covered back in June. They sat for a long time until I got all the rest covered on the long car ride to Urfa. I sorted them one evening in October and put them into groups of 4. Finally this weekend I got the glue gun out and stuck on the magnets. Late saturday night I cut out paper. Sunday I cut the holes out. miraculously today I had about 40 minutes (interrupted of course) to work on putting them together into little packages. Now for the final steps I need to get the camera out and take some photos and then get them up into the shop.

While it may sound like I’m complaining, and I may be, a very little bit anyway, but I am so happy how life is going right now. Now that I have owned up the responsibility to be available to my kids as their homeschooling teacher, and come to grips with the fact that we need more than just the morning to get all the things we want to do in, I am much more at peace. I love having the kids home with me. I love to see them playing and sticking up for each other again. I love  it. While my own time is pretty scarce nowadays, I find that the balance is better, and I treasure it more. I steal less long stretches but take advantage of the little moments I have here and there. So for now it will be step by step.

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Magnets

I’ve been wanting to make these for a long time.  I used 1″ fabric covered buttons with 3/4 ” super mega strong (like, I tested them with 8 pages on the fridge and they could have easily handled more) magnets and 3/4″ buttons with 1/2″ not super but still strong enough to hold a few pages on the fridge magnets.

I’ve got 48 magnets altogether so, I figure I’ll give them out in groups of four. Two big and two small. That would make twelve sets. Everyone needs some cute magnets that actually hold stuff on the fridge. Right?

Well, I hope you like ’em.

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