Category Archives: Crafts

Holiday Craft Fair ~ Sparks Christian Fellowship ~ November 3rd, 2012

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Hey all local folks!

I’ll be sharing a booth with two of my friends this Saturday, November 3rd at Sparks Christian Fellowship’s Holiday Craft Fair.

FREE ADMISSION! Last Sunday we were told there will be over 75 vendors.

9 am to 4 pm.

510 Greenbrae Drive (for all us “oldies” it’s in the old $1 Movie Theatre)
Between Pyramid and 4th Street.

I’ll be having 4 different cold processed soaps; about 6 quilts; lots of leather wrapped bracelets; hammered copper bookmarks; earrings and pendants; made some of my photographs into notecards…my friends have made lots of jewelry (silver, copper, swarovski Christmas trees and snowmen).

We’ll take your hard earned cash and credit cards! :)



For Today ~ 20 August 2012 ~ A Simple Woman’s Daybook

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FOR TODAY … 20 August 2012.

Outside My Window…

Reno, Nevada sunrise ~ 20 August 2012

I am thinking… It sure would be nice if autumn would come sooner than later. I’m really tired of the heat and wildfire smoke here in town.

The red maple out front is starting to turn colors.

I am thankful for… Friends. Love them to pieces.

From the kitchen… Pork chops and rice for dinner tonight. One of my favorite dishes that my Great Aunt Hazel would fix my sister and I when we visited.

I am wearing… cropped olive green/tan pants, olive green shirt, and sketchers sandals.

I am creating… I’m multi-tasking at the moment. Just finished another wire-wrapped pendant yesterday. Am still hand-piecing a Farmer’s Wife quilt block.

Wire-wrapped piece of petrified wood.

First pendant…with the copper “antiqued”

I am going… have to start looking for craft fairs coming up! Ruth, Reva and I have been making stuff all year long. I found one in Portola, this October, for $25/table. Need to find some in town.

I am reading… Finished all three stories in Mary Downing Hahn’s Haunting Tales, will have to just close my eyes and pick another book on my nook.

I am hoping… That I my copper wire wrapping becomes better as I really would like to use the silver wire! LOL!

I am hearing… a small plane overhead; traffic on McCarran; me.

Around the house… Laundry.

One of my favorite things… creating with my hands.

A Few Plans For The Rest Of The Week… Try out a few new dinner recipes; buy a good pair of flat-nosed pliers for jewelry making; finish up a few leather wrapped bracelets.

Here is a picture thought I’d share with you… (LOL! I’ve been sharing pics like crazy up above, but will find another)

Spent wildflowers outside of Portola, CA.

What’s Your Favorite Handmade Soap Scent?

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A couple of friends and I are busy making up things for an undetermined craft fair (later in the year)…I’m quilting, sewing, printing photographs, and will be making cold-process soap.

Put an order into Brambleberry and received my oils, butters, and lye (figured I can buy olive and sunflower oil here in town).

What’s your favorite smellies for soap?

HINT HINT…I like to make Oatmeal Milk & Honey, Peppermint, and Lavender. But was wondering what other people liked.

Hexagon Dish Towels

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Over at In Color Order’s blog I saw a very cool tutorial on embellishing dish/tea towels…and I needed a fast Christmas present!

Since I’ve already had a bunch of 1″ hexie card-stock cut out for my batik Grandma’s Flower Garden quilt, I used them…along with a Lauren & Jessi Jung Flora charm pack cut into quarters.

They’ll be perfect with a jar of my home-made jam!

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Craft Challenge using Monastery Windows Pattern

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In one of my my crafting groups our Craft Challenge for May/June was to make something with the quilt pattern Monastery Windows.

Originally it was a May Challenge and I was running out of time so I made up 8 of each block and tried my hand at making a pillow. I used two batiks (the pinks) that I got from a quilt show in Portola, CA (Cabin Fever Quilt Show) and a cream (with grey and blue) batik from Windy Moon Quilts here in Reno.

I thought the darker of the pinks would make a great piping around the pillow…only thing, I really hate making anything on the bias, so I cut the fabric for the piping as I would for regular binding thinking I’ll make the bugger curve no matter what! :)

After making the top part I quilted it; sewed on the piping to the front quilted piece; sewed the backing on and left 4″, turned inside out and stuffed it. I used polyester pillow stuffing as it dries faster after washing.

The pattern is great! I will definitely use it to make a lap quilt! Very pretty indeed.

Ok…here is my pillow (I put the pictures through photoshop’s artistic dry brush filter)!

Here’s a link to Sharon’s entry ~ she made an awesome Red/White/Blue quilt! Just LOVE that binding! :)

I know there are a few others that have an entry, but they haven’t posted anything online.

Panorama Sugar Easter Eggs ~ Ready for Easter & Spring!

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My family makes these eggs every once in a while…mom started making them WAY BACK to help pay for family vacations. The last time we made the sugar eggs was back in 2008.

THEY’RE BACK!

Mom and I made them up over the past week or so. The shells are made of sugar, cream of tartar, and water….molded, scooped, and flipped to dry. The flowers and critters are made from royal frosting. There is NO PLASTIC in these, folks! Just the wrapping we used. :)

The larger of the two is almost 5″ in length, we sell those for $15. The smaller of the two is 3″ and they sell for $8.

Roses, wee flowers, daisies, violets, and pansies. Bunnies, swans, and chicks are inside. Some with crosses.

These guys last a long time if kept properly…ie: in a dry place and if you don’t eat them! :) Which by the way, they are totally edible, but come on! Don’t eat them! They’re too pretty!

And BOYS LOVE THESE just as much as girls, folks!

Aubrey & Nissa ~ a garden angel and her bird

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My very good friend, April, is a bad influence on me. bad. bad. bad. Are you listening, April? bad! hee!  :P

She showed me a book on Amazon, Scandinavian Stitches, by Kajsa Wikman. Of course I had to get myself a copy.

Once I started flipping through it, a light went off in my head regarding what I can make for the next craft challenge in a group I’m in. March’s challenge was to use recycled materials.

I gathered up an old pillowcase, a table runner, cutter quilt, wee branch/sticks that fell out of our next door neighbor’s elm tree during a wind storm (lots of those lately), some wire I saw next to the out door trash can, and some needles/thread/glue.

Meet Aubrey and Nissa!

I made Aubrey out of the pillowcase, her wings are from the table runner. Her legs and arms are scrap fabric I had in my scrap basket. I used very thin twigs from the elm tree for her hair. Stuffed her with scraps of quilt cotton batting that I have so much of after making quilts.

Nissa was cut from an old wedding ring cutter quilt. More elm twigs for legs. She is also stuffed with cotton batting.

Sweetwater Labels & Patterns

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While Moda’s Bake Shop was having a giveaway a while ago, I discovered a blog of a fabric designer that I really liked (sunkissed, pure, authentic, make life…I have some of them all!). Then noticed that they made labels! :) I fell in love with them. Big Sigh.

Some of the labels and patterns I have gotten (missing are the animal ones), I can’t wait to make a bunch of those cute buckets!

Their ETSY shop ~ Sweetwater Scrapbook

Their website ~ Sweetwater

Their Blog ~ Make Life Sweet

Their fabrics.

I had some custom labels made up for a few of my quilts that I just made…and will definitely get more for my future quilts.

Charm Bracelets

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Over Christmas break my niece and I hit a few spots where I gave her some money to buy something for herself (Nevada Museum of Art and Reno Bead Shop)…she picked out a few charms and asked me to make her a charm bracelet.

Yesterday was a furlough day, so I figured I’d make her bracelet…sorry about the qualtity of the pictures, it was early morning and I didn’t quite have the right lighting.

She picked out a Yin Yang, Frog, Sun, Dragon, Football Helmet (Minnesota Vikings), Plane (trip to New Orleans), Peace Sign (because she’s that kind of girl! :) ), Butterfly, and Dog. I found a dog that looked more like her Kona, an H (for Hannah), a Seahorse, a different Peace Sign (not so large and with a green crystal in it), and a fleur-de-lis (for her upcoming trip to New Orleans!). I chose a silver toggle with greenish moonstone crystals around it. I left some room for any new charms that she finds in New Orleans.

Then I pulled out my charm bracelet that I had when I was a kid! Not a lot on there, I think it was started at an earlier age than Hannahs. I have the following silver and ivory charms on mine: San Francisco Cable Car, an Ivory fish from Alaska, (missing is a movie camera from Universal Studios), a Japanese character from SF Japanese Tea Garden, Disneyland Castle, an Alaskan Cache, Mt. Rushmore, McKinley Park, Crazy Horse, Pack Burro from Calico Ghost Town.

I may have to make myself a new bracelet and start adding more charms!

New Fabric and a Pinwheel Quilt-Along

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More fabric to share!!!

I have a half yard each of the orange fabric ~ am building up a stash for THIS quilt by Cluck.Cluck.Sew…I love Allison’s quilts ~ I’ve made a few of them already.

The other two on the left side are one yard each of Lila Tueller’s Eden…a fabric line that I absolutely ADORE! Big sigh. I want a bolt of all of her fabric lines…Eden, Santorini, Isabella, Spirit, Woodland Bloom, and Soire’e. That woman’s fabric is to die for! So cheery…you just want to do a Teri Garr (Young Frankenstein) thing…Roll in ze hay! with her fabric.

Now…onto the quilt-along. My friend April and I each bought a pinwheel quilt kit from Connecting Threads a while back….and now we are going to quilt them together. Her in Michigan and me in Nevada. :)

I have all of my 2-7/8″ strips cut out…they will soon be 2-7/8″ squares. Both of us will be modifying our quilts as we both think 56×56 is way too small. I’m going to add one more row all the way around and then probably add more to the length of the quilt. I also swapped out their cream fabric for a white on white print.