Framed Door

My sister, Jean, told me about the way cool frame that Blue Cricket Design used as a wreath on her front door and we both decided we needed one!

Jean, being a much more motivated craftster than me, finished hers a lot quicker than I did.  Here is a peek at hers, but you must go check out her before shot at Quilted Cupcake because I would have never seen such cuteness in this frame as it was before.

While you are there, take some time to check out her other crafty goodness.  She hosts a free podcast on quilting, sewing, knitting and general craftiness that rocks! (And I'm not just saying that because she mentions me often!)

Anyway, the frame for my door came from the local Good Will.  Here is the before:

  Not as bad as Jean's before, but when I went to pull it apart and found it was all foam core and it still had the original price tag of $29.99, I knew someone got ripped off.  Luckily, it wasn't me, I only paid $2!

After some much needed scrubbing, painting, sanding and staining, here it is on my door. 

I used a Martha Stewart paint sample from home depot for the paint and the bow is a strip of white  scrap fabric.  
The thing is, it's kind of bigger than I pictured it (no pun intended) but I'm hoping to replace it with a fall wreath next month, so it's staying as is. (I still have hopes of duplicating the Piccadilly Peddler's fabric wreath in fall colors, but it's slow going!)

I am working on a new project today that I hope to share in the next couple of days.  Hopefully it turns out as good as I'm imagning it in my head!
Always,
K

Time For A Quickie

My sister said I needed to post because I hadn't had an update in awhile.  Nevermind that we have spent the last two weeks running to the vet's office for both dogs...8 times total and I won't even add up the $$ spent!

So here is a quick project I did. 

I bought this tray at my local thrift for $1 and decided to give it a makeover. 

It started as a small bread tray:

And ended up as a catch-all tray:

I think I'm going to use it to sit on my work desk to hold post-its, staples, etc.  I haven't sealed it yet, I'm not sure if I'm going to.  I may just use it as is and replace the paper when needed so that it is constantly different. (In other words, I'm too lazy to seal it!)

That's it for now, hope you're happy now, Jan!  Love you!

Always,

K

Sew What?

It's been a few weeks since I've updated, I know.  I reinjured my shoulder and needed to take some down time from my crafting.  I spent most of my down time reading and relaxing, but I was itching to do something crafty this past weekend.

I haven't been sewing much since it got warm enough out to spray paint and I was having a hard time getting motivated to start again.  Luckily, I have two crafty sisters, a crafty niece and an adorable great nephew who convinced me it was time to get back to sewing!  I was conflicted if I should go due to my shoulder problems, but who could say no when this little guy is going to be there?

I spent most of the day Saturday with the girls (and the little guy) and had such a wonderful time! 

I was originally going to work on a Halloween themed wreath inspired by the one I saw on Piccadilly Peddlers but I was totally sidetracked by the projects that my two sisters were working on. 

Jan took the time to teach us a quick way to make fabric post cards.  She even precut all of the pieces for us so that we could just assemble and sew them.  Love her (and the awesome banana bread she made) so much! 

I ended up making the cat postcard that day and came home and made the other two on Sunday.  I'm not really thrilled by the two I made on Sunday, but I'm still getting the hang of it!

Then, Jean showed us how to make a wonky star block by following the tutorial found on The Silly Bodilly blog.  (Jean did NOT precut for us, but I love her anyway!) We all made patriotic patterned blocks to donate to one of our fellow quilters in our guild.  She is assembling quilts for her husband and his fellow soldiers serving overseas.  The one I made at Jan's house turned out pretty good for my first time...not too wonky though!

The Halloween themed one I made at home the next day did not fare so well, but was much more wonky!  Me thinks I tried too hard for the wonkiness:

It was great to get back into sewing and I can't wait to get together with the girls (and boy) again.  I always learn something new! We were all very excited that Steph has taken the leap into sewing with us. If she lets me, I'll share the adorable skirt she made with the help of Jan a couple of weeks ago in a later post.

Hope everyone else had as productive a weekend as I did!

Always,

Kelly

P.S. A huge thanks to Lynette who made my first donation for the 2010 Memory Walk.  If you are able to contribute, please click on the link on the side bar!

We Interrupt This Blog For a Special Announcement

I will be updating soon with some recent craftiness, but first, I wanted to make my yearly plea.

On October 30th I will, once again, be walking in the Memory Walk to help raise money for the Alzheimer's Association.  As I have shared in the past, my mom, Lucy, lost her battle against Alzheimer's on 12/21/2008.  I started this blog as a tribute to her and to the creativeness that I inherited from her.

Before she passed, I promised her that I would do my part to help find a cure for Alzheimer's.  When she was first diagnosed, she was literally devastated.  She wanted to give up.  Whenever she was having a bad day, I would tell her that there is hope.  I told her that every day, new advances are being made and there may be a cure right around the corner.

Sadly, it was not found in her lifetime.  But I have not given up the fight.  There are still millions of people suffering from Alzheimer's.

I am not someone who likes to ask for things from others.  I am the one who always buys the candy bars, or orders the pizzas, or the wrapping paper or whatever is asked of me to support my friends' children.  I don't have children, I don't have purse parties or jewelry parties and ask my friends to buy something (not that there is anything wrong with that, but it's not me.) Once a year, I ask this.  For my Mom...and all of those that have lost the fight, but especially for those still fighting.

Please visit my fundraising page Lucy's Daughter and give.  Even if you give a dollar, it is $1 more towards finding a cure.