sachets

Lavender sachets using old book pages.

 

 

Do you find it hard throwing out an old book?

Me too!

 

 

It was even difficult tearing out pages for these.

Books are precious and I hope I never see the day they are rare.

 

Sewing on paper was a first for me...

but easier than I had anticipated.

 

~b is for book



jiggety-jig

It was all about pigs yesterday with these projects.

 

 

 

 

 

When they leave my sewing sweatshop

they go down to Mr. b's screen printing cellar...

 

 

...and then back upstairs for a double dose of heat to set the ink.

 

 

To market, to market, to buy a fat pig,

Home again, home again, jiggety-jig.

 

~b

 

 

 

 

 



Spring signs...

 

 

Monday morning wash on the line...

lined dried sheets make the best sleeping pill ever!

 

 

Easter eggs/deviled eggs

 

 

Forest babies...

new baby blankets ready for market.

 

~b is for busy



It's a good day when there is knitting going on...

 

 

~b is for beanie



Easter treats

I can't resist a cute new zipper pouch pattern...

 

 

 

or a pretty bouquet of flowers from Wal-Mart.

 

 

Just in time for Easter too.

 

 

~b is for baa

 

 

 

 



puddle jumper

 

Splashing in puddles is so much fun!

 

~b

 



It's spring!

 

 

How about a song to celebrate.

 

~b



LET'S PLAY DOLLS

 

 

Willa sat around all winter in her pj's...

lucky girl right?

 

She is ready for spring in her new Easter outfit.

 

~b



a green day

A wee bit of my favorite green things...

 

 

On today's lunch menu...

 

 

 

 

~b is for blarney

Gone With The Wind

I'm calling these embroidered towels my

"Gone With The Wind" towels.

 

 

Who was your favorite character in Gone With The Wind?

 

 

Maybe it was Hattie McDaniel who played Mammy.

She won the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress,

 making her the first African American to win an Academy Award.

 

 

 

~b



poultry mash

When I came across these feed sack towels

 I knew exactly what I was going to do with them.

 

 

I cut into them carefully in order to have enough of the fabric

to make a coordinating zipper pouch.

 

 

Won't they make cute market bags?

With a place to put your cash too!

 

~b is for bags

 

 



spring is on it's way

Easter is showing up in my little sewing sweatshop.

 

 

This little rabbit has been hanging around our backdoor all winter.

 

 

It will soon be time to dye eggs.

It's just an excuse to make deviled eggs at our house.

 

 

 

~b is for bunny



3 inches

and 64 squares of sweet!

 

 

Nothing goes to waste in the sweatshop.

Every square inch gets utilized.

 

 

After baby gets a blanket...

dolly gets a blanket from the scraps.

 

 

Foxy likes it too.

 

 

~b is for blanket

 



woolies

Yesterday when I'd had all the organizing I could take in my little sewing sweatshop

I quickly cleared a space to sew a couple of wool hot pad holders.

 

 

I found my box of wool pieces and  reclaimed sweaters while cleaning.

 

 

Wool is naturally heat and water repellent.

They are soft to use and wrap around pot and pan handles easily.

These are constructed from two layers of the sweater wool and then quilted.

I had previously felted the wool in the washer and dryer.

 

 

And while I was making hot pads

Grandpa was trying out his new scroll saw

 to make our youngest granddaughter these little cut out animals.

 

~b

 

 



my space

 

This is my second day of cleaning up

 the little sewing sweatshop.

 

There isn't much going out to the trash...

I'm seeing signs of a hoarder.

 

But it's looking ever so much better!

Not magazine worthy however.

 

I love the magazine Where Women Create.

You will never see my little space in it.

 

~b is for back to work here



trip'n

If there is one thing Mr. b and I enjoy doing together

it is taking a road trip.

 

Saturday we got up early and headed south...

 to Nebraska.
 

 

It was a beautiful day...

no coats, windows rolled down

exploring the river.

 

~b



tea

Do you have time for a cup of tea with me?

 

My mother and I teamed up to make these tea cozies

for my sisters shop...The Prairie Preservationist.

They also sell a delicious line of teas.

 

 

Mother did the embroidering

and I sewed them together.

 

 

Would you like an adventure now,

or shall we have our tea first? - Peter Pan

 

 

They are so English!

My favorite tea is Lichee Black

 from the Ital Tea Leaf shop in San Francisco.

 

 

 

~b is for black tea

 

 



finish lines

We are seeing more light everyday...

which gives me a little more energy too.
 

 

My Farm Girl Vintage quilt was put by the side

 when I began seeing Christmas lights.

Peas and Carrots Block
 

Three months later and the increased daylight
 and climbing thermometer has me revved up
 and headed for the finish line with it.

 

~b

archaeology

Quilt bones...

 

 

 

 

 

 

This archaeological dig was dug up in my

little sewing sweatshop

 buried under a ton of other quilt bones.

 

~b