Skull Bag Winner!!

The pollen count is incredibly high and the humid, hot weather is settling in for the week. It must be spring in the South!

I waited until the pine pollen was done dropping before cleaning off the front porch, and we have been enjoying it all week.

Of course, one cannot simply sit outside without a influx of many animals, especially dogs.
Yesterday we took advantage of the nice day and did some homeschooling outside on the porch with glasses of sweet tea.

I have been organizing my unfinished quilting projects and plan to start tackling them this weekend. I have several that need attention and now I have a great space to get started.

Quinn's cat Bumpit is known for being kind of moody, but she can not resist following me down to sew. She loves the sofa and all of the yarn and quilts.

Thank you for stopping here and reading! Using a random generator the winner of the skull bag is
Michelle Jackson!

Michelle, please email me at mybarefootfarm@catt.com and send me your address. I will happily get your new bag in the mail to you!

As always,

Happy Tuesday Ya'll!

New Studio Space

We have a partially finished basement area. Devin uses a room for a workout/weight room and I use the other for a sewing space.

Because my room was without a window, it felt dreary. I enjoyed the space, but didn't enjoy sewing in there for log stretches. Devin suggested we switch rooms and so we did.

I decided that since I was moving to a new space that I should paint the walls a bright color and attempt to decorate the area too.

Excuse the poor cell phone pictures, but here is what I have now.

We painted and hung a peg board to hang all of the hand dyed embroidery yarns over my cutting and sewing table.

This shelving unit I painted gray and it holds all of my yarns, as well as several other items.

I spent a great deal of time sorting through fabric scraps. Any pieces with some reasonable size to them were folded and stacked onto this shelf. They were previously stored in rubbermaid boxes by color. This allows me to see exactly what I have at a glance. Of course my ironing board needed a spot to rest as well.

Rose helped me make a strip fabric curtain with some of the many strip scraps I had stored in a box. I also have some of my crochet works in progress stored in that large basket by the sofa.
Speaking of sofa.....

We had a sofa upstairs that wasn't getting much use so we managed to bring it down into my room. I found some appliqué blocks I made several years ago and made them into pillow covers. Now I have a comfy space that the children love to enjoy while I am sewing.

I also made a design board out of insulation foam board and quilt batting. It hangs on the wall behind the sofa.

While moving my sewing items into my new studio I came across a purse that I made over a year ago. I love the skull fabric and it always gets compliments. I made two. One for me and one extra. It was intended to be used as a gift, but it never did find a recipient. Until now.....

I want to give this shiny skull bag away to one of ya'll. I haven't had a give away on here in a very long time!

US residents only, please. To enter, leave a comment. Tell me what kind of space you would like to have or that you already have for yourself. If you share this blog post on Facebook, let me know and I will enter you a second time. Winner will be drawn randomly on Monday at 9pm EST. Winner will be announced Tuesday.

Now it's time to get chores done and this day started!

Happy Saturday Ya'll!

A Mid Summer Post

I have been busy with new summer projects this week.

First, I finally decided to purchase a book by Natalie Chanin and boy am I hooked!

The Alabama Style Studio has some beautiful clothing designs and the creator, Natalie Chanin, is so generous by including full patterns in her books. I have made  a skirt and a top that look great. I am working on a tank now and hope to add some beading. Once I get proficient with my Alabama Style swing skills, I plan to splurge on some fabric from her shop and make a fall skirt.

Instead of using cotton embroidery floss, however, I used some wool embroidery yarn that I hand dyed.

It has been super hot weather here, and the only way one can tolerate the heat is by swimming. I am not complaining, though, as I still prefer the heat to the cold winter.
The animals are managing fine, but Indiana has brought Athena up a few times for a cool bath and some grooming.

The new puppy, Luna, is doing well, and house breaking is going okay. The little stinker is afraid of: trains, the dark, wet feet, mama hens, curious cows and all things that go *bump* in the night. Take these things out of the picture and she will happily do her business outside.

She is growing fast, as puppies tend to do, and will soon be 4 months old!

Last week we participated in an infomercial filming. To say this was a new experience is an understatement!!!
We were using a multi cooker that will be hitting the market soon and spent a solid week making meals in the cooker. It was fun and we enjoyed meeting all of the people involved in this production.

Last but not least at all......my hometown, Chattanooga, was attacked last week by a terror gunman. Chattanooga is only 5 minutes from my house, and I think it is safe to say that the entire city is still in shock.
I always figured that an attack is something that would happen in a very large city, but sadly no town is safe.

The city has come together to mourn and to pray for all of the victims and families involved. The Chattanooga Police Department did a fantastic job and prevented the shooter from hurting any one else.

Thank you to everyone who has emailed or messaged me on Facebook. We were gratefully not close to the shootings, but were at home safe. Please keep Chattanooga in your thoughts, along with all of the men and women serving the country.

Happy Mid-Week Ya'll!!!!

Sew Crazy Sometimes

Okay, so I MIGHT, just MIGHT have an issue with too many projects. I decided to take a look at what all I have started so that I could best draw out a plan to get it all finished. I even made a promise to myself NOT to take any more classes or start any new projects until these were finished. 

*Double Wedding Ring Quilt I WILL finish within 6 months*

Sometimes I do crazy, wicked stuff like that.

 * Quilted Devotions Quilt I WILL finish within 6 months*

I just can't help myself when I see beautiful fabrics and patterns. It might be an illness....or maybe not:-)

 See this cute Owl PUL fabric? Yep, bought 1/2 yard so that I could FINALLY sew a wet bag to put used cloth diapers in when we are out and about. Exciting, yes? I hope to sew one up within the next week.

* One of 8 scarves I am knitting for Christmas gifts. I WILL finish it within a month*

Then there is the knitting. Oh boy, I love to knit. My night of relaxing consists of watching some Netflix and knitting. I have no time for the 3 books sitting on my nightstand at the moment.

Then there are those cool crafts like Cherry Pit bags. We bought one over 12 years ago at a craft fair. It is just a bag with cherry pits sewn in it. You can heat it in the microwave for a hot pack (sprinkle water on it for moist heat) or you can freeze them for a very cold pack. I bought the cherry pits HERE . My sister in law split the 40 pound bag with me and I made up several on Saturday using fabric in my stash.. These are the BEST heat pads around and now all the children will have one if, unfortunately, the stomach bug ever makes its way around here again.

I also have it on good authority that these are wonderful to take to bed on really cold winter nights.
It's gonna be a Handmade Christmas again this year.

Enough of my many, many projects that I squeeze in during the busy week.
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It doesn't have to be spring time for us to enjoy new babies around here.

 Journee has been incubating eggs in her room and these three babies hatched Friday.

 It's amazing how little they are and yet how quickly they grow up!

She has several more "cooking" and we will have some hatching throughout the entire month.
Yes, they are in the house in a brood box. What can I say? I love having babies in any form around the house.

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I decided last week that my house was too dull and needed to be painted. I wanted something with more color.

Of course, I came to my senses and decided to just hang a quilt up on the wall.

Please ignore that it is crooked and not properly hanging:-) I decided that it was perfect, color wise, and it satisfies my need to paint (yippee!). I have ordered some proper quilt hangers and Devin will have it all hanged and straight once they arrive.

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Adoption Update!

Well, there is no update at all. Everything is complete and now we just wait, which we have been doing since July.  Either this is good because it means there are few children in need of homes and families...OR..this is bad because it means lots of kids are "stuck" in Foster Care.

I am not sure which to believe but we will continue to wait for His perfect timing.

Can you see this? The dogs and a cat and a hen all basking in the sun this weekend?  I almost missed this shot because the window is so mucked up with dirty finger smudges. Ha! My house was pretty messy this weekend, and still is quite messy!
I love this shot though.

Hope your week is  a peaceful one too!

Handmade Christmas Tutorial

I just had to share the love today! 10 minutes is all you need to whip up one of these little treasures.

This is the wine bag that is in this nice little book:

I bought this book last year and made some table runners and place mats from it and they were nice. I thought the wine bag was a cute idea for gift giving as well.

Here's what you need:
1 fat quarter for outside
1 fat quarter for inner lining
1 yard of ribbon

Trim your fabric pieces to 14"x16" each. This project is great for that stash of fabrics you have in the closet:-)

With the RIGHT sides together, stitch down the short 14" inch side. Use your 1/4" foot. Press the seam towards the lining.

Now open it up and it should look like this.

Fold it in half this way with the RIGHT sides still together and sew down the side.

You should have a tube. Do you? Good. Next step.....

Turn the lining side out over the outside fabric. It should look like this. See where the two fabrics are sewn together at the top?

Sew a 1/4 " seam all the way around the top there. You are doing great! We are almost done.

Take the open end and trim it just enough to get any scraggly ends even. Then.....

Sew it closed...all the layers together there where you just trimmed. Zig-zag the raw seam so it looks neat.

Fold the corner down and measure 1 1/4". Mark the line and pin it. Do this with BOTH corners. This will give the bag a flat bottom so it will stand up better.

Sew on your marked line. Trim a 1/4" seam and zig zag the raw edge. Do the same with the other corner.

How does your bag look? I bet it is looking great!

Turn your bag RIGHT side out now! Now all you need is a way to tie it up.

Measure down 4 1/2 inches on the side where the seam is and put a little mark there.

Fold your ribbon in half and tack it down by hand or machine. I used thick hand quilting thread and tacked it by hand.

Now you bag is ready for some wine or even sparkling juice!

Tie it all up and you are done! That was easy, yes? Anybody can buy a paper gift bag for a wine gift. Your handmade bag is so much nicer!

Tomorrow I will show you a couple of cheery holiday aprons that are almost as simple to make!

Handmade Christmas Part 1

Most years I try and make at least a few of my Christmas gifts and this year is no exception.
Today I finished up what is called the "Zippy Strippy"...or is it the "Strippy Zippy?"

I am not sure, but either way it consists of a little fabric pieced and quilted and made into a nice little bag with a zipper.

I love them. You can use them to hold all sorts of treasures or sewing tools or make-up. I was given one by a wonderful lady friend at the quilt store. I then took her class and made one for myself and that inspired me to make some as gifts.

She showed me how to add this binding on the zipper so it would look more finished. I admit I am not a fan of sewing zippers, but it was easy.

I am not giving a tutorial for this project, but here is the pattern I used.

Isn't this fabric adorable? No doubt some special people will be getting these in a few weeks!
Stayed tuned as I am making some more things over the next few days, that is if my infant and toddler cooperate!
What gifts are you making this year?