Some Of My Favorite Gadgets

These are some of my favorite sewing "gadgets" that I use all the time. I will post more pictures of my sewing area and my favorite things that I have there. The first one is called a "Bosom Pin Cushion." It was designed and made by Mary Jane Ehlich of Covington PA. I remember seeing Mary Jane with one around her neck as she was teaching some gals to hand quilt. I thought to myself....boy I'd sure like to have something that handy to plant my needles when I'm sitting and sewing. I had no idea at the time that she made them and sells them. I just love wearing this Bosom Cushion especially at retreats. I get the best feedback from the other stitchers when I wear it.


This is a close up of the little pocket that holds your thimble. I think that is so neat....a little thimble pocket. That keeps me from searching under the seat cushions for where my thimble rolled away to. It always rolls off my lap and down the cushion.

The next picture is a close up of my Hawaiian applique. I'll show the entire picture in another entry. But this is an example of when I used the Piping Hot Binding tool. See how nice the binding came out? This little tool is so handy when making piping. I use it for piping on my larger quilts too. If you look closely at my Circle Quilt from another post you will see the nice piping on that too.

And here it is.....waaahhhh laaaaahhhhh the Piping Hot Binding tool. No magician required :)

Can you tell I've never used the binding that came in the bag? I like the cotton piping the best. That is the piping that is included and the booklet. The tool is laying on top....it is acrylic. Very useful tool. I lent it to my Mother when she made a slip cover for her sofa. She wanted the piping on the edge of each cushion. Now there is a woman with courage!!!

I stumbled into this little gadget. It is called a Gypsy Gripper. It grabs onto my ruler and templates so I can move them easily. I never knew I would really like something like this...but I really like it. It is very helpful when I'm cutting lots of pieces. I don't have to keep sliding the ruler over and over and over. I just pick it up and move it. I usually use green tape to mark my measurement lines so I don't even have to continue to look at the numbers on the ruler. I think that bright light adhesive tape rocks!!!

OK, now this next thing I know you are going to laugh and say, "Who the heck would buy that thing." I am one of those people who can't stand it when I can't get something stuck in a small space. For example, I hate vacuuming out my van and I can't get those crumbs between the seats and those bolts or the shifter in the middle....crumbs get into that too. Then there is the dryer screen. I can never seem to clean that thing well and the vacuum hose I have won't fit into that space. The hose is just not small or flexible. How about those dust puppies and crumbs inside your keyboard, your sewing machine, your serger, your embroidery machine, your table saw, behind narrow book cases.....OK I'll stop. Well, I'm the nut who bought this thing and absolutely loves it. I'm giving it as birthday gifts to my siblings this Sunday. (They're all coming for Easter and to celebrate their birthdays) This fits into your hose on your vacuum and then there are little tools that attach to the flexible hose. You can get into almost any small or narrow space with this little fella. So now you know my secret!!!

Yes this is a picture of my kitchen floor. Please don't notice that I've been writing blog entries and not moping like I need to. A girl just can't do it all.....in one day anyway :)

OK, that is round one of my favorite things. I do happen to have some of these on my website so you can check them out. I always list items at much less than retail....so you have extra money for supplies to do your creating!!!

Kelly

NEW on the Market!!! Be the first to see it here!!!

Virginia Lauer of Illinois has just come out with her "Easy Reach Thread Carousel" and I'm lucky enough to be able to carry these in my store!!! I thought they were so neat and I'm all for supporting other women who have an invention or creation and they want to take it to market. There are two Carousel's. One is for regular size spools of thread and the other is for king cones. The notions caddy can fit on the side to hold your tools. Isn't this soooo cool? I think they are so cool that I'm going to offer everyone who leaves a comment on this entry the opportunity to win their choice of 4 Bag Tags or 4 Magnets!!! Just leave your comments on what you think of Virginia's Thread Carousel's and I will draw a winner on the 15th of April. Now that is two give aways going on at one time on this good ole blog. Wooo Hooo!!!

All you have to do to have a chance to win....is leave a comment. Only one comment per person please. If you are interested in purchasing one or 10 of Virginia's Thread Carousel's please click on the link to my store on this blog....upper right....

Smiles,

Kelly

Easter is almost here and today is Passover

This is a smocked Easter egg that I learned to make when I belonged to the Smocking Guild in Michigan. I made several to give as gifts and saved only a couple for myself. Unpacking them each year is like a new surprise.

Last night I drove all the way out to the Toledo Botanical Garden for what I thought was a Toledo Needle Arts Guild meeting. I was there promptly at 6:30 with my stitching in my bag and I was excited. I've been wanting to go for over a year and just have never made it to a meeting. The conference rooms were filled with people that were obviously not stitchers. No bags of threads, hoops, needles....nothing....zip, zero, zilch. I phoned Rick (my husband) and he googled the Needle Arts Guild and it meets in a completely different place and the meetings are no longer on the second Wed. of them month....they are on the third Wed. Well, I guess I was relieved they did not change their meetings to the first Wed of the month. Guess I'll have to wait another week to meet the gals there.

My scheduled time out did not go to waste....oh no....I stopped at Sally Anns and got several new spring tops and two pair of carpi's. Not all is lost!!!


These are some magnets I made to give the boy's teachers in their Easter "baskets". I put some batting in the top to make them puffy. I especially like the Dr. Seuss magnets....sooo darn cute.

Hope it is warm and sunny in your part of the world today. Don't forget to leave a comment so I can enter your name in my drawing to win 4 bag tags. You have to leave a comment to win!!!

Kelly

You just have to see this gals bags!!!

I was just getting ready to sign off and I clicked on someones blog. Then on another and another. I saw the name: Polka Dot Pineapple and I just had to go and see what was there. My very lucky night...I saw the cutest bags and this gal has a give away going on. Of course I left a comment....I'm not stupid!!! :) She also has tutorials and they are very cute.

So here you go: http://mousechirpy-polkadotpineapple.blogspot.com/

Ya can't say I don't share!!! Cuz you know I do....and I love it.

Good night all....and Good morning AU
Kelly

Circle Quilt

This is a quilt I made for my living room. I really like the circles and how they play together. Janet Bellinger of Wellsboro, PA was teaching the class at Needles Quilt Shoppe. I decided to take the class and went into Needles to select some fabric. Up until this point I had mainly made quilts as gifts for others.

Katie and Mary,owners of Needles Quilt Shop , encouraged me to pick fabrics that go with my furniture and make a quilt for myself. Well, that was a novel idea. Make something for myself!!! Hmmmm.

Our furniture was in storage and had been for almost a year. So I dug out some photos of my furniture and took them into Needles. Mary and Katie stacked so many bolts of fabric on tables that I thought their arms would fall off. I'm sure their arms have huge muscles from all that hauling and toting those bolts of fabric. I went through the stack and selected the ones I liked the best. They encouraged me to pick things I might not otherwise select as they would enhance the other fabrics I had chosen. So I stretched and got some with little flowers, stars, dots, etc.

Once I started the practice piece for sewing on a curve, I was off and running. I finished the top in less than a week (if my memory serves me correctly!!).

This is the Quilt Label:

“Around and Around”
In the year 2005, I took a circle quilt class from Janet Bellinger of Wellsboro , PA at Needles Quilt Shop. Katie Mader & Mary Guinn, the shop owners, inspired me to make a quilt for myself and assisted with the selection of fabrics.
Janet did the long arm quilting and my friend Mary Jane Ehlich helped me put the piping and binding on.
Completed July 2007 by:
Kelly Howlett March Jackson

Janet has made many circle quilts and she also is a long arm quilter. Who better to do the quilting? She finished it and then Mary Jane and I sat and worked on the piping and the binding. Mary Jane had just gotten the "Piping Hot Binding" tool. It was so great. The piping was made in no time and the edges were nice and even; very easy to sew on the edge of the quilt top.

I'm very proud of this quilt and happy that all these other women have helped make the finished project so beautiful. The quilt hangs over a chair in my living room. I love wrapping up in it on a cold evening. Speaking of cold evenings....it was snowing again....hmmm...April....come on SUNSHINE and warmer weather :)

Kelly

Giving Credit Where Credit Is Due

The punchneedle projects completed by Starr were, "Brenda at Country Stitches http://www.countrystitchesonline.com/ " designs. Starr said, "That's the first time I tried her Valdani threads cause I have heard so much about them and wanted to see for myself what everyone was talking about."

The purse was designed and punched by Starr. I guess I forgot to mention these things. Oops. It is a lot like quilting. The top can be pieced by one person and another person does the quilting. Sorry Brenda for the mistake as your designs are beautiful!!!

Kelly

Who Ordered The SNOW???

Snow on April 6th? Who ordered this stuff? It sure was not me!!! I enjoyed the snow all winter long and now I'm done with it....but I guess it is not done with us here in OH. I did not let the snow get in the way of my plans to visit with Starr Burgess and work on improving my punchneedle embroidery.

I had a great afternoon....did I say GREAT.....ok.....you got it then. I had been looking forward to visiting and seeing more of her work so I was so grateful that my husband was able and willing to take the boys for the afternoon. I have posted only a few of the pictures I took because of the upload time on blogger. I will upload more again soon. These are some samples of her work:



This sits on Starr's sewing table. How fun is this? Everything in her room was organized and kept in drawers and rolling carts. I just wanted to sit for hours and look through the books, magazines and threads. It is so much fun to look through other people's things....mine don't seem nearly as exciting. I've named her "Gadget Girl" because Starr has all the gadgets. I saw things today that I did not even know existed. My "to buy" list just got longer!!! Yikes



The thread used in the back ground-tan and white-is variegated thread. I really like the dimension it adds to the work. None of these works were finished/framed. We just folded back the fabric and snapped a picture.

Starr uses different gauges to achieve the 3-d effect in the flowers and border. This is much more visible on the following photos.

The sheep in this photo was punched in fuzzy thread. The sheep really stands out and is fuzzy and warm looking. The flowers just pop off the fabric. Again, we just folded over the fabric and the photos don't really do the work justice.


The fine detail in this piece really caught my attention. I have been having the most difficult time getting my work to look like a fine detailed picture. After a few demonstrations and some instruction I was able to understand how this effect is achieved.

So are you wondering if my piece is completed? Well it is not. I was planning on working on it this evening and I spent the better part of my night working on getting these photos to upload. I have made a beautiful slide show of her work but I could not get it to load on blogger. So I will figure another way to share all these lovely works.

Now lets hope there is no more snow here until December......Kelly

Part 2 of Who Ordered This Snow?

So here is Gadget Girl looking at her little laptop. It is so small and cute....I guess if you like fine details this is the computer for you!!! See the smile on Starr's face? You would have no idea that just a few short months ago her basement flooded and all of her work was ruined. The water came up the walls and the insurance company sent in a crew to tear out the walls and get rid of everything that was wet....yes everything!!! Can you imagine? She lost many pieces of punchneedle that she had done over the years. Those pieces could have been cleaned but the crew took "everything" that was wet and got rid of it. This is not to even mention all her supplies and thousands of dollars of damage to her sewing machines. And Starr is smiling. I asked her how she keeps from getting sick over what she has lost and she said she looks forward to the pieces she is punching and the new business she is starting. She and her sister are starting their own company and selling their own Punchneedle Designs and supplies!!! I know they will be very successful.


With all the snow I thought I would post some fitting pictures!!! Here is a beautiful piece with the variegated thread again. I think it really gives the background some pizazz. I wonder if Santa leaves Easter eggs?



The next two pictures are of a evening bag Starr punched. Then entire bag is punchneedle. I'm not sure if the sparkle threads come through on this photograph as well as they did when I was holding the bag. The fuzzy yard makes the cuffs and hat really stand out. The glitter thread used in the snow makes it glisten.

I really enjoyed listening to Starr talk about making things that are useful with punchneedle and not just pictures. She has made a checkbook cover and an eye glass case. She told me to think outside the frame more than once today. I thought perhaps I could do a small design and put it on one of my magnets. Then she mentioned I could punch the entire bag tags that I like so much. So many ideas. The last thing I will say before I close is .... "if it goes through the needle....you can punch with it." There are no hard and fast rules....just create and enjoy.

In typical stitcher style I came home with gifts...thread....magazines and books to look at...a punchneedle box with magnet...a razor....and a ton of websites I can look at. I have yet to get together with stitchers that they are not giving something to another stitcher. Maybe that is why I really enjoy the company of quilters and stitchers in general.....they are typically kind, generous, thoughtful and willing to teach another person interested in learning. What a great crowd to hang with ay?

Smiles,

Kelly

Silhouette Applique

One of the blogs I follow and enjoy is Sew Love Sew. Rowena has discovered Silhouette Appliqué and was writing about her experience and how she discovered doing this. Here is what she said:

“I was running out my 'train projects'. So I was searching internet for appliqués and embroidery projects that I thought I could do on the train. I found some animal appliqués that were free to download. I printed them. Then I saw some Sunbonnet Sue projects that I thought quite cute but they're not free. Then, the Sunbonnet Sue pictures reminded me of DD wearing her sunhats. Isn't she the same cute as Sue?

So I printed these photo out and cut her out. I'll have to admit my very limited English vocabulary and culture knowledge. I just learned this 'silhouette' from my co-forumer (thanks AJ!) at my favorite baby forum so I decided to use the correct term for this 'technique'.”

I think these are just great and what a wonderful gift idea for grandparents. Now I have to go through my photos for some inspiration. Thanks Rowena for letting me share you work. I think it is great!!

Kelly

Quilted Note Cards and Fabric Post Cards

Sewing on scrapbook paper? Yes I did. I stitched these layered note cards and embellished them with buttons. They were fun to send out to my stitching friends. This was before I learned about fabric post cards. I've recently learned to make those and have even included my 4 year old son in the process.

ZACH'S FIRST FABRIC POST CARD


My 4 year old son is the designer of this beautiful fabric post card. He was watching me sew and asked if he could make something special for our guests. My friends were visiting from Japan and he wanted something "special" to give them. I let him go through my scraps and he climbed up onto my tall stool and he began cutting out little pieces of fabric. Then he ran upstairs to get some foamies and some stickers too. Boy was he angry when I had moved his little pieces of fabric over a few inches. "Mommy you messed up my work!!!" Well, I guess he told me. He took several minutes placing each piece of fabric on the front of the post card. Then he choose the color of thread and the stitch that we use for each seam and embellishment. Zach was so proud of himself and I was too. I even let him press the buttons to change the stitches. He thought that was big time sewing!!









Then he signed his card.





These are the recipients of Zach's beautiful card. Jim and Chika were so pleased to receive such a nice gift. Made the crystal bowl I bought them for their engagement look a whole lot less valuable :)

Have a great Saturday!!
Kelly

More Easter fun...and Don't Forget"Tag You're It"

This cute little thing is called a chickummyjig. I found it while surfing and the site gives you a free down loadable pattern. There is still a week left before Easter, I wonder how many we can make before Easter. I have posted the link below so you can go and download the pattern if you want to make one.

I think I most feel like a little kid at Easter. I just love Easter egg hunts and Easter baskets. I even had my kids make baskets for their teachers and the bus driver. I used to really enjoy Christmas years ago but now Easter is my "fun" holiday. Maybe because people don't "expect" to celebrate. They are typically surprised and pleased when you do something for them for Easter. Here is the link if you want to make one of these cute fellas.
http://whipup.net/2009/03/29/easter-tutorial-chickummyjig/

I'm sitting here writing this wishing I were in Lancaster with the girls. I read their blogs and they are away having fun I'm sure. I am going this weekend to visit Starr and she is going to give me some punchneedle tips. I'm very excited to see more of her work. (Her work is the first featured on my blog)

Don't forget to leave a comment so your name will go into a drawing to receive 4 Bag Tags!!! The deadline is April 15th.

Smiles,

Kelly

Free Embroidery Machine

Do you want a free embroidery machine? If the answer is yes, go to www.YouCanQuiltThis.com/blog and enter to win. If you don't want to win this machine, go to You Can Quilt This dot com and enter the contest and give the machine to me :)

I found this on a blog that lists free gifts from bloggers. These days you don't even have to go into a store and fill in one of those entry forms to win a prize. You can click from home. Would you have ever have dreamed this would all be happening? I never in my wildest dreams would have thought up the Internet....much less cell phones. I remember when I was in my early 20's someone saying one day there would be phones in cars. I laughed as I thought of all those long cords being drug down the highway. Now....my kids have never known life without cell phones or the Internet. I guess I'm sounding very old about now and I'm feeling more and more like my Grandmother. I guess neither of those things are too bad, right?

Please let me know if you win and don't want the machine. I'll send you some money for postage so you can send it to me !!! :)

Smiles,
Kelly

My Internet Was Out Today

My Internet went out today. It has been slow as molasses for the last several days and this morning...no connection at all. The good news is the repair person arrived and fixed it in less than an hour. I was thrilled. He said his mother quilts and he gets a quilt every Christmas. I told him he probably did not realize how very lucky he is and that I want to get on her Christmas list too!!


This is a picture of some Stump Work I made and gave to a friend as a gift. I took a class from Jan Kerton of Bustles and Bows. This is a link to the store she works from. http://www.bustleandbows.com.au/embroidery-classes-jan-kerton.htm

Jan lives in Melbourne, AU and comes to teach classes in the US. I met her in South Carolina about 8 years ago. When I had the opportunity to visit AU with my husband a few years ago I looked her up. Rick was working and I had the day to myself in Melbourne. I remembered only that she lived in AU and not where. So went to the town center to use one of the computers I had seen there. I Googled Jan Kerton and up popped her name and the address of the shop. So I ventured out on street car to the area and began walking until I found the shop. It was amazing....I had goose bumps. I was standing in a store I never thought I would ever be in and seeing the patterns of the lovely woman who had taught me to make such lovely things. I mentioned to the gal behind the counter that I had met Jan in the US and was by chance visiting the area. She said simply, "Well if you'd like to talk to Jan she is in the back room teaching a class." It was like a siting of Elvis for me. Unbelievable!! What is the likelihood that I would be in AU, standing in a stitching shop and Jan Kerton was by chance in the back room??? I knocked on the door and she opened the door and gave me a big hug and smile. She remembered my face and invited me to join her class. What a great experience for me. I was invited back later in the week to learn more about Brazilian Embroidery. The work the ladies were doing was absolutely gorgeous. It was a peak experience for me for sure.

It is almost bus time here. My son gets off the bus and I have to be out in the driveway to get him.

Have a great day!
Kelly

KA JINKER

Here it is, the Ka Jinker. The cool tool that will add fun embellishments to any project. I've posted pictures below of two really cute examples of how the Ka Jinker can be used. I think it would be great for fabric postcards too.


This apron is embellished using the Ka Jinker. How sweet is this? This would make a really neat Easter gift. Do you want to know what size I wear??? OK, enough kidding. I think this thing is so cool I should embellish my under garments and shock my husband. How funny would that be? Better yet, embellish his and wait for him to find them.

This pair of jeans and belt were embellished too. How easy would that be to get some things like this at garage sales this summer and embellish them and make them new again. It would be cute to make those cute jean purses too.

The KaJinker starter kit retails for 30.00. I sell it for 22.00....that is 8 FREE dollars for you to use at garage sales this summer getting jeans to embellish!!

Kelly

HIPPITY HOPPITY EASTER IS ON ITS WAY

These are some covered buttons that I made into refrigerator magnets for my girlfriend. I thought they might be a nice gift idea for Easter too. I use the Dritz cover buttons and take the shank of the back. Then I hot glue a magnet to the back. She loves cats so I used little cat faces. You can use almost any scraps to make these magnets. If you prefer thumb tacks...hot glue thumb tacks to the back. Wa La....you have a nice little gift to give to friends, family, teachers etc.

The last set I made I put a little bit of batting in to make them pop. You can embellish them with sequins, beads, bullion roses, buttons and anything else your creative mind can come up with. Have you seen the cool new new tool called the KaJinker? (look under notions at http://www.ihavea-notion.com/) This tool has a tag gun and it connects great embellishments to fabrics. I think it would be awesome to embellish magnets, totes and fabric postcards.


How about this Easter basket?

Isn't this the cutest Easter Basket? I just love it. I want one. I don't think my little fellas would appreciate one of these....a cardboard box is good with them as long as it is filled with lots of candy and a toy. Jelly Rolls are used to make the basket. The pattern and tutorial can be found here: http://www.modabakeshop.com/2009/03/fabric-easter-basket.html.

There are lots of other free patterns and tutorials on their site to check out. I like free, alot. I've always been that way. When my husband goes to conferences I always ask him to being me the gifts. He thinks I'm nuts because I like free pens. I make good use of those pens :)

Speaking of free things....I collect Box Tops For Education. They are those little pink labels on items at the grocery store. Go to http://www.boxtops4education.com/ to see all the items they come on. I collect them for my son's school. If you are not collecting them for anyone, I would love it if you would save them for us. When I go to do my recycling each week I always find extras on the packages people toss out. If Box Tops 4 Education were to tape a dime on top of the box instead of a pink label worth 10 cents, folks would not throw them away. We also collect the Campbell Soup labels. I look it as free money for the school. Like I said...I like free.

What is the best thing you gotten free lately? Send me a pix, I'd like to see it.

Kelly

TAG.... YOU'RE IT

THIS IS NOT AN APRIL FOOLS GAG!!!

Would you like to have 4 bag tags FREE? For every 25 comments I recieve on this blog I will send out 1 set of 4 bag tags. The names will be drawn randomly from each grouping of 25. So if I recieve 150 comments, I will be sending out 4 bag tags to 6 lucky people. You can leave as many comments as you would like. Each one counts as one entry. Please make sure you leave your contact information on each comment so I can get in touch with the winners to send them their bag tags. Good luck!! I will draw for names on April 15th.

Kelly

Notice Something Different?

I messed up my template on my blog so it looks different today. I am working on having it restored to it's previous appearance. I backed it up...but now it says error. I guess it is an April's Fools trick....from Blogger to me :)

Kelly

Beautiful Blue Birds

You have to check out Nellie Durand's Blog. I was blog surfing a few weeks back and came across Nellie Durand's blog. I e-mailed her to tell her how much I loved her birds. She immediately e-mailed me a pattern so I could make one. I was floored. Her generosity was amazing. She told me to make one and send her a picture. I was thrilled. I have been searching through some of my fabrics looking for just the right combination. I was on her blog today and noticed she now has the pattern and the instructions available for download. Check it out!!! She is also makes beautiful art quilts. Go over and check out her beautiful work.

This is the link to her site:

http://nelliedurand.blogspot.com/

On the right hand side there is a picture of a bird and you can click to see her gallery. Oh the fun and creativity.....it seems never ending out here in blogland.

Smiles,

Kelly

OH, BY THE WAY

It was pointed out to me that I did not indicate that I sell the Bendable Bright Lights. I am working on getting a link to my website from my blog. However if you click on this link you can go directly to the store. I believe I may have the lowest price on the internet for these lights.

http://www.IHaveA-Notion.com

Stay tuned...

Kelly

Bendable Bright Lights

I have a Bendable Bright Light and I just love mine. I learned about them while on a trip to PA (I seem to learn a lot from going there!!) We all just had to have one and this is how I got started in business. I was reading a quilt magazine and saw them advertised as well. These lights really are as great as they look. The entire stitching area is lit up so you can see even on dark fabrics.

If you have one and would be willing to share your thoughts about the Bendable Bright Light, will you please leave a comment in the comment section.

Another cool thing I saw was a Thread Carousal. I've been in contact with a woman and we'll see if I get permission to post those too!!!

Who will be my next guest artist? How about you? Just drop me an e-mail to IHaveANotion@yahoo.com and send me some pix of your work. I love to see new and interesting ideas. I find myself surfing blogs for hours mesmerized by all the creativity out there.

I'm off to bed. Sweet Dreams!!
Kelly

Edyta Sitar's Quilts

On March 19th, Edyta Sitar (Laundry Basket Quilts) came to speak to the Gathering of Quilters in Toledo, OH. When she asked for volunteers to help hold up her quilts while she was speaking I jumped to my feet. Being 6 feet tall with long arms is an advantage when holding up quilts. I was able to see her work up close and touch all those lovely fabrics. Ohhhh I had a ball. I think I may have been drooling, eek. I got to chat with her husband while we held up some of the larger quilts. I suggested that perhaps after all this hard work I could select a quilt to take home.....I'm so glad he laughed....well....maybe not so glad....but it was nice that he had a great sense of humor.

I could not believe how many quilts Edyta brought. There must have been 50 or more. Edyta's tallent is evident. I love the colors she has selected (did I mention she designs fabrics and patterns?) for her quilts. This was the first time I had seen batiks mixed with other fabrics.

After her lecture I asked Edyta if I could post some of her work on my blog and she agreed. This is an exerpt from her website:
http://www.laundrybasketquilts.com/

Every time I begin a new quilt, it is normally because of a person or event that has inspired me. Sometimes it can be for a loved one in need, birth of a child, a thank you or simply a tribute to a natural beauty that I have experienced, such as a lovely sunset. The first person that inspired me in quilting was my husband's grandmother - Anna Sitar. Her love and patience that was invested into quilts will forever remain imprinted in my mind. Great quilters have taught, inspired, and challenged me to develop a love for quilting and I hope to be able to share some of the beauty of quilting with you.

Elegant Garden Blocks:

After the lecture I went over and studied some of her patterns. Specifically the Elegant Garden Applique blocks. I think these would be beautiful in Punchneedle as well. If anyone would like to punch one of her patterns I'd love to have it posted on my blog. Please let me know if you do one of them. I will at some time get to punching one myself. As you have gathered by reading my posts.....I have great ambitions for a woman with two young children. I guess I'm an optimist :)

Edyta's New Book:

Available at: http://www.ihavea-notion.com/ along with many of Edyta's patterns. I plan to list all of her patterns however I have not had time to list them all in my store. If there is one you want and don't see it, please let me know.

I've got to run cook dinner. I have had the worst time trying to figure out how to move photos around a blog. If you have expertise....please...PLEASE....pretty please e-mail me at IHaveANotion@yahoo.com so I too can learn how to move these pix aound. I will eventually find the time to google the "how to" about moving photos....but not tonight!!

Have a great night.

Kelly

Piece by Piece

I have admired my girlfriends Dresden Plate quilt and miniature for several years. I finally decided to make a miniature myself. I started cutting out the pieces at a quilt retreat (2/09) in PA. I then lost my template. You may be asking yourself, "how did she loose the template." That would be the same question all 13 of us asked ourselves. No one could find it that weekend. We moved furniture and rugs and still never found the template. So Mary Jane sent me another one. I was hoping she would just send me her quilts and all I got was this picture!!!

I asked Mary Jane if I could post it on my blog and she agreed. I'm thrilled to be able to showcase her work. She does beautiful needle turn applique and hand quilting. Those are her two specialities. Her work is Blue Ribbon in my book!!

This is the story of the blue and yellow Dresden Plate:

“Cross Country Plates”

This king size Dresden Plate quilt was made for my husband, Bill, who stopped at quilt shops for me while driving to and back from Pennsylvania to Oregon in May, 1998. Blue and yellow was just becoming poplar about this time and in some shops there was only a novelty print. I hand pieced the plates on another driving trip to the west coast. The plates were hand appliquéd to the back ground using the needle turn application and hand quilted. I was honored to win Viewer’s Choice at the Mountain Laurel Quilt Guild Exhibit, my local guild. The exhibit is on display for the whole month of September in even years at the Gmeiner Art & Culture Center, Wellsboro, Pa.

I hope to get back to work on my mini Dresden Plate soon. I hope you don't have a stack of UFO's as high as mine!!!

Sweet Dreams,

Kelly

Feeling Ragged?

When I saw this Raggedy Ann I smiled. I still have the Raggedy Ann doll I got as a child. I just love it. Connie is in one of my yahoo groups and these are her designs and work. I asked her if I could post her work and she agreed. Here is a little bit about Connie Sherlock:

"I am a pattern designer and web designer www.sherlockdesigns.com. I taught elementary school for a number of years. I have no formal training as a designer or seamstress, I think I just barely passed home ec in jr. high. When I first started doing crafts I had no skills, just a desire to create. I took classes and tried every craft. I think the more you try and get away from the "I can't do that" mind set you are able to create. I used to say primitive was my skill level and now I say it's my style. If I am not creating something new or working on a project I am "not a happy camper". I believe God gave me the ability and the desire to learn, but unfortunately no "real" skills. There are so many things that I wish I could do much better, but I keep trying to learn more all of the time.

My first patterns were for country dolls and critters. My favorite patterns are raggedy Anns and bunnies, but I have a broad spectrum from wearable sweatshirts to frogs. www.amongcountryfriends.com
I changed my focus to quilts several years ago. My folk art quilts www.sonshineseedco.com are inspirational quilts with each quilt having a different theme. I combine primitive stitchery with tradition quilt blocks and rag quilts. Most of my quilts and many of my primitive stitcheries have been digitized for machine quilting. I really like working with wool felt and making penny rugs.

My newest patterns are punch needle and rug punch hooking.
I am an exhibitor at several quilt shows each year. I demonstrate punch needle, rug punch hooking, applique with felt and rag quilting at every show. I have just started presenting programs for the quilt guilds.

I have a few more websites http://www.oldecountrypeddler.com is the one I am developing now and it includes several different crafters."

Now that is what I call putting your pleasure to work for you. I would love to learn more about felting but I think I'm up to my waders in unfinished projects so I'll have to save that for my "twilight" years :)

Have a great Friday night!!

Kelly

Good Night!!

Time to hit the hay!!

Good Night

Kelly

Burning The Midnight Oil

Well, here they are...24 total (some were duplicates so I did not include them in the photo). Bag tags that I promised to make for my friends who are returning to Japan. I had to finish them to get them in the mail to WA tomorrow morning. I thought they were very pretty. Jim and Chika picked out the fabrics from my stash. The majority of the fabrics came from Kathy Greene at http://www.fatquarterfactory.com/ I love the variety.

Tomorrow I have to get working on a punchneedle project I promised another designer to complete. I was supposed to complete it by March 16th. But it is still in the works. I'll post pictures of the unfinished "work of tardiness." Since I have not quite figured out how to post the picture between paragraphs....I will just put it in the next post.

Will there be a "Starry Night" tonight?

I belong to a Punchneedle Yahoo group and a conversation was started about the idea of punching Van Gogh's Starry Night. Lynnette Larson had already punched this piece and shared it with the group. I admired it and asked her permission to share it on my blog. Happiily she agreed and this is what she had to say:

"This is my punchneedle interpretation of Van Gogh's Starry Night. It is about 5" x 7" in size. I used the photo from a small calendar for the basic design, and used a variety of embroidery floss colors. Most of the time I used three strands in a Cameo needle, with one strand of one color and two of another color. I enjoyed creating this piece as a gift for my daughter's college graduation in 2005, as I have her high school art project, a large chalk pastel interpretation of Starry Night, hanging above my bed. I'm a housewife from Chicago. I hook rugs, worked for a quilt shop for 15 years, and now have a full house after having an empty nest. Health problems suppressed my creative urges for a while, but I'm still finding ways to express myself. God bless you!"

Lynnette also has a blog http://lynnettelarson.wordpress.com/.

Isn't this a beautiful gift? Everytime I see work like this I want to improve my punching. I tend to over punch when I'm working on a piece. Progress not perfection right? RIGHT!

Easter is on it's way and another group member commented about making a picture of Easter Eggs. Then I started thinking about what Starr had suggested....punching a picture a child has drawn. I am now thinking about having my boys draw pictures of Easter Eggs and punching them as gifts for their grandparents. All of these wonderful ideas. I have to get back to finishing my projects. I'll post a picture of all those luggage tags when I'm finished.

Have a Starry Night!!

Kelly

Burning The Midnight Oil

I just found the neatest idea for re-using those cheap window blinds that get thrown out. Check out this blog http://littlegreennotebook.blogspot.com There are pictures of how to recycle those old blinds and use some beautiful fabrics. Oh my, I've got to go to bed before I go down to my stash and start carrying it around the house looking for windows cover.

Sweet Dreams!!
Kelly

So March Showers Bring April Flowers?

Hmmmm....I thought it was April showers bringing May flowers. I awoke to rain I was wondering who made the change to March showers. I guess this will remain a mystery, for today!

Spring break is coming and if travel is in your plans you might like to see some travel accessories. I've posted a picture of some luggage tags that I made for a gift. My girlfriend, Mary Jane, taught me to make these simple little tags. She wanted to make some for her bags and she came up with this pattern on her own. Since I have learned how to make them I have noticed them in other places and on the web. I always find that interesting. The collective conscience of the universe delivers similar and sometimes the same ideas to many folks at the same time.

I have not figured out yet how to add a picture between paragraphs. I will end here and publish another post....stay tuned :)

Part Two of Todays Post

There is more than one way to slice this pie. I'll just make two posts here :)

These are pictures of the beautiful fabrics I bought yesterday. I offered to make souvenirs for my friends visiting from Japan. Well, to make 20 luggage tags a girl must have new and fresh inspiration. I know just where to go for that.... http://www.fatquarterfactory.com/ Kathy Greene, owner of The Fat Quarter Factory just so happens to live here in Perrysburg as well. I always leave feeling inspired to come home and start sewing. She carries all the new and fun fabrics that are not available here locally.

Has anyone used the KaJinker? I saw one yesterday and wanted to buy it just to play with it. I'd like to see some embellished work if you have made anything with the KaJinker. If you don't know what one is, check out my website or google KaJinker.

I'm working on more guest artists. I've been gathering photos .... stay tuned for more fun and beautiful creations by very tallented people.

Have a wonderful day!

Kelly

Thank You!!!

Thank You for all the wonderful comments on my new blog. Many people either phoned or e-mailed to tell me how much they enjoyed seeing Starr's lovely pin. How nice of all of you.

I will be featuring another punchneedle artist soon. I'm in the process of gathering the pictures of her work. You can look forward to quilt projects and other hand made items as well. I have found that looking at other people's creations has inspired me to continue working my my projects or to try something new. That is how I started doing punchneedle. I saw another gal doing it and I was fascinated. It is so easy and I enjoy having a project to work on in the evening when I'm tired and don't have to "focus".

The picture above is my work. I agreed to make baby items for a Quilt Tea that was held in Covington, PA. I made an assortment of baby items including bibs with legs, blankets, burp cloths, and doll blankets. The Quilt Tea was a wonderful and fun event. I will publish more of that day and information in the coming days and weeks.

My website is up and running. You can take a peak at http://www.ihavea-notion.com/ I have many more products to add to the site. My current focus is balance, so I will do this a little at a time. If there is anything you are in need of or interested in learning more about, please e-mail me at IHaveANotion@yahoo.com.

Have a wonderful day!!!
Kelly

Another Sunny Day and My First Guest Artist

This beautiful pin was created by Starr Burgess. It was made using 48 colors of sewing threads with 2 different thread colors in the punchneedle at one time. Punching and changing one of the threads at a time to vary the color. She has been an artist of many mediums for the past 40 years. Starr has done craft shows and taught many forms of art. She has done punchneedle embroidery for the past 20 years. "Punchneedle is a love that's easy for everyone to enjoy even when a person says they can't draw a straight line. In punchneedle, you don't need to draw a straight line....lol You can even take a drawing by your children and turn it into punchneedle winner!!" That is an excellent idea Starr!!

"There are many fine designers out in the market that do design punchneedle if a person is timid to draw their own images. I just get excited to see how people love the art of punching and the reward when it's finished. You can punch a design that only takes an hour or you can punch one that takes weeks....its all up to you. the main thoughts about punchneedle art work....Enjoy and Have fun Punching!!"

Thank You Starr for being the first guest Artist on my blog. Your pin is absolutely beautiful and I look forward to having a private lesson!!
To purchase punchneedle supplies just e-mail me at IHaveANotion@yahoo.com and I can have your supplies out the same day (usually).

Kelly

Good Sunday Morning

Good Sunday Morning

I am in the process of having some guest artists featured on my blog. I'm very excited to share their talent and enthusiasm. You won't be disappointed!!

It is a beautiful sunny day here in Perrysburg, OH. I am looking forward to spring and flowers blooming. Speaking of flowers, Amy, from Perrysburg Flooring, has 3 acres covered with flowers and plants. I'm going to ask to visit to get some ideas for your yard. Her passion and therapy is gardening. I'm looking forward to learning more about plants and flowers for my yard.

Have a wonderful afternoon.
Kelly

New Website Coming!!!

My new website is on it's way. Christine Hansen from http://www.momcart.com/ is doing my website. She is amazing and her talent is evident. Check out her site and you too will be inspired to have your website hosted by MomCart.

I'm working on a punchneedle project using sewing thread. I can't believe how beautiful it is. Starr inspired me to try using sewing thread. I'll keep you updated.

Smiles,
Kelly

Welcome to "I Have A Notion"

Welcome to "I Have A Notion" a blog for sewing, quilting, punchneedle and crafting enthusiasts. You can order supplies from me directly at a great discount. For information on what items I supply you can check out my suppliers website at www.checkerdistributors.com , www.brewersewing.com and www.punchneedlemarketplace.com

Local pick up available. I will ship anywhere in the US at this time. Exact postage will be charged.

Please e-mail me at IHaveANotion@yahoo.com for all inquiries.