Vintage Find - Gingham Inspiration

For all my gingham loving friends

I wanted to share my extraordinary find.

I am away

enjoying time with my hubby

shopping, site seeing, relaxing, and rejuvenating.

But, more on that tomorrow.

This vintage apron is hand stitched with little cross stitches

and

has ric rack trim.

For only $10 from a sweet little shop in Divide, Colorado.

Now, how perfect is that?

See you tomorrow for

Around the World Blog Tour

Welcome to my stop on the Around the World Blog Hop.

(I almost missed my deadline)

Kris over at Sew Sunshine invited me to participate and I am excited to join all of these incredibly talented bloggers in this tour around the world.  Kris and I share a love of challenge quilt projects and she has inspired me so many times.

As part of this tour, I am supposed to answer 4 questions, so here it goes....

Number 1 - What am I working on?

I'm crazy for blog hops and challenges.

The See You in September blog hop starts Wednesday, September 3rd

 and

 I have been so busy getting ready for my day on September 8th.  

The full schedule for the hop is here.

So, I would love to show you the rest of this, but it has to wait until the hop.

I've been enjoying a little summer stitching on the porch, but I can't show you this one either...

sorry.

Most of my time crafting and sewing lately has been wedding related.

My daughter is soon to be married and here she is working on the little sign the ring bearer will be carrying for the wedding.  (I guess they don't carry a pillow with rings anymore..lol)

We have been having a lot of crafting sessions together to add little personal touches to the wedding.

She is my only daughter and I want to enjoy every moment of this time in our lives.

Number 2- How does my work differ from others of it's genre.

Does it?  I do like to think out of the box, but mostly I just want to do something new or different.

This is my can-can dancers quilt.  It's a little out of the box.

The vampire, Mystat

I mostly like to make my own patterns and share the things I learn along the way.

I'm into modern, traditional, whimsical quilting.

How's that?

Number 3- Why do I write/create what I do?

Because I love to do things with my hands.  

I love to experiment.

Quilting and sewing are my outlets.

I'm a hair stylist by trade and it is a very creative career, but I am limited in creativity to give my clients what they want.  

Quilting lets me be creative in my own way

.Like most quilters I know, I'm always ready to start on that next quilty idea that pops into my head.

(It just won't quit)

This is the quilt, Down the Dyeing Path, made after I learned about dyeing fabric.

I write about my experiences and to share what I've learned. 

Isn't that why we are here?  

To inspire each other and help each other grow?

Number 4- How does my writing/creating process work?

Sometimes it doesn't.  I just keep trying. 

 Sometimes an idea hits me in the middle of the craziest things - work, driving, running, sleeping, eating, watching tv... 

You get the idea.  lol

 Usually my ideas are inspired by things around me. 

 I thinks that's pretty normal, right?

My best comes out when I create from my heart. 

I use a lot of scrap paper to jot down ideas.

Sometimes a quilt comes from paper and pencil like 

Let your Passion Shine

or

Sometimes I use EQ7 to design a quilt

like

I Do

There you have it.  You know a little bit more about me.  

My friend Jen over at Glinda Quilts is posting today on this blog tour.  

She will blow you away with her mad quilting skills and she always has me in stitches with her loving humor.  She is taking over the world with her sweet pants bags.

Jen loves the Wizard of Oz and Wicked and we instantly became friends when she found out I was from Kansas.  She puts up with my ignorance of the UK and has taught me so much about the giving spirit.

Next week you won't want to miss Vickie over at More Stars in Comanche

and 

Cherry over at Cherry Quilts.

Vickie has been a huge inspiration for me and you will want to check out her beautiful quilting and life at the ranch.

Cherry and I met through a blog hop and she always has great quilting and fun experiences on her blog.

They will be on the World Tour September 8th.

I'm sad to see summer come to the "unofficial end." 

 I'll see you soon for See You in September,

    

Meals at Grandma's House

When I was a little tike 

meals at Grandma's house

 meant getting out the Sears catalogs and stacking them on a chair to make me high enough to sit at the table.

 It also meant

tying a dish cloth around my neck to keep dribbles off my dress.

I'm sure there are a lot of you out there with similar memories. 

With this in mind, I decided on a little gift for a friend who became a grandma (again) recently. 

Not a high chair, but a couple of snazzy bibs.

He can keep his little britches clean when he eats a meal at his sweet grandma's house and she won't have to tie a bandanna around his neck.  These bibs have Velcro for fast dressing and undressing.

I purchased the pattern at my LQS.  I changed it a little so it worked for a little cowboy and used fabric out of my stash of western fabrics.  (I always love to buy those...wink)

Tied with a ribbon and on it's way.

The little guy won't need these for awhile, but they are ready when needed.

That's it folks.  That is all the sewing I have accomplished this week.  

Have a great weekend!

Something Old, Something Blue, and More Recipes from You

The excitement is building for the upcoming wedding.

As the mother of the bride

there are lots of things to do
but I am working through all the lists.

Trista (my daughter) wanted their names and the date of the wedding inside the dress
stitched in blue.
Such a clever way to do "something blue."

Wedding date and names stitched in blue inside the dress.

I was a little nervous about stitching inside her dress,

but just look.

She can lift the outer layers of the dress

and it is stitched on the outside of the lining.

Something BLUE, check.

We shopped for garters and I have to admit it was a bit weird for me to be looking for one for my daughter.

Why, I don't know.

She's still my little girl.

She wanted something simple and we just didn't find it.

Why were we going to buy one when we could make one?

Vintage lace and a broach from my grandmother's jewelry...

perfect.

Something Old, check.

Next on my list is the recipe book I want to give my daughter

A Virtual Bridal Shower

I've been so blessed to have friends from all over the world sending me recipes for

a beautiful book

THANK YOU!!!

Trista loves to work magic in the kitchen and loves to try new recipes.

There is still room for more recipes.

If you would like to help me

email me for my snail mail address.

gochefs@hotmail.com

I love the look of hand written recipes, but if you would rather email a recipe

I would love that, too.

I'm planning a surprise for at least one lucky participant.

It will be a random drawing after the wedding.

Thank you, again, for making my mail box (and me) so happy!!!!

Trista is going to love it.

Now I'm off to do Week 6 day 1 of the Couch to 5K training program.

Momma needs to be in her best wedding shape...lol

Pet's on Quilts - Deogie the Back Seat Driver

This is the last day for the Pets on Quilts Show and I want to share my (almost) famous dog with you.

Deogie

Welcome to Creatin' in the Sticks'
entry for

Pets on Quilts Show 2014!!

 Dog on a quilt category.

A great big thank you to Lily Pad Quilting!

This is Dogie.

She has been in our family for almost 15 years.

She was adopted when she was just a little handful and came from the pound.

Deogie is half black lab and half blue heeler which makes her a very smart dog as you shall see....

Deogie worked with my husband as a plumber for the first 10 years of her life.

Everyday she would jump in the truck and ride with him all day.

In fact, in her early years, we had trouble keeping her out of vehicles.

That is all she wanted to do, ride - or just sit in the car.

We had to lock the cars to keep her out of them.

She may have scratched a few car doors in her hay day....oops

One day my husband wanted to show how she let her self in the truck (no one would believe us).

One thing she hates is the smoke detector sound, so he made it go off at my in laws' house and recorded what she did...

This video was 6 1/2 years ago (almost 6000 views) and Deogie is retired from plumbing now.

She has gone with us everywhere for the last 15 years.

We very seldom leave her at home when we travel.

Some people recognize her and know her name without remembering our names.

She is a well behaved and smart dog.

She's a little grey now and very seldom leaves her bed, unless someone says,

" Let's GO."

She is always willing to ride in the car, but now it's in the back seat and she has to be lifted in.

Deogie isn't really a dog to pose for pictures, so I did what I knew would work and said,

"Let's GO!"

Her sister, Molly, understands what that means too.  She, unlike Deogie, will strike a pose anytime.

I prepared the backseat with the quilt, Peace and Harmony and they snuggled right in.

After a car ride, Molly is ready to pose for you....

Thanks for stopping by to see my girl (s).

Be sure and visit all the cute critters on quilts.

I have  a quilt made just for Deogie that I will share in the See You In September Blog hop so stay tuned...