Look what you can make with an old hand truck, old wood & a very handy husband! (Oh, and a clever wife 😜).

I have journaled for the past 40 years. I have different sized journals. Some were bought & some I made. This next year I will be using a notebook I created from bits & pieces I have collected over the years. It will include a monthly planner, a journal and a place for my art & ideas. I bought new drawing pens & a fountain pen to use & store in my book. I can’t wait to use it!!

This project goes along with my completing project goals. I had the shadowbox and so when I found this cute fabric I knew I had a match! I lined the back of the box with adventure fabric and added the black & white fabric to the box border to give it some contrast. (I also used these 2 fabrics on the baby quilt.) I bought the bear utensils & boxes to match the fabric theme. You could add a photo & other keepsakes to place in the box as well. Fun gift!

My grandma made a recipe book for each woman in my family. Each recipe was written out by hand and placed in a little notebook. I decided to make a canvas cover for my recipe book with my grandma’s picture on it. I added a little flattened penny from Wyoming & a fishing hook because they remind me of her. Inside the book my grandma had glued a cute kitchen poem, and I made sure to include it on the canvas inside my book. Now the cookbook is sitting out in my kitchen, reminding me what a wonderful grandma & cook she was.

Every year there is a sale at the Christian Academy in town. I always find something good there. Last year I found the doll house & this year I found a pile of goodies. Today I will share some of the items that made me so happy. First there was an antique basket with an old brass latch. Then there was a tiny vintage case that I filled with buttons. Next came a jar of old pearls and diamonds. No, I don’t think they are real, but they are great for my projects. And then there was an old medal breadbox. It has a shelf inside of it. I am going to use it to store art supplies. I had a wood box that fit on the top shelf. I filled it with my embellishment junk. I even jazzed up the side of the wood box. I can put my button case & journals on the bottom shelf. It is so cool!! I will tell you about my best find in another post. I’m still working on it!! In the meantime, here are my pictures of my fab finds!!

I am on a roll! I finished this scrap block quilt last night. I made the binding out of vintage material so it matches the vintage fabric in the blocks. I hand quilted it in big stitches using various colors.
​On to the next project!

This is one of those weeks where I am in the mood to finish projects rather than start new ones! That will probably last 2 days, but oh well, better than nothing. Anyways, here is a quilt top I just finished. Here is the kicker..it was a project someone else started & never finished. I found pieces of the quilt top in a bag with scraps of the fabric. The original seamstress had sew parts of it together the wrong way. They must have not wanted to take the seams apart & re-sew it. The colors are beautiful and the fabric is all new cotton. I took my seam ripper out, repositioned the pieces and sewed it back together. Now the question is, do I start quilting it , or finish the trim on another quilt that I almost have done?

I wish this was a life size potting shed & not a miniature! It came together rather easily. I had the little green cabinet & tools, and so all I had to do was create the box, cover the roof with needlepoint,
paint & decorate the furniture, add some plants & that was practically it! The only thing I bought was the unfinished garden furniture from Hobby Lobby for $9.00.

This rug started out with rag strips around the outside. Then I sewed in some crewel work. After that I started wool hooking. Well, I couldn’t leave out some cross-stitching. Then I decided to weave some areas in. You see where I’m going! By the time I finished, and yes it took a lot of time, this is what I ended up with. Definitely one of a kind!

I made this little travel art case to pack in my purse so I can work on little projects when I am traveling or waiting around. The case is leather & it measures 6” X 5”. I covered the outside of the case with vintage pieces that I sewed together. The inside of the case holds a fabric sewing kit, a little fabric book that I can sew in, embroidery floss, a little journal, a tiny sketchbook, some ATC cards, paints & a brush, a pen & scissors. Easy project!!