Christmas Fixer-Upper

I have been cross stitching for nearly 30 years and if you looked at my full body of work, you would see that there are a lot of Christmas stitchings. Ornaments (lots of ornaments), tea towels, sweatshirts, scrapbook covers, and large wall hangings.

I made this one about thirteen years ago, according to the date I signed on it.  For some reason, I didn't get around to framing it until a few years ago.  By that time, I was a single mom, and I didn't really want "Celebrating Christmas Since ..." on it anymore, but I liked the stitching and didn't want such a cute piece to go to waste.  So, I picked out the words "Since 1997" and just continued the black squares across the bottom.  I found a nice red mat and a black frame and hung it for a few years.

When I got remarried though, I obviously didn't want to leave my old name on it. How lucky, that my old name and the new name have the same last few letters, so I could pick out the "FUST" and change it to "TROW".  I had to fudge the spacing a bit, as there two spaces in between each of the letters that only took up 3 spaces each. There was no way to make a W without is using 5 spaces, but because it's in the center, it works pretty well.




I also picked out the black squares at the bottom and
added "Since 2012". 

Now my Christmas house stitching reflects the family properly and I get to enjoy setting it out again.

Onto the next Christmas stitching!



 

 

Chalkboard Ornaments

When we blended families and the boys and I moved into Phil's house, I was forced to see how much crafting stuff I had accumulated.   Very often, I bought supplies that either never got finished (or let's face it, even got started) or I kept what was left over from ancient projects.  As I work on my
"40 by 41 Challenge", I search for new projects on Pinterest that will use up the supplies I already have.  It's feels great to empty out a container or shoebox full of "stuff" that might never have seen the light of day again otherwise.

When I saw the chalkboard ornaments from The Examined Life, knowing that I had a slew of little wooden shapes in the Oasis, I nearly ran to the store to load up on chalkboard paint.  I also grabbed a white paint pen.

When I dug the wooden shapes out of the drawer they had been stored in, I had to get the stickers off the backs.  Some were a little challenging, as they have been sitting there for awhile. Once all the stickers were off, I painted two coats on the good side (without the sticker residue), with a little help from my stepdaughter.  I only painted one coat on the back side.

 

 

Next, I used the white paint pen to outline the shapes - sometimes with dashes, some with dots, some with both.  Then I raided the stash for something sparkly. In the scrapbooking stuff I found a "ribbon" of holly shaped rhinestone and a holly shaped photo corner.  I used these to embellish the ornament (usually covering a spot that didn't come out as cleanly as I would have liked).

 



Add a little ribbon loop to the back, and we're all set!

 

 

 

As I mentioned in the post describing the Cinnamon Stick Stars, I wanted to give some of my good friends their Christmas treats at the beginning of the season so they could enjoy it all month long, rather than just for a few days before Christmas.  I packaged up a Cinnamon Stick Star, a Chalkboard Ornament, and a bag of Simmering Potpourri (check it out below) and delivered them  all one afternoon.  I hope my friends are enjoying their treats. 

 

What treats are you making for your friends this Christmas?

 

Simmering Potpourri

 

I found the recipe for the potpourri at Make It Do.  It includes an orange (quartered), a Tbsp. of cloves, 4 or 5 cinnamon sticks , and half a cup of cranberries.  Throw it a pot (or crock pot), add some water and enjoy.  I put all the ingredients in a treat bag, tied it off with some ribbon and wrote the instructions on a tag I made from card stock and the Creative Memories tag punch (a NECESSITY of crafting life).  Quick, easy, and so, so nice!

Cinnamon Stick Stars

At Christmas time, one of my greatest joys is letting my friends and loved ones know how important they are to me with a little "something".  Very often, it's lots of Christmas goodies.  My Pinterest addiction has inspired me to give them all a little seasonal gift at the beginning of Christmastide this year so that they can get in the spirit and enjoy it all month long.

The first item in the package will be a cinnamon stick star.  I pinned the idea from Rosy-Posy's blog last year, loving the idea of using up the cinnamon sticks I had left over from a previous project.  The original project crafter collected some of her supplies from the great outdoors with her children.  How cool!  I had to resort to my local craft stores, where I found cute sparkly berries, and a small wreath for the greens.






Armed with my glue gun, I tried a few different formations to get the stars to look right, and have all the sticks connect together.  Sometimes the bend or shape of the stick will determine how you place it in the star. This way seemed to work out the best:


Start with an upside-down V.  The third stick is connected under one of the arms of the V.

The fourth stick connects on top (or next to) the other arm of the V and the fifth stick connects the two lower arms, one side on top and the other under. (Remember, it depends on the bend and shape of the sticks, so each star will be a bit different).

Next, I snipped a piece of greenery off the wreath, and glued that along the left side.

Finally, I glued one of the bunches of berries into the greenery (but also made sure that it was connected to a stick below)

All we need now is a ribbon to hang it with and it's all set.  The stars came out so cute, but I don't have enough!  I need more cinnamon sticks and berries!

 

Too bad there isn't a 24-hour craft store around here, I'd go get some right now!

What Christmas crafts are you working on?

Third Time's a Charm!

Getting time to chisel away at my 40 projects is proving to be harder than I thought! Especially when I get distracted by the new Nora Roberts novel, The Dark Witch. (The only problem with reading a new book in a Nora Roberts set is having to wait months to get the next one!) Ireland and magic - great combo!  It's on my list of books I have read so far since the big 4-0, along with a few Christmas novellas that "appeared" on my Kindle. Great for curling up on the sofa with a throw blanket and a cup of hot cocoa.

But for now, it's still Thanksgiving time and I have one more Thanksgiving craft to share.

I have a my ups and downs with a favorite new project - ribbon wreaths.  I saw a few different styles on Pinterest saw it as a fantastic way to use up the yards upon yards of ribbon stashed away in the Crafting Oasis.  I started with the Back to School wreath that turned out really cute - until the Styrofoam wreath form broke.  I tried to redo it on a wire wreath frame, but let's all admit it.  It turned out a hot mess.

My Halloween wreath, made on a much thicker straw wreath form, came out nicely, but when I happened upon a beautiful set of fall colored ribbons for a Thanksgiving wreath, I wanted to give the wire frame a try again.

At first, I wrapped the whole frame in a thick ribbon and tied the ribbons around the whole frame, as I had done with the Halloween wreath.  But, that wasn't working for me, so I went back to the drawing board, or rather the Pinterest board, and looked up other ways to do it.

I found a pin on my Halloween board that suggested tying the ribbons, cut only about six inches in length, all over the wreath form. 

Here's the result, and definitely my favorite choice.  I had a variety of patterns, widths, and types of ribbon (grosgrain, sheer).  It's proudly hanging on the door to my kitchen. 

 

I've been working on a Christmas one (and this time I ONLY used ribbon I already had) that's my monthly gift for my BUNCO group.  We use gifts for our prizes, but you can only spend $5.  Since all of the ribbon came out of my stash, I figure I only spent $3.50 on the wreath frame, right?

 

Here's an "in progress" shot, so you can get a sense of how to fill in the frame.

 

 

 

As tempting as it is to go restock my Christmas ribbon supply and make a wreath for myself, I do have a whole list of projects that I want to get started on for Christmas for others over the next several days.  (Maybe I'll hit the after-Christmas sales for ribbon for me.)  I do know that when September rolls around next year, and I pull out the bucket of decorations that holds the Back to School wreath, I will rip it all apart and retie it. 

 

Isn't that the great thing about crafts? If it doesn't come out "right" the first time, you can redo it, or tweak it, until it does come out the way you want.  And if it doesn't look exactly like the picture that inspired the project, who cares?  We get to make our own interpretation of the ideas we see and give them a punch of our own personality. 

 

Something I'll try to remind myself of as I roll up my sleeves and dive into Christmas-time. 

 



Thanksgiving Trees

I think Thanksgiving is a great holiday and it gets completely overlooked by retail and the media. Two of our local radio stations started playing Christmas music on November 2nd!  The stores have stocked Christmas items for weeks, and all the Thanksgiving things have gone on clearance with the leftovers from Halloween.

Here at our house, we put Thanksgiving up as soon as we can after Halloween. There are pilgrims and turkeys and even a little fall village.

A few years ago I picked up this little set of trees at a block sale.

 

 

I leave them up all year long, changing the decorations to reflect the season. I have snowflakes, hearts, American flags, and Halloween ornaments.  I have every holiday covered except for Thanksgiving. I've searched high and low and couldn't find anything.

So I did what any good crafty girl would do - I made something!

I gathered up some solid paper, thread, buttons, and two patterned papers from a Debbie Mum pack.

First I cut out by hand the symbols and sayings that I wanted to use.  Then I glued them to the solid paper, with some thread in between for hanging.  Next I put something heavy on top and left them to sit over night.

On day two, I cut out all the shapes again, leaving a bit of colored border around each one. I had originally thought I might add buttons to embellish the little ornaments, but I think they came out just fine without anything else. The trees are rather small so I don't want to overload them.

Time to hang them up!  There's a little bit of glitter in some of the ornaments and I like how they catch  the light from the rice lights in the trees.  (I am still looking for a light string small enough to fit the smallest tree).

Hmmm.  I'm having visions of sparkly Christmas paper turned into ornaments dancing through my head.  Maybe with a baking theme.

But first, I have a few more Thanksgiving projects to do.

Stay tuned!

Fleece Scarves for the Food Pantry at KPC

I think I sometimes forget that there are only 24 hours in a day. That's how I would up with so many unfinished projects. (and how I have been negligent in my blog writing for two weeks - Sorry!)  I saw an idea, and thought, "oh, I can make that", forgetting about laundry, and meetings, and dinner, and that I occasionally need to sleep.  This is how I came to have several yards of fleece waiting to be turned into scarves.

Several years ago, I went to a sporting event where the cheerleaders were wearing the cutest scarves.  Someone had taken three layers of fleece in the school colors, sewn up the middle and then cut along the sides to make a fringe.  It looked like a fleece boa.  Cute and simple.  I decided to make some for all the babysitters that I had working for me (at least four or five of them) and for the women who were in my craft group that used to meet once a month. I had even asked my crafty friends what the colors of their coats were so I could make a two toned scarf to match.

(here's a shot of the scarf with one side done)

 



Needless to say, not all the scarves were made (although several of the sitters did get theirs for Christmas that year).

Fast forward a few years. As you my know, I work for my church as the Coordinator of Educational Ministries.  One of our other teams runs a Food Pantry two times a month and the number of people who come has steadily increased so that now, there are nearly one hundred people a month who attend.  As I was working on a knitted scarf, and thinking about how I have far too many scarves, lots of yarn waiting to be made into scarves, (that's the only thing I can knit. Hats elude me) I wondered what could I do with them all.  The Food Pantry popped into my head. Surely there are people who would appreciate a new scarf.  We do live in Buffalo, where winters can be rather harsh.  Working with the people in charge of the Food Pantry, we've invited church members to donate hats, gloves and scarves, whether home made or purchased to help our neighbors stay warm. 

And it would give me the chance to make the fleece into scarves and give them to people who really need them.  Sorry, old craft night friends, but I'm pretty sure you'll understand ;)

So, armed with a glass of wine, a few episodes of Once Upon a Time, my rotary blade cutter and some quilting rulers, I set to work.

(this is the stack of uncut fleece)

If you have ever made a fleece blanket and cut all those little fleece fringes with scissors you know that it's hard on your hands.  By using a cutting mat, rulers, and rotary blade meant for quilting, it take a lot less time, and doesn't make your hands hurt.  I have a square ruler that's only 6 x 7.5 inches, which is perfect for making all those little cuts with the blade.

Scarves are pretty simple.  I varied the width and length of the scarves, and cut a simple fringe into the end.  And there you are! A nice assortment to share with our church family and neighbors.

(here's some of the finished product -that stack of fleece made 18 scarves)

What projects did you intend to do that lay unfinished (or un-started as mine were) and could be repurposed to help someone else?  Share your projects in the comments.

Hope to hear from you!

Quick Halloween Treat Jar

   I have been working diligently on my Halloween cards, but the project stalled a bit when I thought that I was out of black cardstock for the card base.  I thought I was going to have to go to the store to get more, and pick up some envelopes as well. I took another look through my stash, and lo and behold, there was half a pack of black cardstock and several black cards with matching envelopes, which must have been left over from the first time I made Halloween cards (eight years ago). I also found a whole stack of envelopes left over from the wedding invitations and other projects. 

I felt like yelling "It's working! It's working!" like Anakin in Episode I when the pod finally works.   Finish projects, use stuff up, and share with friends - the three main ideas behind the 40 by 41 challenge for myself.

Since I've been working on the cards and want to finish them up by the weekend, I wanted to do a  quick project that has been in the back of my mind for awhile.  Last year, I made Pistachio Cranberry cookies for Christmas that are fantastic (I could have eaten the whole bowl of batter). I bought the pistachios at Target and they came in a jar that was too handy to just recycle. It's been hanging out in the crafting oasis waiting for the right opportunity.

While looking through my Halloween paper to find the right ones for the card, I came across a candy pattern with lots of glitter that was just the right thing for a treat jar. I chose green and orange papers to accent, and I would finally get to use these adorable chalkboard stickers from K and Company, also purchased at Target (do you see a pattern forming there?)  Add some orange ribbon, and I had my materials.

 

First, I cut the green paper to 3.5 inches and wrapped two pieces so that they went all the way around the jar.

 

 

Next, I cut the candy paper into two strips of 2.75 inches and wrapped those around the jar, staggering the spots where the papers overlap, so it wasn't right next to where the green overlapped.  (Note: the candy paper was very thick and didn't adhere well at first.  I used two rubber bands to help hold the paper in place until the glue had a chance to really take hold.)

 

 

 

I tied the orange ribbon around the mouth of the jar, but not around the edge of the lid.  I know my children, who will be taking the lid off to get to the treats in the jar, and I didn't want to have the ribbon wrecked. 

 

I put the chalkboard sticker on the orange accent paper, and then cut around it free hand to help the chalkboard stand out.  Rather than putting the sticker right on the candy paper, I used Stampin' Up dimensionals (I love those things!) to make it pop even more.

 

 

 

What's great about the chalkboard stamps is that they work! I had to write "Treats" three times before I liked this one, and the chalk erased pretty well each time.

 

 

 

The jar came out so cute, that I may have to do this again with Christmas paper. I'm envisioning teacher presents  - perhaps filled with Candy Cane Oreo Bark.    We'll have to eat a lot of pistachios to each between now and then!

 

 



 

Witching you...a Haunting Halloween!

I am making Halloween cards this year.

I have several reasons why:

1.  I LOVE Halloween and want to spread the "spirit" (sorry, I couldn't resist).
2. I enjoy making cards.  I like the process of choosing materials and then tinkering with a design until I get it exactly how I want it to look, or even better than I first thought.
3. People like to receive homemade cards.  It puts a little extra "umph" in your message.
4. When we moved earlier this year, I never made "change of address cards" so this is a way to get the information to our friends near and far before the Christmas season starts.
5. Its a good excuse for using up paper, ribbon and other embellishments from the "stash"

My new card design had to meet several requirements. I wanted something to go together very quickly and that would use up "stuff". First, I went to my "Card" board on Pinterest to choose a starting design.  I liked this one by Sue Maddox.  Instead of stamping the four different squares though, I chose two sets of Halloween paper.  There's a bit of glitter in some of them, as I like to have some sparkle in my cards.  Black and orange are traditionally Halloween colors, but I like to throw in some purple and a lime green, which seems to make it more "grown up".

 

 

I raided my stash for buttons and brads that would dress things up a bit and also found a spool of Pumpkin Pie ribbon from Stampin' Up.  Looking through my Halloween stamps sets, I chose "Witching you...a haunting Halloween" for the greetings on the front and the inside of the card.

 

 

With black cardstock for the base, and purple for the mat (torn at the bottom)  I was all set.

 

Here are the final products. 

 

 

 

Here's "Witching" you a Happy Halloween!



 

 

Ghostly Greetings!

This little guy is one of the reasons that I started this challenge for myself.  The pattern was in a Cross Stitch and Needlepoint magazine a few years ago, with many other adorable Halloween charts. First, came the Ghostly Garden stitching, (shown in the last post) and then I gathered up the specialty over dyed threads and sparkling blending filament for the nicely dressed ghost.  But then I saw other stitching patterns, or quilting patterns, or found another book to read, and Mr. Ghost wound up in the bottom of one of my stitching bags.

 For six years. 

Poor little guy.

This summer I brought him out, and finished the stitching section.  Yesterday, after making puzzles and baking cookies with the kids, I took over the dining room table to begin framing.  The original pattern called for three buttons to be added to the stitching: a star in his hat, and a pumpkin and ghost in his hands.   I looked through my stash of scrapbooking supplies, but couldn't find any flat buttons that wouldn't dig into the fabric or the framing board.  So instead, I used three brads, switching out a ghost for a spider.  I cut an opening in a piece of scrapbooking paper for the mat.  The final product is proudly displayed in the living room amidst the paper chains and strings of pumpkin lights.

I'm hoping that with my 40 project challenge, there won't be any other projects stuck in the bottom of a  bag for six years.

Halloween Stitchings

Of all types of crafts that I do, I have been a cross stitcher the longest.  I can't draw to save my life, but with a needle and thread, I can create something special.  Whether it's a large elegant piece, like one of Paula Vaughn's patterns, or something quick, cute and whimsical, I love transforming an empty piece of fabric into a work of art.

Years ago when I saw the pattern for this Halloween sampler, I rushed out to find the Kreinik blending filament that glows in the dark so that the moon and stars, ghosts, and the little eyes in the trees would give off an eerie glow.  After sixteen years, it still works!

 

Of course, it wasn't until the stitching was done, in the frame, with the backing glued on that I noticed that it says "Happy Hallowen" instead of Happy Halloween. Whoops!

 

 

This project was originally shown as a stocking.  I didn't know witches left any treats in stockings, but it makes for a cute piece.  I've never made a stocking so instead, I finished it by fraying the Aida cloth, and putting the stitching on top of a piece of scrapbooking paper inside the frame.  I loved the use of sparkly Kreinik blending filaments.

Ghostie's Garden was designed by Cathi Bussi, one of my favorite designers.  I thought Ghostie was very cute and sewed a fabric mat and backing for it. 

 

This is the most recent of my Halloween stitchings and it happens to be the first one that I signed with my new initials since getting married a year ago.  It still needs a few buttons for embellishment and then to be framed. I'm thinking that I might make a paper mat for this one so that I can mimic the curve at the top.

 

 

There are plenty of Halloween patterns in my pattern collection that I would love to do.  We'll see what next Halloween brings!

Favorite Halloween Quilts

I love Halloween. I probably have as many Halloween decorations as "normal" people have  Christmas.  I have been collecting witches, pumpkins, and ghosts for years.   I look forward to the strings of orange lights that glow in my windows as the nights begin to lengthen. 

As this weekend was the first in October and we had all four kids at the house, this was our time to decorate. It's our first Halloween as a family in this house, so I had the added fun of figuring out new ways to use my decorations, because they couldn't go where they always have.

I got so caught up in decorating, that the only projects I finished were paper chains of black, purple, and orange (with the kids' help of course) and numerous Perler Bead creations.

 

Since I didn't work on anything new (or rather, something in need of finishing), I thought I'd share some of my favorite Halloween projects with you that I look forward to bringing out each year.

 

 

When I first started quilting, I found a pattern by Debbie Mum that was an apple quilt.  As I was finishing the apple quilt, I came across these fabulous Halloween prints.  By removing the leaves from the sides of stem, I knew that I could adapt the pattern to make perfect pumpkins!  This was machine pieced, hand quilted, with the jack-o-lantern's face appliqued.  I quilted a chain of bats in the border. 

 

The inspiration for this log cabin quilt was actually the flannel that I used for the back.  (I hope I'm not the only one who has ever chosen their backing first!)  I used Halloween prints that I already had, and added some more.  This is machine quilted in-the-ditch through the log cabin section but in the black border I used cookie cutters for patterns to quilt Halloween shapes, like cats, bats, pumpkins and ghosts. The flannel backing is perfect to make the quilt extra cozy for snuggling.  

 

Tomorrow I'll show you some cross stitch favorites, including the one where I spelled Halloween wrong, and didn't realize it until it was in the frame!

 



The Ribbon Wreath that went Awry

I don't know about you, but I am completely addicted to Pinterest.  I have 27 boards with 1371 pins...and counting.  I find myself pinning more things than I am making, which is one of the reasons why I made the Finish 40 challenge for myself.

When I saw Landee's Ribbon Wreath I thought about the spools and spools of ribbon sitting in the Craft Oasis (what I affectionately call my crafting space) waiting to be used.  "I could do one for every holiday!" I thought.

Landee used a straw wreath form for her wreath (which I did as well for the Halloween wreath I made) but I knew that I had a Styrofoam wreath form in my stash of supplies and this would be the perfect opportunity to put it to use, especially considering I couldn't remember why I bought it in the first place.

I rounded up all the bright primary colored ribbon I had and set to work on making a "Back to School" wreath (which could also make a fantastic teacher gift). I do admit that I purchased a wide yellow ribbon to cover the wreath form, and I found a pack of ribbon that was school themed to add to my pile.  My husband, Phil, thinks its hysterically funny that I would buy more ribbon in order to use up the ribbon I had.

Well, yeah. That's how crafting works. ;)

I started by wrapping the thick yellow ribbon around the form, and then tied the ribbon into square knots, alternating width, color and pattern.

The result turned out nicely, and I hung it on the back of the front door.

Then, Wednesday of this week, as we were rushing out the door in the morning, I stopped and took a good look at the wreath. Something was wonky.  It must have fallen off the door one two many times, because the Styrofoam form had snapped in half in two places.

I didn't want all of the ribbon to go to waste, so I decided to redo it, with a different type of wreath form.  Using a straw wreath wasn't an option, as it would be far too thick to tie the already cut ribbon around.  A wire wreath form seemed the logical answer.

After untying all of the square knots and the wire yellow ribbon, I wrapped the frame in the yellow ribbon.

 

 

(that's quite a lot of ribbon!)

 

 

When you start tying, start with the thicker ribbons and then use the smaller to make sure every bit is covered.  Some of the ribbon I used is only printed on one side.  You have to flip the ribbon before you tie the second knot, so that the printed side of the ribbon is visible in the wreath.

 

The (second) finished product came out nicely.  The ribbon was a bit longer because the wire form wasn't as thick as the Styrofoam one, and therefore a bit fuller.  I like how the second wreath came out, although I might go back and trim some of the ribbon a tiny bit, particularly the thickest pieces so they don't seem to over shadow the rest.

 

I made a Halloween wreath too.  For this one, I did use a straw wreath form, wrapped in black ribbon.  I let more of the black base show through in this one, as all of the ribbons were orange and purple.

 

 

 

 

I think that I will stick with the straw from, as it provides more depth, and you can see the ribbon underneath better. I may do one for Thanksgiving, as I passed a display in Michael's the other day that held ribbon in beautiful fall colors. 

Shhh.  Don't tell Phil.

Let me know if you make any of your own ribbon wreaths!

Project #1 - Sailboat stitching

   Cross stitching is the first craft that I truly fell in love with (although when I first started, I think my parents may have used the word "obsessed" more than once). So it's rather appropriate that a stitching is my first project in my 40 project challenge.

   I was eleven when I learned how to stitch at a Christmas workshop at my family church.  The annual event invited people to decorate the sanctuary, make wreaths, yule logs, candy houses, and other various crafts, followed by a carol sing and a pot luck supper.  One year, one of the ladies in the church made up kits with all the supplies and patiently showed me how to make the little x's across the fabric to make an ornament.   I was hooked!  Ever since then, I have always had some cross stitch project in the works, (or two or three or maybe even more).  I find it relaxing, yet appreciate the amount of precise detail that is possible, especially when working with linen. 

   When I started doing more types of crafts, stitching fell by the wayside a bit, but I've found myself stitching more often in the past year and a half.  Our newly formed family likes to watch movies together and when everyone else is curled up, I claim my corner of the sofa, and go to work. 

 This project is part of a series of Seasonal Word Art from Cross Stitch and Needlework, my favorite stitching magazine for many years. There's a spring flower, fall leaves, a wintery snowman and I'd love to be able to complete them all.  I started with the sailboat with the hopes that I could actually finish it in time to hang it up over the summer.  It worked up really quickly. 

   Rather than using a traditional frame, I raided my fabric stash for some a bright and red and blue and sewed a frame.  I haven't finished a stitching quite like this before, but I think I will be doing it more often. It's a nice way to add some color to the finished product, use up fabric I already have, and it's certainly a lot cheaper than having something framed. 

Project #1 done!  Only 39 more to go.  Check in soon to see what's next!

Welcome!

   When you have spent your life enjoying several different crafts, it's all too easy to accumulate a large amount of crafty supplies, lovingly referred to by most as their "stash".  I learned how to cross stitch when I was eleven, so I have nearly thirty years of material, floss, magazines, and patterns stocked away. When I was about 25, I worked at a school where many of my colleagues quilted and they roped me in.  I started amassing fabric.  You know the feeling: "Ooo, that fabric's pretty. I'll get a yard."  When my oldest son was born, I started scrapbooking and was even a Creative Memories consultant for 8 years.  25 albums and still counting. Then I got hooked on Stampin' Up and card making.  Add a few more containers of paper, stamps, ribbons, buttons, etc.   A few years ago, a friend taught me how to knit and now there are skeins upon skeins waiting to be turned into scarves, since that's the only thing I know how to make.

   For seven years, I was a single mom, raising my two boys, working on projects after they were in bed.  Then, in the course of a year, I met the most wonderful man, fell in love, got married, and moved into his house. Let me tell you, having to pack everything up, move it, and rearrange it will make you realize just how much stuff your "stash" really holds.  I found UFO's (Unfinished Objects) that I had forgotten I had even started.  Baby quilts that were for babies who are now in Pre-K.  High school graduation quilts for college kids. 

  Then one day as I was flipping through a quilting magazine, (which I have mounds of) I saw an article about Tracee's Project: 36 quilts in 12 months. Tracee is making 36 quilts in her 36th year to give to people who are special to her.  I think it's fantastic idea and have enjoyed watching her progress.  While I would love to follow her example, I'm also realistic.  There is no way I could make 40 quilts in one year.  But I can try to finish the UFO's that I have and maybe use up part of my stash as I go.

So here's my challenge to myself in my 40th year - Make 40 projects.  A project could be a quilt, a scrapbook, a stitching, a scarf (someone needs to teach me how to make hats!) a set of cards (one card would be to easy and once you have out all the supplies, why not make 10 or 20?).  It could be finishing a UFO or starting something fresh.  A project might be from a magazine, something I've designed myself, or an idea that caught my eye from Pinterest.  I don't know where this journey through my crafting space will take me, but I don know it will be fun! I hope you'll come along for the ride!