Kept In Stitches

Kept In Stitches

Monday, March 9, 2015

New Craft Cottage for Kept In Stitches

New Craft Cottage Coming!


   Not the exact picture of the building I'm getting but this will give you some idea.  We will be going up to Amish Country in Millersburg, OH next week to pick out exact building and specifications and order it.  It will be 16' X 24' and I am so excited!
   I'll post more information after our trip to Amish Country.  By the way, did you know that Holmes county Ohio is home to the largest Amish Community in the world?

   

Saturday, January 31, 2015

Creating A Custom Doll


So, this is how the creative process all begins for crocheting a custom doll for a customer.  Doesn't look like much now, in fact you probably don't even know what it is, but this is the beginning of "her" head.  Follow along as it transforms into an adorable adaptation of her recipient just from a couple photos.

Here is one just completed for Feel Better Friends that will be shipped to Louisiana Monday morning.   Due to confidentiality I'm not able to show you the little girl receiving this doll.  She is a 1 1/2 year old born with serious heart condition and already underwent heart surgery and 4 heart caths. 



So tomorrow is the big Super Bowl game.  I will be watching and working on this new doll at the same time.  A winter storm is in our forecast for this evening and tomorrow.   Just made a trip to Hobby Lobby this afternoon so I have all the supplies I need to tuff it out.

            Hope you all stay safe and enjoy the Big Game!     Jean

Wednesday, January 7, 2015

Winter has officially arrived in Xenia Ohio with 5" of the white stuff and downright frigid temperatures!  So thankful that my hobbies involve staying nice and warm indoors.  Great to cuddle up with some nice warm yarn and quietly create while sitting across from the fireplace.

So, what has come off my hook-----well, can't show you quite everything yet as I've been testing a pattern for a designer.  I can show you one finished item and one still working on hoping to finish soon.

Here's a set of Scalloped Boot Cuffs completed and one of the customer Prayer Shawls I'm working on.......
           

Tomorrow will be a busy day as I'm throwing an Appreciation Luncheon for the volunteers of Heart In Hand /Chapter of Crochet for Cancer.   They have done a remarkable job this past year by making 1,649 crocheted items that were distributed among the 7 different Cancer Treatment Centers we service in our area and also the Dayton VA and local Children's Hospital.   I hope to get some good photos to share with you later.

Now I'm going back to working on that customer order.    Have a Blessed day.  Jean 

         

Monday, January 5, 2015

A fun part of my creativity is being asked to test Designers patterns. Received a request to test this hat pattern in two different sizes late last night.  Also a great reason for having the extensive yarn and fabric stash my husband so often refers to as my being crazy, and my friends wish they had!   All I need to do is walk in, choose a skein or two, get out appropriate size hook, set Tab S on my lap with pattern displayed and I'm ready to go😊

So here are pictures of what came off my hook today.  You can check out Country Willow Designs for her pattern release soon at
Size toddler
http://www.thecountrywillow.com/

Now time to get back to working on my own projects.  Check back tomorrow to see what I accomplish 🎬

                Have a great evening,
Size 6-12 months 
                            Jean

Sunday, January 4, 2015

Welcome to my "new" Creative blog.  I recently decided to take my love of Quilting,  Crocheting and various other crafts to the next level and have opened my own small cottage industry named of course "Kept In Stitches".

I hope you will enjoy following along as I saunter ever so carefully down this new pathway in my life.

Tuesday, June 21, 2011

Time to Catch Up!!

Wow, you probably wonder if I'm ever coming back.....sometimes I wonder too!  Well I have been busy and I'll try to catch you up on what I've been doing.

First of all, since my last post we had a huge Hail Storm hit here on the 25th of May.  We had heavy damage to our property as well as to our vehicle.  Below are just a couple pictures that we took.....


As you can see...it took down our poor flowering peach tree in our backyard.  All the white on the ground is hail!


This is one of the 3 inch hail stones that hammered our house and yard.


Other that worrying about repairs and such from hail storm damage....we will need a new roof on both our house and Bob's workshop, need new front deck cover, and some repairs to window wraps around two of our windows on the house and then various other misc. items.  I've been working on customer quilts on the longarm.  This is a photo of one gal's first quilt that I quilted on the longarm  for her.


I've also been taking Cake Decorating Classes and here is one of the cakes that I did.

The hand piecing has been coming along nicely and I am still in love with it!!  I only have three to go before this table topper will be complete and ready to hand quilt!

This is another customer quilt that I did on the longarm.  It is called Mother Daughter Quilt for the Cure.  A breast cancer quilt for relay for life.  I quilted the words Hope, Cure, and a Pink Ribbon Emblem as an all over pattern on it.

I also finished the Yellow Brick Road quilt for our daybed and just this afternoon made the pillowcases for it to match.



This is the tube method for making the pillowcases.  No unfinished seams showing when you are done!!

Next on my list of things to do will be to quilt the Star Sampler Quilt that I taught at the Xenia Adult Recreation Center.  The top and backing are ready and waiting for me to cut the batting and load it on the longarm.  I also have a cute tumbler quilt cut and ready to piece that will hopefully be done in time for my Grandson's first birthday the end of September!

Well, I think that I have caught you up now on what I have been doing in and around my Quilt Studio.  Check in soon again as I will try not to be so late in posting in the future.

Thanks for stopping by,
       Jean

Thursday, April 21, 2011

Hand Piecing Excitement

                                       Hand Piecing Class @ Rosalie's Fabric Crafts



Last weekend I was so excited to be learning a new stamped method of hand piecing.  You all know how I love to hand quilt and now I can add hand piecing to my skills!


 This class was just sew much fun and we were in awe as our flower blocks from "Aunt Hattie's Hexagons" came to life with perfect point intersections :)   We all were squealing with delight as we went along hand piecing to our heart's content.  Who knew my fingers could become such a great little sewing machine?  The method we were taught was using Cindy Blackberg's stamps instead of having to trace around templates.  This sure made things easy and a lot quicker.  Just think of the money I could have saved on sewing machines had I taken this class years ago!  Probably not though, as I have to admit that I love the fact of being able to get quilts done quickly with machine piecing and machine quilting as well. (Don't worry Tin Lizzie, you are to remain in my quilting studio for a long time to come!)

                 The smalll table topper sample seen here will be my first completed hand piecing project.

Rosalie's Fabric Crafts is a great little quilt shop located inside Rosalie's home outside of Ludlow Falls, OH.  Just have to make sure you don't miss the little sign on top her mailbox and the narrow winding trail back to her house!

I haven't been able to put down my hand piecing since taking this class and am really enjoying the pleasure and relaxation it provides.  Seeing how quickly I can make progress is just awesome.  Just checkout all I've completed in the picture below!


                                                Thirteen blocks completed already!


                                                   The reverse side of my hand piecing

Soon I hope to be able to post a picture of my completed table topper on the center of my kitchen table in all it's glory!!  I must say that I now have a new found love of hand piecing to go along with my love of hand quilting!!  My next project planned in hand piecing is a queen size feathered star quilt.....stay tuned!