Beyond My Expectations

This are some drawers that I rescued from an old sewing machine cabinet that my sister was getting rid of. The cabinet itself was not very nice looking and very rickety so I put it on my front porch and I didn't dare put anything on it that I didn't want on the ground It had several coats of paint in different shades of white and off white paint. But I absolutely fell in love with all the detail on the drawers so I pulled them out of the cabinet and put them in the corner of my bedroom with the idea of someday doing something with them. I was thinking perhaps hanging them on the wall for shelves or something, I didn't know what for sure, I just knew I loved them. Then one day while moving them to dust and vacuum, I had a revolution, have someone build a little cabinet so I could use them for drawers. So I asked my friend Susan (whom I believed to have a husband that was a miracle worker when it comes to wood) if her husband would be interested in building a little cabinet for me. She said he would love to and after getting the drawers he was wondering if I was planning on stripping the paint and staining them. I told her I was not the least bit interested in doing that sort of thing, she then said he could do it if I wanted him to. Will I jumped at the chance, let him do his magic and this is what I got back.

This is the side view. My original plan was just to leave them off white and paint the cabinet off white and I would just have kind of a shabby chic thing going. Boy am I glad I didn't do that!

I lined the drawers with brown Prestofelt. I can hardly wait to to fill them with beads, laces, hankies and doilies. Opening the drawers will be like opening a treasure chest.


I wish I would have taken a before picture of the drawers and had I known how wonderful they were going to turn out I would have. But I do have a picture of the rickety old cabinet.

Another piece to the puzzle

Here is another puzzle piece of the Pieces of Friendship swap I'm in. These are so much fun and very additive.

Another bag and more

Here is the bag for my daughter. Then I just couldn't stop there, so I made a coupon holder that will be finished in the car on the way to Mpls today and then I went even further and made a 'what's in the bottom of your purse' holder.

Tote Bag

I went to a couple of quilt shops on Saturday with my daughter and in one of them they had to cutest bags made with these stickin' cute grommets. They also had patterns with kits but it was for a small purse that would have been way to small for me. So I said my famous words, 'that looks easy enough, I don't need a pattern'. Besides that fact that I already have way too many bags and purse patterns and home, I couldn't justify buying another one. When I went to pay for the grommets the owner told me there were enough grommets for two bags so my daughter decided, or was it me, anyway, someone decided she should have a bag too. So off to the next quilt shop we went to buy fabric. ( Being a business owner, I like to spread my business around) This was the bag I made for myself and considering, I didn't have a pattern and just winged it as I went along, it went together amazingly fast. Now I'm off to make another one.

Doll dress block

Here is another doll dress block for the swap I'm doing with a small local group. The first dresses I made can be found here.

Happy St Patrick's Day

I'm not Irish and I usually let St. Patrick's day go by without so much as a thought, but this year I thought I would get into the spirit of things and make a couple of fabric post cards.

Sophie Mae

Close up of the front.
Both the front and back.
I just got this back from a round robin. She went to 6 different very talented crazy quilters in the local group that I'm in. Now I just need to get her eyes, nose, mouth and perhaps a few whiskers on her and she will be ready to stitch and stuff. She was inspired from the real Sophie Mae.
The real Sophie Mae. She isn't nearly as evil as she looks. Really truly, she can be very sweet.

Journey of the Ark

This is the second block for the Journey to the Ark wall hanging. The first block can be seen here.

Pieces of Friendship

Pat Winter is doing a pieces of friendship swap on her blog. We start with a puzzle piece template and embellish any way we chose. This is my first experimental puzzle piece. I started mine before she gave a little tutorial so I did learn a few things the hard way. First I learned not to attach the front to the middle pellon before embellishing. One reason being, it's very difficult to sew through and almost impossible to get a beading needle through and I don't even want to think about the trouble I had with the silk ribbon. Secondly, when you go to sew the back on, all the lumps and bumps, especially the silk ribbon all show through. The other thing I learned was that the fancy dancy stitches on the machine don't really do justice when I comes to finishing the edges. With all the curves and turns I just don't like the look. I started a second piece and I'm all ready liking that better. You can find more great puzzle pieces here.

Latest wallhanging

I decided to update my ATC/postcard wall hanging with some of my recent postcards that have been arriving in the mail.

What is this?

It's the coolest idea since sliced bread. This is a few of the many plastic bags that I just can't throw away. This was the brain child of Lettie and you can find the tutorial at Polka Dot Pineapple. She has come up with a ingenious way to fold these bags so they take almost no space at all. She has a wonderful blog, so plan on staying awhile.

30's Blocks

Here are two more blocks that will be going into a wall hanging.

Dotee Doll

This is Lucky Lucy. I haven't made a Dotee doll for awhile, so I thought it would be fun to make one in honor of St. Patrick's Day.


This is her little mesh bag of clovers that she carries with her everywhere she goes.