A little bit of Fall and a visit from Renee

Many of you will recognize Renee Plains of Liberty Star. She taught at the Country Loft last weekend and we were lucky enough to have her stay in our home....Here she is standing in the entry.....

There is a great boon to having someone come stay at your home, besides the good company and the fun conversation....and that is a clean house. Just ask my husband Gene. He told Renee on Friday night that he wanted to thank her for coming, because I finally stopped working on the book and you could actually sit on the couch before brushing it off....:))) I had been living off the excuse of construction dust for weeks (why bother cleaning when it would just get covered in dust the next day) I knew that I would have to eventually haul out the dust rags and the vacuum and company always gets it done...

I decided since everything was clean that I should decorate for fall....plus I had pulled apart all my decorations anyway to take photos for the book. I love Fall. I have a birthday in October, so I am lucky enough to get lots of fall decorations for gifts. I have taken just a few photos...I will try to take more later.....This box stands in the entry to our home....

......and this great scarecrow is sitting on a trunk across from it....Notice his great crazy quilt jacket and pants....

I filled a shelf from an old trunk with pumpkins and leaves and this is in front of my fire place. Can you tell that I love crows....They are tucked all around....There is lots more, but this is all I took when I was waiting for Renee Saturday morning....We were off to a little breakfast before she taught at the Loft....

...and now I am off to teach at the Loft....I have 5 on-going Wool Crazy groups and one of them meets this morning..... I hope you all have a great day and find some time for stitching....

My best to you all...Jo Ann

Oh by the way....the bathroom is finally done....and I will take pictures soon so you can see it!

A peek at my new book....

I couldn't believe when I checked my blog today that it had been 5 weeks since I posted!!!! It seems like they have flown by. I was working a lot at the shop getting ready for the outdoor quilt show. Then I was sewing in all the hours I wasn't at the Loft. Finally, I was done with sewing but now I have been busy writing directions for all of my projects.....15 of them for my new book, Crazy at Home.....

I am not quite done with it yet....but it is finally taking shape. On Tuesday, my friend Terri came over and took photos of everything. The first one you see is a close-up of one of the "framed crazies"....

......and this little bird is hanging out in one of the "bag crazies".....

Here are 3 pillows that you will find in the book and in the back is part of a quilt that is in it too......so, I have been busy! Hopefully that is a good enough excuse for not stopping by and saying "Hi". I hope you have enjoyed your "peek"...

Oh and all the while I have been working on the book, my downstairs bathroom is being remodeled....so it is back and forth to the hardware store and decision making time all of the time.....Every day is started with a meeting with the guy who is doing it. He was hoping to be done by now, but has been slowed down by a faulty faucet. We are waiting on replacement of this pesky part! Soon as it is all done I will be posting pictures of it too....

My grandson, Timothy (5) spent the night last night and he has gotten very tired of not being able to use "his" bathroom.....right after he got up I heard the front door open and close....There he was in the front yard (which luckily is surrounded by hedges) peeing. We have 2 other bathrooms, but he decided this was his best bet.

I better get busy and go upstairs to work....and clean my studio. Renee Plains is coming to teach at The Loft tomorrow night and "her bedroom" is a bit of a mess..:))

Hope to be back really soon.....Jo Ann

My Studio

Hey everyone....I have been meaning to take photos of my studio to show you where I work....but I was waiting until it was clean. I finally decided that we all might be too old to open our computers any more if I waited that long, so I shot some quick pictures this morning...:)))

This is the back wall of my room....I use the tall counter as my cutting counter and the antique cupboard to the left is all full of wool....Above it is one of my favorite things. When Sally and Alice of Kindred Spirits left their shop, they sold some of their originals. This is "Sweet Annie" and I LOVE it!!!!

Do you see the overflowing box of wool on the side of the counter?. I am busy cutting a new project and since I am sure I will need them again.....why put it all away...:) (Is that rationalization or what?!)

The old cupboard sitting on the counter has buttons and ribbon, etc in it for my dolls....and the old metal stand is from a hardware store and holds rusty tin stuff.

The projects thrown over the old wooden folding chairs are ones I am working on right now ...I am planning a new book (Crazy at Home)and busily sewing away.... I hope to have it out this fall. (I figure if I keep on telling people this, that it will happen)


Here is another look at the room...You can see my fat quarter cubby to the side of my sewing table. I do all my sewing on my Featherweight! The cupboard on the wall holds folded fabric...

....and here is more of that wall....The quilt is one of my retired blocks of the month...."The Sounds of Time"...underneath it is an old shoe rack with loads of bits and pieces I use on dolls...

...a closer shot of the fabric cupboard.....

....on the opposite wall from the fabric there used to be a closet...We took off the doors and I have filled it with antique shoe racks that hold all my patterns....The shopping basket and bucket have doll hair for past and future dolls....

I hope you enjoyed the mini tour.of my studio...Now I think I better go up there and get some work done!

Hope you have a good day of stitching today....Jo Ann

LET IT SNOW!!!

Several months ago I took these shots of Diane Jones' work on her Wool Crazy....She is in one of my ongoing classes. With some of you sweltering in the summer heat and humidity, I thought that a little snow would be welcome....:))) Don't you love how she added the snow to the roofs and all of her snowflakes? Even her finishing on the joins gives that feeling of ice.

...and here it is in conjunction with some of her other appliques. As you can see she has made this a Christmas/winter block....

I hope you have been following along on the Wool Crazy Sew Along. So many people have been posting lately and sharing their starts and progress. It is such fun to see them all. I was going to post Julie Heinen's wonderful round crazy, but Brenda added before I got a chance....Be sure to check it out!

CRAZY WOOL ROUND ROBIN PINCUSHION

I have finally finished my wool crazy pincushion! I had decided to use it as a top to a paper mache box....and stuff it so it would be a cushion too. When we started I didn't have the box in my hot little hands yet, so I faked the size of the top by looking at the dimensions on the order sheet....(not always a good idea)..... After much agonizing and discreet trimming..:))) here it is!

This shot is taken from the top....and the next a little closer up....Whoops my wool sign is sticking straight up in the air....(Roseann added these as a surprise for all of us)

Here it is sitting on it's side with the wool sign down now....:)))) I just distressed the bottom....I had planned on putting wool on the bottom, but the lid wouldn't go on....slight problem....This is what happens when you fly by the seat of your pants! Oh well...luckily I like primitive things!

...and here is a look at it from the side....still with some wet spray...:) I just couldn't wait to show you how it looks!

I want to thank Roseann (who came up with the idea); Pat (who organized us) and Brenda (who had so much enthusiam) for all of their work on my wool crazy. I love it and know that it will be come a favorite in my studio. Thank you....Thank you....Thank you.....

I love the box so much that I am going to design a few more....(maybe you'll see them soon in a new book I am planning:))) (My theory is if I tell enough people that I am working on a new book it will force me to do it!)

Happy Wednesday....I hope it is a good stitching day for you.....

A very special Wool Crazy

Last week at one of my on-going Wool Crazy classes Jan Gartland handed me this little package.....Some of you may recognize the paper...It is a scan of one of the color photo pages in my book!!!
Here I took a photo of it opened up.....I would have never thought to make paper like this..
.....and if this isn't clever enough, just look at what was inside....

It is a mini wool crazy!!!! It measures 4"x41/2". It is truly amazing. I LOVE it!!!! She used teeny tiny stitches and added some needlefelting too. It is a work of art. I am so excited to have it....and I wanted you all to see it too.

How are your Wool Crazies coming along???? It is such fun to see everyone's. Post yours on the Sew Along blog...or e-mail them to me, and I will post them on my blog.

Happy Friday....Hope you all are having a wonderful day....Jo Ann

HAPPY 4th of July

I thought that I would say Happy Fourth with two of my designs that I taught this year at the Loft....On Monday I taught 2 classes of this little stitchery quilt...."Signs of Summer". Kind of puts you in that "red, white and blue" mood...:)
........and in early June I taught this table runner...."Flag Crazy"....if you look really closely you can see the crazy patch background under the flag and stars...

I hope that you all have a wonderful holiday and eat way too many hamburgers and hot dogs and laze around in the sun all day long!

Have fun celebrating!!!!!