Our Dreams

One of my very most favorite things to do is visiting

antique stores and cool thrift shops. We have a few in our

valley that supply me with great finds every now and again.

A few weeks ago I found this beautiful Grandmother's Flower Garden Quilt

wooden spools, old buttons, a large pinecone, beautiful old scissors and tweezers

that were part of an old medical kit and....

A sewing machine identical to the one that I received as

a little girl, eight years old! The $15 price tag thrilled me.

The photo below is the year I got my little Singer, as well as the

Flying Nun Doll and new box of fresh crayons!

Oh, was I a happy girl! 

 I cannot tell you of all of the happy hours I spent sewing tiny little doll clothes and dreaming of the day I would be able to sew real clothes on my mom's big machine.  It was the beginning of my love of fabric and creating.

I feel so fortunate to get to work in such a creative atmosphere and associate with the most amazing people that come in and out of my studio.  It is a blessing.  I had a cute wool gatherer stop by this morning who is sending her talented brother little snips and scraps of wool.  He lives in CA and is creating beautiful works of art in the way of hooked rugs.  I hope to be able to share his story one day with you.  It is very sweet, like she is.  We talked about our lives and how we spend our time...or better yet, how we wonder how we should spend our time.  I have been thinking about the amount of "good" years I have left on this earth.  Will I get 10 more?   How should I be spending my days?  She said something that really made me think.  I understand exactly what you mean, I think of this everyday.  What should I do with my time?  I know there are only so many days left...but I have dreams of 50 years!  Wow!  We do have dreams and it only makes sense to make these dreams realities...because we never know when our time will be up. Thank you E.R. for your sweet visit this morning....and I wish you and your brother all the best!


Here is to making our dreams...real!

Oh, Ladies!

Oh, Ladies!  What a weekend we had!  I am still trying wrap my brain around Friday night.  It was quite unbelievable to us.  We want to thank everyone that came and helped celebrate our 10 year anniversary of our business. I say "our" because it truly is a family endeavor and I could never do what I do without the incredible support I receive from my sweet family.

I wish I would have been able to visit more with everyone!  It was easier to do on Saturday as things were at a much more quiet pace.  But let me just say that the energy in this studio on Friday night would have propelled us all to the moon and back if we could have bottled it up! You ladies are the best and I appreciate your love, support, encouragement and enthusiasm so very much! Thank you for your patience as you waited in line for a very long time, for sharing your one dollar bills when we ran out and for any prayers that went up silently, in behalf of a future cash register!  (There may just be one in our future!)   We sold out of all of our little wool bundles and so many kits.  When it was all over I looked at Lindsey and said - we don't have enough to sell tomorrow! Our coolest-ever-husbands stepped up to the plate and helped us put together more kits, bundles and favors.  We worked until the wee hours of the morning.

 Thank you Thank you Thank you ~ to EVERYONE!

We are so very sorry that some of the kits we "set aside" for earlier orders were unknowingly swept up by others.  We are working our hardest to get every kit ordered to its rightful-owner!

After nearly two years,  I got my Pillow Cover Patterns into a book!  We printed 50 copies and sold most of them.  That was very exciting!!  However...I am quickly learning how much work it is to put a book together and how difficult it is to catch the many errors that have been popping up despite the many proof readings we have done!  I will be linking some specific corrections soon on the blog.  If one of these errors has given you heartache,  I apologize from the bottom of my heart.  Come see me and I will give you a woolie hug!

I received an email from a cute customer on Friday.  Here is a portion of it:
Hi Lisa.  I am so looking forward to coming to your open house tonight.  I am bringing another friend from Layton and picking up Loraine and Julie from Brigham on the way....then hooking up with the Hyde Park girls.  Amazing how wool gathers us all together!  You are probably in a frenzy today and may not even see this email before we all descend on you ...

I share this because it is so very true how our desire to create and be with others who love to create is such a need in so many of us!

This is inspiring.  This is a video of a portion of a talk given at an LDS general conference 4 or 5 years ago.  I am not on a religious soapbox of any kind, but I do believe he is speaking to all of us. He is one of my favorites!
Have a look HERE - it's only about 2 minutes in length.


It is a beautiful thing to share our talents and ideas with each other.   I love seeing the projects you are creating!  Last week some friends brought by their Pennies From Heaven Quilts which are almost completed.  Wow!  You could sit and look at them all day long. What treasure they will be.

We are listening to your comments and suggestions. I would love to have a couple of scheduled days or nights each month to have an Open Studio where we can gather to stitch and share what we are working on.  Watch the calender above.  We have had many requests for classes too so we will get right on that as well.  Thanks for your patience and suggestions.  Please keep the comments and emails coming!


We were far too busy to pick up the camera during the open house.  Saturday afternoon I took some photos so you can see some of the beautiful projects that Mariann Golich shared with us.

The one and only, Mariann Golich.  

Her work is just beautiful and she is such a treasure!!

 Thank you Mariann!!

Lots of eye candy in the studio.

Everyone got to pick an egg for a fun prize or extra percent off.

Our favors this year were Pea Pod Pin Cushion Kits

honoring the color of the year - Emerald Green

and celebrating that Spring is just around the corner

with yummy felted wool balls in this adorable little pin cushion!

 If you are wishing for a fun wool project to stitch up for the Spring...come on over!

Just give me a ring to make sure I am home.

Orange Citrus Punch

(from my cute Mom, Joan!)

Make a simple syrup by bringing to boil two cups of water & 2 cups sugar.

Let this cool. Add the following to the cooled syrup and mix together in a pitcher:
1 large can orange juice

1 large can lemonade

1 tsp vanilla extract

1 tsp almond extract

To a large punch bowl with ice, pour half of the orange juice mixture and add one bottle of soda.

Reserve the other half for a second round with the 2nd bottle of soda

Two 2 Liter Bottles of Sprite, Ginger Ale, Club Soda... whatever you like.

(Mariann said a little Rum sounded great to her ;) 

Slice some oranges to make it pretty.
Everyone who tries this LOVES it!

Happy Spring everyone!
And thanks again for a very memorable weekend!

We really treasure your friendship!

We Are 10 Years Old!

It's hard to believe it has been 10 years since I pulled that first 

beautiful batch of hand dyed wool from the dryer!  

What an amazing time it has been.  

It is time to celebrate at our Spring Open House!

******

Friday March 8th 6:00-8:00pm

Saturday March 9th 10:00am-1:00pm

10% off your entire purchase

Sweet treats and party favors for everyone!

Drawing held for fabulous prizes!

******

And a special treat will be a 

Trunk Show

Featuring the Fabulous Wool Works of

Mariann Golich

 ******

 Staying busy stitching new samples and preparing kits

Stocking the shelves with beautiful, bright colors in everything wool!

Looking forward to seeing you in a few short weeks!

Winterfest

We were invited to teach two classes at Winterfest this year.  It is held at Daniels Summit, south of Heber. It just happened to be the worst possible day for driving!  We had a crazy ice storm hit - Sardine was closed and long story short:  We arrived almost 1 1/2 hours late for the first class.  The ladies were so sweet and patient with me as I tried to  unwind from an insane drive and calmly teach the class :) In the photo above are Amy, Ruth and Kim...the ladies who have spearheaded this retreat for many years...and me and my cute daughter, Lindsey.

These are the favors we shared at one of the meals.  

A tiny kit for a Pea Pod Pincushion.

I taught the Seasons Pillow Slip and 

Springtime Hive Project 

Here are some of the fun ladies in my classes.  

You meet the nicest people teaching and at retreats!!

 The meals were really nice.

 Daniels Summit Lodge is beautiful and there is plenty of room to relax, read, stitch or chat.

Lindsey and I just wish we would have had one more night to enjoy it all a little more!

Emerald

 Are you seeing "Emerald Green"? It is popping up all over and it's the color of the year! 

"The most abundant hue in nature, the human eye sees more green than any other color in the spectrum," said Leatrice Eiseman, executive director of the Pantone Color Institute®. "As it has throughout history, multifaceted Emerald continues to sparkle and fascinate. Symbolically, Emerald brings a sense of clarity, renewal and rejuvenation, which is so important in today's complex world.
This powerful and universally-appealing tone translates easily to both fashion and home interiors."

I doubt I will be redecorating in Emerald right away...but I feel like the lucky to winner to have found this pretty pot at TJ Maxx!  There are some pretty shades of green wool in the studio and some green projects simmering on the back burner.  My main focus this week is preparing to teach at Winterfest and preparing to take a midterm in Stats.

Stay warm!!

The Holidays!

I was a busy little elf in my studio and can finally share a few of the gifts I made.
In November I finished a Round Robin Christmas quilt that was started over three years ago and tucked away in box.  We really needed a quilt to read Christmas stories under and for sick ones to snuggle up in.  So glad I was able to finish it!

 (Show and share at our Quilt Guild Christmas Meeting)

 Quiet books for the grand kids.  A snowman that melts, shapes that snap, magnetic matching game, finger puppets in the barn, counting carrots, a beehive that zips, flowers to button, a chicken puzzle and a pocket for surprises in the back.  They were fun to work on...but took some time.  I thought I probably had a little more sewing time on my hands than my daughter and daughter-in-law do :)

I was so concerned that they wouldn't be finished...I took them along to my guild meeting and Diana helped me stuff the little carrots.

 Some fun little holiday decorations from this fun little book.  It is filled with simple projects to stitch.



























Hand stitched Journals out of an up-cycled wool sweater and leather skirt for Janell and Ben.  They were really fun to do and the project came out of this book Janell gave me for my birthday last year. One year I would love to have every gift I give be handmade.  How is that for a goal!!?

Well, things are slowly getting back to business as usual around here. We have had the pleasure of having some of our married kids visiting for several weeks.  We make a trip to airport on Wed. Hope you all had a sweet holiday season with your loved ones.

Anxious to get creating again......

Making A List...

 That snow sure lit a fire under me yesterday! And it didn't help that I spent a little time wandering around Anderson's looking at all the pretty Christmas decorations!  It is fast approaching and I know my time for creating gifts is going to have to be carefully carved out of my busy life! Sound familiar?  I have an Open Studio this coming Wednesday - November, 14th from 10-2.  You are welcome to come over and shop, browse, or bring a project and stitch for awhile!  Fill free to bring a lunch or I will be happy to share my pot of soup with you! I'd love to see what you are working on!

 We have Gift Certificates ready to go!

Happy Stitching everyone!