Friday, January 1, 2010

Goodbye '09. Hello New Year!

It's been 6 months since I've blogged. It's been a full year of major changes and continues on. I begin Ivy Tech on January 11 in Fine Art. This will be my first college experience. I'm excited. I have no idea what I will be when I grow up but it will be one who helps others have joy.

This year I have hand painted/dyed a few hundred pairs of bamboo socks and people loved them. I will use this as one way to support myself while in school.

I have also freelanced designed and sewn for People for Urban Progress. Two people rescued the roof fabric from the RCA (Hoosier) Dome from it being taken to the landfill. The fabric is Teflon coated fiberglass and comes is 'hard' and 'soft'. The red and black were the letters on the Dome of RCA. They are donating most of the fabrics to the Indy Parks Department for shelters. To subsidize the cost of other materials and labor, they have had several people like myself come in to create wallets, clutches, and messenger bags with the fabrics. One place the pieces are featured is Silver in the City. It's a great project and much fun.

This year I taught at Indy Art Center, Frankfort Library, Indiana Bead Society and in my studio. I started a weekly group for women to feel safe in being themselves while having knitting in common. Our ages range from 19 to 60+. The young woman, Ashley, 19, has astounded me with her transparency, her dedication to the Lord and His principles in her daily life, her love and acceptance of all people, age and uniqueness. It's rare for a person of her age. She's one beautiful, hip person.

I've said goodbye to friends and a life style. I've meet new and wonderful friends that will be in my life for years. I suffered much hurt and I've gained much growth. I experienced family and friends of many years rallying beside, behind, under and above me, lifting my hands when I could not, and bringing me joy and victory. I've seen impossible things happen because of prayer and have gotten back into a daily time with the Lord in His Word.

I've watched my eldest daughter purchase her own home with her mate and four children. I've watched my youngest daughter mature more due to hardship in her life. I've seen my baby sister sacrifice more than she had and share the depth of my despair in this difficult year. It's a love I haven't experienced before. My brother saw needs in my life and met them without being asked while his are more than I could ever bear.

So has this year been one of hell? Yes. Has it been one of a taste of Heaven. Yes. I could not have the taste without choosing Him while the hell raged around me. So I am thankful for the hell making it possible.

What does this new year hold for me? I can only guestimate and walk forward day by day. And I am comfortable with that, even glad.

I will continue to clean up after 2009. I will give my best to school. I will be moving into a smaller place. I will find a way to support myself despite society's boxes. I will treasure my family every chance I get. These things are my intentions.

School is exciting but as a non-traditional learner, I wonder what new things I will learn to do to be successful in a traditional setting. As one with a unique take and presence in public, I hope people will give me enough opportunities to see my intentions rather than my first impressions.

In moving, I would like to be able to have studio space with minimal living quarters. I don't know that having my full studio set up will be used for school but it will help to provide an income and sanity with joy.

I head into 2010 as an adventure, an entire life change. I have adjusted to that mentally and somewhat emotionally in '09. Each new day brings more excitement for the future. I thank God He has made me an overcomer. May I encourage you that trusting Jesus brings peace and joy despite the hell raging around us. Seek His fullness and if I don't see you before, we'll rejoice together in Heaven. Whoo hooo!

God Bless and happy creating.

Monday, July 13, 2009

It Was A Great Afternoon

Six ladies came to the Frankfort Library to Dye & Bead A Silk Scarf. Each student seemed to really enjoy themselves. I certainly enjoyed teaching it and loved to see them enjoying it. See what beautiful scarves they created.










Sharon's inspiration for her dye pallet was her umbrella.

She later emails:

Bobbie,

I have to tell you that I had such a wonderful time on Saturday. I felt like I really created something. I've finished my beading and the scarf is totally finished. I hope we can do this again. I've already emailed Flo how great the class was.

I think this class is a great way for women to feel good about creating a piece of art. Some may not feel as comfortable about the beading but even that was pretty simple.

Sharon


It was a great afternoon.

God Bless and happy creating.

It's Quilted










I hope to do a series of quilts called Made Whole. This is the first. B Made Whole is now officially a quilt. It was requested from a woman who's name started with the letter B, alas the "B". With life being so difficult, bartering or horse trading, as some call it, is one way to pay bills. That's one bill temporarily down within hundreds. Right, Dori?

This piece is made from my hand dyed and printed fabric, expect for the cross and the black.

God Bless and happy creating!

Tuesday, June 30, 2009

Offering Summer '09 Classes

One blessing of having my studio, is that I've set it up for teaching. I can be flexible to meet many different needs.

Over the next couple of months, I have scheduled classes in my Master's Hand studio and in Frankfort, Indiana. Frankfort has a library that is fabulous in promoting the arts. Their exhibitions and classes are extensive. Check it out.

I've purposely constructed the following classes for fun with an end product. But if you want more understanding and time to learn, play and experiement, I also have designed classes for that, as well. Email me for more info.

These classes need a minimum number of students to sign up and submit a deposit before they will happen. Since I love to share my passion in textiles and see my students succeed and enjoy themselves, I'm hoping the classes fill. Go ahead, make my day. You'll be glad you did. :-)

July 11, Sat 1-5, Dye & Bead Fringe a Silk Scarf at Frankfort Library
765-654-8747 to register

July 17, Fri 2-3:30, Top This $15 at Indy MH Studio
Dye the top, apron... you bring that is made of 100% cotton, rayon or linen.

July 25, Sat 1-4 Quilters' Gradation Dye Set $30 at Indy MH Studio
Choose a color and dye eight values of it along with two muted steps = 10 fat quarters. You can purchase fabric from Bobbie or bring quality fab. Can do silk for wearables or quilts.

July 31, Fri 1:30-4:30 Monoprint Dye $30 at Indy MH Studio
Play with thickened dye in monoprinting on your fav fab. Bobbie will also have fab for sale. We will jump in and play, fingerpaint, let our inner child enjoy.

August 8, Sat 1-4, Quilters' Two Color Dye Run $30 at Indy MH Studio
You’ll choose two diff colors (ei. blue & yellow = diff greens) to dye 11 fat quarter steps between the two. A dye run set works together perfectly in a quilt. Fabric available for purchase.

August 14, Fri 2-3, Feet First $10 at Indy MH Studio
Feet need a lift, too. Dye a pair of your socks. O so soft bamboo socks can be purchased.

August 22, Sat 9:30-12, Dye a Shirt & Socks at Frankfort Library
765-654-8747 to register

I'm always open for scheduling something special for you and your friends or a guild.

God Bless and happy creating!

Monday, June 22, 2009

I Teach And...

Bobbie Vance has sewn from childhood, done fabric loom weaving, dyed since 1990, spent several years bead weaving, designed and constructed Art-To-Wear, created Artcloth, and been published for one of her art quilts. She is a founding member of Artists' Own, a cooperative art gallery of mixed media in Lafayette, IN, known there for her wearable art. She has taught at quilt shops and retreats. Bobbie teaches at the Indianapolis Art Center and her Art Retreat Studio.

Check out Bobbie's art at Galleries and Etsy Art Shop

Email her with questions and/or booking a workshop or class.

• Bobbie loves sharing her passion in textile art and design.
• She will construct a class especially for you or your group, 6th graders to 106 year olds.
• She can host an activity or meeting in her conference room.
• She can host an art retreat for friends or guilds in her studio or your facility. Women stay overnight or for a week. She has up to six beds with two full baths. And for the agile, there’s plenty of space for sleeping bags and BYO air mattresses.

Bobbie Helps Organize Your Studio
Have a spare bedroom? Transform it into your studio. Or maybe you set aside studio space and it’s stacked with sacks of stash. Can you find your supplies and tools quickly? Good chance you have treasures you’ve forgotten, too. Bobbie’s organizational skills are so strong she enjoys helping others create a well structured and labeled work environment. Everything will have its place and be within easy reach.

TEXTILE ART CLASSES

Feet First
1 hr
Student brings a freshly laundered (no fabric softener) 100% natural fiber (cotton, linen, rayon) socks or purchase a pair of bamboo socks from Bobbie. Dyeing each additional pair $4.

Screen Play
6 – 3 hr classes
You can act up in this class. We will focus on using plain wooden framed silk screens for different ways of applying thickened dye on cloth. The discovery process will use stencils you make, masks, found objects, … that will produce organic and representational imagery. Homework is needed for personal imagery. You supply 2 screens and fabric. Let’s play with screen printing on fabric.

Screen Play
3 hr segments

Mono Print Mono
6 – 3 hr classes
We’re gonna mono print on fabric in many different ways with thickened dye. Left brains will be engaged and introduced to the right brain. Stretch, play, dance in this freeform dye play. You supply your fabric. Homework, yes, includes gathering ideas for mark making.

Mono Play
3 hr segments

Dye Together – Parent/Child
1½ hrs
6 years old and up
This is a date for you and your child to dye together. With one parent, their shirt, to one child, their shirt, Bobbie leads. While you learn to chemically bond dye particles to your shirt, you'll bond a bit more with one of the most special people in your life. And again each time you wear your shirts.

Dye Together – Husband/Wife
1½ hrs
Gather a few couple friends (or not) to splash color into your date night. Husband/Wife, both bring a white, 100% natural shirt top. No, it doesn’t need to be matching shirts. The only manipulation allowed is to the fabric in order to create patterning. Even left brains will enjoy this. Bonding guaranteed.

Youth Top This
1½ hrs
10 years and up
Nothing more fun than dyeing your own shirt, except wearing it. Bobbie has many samples and colors for inspiration. Create your own one-of-a-kind wearable art.

Adult Top This
1½ hrs
Nothing more fun than dyeing your own shirt, except wearing it. Bobbie has many samples and colors for inspiration. Create your own one-of-a-kind wearable art. Student brings a freshly laundered (no fabric softener) 100% natural fiber (cotton, linen, rayon) shirt.

Guild & Logo Shirts
1½ hrs & 1 hr
Have a guild that would like to dye a shirt and print their logo? I got ya covered. Individuals dye their own unique shirt and later print with a common logo.

I’ll Dye Trying
3 hrs
Love handdyed fabrics but thought them too difficult or just didn’t know where to start? Get a taste of how easy, safe, and fast you can dye your own unique, colorfast fabrics. You’ll create 9 one-yard piece of your favorite single and multi-colored fabric. With structure, this free-spirited method of low-water immersion dyeing comes from Ann Johnston’s Color By Accident and Bobbie’s 19 years of dyeing. (This is the first class in the Art Cloth Series.)

Silk Scarf Dye Workshop
1 hr
In this workshop, we will dye a silk scarf. It’s fast, easy, fun and around your neck or waist at the end of class. Dye a second one for a friend for an extra $10.

Dye & Bead A Silk Scarf
4 hrs
Amaze yourself and others by creating a unique and stunning art piece. Students will dye a silk scarf and then bead an easy and fast fringe.

Dye Study Course
7 - 3 hr sessions
Whether you’ve dyed for years or never, Bobbie has designed a structured seven week in-class exercise course to begin understanding fiber reactive dyes. Eight students will make a dye sample book that includes 8 different colors wheels, color ranges between two colors, value gradations and more. Less students require more classes. This foundational class will equip you to begin your own journey of experiments to enlarge your dye samples. Class recommended but not required for her Artcloth Study Course. Fabric Kit for Sample Book $30 for 8 students.

Artcloth
12 -3 hr Sessions (36 hrs)
It’s layers of colors, visual texture, and/or imagery on fabric that can be hung or draped in your home. It can be made into wearable art or used in quilts. Each class introduces you to new subject matter. You’ll create items for subsequent classes until the culmination of layered artcloth. You’ll dye, make stamps and silk screens, decolor, work with thickened dyes and more. Homework required.


DYEING FOR QUILTERS

Two Color Dye Run
2½ hrs
With eleven fat quarters you’ll choose two different colors (ei. blue and yellow) to dye the steps of gradations between the two. Possibilities are interesting and endless. If you choose complimentary colors (ei. blue and orange), you'll produce muted versions of your original colors and a few different browns. A dye run set works together perfectly in a quilt.

Gradation Dye Set
2½ hrs
Choose a color and dye eight values of it along with two muted steps. You'll create ten harmonious fat quarters. You might even want to do one session dyeing black to very light gray.

Hand Dye a Rainbow
1½ hrs
Dye two yards in multiple colors on one piece of fabric.


THEN THERE'S

Beaded Earrings, Bracelet, Necklace

Learn to Knit


AND SEW ON

Artsy Purse
5 sessions or 2 days (15 hrs) with homework.
Some sewing experience needed.
Create your own unique purse that'll bring admiration from all. Bobbie will guide you through designing, paper piecing, simple construction, and custom interior pockets. We will also touch on options of surface embellishing like couching yarns and using your sewing machine's decorative stitches with decorative threads. By the end of class you should finish your first purse and won't want to stop with making more of these show-stopping Artsy Purses.


Art Quilt classes

Journal Quilts

Paper Piecing

Surface Embellishment via Sewing Machine

AND More…


Bobbie’s Studio Prices are subject to change
Private Lessons @ $35 hour
Semi-Private each student @ $20 hour
3-6 Students each @ $10 per hour
without kits and supplies

Classes currently available Weekday, Evening or Saturday, beginning 10 am ending to 9:30 pm

Email me to schedule and for information.

God Bless and happy creating!

Custom Thermofax Screen Service Info

Hello art enthusiast.

Screening is an awesome adventure. You can screen fabric, paper, polymer clay, wonder under, wood, leather… You can use thickened dyes, inks, decolor agents, and paints of many kinds. Thermofax screens give you a couple options you won’t get with most other silk screens. With thermo screens you can flip them over for a reverse image, they store compactly, and you can use bleach products with them for decoloring.

Thermofax screens are considered a temporary screen with more than a hundred pulls. I’ve only remade one image. If you find you want to use an image more, you can either have another thermo screen made or be secure that making the image into a photo emulsion screen will be worth the effort.

I provide a mail order service for thermofax screens. You send me your images. I return to you a framed screen within 24 hours of receiving your order. You may request your screened image unmounted. With the following information, you can be on your way to many fun hours of play and expanded art.

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1. I have created the Image Allowance Sheet for your request. These are the boundaries to work within for the three sizes of framed screens. You can enlarge or reduce your image to fit within the desired frame.

If you are in immediate need of boundaries, stay within these: Legal 6½ x12, Full 7x9½, Half 3¾x7, Quarter 2¾x4

If you are mounting the screened image yourself, you have 10 inches of width and no limit to length. Contact me for length cost.

2. Gray tones won’t produce a good screen. If you want an exact screen of your image, it needs to be only black and white. Send a camera-ready copy of your image. Any stray carbon ink will show on the finished screen so use a white liquid correction pen to clean up unwanted marks/dots. Larger areas of unwanted ink can be simply cut away with an Xacto knife on a self-healing mat.

3. Number the image, on the back with an ink pen, not a pencil.

4. You'll fill out an order form to mail with your image(s) and check to me.

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Complete screen service is normally requested, but partial is available.

$20 Legal Size Complete
OR Partial
Imaged Film $10
Frame $6

Mounting Fee $4

$15 Full Size Complete
OR Partial
Imaged Film $6
Frame $5
Mounting Fee $4


$10 Half Size Complete
OR Partial
Imaged Film $4
Frame $2
Mounting Fee $4


$7 Quarter Size Complete
OR Partial
Imaged Film $2
Frame $1
Mounting Fee $4


Shipping – 10% of Total Cost of order or $2.50 minimum

Click on the picture of the thermofax screen and email me for more information.

God Bless and happy creating.

Stages of Life

Well, hello, friends. I am now in the midst of a major life change. Tho it is very difficult, it will later be a very excellent change. In fact, the only difficult thing is now I have to support myself after 32 years. Man, it's a hard world out there. Five months of seeking a job has proved fruitless.

I would love to support myself, like many of us, by my passion in textile art. Ultimately, I would love to have a store front of the most excellent kind, all the supplies imaginable for creating our arts. In the back I would have an enormous wet studio and a dry one, as well. I'd have teachers from world wide to make it worth your trip here. Of course, I'd be teaching in the meantime, grin. Such a nice dream, huh? Without a dream, it won't happen. So I dare to dream.

On a smaller scale, my current studio is set up nicely for teaching. I even have 3 extra bedrooms with 2 full baths for art retreats. I've constructed many classes from 1 hr to a week long for my studio and also for the Indy Art Center. I've been teaching at IAC for around 5 years. Oh, and there's my custom thermofax screen business. Alas, this doesn't even begin to make it possible to pay part of the utilities each month. It's just a matter of time that my studio and home will not be mine.

Nevertheless, I continue to do the best I can and work hard to go forward. Sadly, many people are facing similar situations for different reasons. Yet let's be people of integrity, creativity, and hard work. No matter the day to day struggles, we will be successful. Hold your head high and sleep well.

God Bless and happy creating!

Monday, April 13, 2009

B Made Whole

Made Whole is a series I've started. B Made Whole is the first. I started with the extra blocks from my AQ Knit Tote. The cross and black are commercial fabrics. The remaining fabric is my hand dyeds and printed fab.

An art quilt was requested and the woman's name begins with the letter B. She liked the overall feel of the Knit Tote so B Made Whole began. I was going to do a pillow case method to create the quilt. She mentioned in passing about it being framed to I've yet to talk with her about the final 'mounting'.

I'm thinking the next in the series will be Lemonade: Made Whole. Yes, it'll be with lots of diff hand dyed yellows and golds.

God bless and happy creating.

Monday, March 9, 2009

AQ Knit Tote Follow-up

Thanks for the encouraging comments on this tote. I have discovered several things to tweak on my tote. The one that needs contemplation is the placement of the handles. Because the tote is 20 inches wide, which is wide, I put the handles in the center. Seemed like a good idea at the time. With the use of the tote, I find that if the weight isn't balanced on both ends, it contorts. So I'm thinking if I put the handles closer to the ends of the tote, yet angle toward the center, that may solve the problem. I'll see on the next tote if that will work. The other quirks can be fixed on this tote.

I spent a few days in San Diego and lower LA with a good friend of mine. We had 'Woman Time'. I talked and talked. She listened to me some of the time, LOL. I reluctantly flew back with the temp of 84 and returned to 11 below. That's at 95 degree diff. That's a big BIG diff. I wanna live there but without all my grandboys able to move, too, I'm making the best of Indy.

Friday, February 20, 2009

Art Quilt to a Knit Tote Finished

Remember the blocks that turned into a pieced quilt top? I have now completed it into a knit tote I designed. Yeah. The final tote is 10 inches high and 20 inches wide. This tote is not for storage but for toting a knit project around so as to keep my hands busy when needed.


This is the first piece, 20 x 40, that I quilted on my quilting frame. So this project accomplished many goals. I pieced, designed the blocks for an art quilt look, broke in my quilting frame, made an Artsy Bag, created an attractive knit tote, and created a class sample. I will also use this tote to help me get a job. Yes, a job. Mixed emotions there. But I want to help other design and create their vision successfully.

For designing the tote, I used the techiniques I teach in my Artsy Purse class that I teach. The tote has custom pockets. Two of the pockets will hold a pattern book or an 8.5x11 direction sheet. The other two pockets is for needles and my other tools.

The tote is deep enough for a cardboard can that I sometimes use to put into a ball/cake of yarn. The lid has a hole in the center with a slit cut from the side of the lid to the center inwhich to insert a strand of yarn. It keeps the yarn contained from the cat and gives it room to roll around. There is also enough room in the bag for the knitted project to hang out.

The handles on this bag was purchased and reworked for where the wear-and-tear occures so as to prolong the life of this bag.

I think I like it. I'm gonna load it up and take it with me this weekend while on a bead retreat. Never know when I wanna pick up a different kind of needle.

Hope this inspires you.

God Bless and happy creating.

Friday, January 30, 2009

Help Others To Help Others

I received my copy of Quilting Arts and immediately looked for my very first ad I've placed. There it was. It turned out nicely in print. I questioned if it would pay for itself. Regardless, I want to present an opportunity for those that purchase custom thermofax screens from me so as to help others to help others.
What is a thermofax and how can the screens be used? Welsh is a great resource. If you have more questions, please feel free to email me.

With people loosing jobs or getting their wages cut, it's time everyone step up to the plate to help one another. What has happened to us, including myself? We have slowly eroded into autopilot. Are we more pleasure seeking machines than caring humans? Let me tell you a story that helped me see how simple it can be to help and care for others.

We received over 12 inches of snow overnight. Since I don't work outside my home, yet, I didn't think anything beyond it's beauty. That afternoon I passed my large front window and saw the neighbor shoveling his snow, then the other neighbor, oh, all three were out removing snow from their drive. Then I noticed my drive had been cleared. I felt blessed and humbled. I live in a new neighborhood and we four have lived here a year or less, the newest moving in a few months ago. It was he who cleared my drive. Later I brought him and his family my homemade spaghetti sauce and all the fixings for a complete meal. "That's what neighbors are for." he says.

Earlier in the afternoon, another neighbor came over for a visit. It's so nice to have neighbors, friendly, and even more so having common interests. Mary is a creative woman and a doll. So she's beading and I'm quilting while we visit. I asked, "Did you hear about the 95 year old man who froze?" "Yes, I did. And yes, the electric company is partly to blame but my question is, ‘Where were his neighbors?" Wow, I had never thought of that. "Surely they knew he lived there and should have been checking in on him." She was right. I haven't lived where people did that. People used to do that, care for those around them. In this economic time, may it bring us back to paying with cash and being kind and helpful to those lives around us, beginning with me.

All this to lead to my offer. For those purchasing from my custom thermofax service, I will give a 10% discount on each order (shipping excluded) if the person pledges to give that 10% to an organization that helps those in need. A need can be for food, clothing, shelter, or education to overcome their plight. I will also be giving 10%. Make a note on the order form that I’ll email you that you want to help others to help others. If you are interested, I will compile a list of organizations I whole heartedly trust to use the donations wisely without it being eaten up in their organizational overhead.

In the meantime, bless someone just because you can.

God Bless and happy creating.

Tuesday, January 27, 2009

Knit Tote

I've assembled some of the blocks I've constructed (Dec 16 I've Been Sewing). This piece is 25 x 42 inches. I have plenty of block left for later projects but starting today, this piece is being made into a tote bag for a knit project.

I love totes. I love organization. I love keeping my hands busy. So I keep a mindless knit project toted up and ready to grab as I walk out the door.

When finished, I'll give you dimensions.

God Bless and happy creating.

Friday, January 23, 2009

A Scarf For Imri

I finished knitting Imri's Christmas scarf last night, grin. Her new coat looks just like the skein of yarn. The two (coat and yarn) didn't even meet to compare personal profiles but they are right for each other.

This is a free pattern called "My So Called Scarf". The stitches are confusing to interpret for a semi novice like myself but I did it right, yeah. After I finished the scarf, I found a YouTube demo of the stitches.

I used 2 skiens of this yarn. Therefore the pattern doesn't show. I used Sz 17 needles coz that's the largest I have other than 25. Sz 19 would have been better. The yarn calls for 17.

After finishing the scarf, I felt it needed something extra. So I used the yarn to sew on this beaded fringe I had in my stash.


Though I have many knit projects started, I'll start BreAunna's Christmas scarf next. Always plenty of creative things to do.

God Bless and happy creating!

Wednesday, January 21, 2009

Designing A New Class

Last year I taught this 3 hr Beaded Fringe Scarf for the Indianapolis Bead Society's Spring Workshop. I gave the students an option to purchase one of my handdyed silk scarves and got a great response from the gals.


They ask me to design another fringe scarf class and this is the sample I just finished for submittion. This Netted Fringe Scarf is very simple to do.

While speaking of teaching, I had students, now friends, over Friday night. During the first Artcloth class I taught at Indianapolis Art Center, the students bonded with one another and myself. They started gathering together several times a year for finger food and show and tell. My second Artcloth class did the same. So since I moved to Indy this last year, I wanted to take a turn hosting. I invited both groups on the same night. It was very enjoyable and rewarding despite the 15 below cold.

They were also helpful giving ideas in which to support myself in my fiber passions. I am now considering opening my home sometimes for art retreats. I have 6 extra beds and 2 baths upstairs. I have the 1,000 sq ft studio and a conference room in the basement with nice natural lighting. I can provide food as an option or there is good eats near my home. It was even suggested to be available for group meetings and workshops in the conference room.

With improved lighting for detail work and finishing decorating, hosting will be added to my teaching within my home. I'm excited.

God Bless and happy creating.

Tuesday, December 16, 2008

Christmas Projects

I usually make at least one item per person for my family for Christmas. Like always, this year I have tons of ideas. I'll have to default to barely getting one thing done, again. Looks like I'll make matching jammie pants for all the guys, Lake Poppy (Grandpa Vic), Tyler (my oldest daughter's mate), and my four grandboys. Last year was the first time I made jammies. They were red and yellow flannel Hot Wheels jammie pants. I had the fab on my shelf intended for the back of a comforter for two of the boys. I made my two daughters pink cat ones from fun flannel in my collection, too. This year I'm making myself use what's on my shelf again. I have a bolt of plaid flannnel that'll work tho I'm tempted to go and buy a fun flannel. NO. Discipline. Use what I have.

Tip: Both my girls complimented for the first time on a project I made for them. They said the jammie pants were THE most comfortable fit they've ever had. The pattern is in the booklet Sew Easy Pajama Pants by Cindy Taylor Oates. I found it at a quilt shop where I was teaching. I originally made them as a sample to teach the requested class. Don't tell my hubby or Tyler but I also made their pairs from this girls pattern. The only comment was that Tyler thought they were short in the crotch, grin. Normally, I find elastic waist pants are long in the crotch. So this year, I'll make Tyler's longer.

We are having an early Christmas this year. May you be blessed this season and bless others. Merry Christmas.

God Bless and happy creating.