Cranberry Fingerless Hand Wrist Warmers

I made another set of fingerless hand/wrist warmers yesterday in a thick cranberry acrylic yarn. These are super warm.

They are listed in my Etsy store for sale. Other colors, sizes, yarns are available upon request.

Blog Stalking Pays Off on Etsy! LOL

Hey there - I follow a great blogger, FabricsNQuilts, and she included me in her Etsy Treasury. YEAH!!!!

Thanks, FNQ!!!!

Check out the great listings she has in that treasury - click above on Etsy Treasury.

Quilt Auction in Honor of Mom

Well, today marks the end of my mother's fight with Stage 4 breast cancer. At times is feels like just yesterday I was able to pick up the phone and talk to her - other times it feels like forever. She passed on October 29, 2004 at 53 years old after her long 5 year battle.

Some very dear friends got together and made a rag quilt to auction on eBay to benefit Susan G. Komen Foundation in my mother's name. Click on the link below to see it - if you are an eBay member and can "watch it", please do so that it gets higher on the searches. The money raised is for a great cause.

Rag Quilt Auction

Now a little history of my dear mother, Beverly Maria Rickerd Gregory. She was born in Pittsburgh in August of 1951 and lived in McKees Rocks, PA her entire life until she married my dad in 1969 and moved to San Diego where my dad was stationed (Navy). She was a mother of 2 (me and my brother) and a devoted wife. She loved anything crafty, especially crafts involving yarns/threads; knitting or crochet. I inherited her talents and am now using them myself.

She was my mother, my rock, my best friend and I miss her every day. I never imagined that she would not be here to watch and help me raise my own children. My children were only 3 and 5 when she passed but I talk to them about her all the time to keep her memory alive. She was the first one to hold my oldest son - even before I got to hold him. LOL

Mom, I know you are watching, we love you and miss you and will see you again.......someday.

Crochet Wrist Warmers

I tend to get cold even in 70 degree weather so I thought I would test out my luck with a set of wrist warmers.

I'm also not a very fast knitter so a crochet pattern was a must for a quick project. I found a great pattern for Wooly Wrist Warmers.

I followed the pattern exactly but now the next set will have to be adjusted a bit to make them longer. I used a thinner yarn and a smaller hook but this first set would be great for a teen or small adult. I plan on making a chocolate brown edge around the top and/or bottom.

I used Caron Simply Soft in pale pink and also bought a chocolate brown to blend and plan to make a matching scarf as well.

Here is a preview of the 1st one - I worked this one in about 30 minutes and fell in love!! :-)

Susan G. Komen Rag Quilt Auction

I am the co-leader of an eBay group called Quilter's Corner. I met the leader, FabricsNQuilts, just over a year ago online and we connected immediately and have become dear friends although we have yet to meet face to face.

She surprised me a few weeks ago with a charity quilt that we all decided to make to raise money for breast cancer research. See, my mother lost her 5 year battle with Stage 4 breast cancer on October 29, 2004 at the young age of only 53 years old. This quilt was made in her honor and memory.

I am so blessed to have such wonderful women in my life; again none of whom I have even met face to face. Words can't explain how grateful I am to these women, especially FabricsNQuilts.

I hope you take the time to check out our quilt auction and bid if you can; 100% of the auction proceeds are being sent to SGK in my mother's name. Even if you don't want the quilt personally, bid and give it as a gift to someone else or even donate it to your local cancer center.

Thank you for stopping by - click right here on the word quilt to see the auction.

Can you say BRIGHT?!

Here is my newest project as of last night. A neon pink, green and orange striped scarf. So far I've only done the first 3 stripes but I'm ready to start the repeat pattern. I'm using Caron Simply Soft Quick yarns - they are very soft and warm!

It sure is bright but hey, you won't get lost in the snow, that's for sure!

I've got to work on a few other things today but this scarf should be done before the weekend is out (hopefully).

Sound Off South! - Greenville South Carolina

I received the exciting news that my blog will be included on the new SoundOffSouth site, "which is the "one stop shop" for local blogs in Upstate South Carolina and Western North Carolina."

I already have a fellow blogging pal that was selected earlier, FiberDeviant. She blogs about all sorts of local events, crafts, and more with lots of pictures.

I sure hope this will give this local crafter some local exposure. :-) I'm also excited to read other local blogs to find other folks that share my same interests.

My Sleepy Scarecrow

My 2nd grader is having Scarecrow day today at school. So we whipped up a quick little scarecrow outfit at 6:30 this a.m. (Yes, I procastinate but being a quilter - I've got plenty of scraps laying around!).

Only thing missing was a straw hat - which we couldn't find anywhere for a week. My neighbor has a nice display in front of her house with bails of hay and pumpkins. We're hoping she'll let us take his picture sitting on there after school today if it's not raining too hard.

Crocheted Dishcloths (Washcloths) Free Pattern

I am terrible about not following directions or patterns. I just sort of wing it most of the time - I get an idea in my head or just start stitching to see what happens.

Here is my latest project. There are super quick and easy to make. Also a good project for beginner crocheters.

Materials/Supplies:

G hook

Cotton yarn - I used Coats & Clark Creme de la Creme

Ch 27 - turn

Row 1: HDC in 2nd ch from hook into BACK loop - repeat for 25 hdc - ch 2 - turn

Row 2 - 12: Repeat row 1

Row 13: Repeat except for end; do not ch 2 - just finish off

Stitching in the back loop makes a ribbed appearance/design on the cloth. These are great for dishes or bathroom/showers.

I'll have a pattern listed soon for matching face/makeup remover cloths in the same stitch.

Thanks for looking and good luck to you!

Another work in process

This time it's not a craft that's in process but my very own website. It's a slow crawl of a draft until I get it registered so for now it's just photo links of my current and past creations and I'm still working on that as well.

My plans are to make it a full e-commerce site within 6 months. Wish me luck!

Check it out and let me know what you think so far.

My new shop had a sale today!

Yeah, my new Etsy shop RagamuffinFabrics made it's first sale this morning!

I have been selling on Etsy for 10 months now as RagamuffinQuilts but recently decided to separate my supplies from handcrafted items now that I sell both.

Thanks to everyone to who reads my blogs and visits my shops and a BIG THANK YOU to all of my previous buyers!

Handcrafted Gifts $5 and Under

Need a small but thoughtful gift for someone?

Check out my handcrafted coasters and wash/dish cloths. Some are made from fabric, others are crocheted.

I am making many more sets now that will be listed soon so visit often.

Custom orders are always welcome too.

Check out my new banners

I was playing around last night with new banners for my Etsy shops. Wanna see?! :-)

RagamuffinQuilts

RagamuffinFabrics

They might be a work in progress - not decided yet but I liked this draft set.

What do you think?

SALE - Handcrafted Baby Rag Quilts

These adorable little car seat quilts are handcrafted by me and are my original design to include a "hole" to literally attach your child's blanket to his/her car seat or stroller.

With winter fast approaching, now is the perfect time to buy a pre-made or order a custom order quilt.

Here are some pre-made quilts on SALE now in my store.

Bright Crazy Daisy Baby Toddler Girl Car Seat Rag Quilt Orange Pink Green

Classic Pooh Blue White Toile Baby Toddler Car Seat Rag Quilt

Classic Pooh Blue Yellow Baby Toddler Car Seat Rag Quilt

Baby Girl Calico Car Seat Stroller Rag Quilt Lilac Mint Green

Thanks for looking!

Thanks New Esty Followers

I just wanted to thank two of my new followers and fellow Etsians.

Check out BellaMental and Beadz n' Thingz - well Beadz n' Thingz has her very own site now - WTG and best of luck to you!

I bought my quilt tags from BellaMental and she worked with me from start to finish to get exactly what I wanted.

Holidays are fast approaching - check out our stores for that special gift item.

Have a great day!

RagamuffinQuilts

Yeah, the pups had a great night!

Well, after some "time out" yesterday from the past few destructive nights - the pups were very well behaved last night and didn't chew anything except their bones.

Of course, they ran and played ALL day outside in the cool air but they are loving it! You can see why - check out all the hair they have!

Now if they would just stop barking so much - doesn't bother me but we do have neighbors. LOL

Oh the joys of pups.....

Well, it's about week 2 with the pups, Lily & Daisy. Although they have not completely destroyed a particual item, they have left their mark on many.

Last Friday, they somehow pulled a heavy box down from 3 shelves high of my mother's handpainted Christmas village. Since her passing, I have not had any space to setup this lovely village until this coming Christmas. Needless to say, I was NOT very happy. Again, it's not destroyed but rather many buildings are chewed on along the bases. The only good thing is that if I place white batting down as snow, I doubt anyone will even notice the chewed edges.

My dad had set this up as Whoville with the Grinch and his dog and even a little handpainted sign that says Whoville. I found the Grinch and his dog without any bite marks but the sign has yet to be found. :-( Guess I might have to make a new one.

Well, that's my venting today on my huge pups - guess they need more bones - one for each location they spend lots of time.

Infant Receiving Blanket Sets

I made two sets of receiving blanket & burp/feeding cloth sets this weekend. They are super cute and very soft for your new little boy or girl.

Both are cute little frogs with glasses; one blue and one pink.

Click on the colors to see my listings at RagamuffinQuilts.

These sets make great gifts and I'm happy to ship on your behalf to recipient with a notecard.

Hurry, the holidays are fast approaching! Visit RagamuffinQuilts for other handcrafted quilts and other items. Custom orders always welcome!

Etsy Shops & Handcrafted Christmas

I know times are tough all over. I have even cut back on my online shopping sprees, I have to say, it's going to be a handcrafted Christmas for my loved ones.

Personally, I think handcrafted items are often more thoughtful than store bought gifts. Despite the item or skill level; especially when made by a child. I think some of my favorite gifts over the years were items my children made in school and pre-school.

If you are not the crafty sort, pop on over to Etsy. There are TONS of wonderful crafters including a few of my favorites:

RagamuffinQuilts

FabricsandQuilts

AshlawnFarmsRagQuiltCreations

TheStickerPicker

AMamaBear

BellaMental

Don'tWorryBeHippie

These are just a few of my faves. Come visit soon and often to find wonderful handcrafted items!

Mock Cable Knit Scarf

I started another mock cable knit scarf in a thinner yarn and so far I think it's working ok. I'm using Plymouth Encore D.K. yarn with size 5 knitting needles.

Wish me luck!!!

Hopefully it doesn't take me a year to finish it!


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Handcrafted Christmas

The countdown is running, we only have 71 days left until Christmas. Can you believe it?

On that note, why not give your friends and family unique, one-of-a-kind, handcrafted items for Christmas this year!

Visit RagamuffinQuilts for items like quilts, coasters, face scrubbies/dish cloths, purses, diaper bags, and more.

Custom orders are always welcome. I love to work with my customers from start to finish to ensure they receive exactly what they want.

Visit often for more handcrafted items added frequently.

Quilting Slump

I am in such a slump this week. I have ideas and images of quilts rolling around in my head but I just can't seem to get them out and onto my cutting table.

I have been making rag quilts this past year and absolutely love them but have been wanting to make a few traditional quilts as well again. I find my biggest problem is that I have tons of pre-cut squares just waiting for me to make them into SOMETHING.

So I take those little piles and start making a simple scrap block quilt top just to find I really don't have enough to make it a decent size. So, that new pile of 4-patch blocks gets pushed off to the side to pick up another set.

This has been going on for days. The only good thing is that I am acquiring a stock pile of 4-patch blocks. Maybe if I keep using up my scraps this way I will finally end up with some rhyme or reason to a large quilt top.

Maybe I should put my ideas down on paper - nah, what's the fun in that. I love the see what my sewing machine and I create together; sometimes it's planned, other times we just wing it. LOL

Ok, off to see what other sort of trouble I can get into in that sewing room of mine.

3-D Pinwheel Quilt Block Experiment

I experimented last night with a 3-d pinwheel block just to discover I don't like it at all. Atleast not that version.

It sounded pretty simple - no 1/2 square triangles. It called for 4" squares. I used 5" - no big deal. For example, you have 8 4" squares; fold 4 of those in 1/2 triangular twice so they are small triangles now with only 1 raw edge. Then place them on the unfolded 4" squares - repeat for all 4 so it makes a pinwheel.

WELL, looks great layed out until the sewing begins. I think they almost need to be basted prior to sewing the squares together. My center point of the pinwheel didn't match up at all.....humpf. THEN the 3-d pinwheel didn't lay as nicely as I hoped, even after ironing.

Oh well, nothing ventured - nothing gained, right?!

I'll have to post a pic of the "ugh" block tonight.

Clemson says goodbye to coach Tommy Bowden

Living in Clemson country now, you can imagine all the chatter across upstate South Carolina. WOW!

Yesterday, Tommy Bowden stepped down from head coach of the Clemson Tiger football team.

I suppose only time will tell if this was the right decision.

Although I am a Gator fan myself, I have to wish the Tigers good luck for the rest of the season.

Click here to read more about Dabo Swinney, Bowden's interim replacement.

USC Rag Quilt & Coasters

Hey USC fans - check out these new handcrafted rag quilt and coasters. Each makes perfect holiday gifts for even the youngest of fans.

Larger quilts are available upon request - stadium quilts, crib quilts, lap quilts, car seat quilts and more.

Visit RagamuffinQuilts for more quality handcrafted items. Custom orders are always welcome.

Organize Your Sewing Space

My hubby installed a pegboard in my sewing room yesterday after listening to my thoughts on organizing my sewing items like spools of thread to matching bobbins, etc.

It's perfect! I can easily place my bobbin on one of the pegs and then place the matching spool right on the same peg. It's also great for all of my other tools; scissors, cutters, and more.

It's still a work in process but I managed to get all of these items off of my sewing table.

Death of a Scarf

Remember my one skein knit scarf back on 9/17/08? WELL, my new pup decided she liked it also and chewed a big chunk out of it - sigh......

I didn't take photos of the "after" but here is a pic of the "before" - so much for that Christmas present. Back to the drawing board for that gift.

I have since make her a braided fleece tug toy with knots that they both enjoy chewing on instead.

My Etsy Feature

I was featured last week on FabricsNQuilts blog for my Etsy store.

If you want to know a bit more about me just click her link above.

Make sure to follow her blog as well for more featured Etsy Artisans like this post about AshlawnFarms.

And while you're at it, don't forget to check out our Etsy stores for great handcrafted items and fabrics.

FabricsNQuilts AshlawnFarms RagamuffinQuilts

Hope to see you soon!

Day 4 of Daisy & Lily

The poor pups had to sleep in the garage last night. We finally got some much needed rain and they decided to go run and tumble in it along with all that SC red clay right about bedtime. They did ok, we didn't hear them bark at all.

First thing this a.m., hubby let them in and straight upstairs and onto our bed they ran. Good thing they were dry.

I'm really glad that Lily is coming out of her shell a bit. She was a bit shy the first day or so and that worried me with having small kids at home. We're an active bunch and can't have a dog that is spooked with every tiny noise. But she is past that phase already - whew!

Daisy has learned her name already but that is probably because she hears it so much. LOL She's a bit of a rule breaker and likes to push buttons but also a very lovey pup. She likes to stand up and give me hugs already. Hope we can get a pic of that soon to show here.

Well, busy day at work, better get back to it.

Day 3 with Lily & Daisy

Ah, finally a good nights sleep. After school the boys played outside with the new pups for about 2 hours - all four slept through the night and didn't argue when it was bedtime.

Mom and dad finally got some much needed sleep again - yeah!

I even had a chance to sew up a rag quilt last night.

Night 2 with Daisy & Lily

The girls are taking me back to the baby stage of the boys. You know, the up in the middle of the night. Only problem is, instead of crying because they are hungry or wet, they want to PLAY.

Not only play but play on MY bed. Guess tonight we'll go running before bed, that should wear them out a bit, I hope. If I ever want to sleep through the night again within the next year, I'll just have to sacrifice the warm cozy sofa for a pair of running shoes. LOL

From Daisy & Lily

From Daisy & Lily

Meet our new twins - dogs that is.....

We went puppy shopping yesterday and well, we got puppies alright. HUGE puppies. We are big dog lovers and I grew up with St. Bernards.

Meet Lily & Daisy. They are about 6 month old Great Pyrenees. Last night was the first night with them and Lily slept between my hubby and I all night - until 4:00 a.m. when Daisy decided to jump on the bed and wanted to play.

They were rescued and we adopted - we didn't have the heart to split them up and since they are such large dogs, it's unlikely that anyone would have taken both. They are super sweet and very good with the boys and cats.

Click on the photo to access the entire album.

Daisy & Lily

eBay & Etsy Store Update

What can I say? I have had an eBay store for quite awhile. I'm sure other sellers have noticed the decline in sales/traffic and with the increase in fvf fees, it's just not cost effective to sell certain items on eBay.

Don't get me wrong, I am thrilled with the success I've had on eBay including my most recent Power Seller status. However, with sales on a downward spiral and fees increasing, it just makes sense for me to push my handcrafted items over to my Etsy store.

If you're not familiar with Etsy.com yet, it's been showcased on Martha Stewart and several other tv shows along with many, many online blogs, etc. It is a great place for sellers of handcrafted items and supplies to sell and an even better place for buyers of handcrafted items. Personally, with the lower fees on Etsy, I can pass those savings onto the consumer and it's a win/win situation.

If you haven't shopped Etsy yet, please stop in soon. I have a few of my favorite shops listed on the right of my blog - check those out too.

The holidays are coming fast - if you like to buy and give handcrafted items, now is the time to start looking. It gives us crafters an opportunity to make that special item for your family or friend.

Cool breezes bring new business

This past week has been booming compared to the past few months. It seems the cooler breezes have brought out buyers in search of quilts for the upcoming winter season and holiday gifts. Good news for all us quilters out there.

Don't get me wrong, I'm not busting at the seams with orders but they are rolling in steadily this week so I can't complain at all.

A note to any fellow crafters out there who might find my blog; one of my biggest custom orders came from someone that found a photo online of one of my previous quilts. She didn't find me from either one of my stores or my blog. I try to tag all of my photos and I guess in this case it paid off. If you post photos of your work online, be sure to add tags so searches will find you.

Good luck everyone! I'm off to sew. I have 3 quilts cut out and ready to go that will be listed on Etsy in the next few days and then I'll be working on another custom order.

Heads up, the next 3 quilts are USC Gamecocks, Disney Princess, and a vintage Ducky. Stay tuned for pics and listings.

My featured rag quilt on eBay

Wow, check this out. One of my custom rag quilts is displayed in the lovely Reborn listing on eBay.

It was the first one I made with the minky dot fabric.


Reborn Baby Boy by "Southern Beau's & Belle's "

I joined the "Army" - will you?

This week the Today Show had a story of a new campaign to fight against and find a cure for breast cancer; Army of Women.

This disease is still not fully understood despite all the research. Statistics show that 70% of women diagnosed with breast cancer have NO family history.

Here is one paragraph from the groups website -

The Army is dedicated to representing ALL women in research so that the research results will apply to ALL women. This means we need you to help us recruit women of all ages, ethnicities, sizes, and shapes. We need women who have had breast cancer and women who have not. We need African American women, Asian women, white women, Latinas, and lesbians to be involved.

I joined this army today. I have a strong family history - if you scroll down on my blog page, you'll see my dedication to my late mother. As a healthy adult without the disease but with a strong family history, I hope that I am selected in an effort to study this disease and maybe even find a cure.

Folks, I hate to say but breast cancer is NOT just a woman's disease either. Men can get breast cancer too.

Here is the link to the Army of Women website for more information on joining this army.

http://www.armyofwomen.org/