A Miscellany of Making

Spring (and some days, maybe summer) has definitely arrived on the farm. That means there's a miscellany of projects I've been working on. So today, I'm just going to share a miscellany of photos to share what I've been up to!

First off, I've been working in the yard the last few days. I've got lots still to do (like dig up all the weeds and grass that has cropped up in the rocked areas of my garden) but I'm excited with this new addition - my water trough container vegetable garden! My hubby worked his you-know-what-off digging all the dirt to fill these three 2' x 6' troughs. I'm going to try planting peas, green beans, watermelon and cantaloupe. These are in addition to the tomatoes and banana peppers that I started growing last year. We'll see how it goes. Of course, I had to do a little decorating of the space with some of my garden 'junk'!

I kicked the plants outside that I have been wintering over in the house and planted all of my patio pots too.

These are just a few of the pots as I have three patio areas that have large flower pots. This seems to be the only way I can successfully maintain flowers and bonus - no weeding! That patina-packed trough holds my tomatoes and peppers and are lined with marigolds.

I save all the tags from each plant so that I can remember how many of each thing I plant when buying plants the next year. It came in really handy this year as I just made my list from last year's tags and emailed it to my local green house, they gathered up all the plants and I just drove up and loaded them. Social distance shopping at it's best. My plant staples are sweet potato vines and trailing petunias (love plants that spill over the sides of pots), geraniums (hardy for our climate), lantana (for all the hot sunny spots) and spikes (for height). Of course, I buy lots of odds and ends for a good variety of color and texture.

I've been working on a project for my sewing studio - a screen door on a sliding barn rail to separate and hide my studio (and my sewing messes) from the living room. I painted a purchased screen door with a base coat of green and a top coat of white, then sanded the white down so the green shows through in places. I attached vintage green plastic drawer pulls above each spindle across the center and I'll probably hang something from them (maybe a little wreath or bunting). The door is just propped up in the opening for this photo because I am working on a 'quilt' to staple to the door where the screen used to be so that it is solid.

I'm using 30's reproduction fabrics to make my screen door quilt on the front side and I'm making log cabin blocks. I'm planning on appliqueing my thistle logo in the center. On the back side (studio side), I am making half square triangles using some Moda American Jane fabrics and sashing them with some measuring tape fabric. I'll have to share more once I get this project finished.

Did you notice the wallpaper border in the screen door photo above. Well, that's going to be covered up with old chippy bead board. I love old bead board and have wanted to do this for a long time and I finally have collected enough bead board pieces to do it. I've cut all the bead board pieces 12" long and have them all washed. The paint is completely chipped away on some of the boards so I'm going to try some crackle paint to see if I can mimic the other boards. The crackle paint arrived yesterday so anxious to try it out.

And, like many who have been under stay-at-home orders during this pandemic, I've been doing some baking here and there. This week I made bierocks to freeze and a peach pie from peaches I put up last August. 

Lastly, I wanted to share a photo of the cloud streets I took yesterday. What are cloud streets, you ask? Cloud streets are bands or lines of cumulus clouds that are oriented almost parallel to the wind direction. In other words, rows of clouds! Pretty cool looking, huh? That's my trivia for the day!

What have you been making during this pandemic? I'd love to hear about it in the comments!

~Sharla

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Noel Word Scramble

A farmer can get a little bored during the winter months on the farm, especially when the temps dip down to -23 and he's cooped up in the house for days. That boredom can lead to some shenanigans once in awhile. Such was the case for the hubby during the past couple of weeks.

My Noel sign made from barn wood and an old wagon wheel that leans against the garage during the holiday season seemed to receive a lot of his attention this year. As I was returning home one evening during the cold snap, I caught a glimpse of this in my car headlights. This simple photo with the text "Nice" was sent to the Hubby in acknowledgement.

Of course, I had to return the challenge and rearranged the letters the next day to spell "Lone". And soon after, the letters magically were rearranged to read "Leno".

After a few more arrangements, the letters returned to their festive "Noel" greeting, just in time to welcome family home for the holidays.

~Sharla

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From Our House To Yours.....

Wishing you the merriest Christmas filled with peace, love and joy!

~Sharla

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A Visit From Jenny of Missouri Star Quilt Co.!

My mom has such a wonderfully positive attitude given her current situation, but it was still fun to brighten her day with an epic quilty surprise! On Monday, Jenny Doan, of Missouri Star Quilt Co., and her husband, Ron, stopped by to visit my mom and aunt in the rehab facility.

Jenny Doan visits my mom, Janet (left), and my aunt, Judy (right), in the rehab facility following their accident.

I so wish I had video taped my mom as Jenny introduced herself, to catch mom's expression as her jaw literally dropped in stunned surprise and her eyes widened in sheer amazement. Mom is a big fan of Jenny and her easy quilting style, but seeing her in the place she least expected made it hard for her to recognize that familiar friendly face from the MSQC videos.


Jenny and Ron where so down-to-earth and genuine. They visited about their family, ideas for upcoming videos, their scary car accident and more, as if we had all been friends for years.

They were so thoughtful and generous, bringing gifts of flower bouquets and MSQC bags filled with t-shirts (from their 8th Birthday Bash happening this weekend) and books of Jenny's quilter stories.


Jenny, Ron and Missouri Star Quilt Co. are a class act. When they learned about the accident, they refunded our group the cost of the tickets for the trunk show we were planning to attend the next day. Then, they went out of their way to spend a couple of hours with us. Jenny, thank you for being a ray of sunshine and brightening my mom and aunt's day!

I can't wait for my mom and aunt to get back on their feet so that we can reschedule our girls road trip and pay a visit to Jenny and MSQC!

~Sharla

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One Lovely Blog Award x 3

It's been one of those weeks you hope you don't repeat ever again (see this post for the reason why). But one of the highlights of the week was my blog being nominated for the One Lovely Blog Award - not once, not twice, but three times! I've met each of the people who nominated my blog through the 2016 New Quilt Bloggers Group. I enjoy each of their blogs and I hope you'll stop by their blogs too. Kathy at Kathy's Kwilts and More and I have become online buddies, helping each other with blogging questions, quilting ideas, etc., and she's been great sending me words of encouragement this last week. Sola blogs at Alice Samuel's Quilt Co. and was in my hive, Hive Sewciety, for the New Quilt Bloggers group. She is a quilter in Nigeria and its interesting to follow her adventures. Sue at Sevenoaks Street Quilts has a fun modern style and I'm enjoying following her to see what's on her design wall. Thank you so much girls for this awesome honor!

The Rules for this award are:

• Thank the person who nominated you, and give a link to his/her blog.
• List the rules.
• Display the image of the award on your post.
• List seven facts about yourself.
• Nominate (up to) 15 bloggers for this award, and notify them to let them know you have nominated them.

Seven facts about little ole me:

1. I'm kind of a jack-of-all-trades. Some of the jobs I've held over the years include newspaper editor, library aide, yearbook instructor, economic development director and quilt shop owner.

2. As economic development director, I successfully wrote grants totaling more than $7 million.

3. I went to jr. high and high school with Steve Tasker, special teams phenom for the Buffalo Bills from 1986-1997.

4. My close encounters of the political kind (good, bad & ugly) - I sat next to then-U.S. Secretary of Transportation Elizabeth Dole at a convention banquet for Extension Homemaker Units. I met then-Vice President Al Gore at a meeting for one of the grants I wrote. I served on a Rural Task Force for then-Governor Kathleen Sebelius (who later infamously served as U.S. Secretary of Health and Human Services when Obamacare was implemented).

5. I was a volunteer EMT for 15 years and was the first person in the state of Kansas to ace the EMT-D certification test.

6. My guilty pleasure - watching the Real Housewives TV shows from any and all of the cities. My favorite housewife is Bethany Frankel and I can't stand NeNe Leakes.

7. My cousin's daughter just tried out and made the Dallas Cowboys Cheerleader team. So my new fav TV show is going to be Dallas Cowboys Cheerleaders: Making The Team. The new season starts Thursday, August 25. Watch for Allie!

I'd like to nominate the following blogs and bloggers because I enjoy visiting their blogs and I think you will too:

• Allison of Woodberry Way
• Karen of Tu-Na Quilts, Travels, and Eats
• Helen of Midget Gem Quilts
• Stephanie of Late Night Quilter

~Sharla

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Harvest Hassles & Soothing Sewing

It's been a frustrating week on the farm. While harvest is in full swing all around us, we have only cut one combine bin of wheat. Equipment problems have kept us stationary and repair mechanics perplexed. After multiple trips for parts to fix possible causes, everyone is still scratching their heads. I went to bed last night positive that things were going to turn around today only to wake up to the sound of rain on the roof this morning. That's life on the farm!

To soothe my anxieties (the hubby has enough for both of us!), I've spent a little of this idle time working on my "Spell It With Moda" ABC quilt. This is one of my 2nd quarter Finish-A-Long projects that I'm really hoping I won't get done before the end of the month because that will mean we've finally got everything running and we're busy in the harvest field!

Wishing my fellow farm wives a safe and successful harvest!

~Sharla

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grow, Grow, GROW!

Grow: to become better or improved in some way. My mantra for this summer.

I am participating in the New Quilt Bloggers group again this year. I learned so much last year and wanted to continue to grow and improve my blog, my interactions with other bloggers, and my online friendships. One of the first things we do in this group is to critique each others blogs and provide ideas of ways to improve our blogs. Today was my turn for the blog critique. After last year's critique, I completely revamped my blog based on all the helpful tips and comments. After today's critiques, I have a few things I want to tweek and will be making some subtle changes over the next few weeks. I almost hate to throw this out there, but if you have ideas to improve my blog, please comment and share. Just remember to be kind:)

I also want to grow my knowledge about fabric designing and pattern writing. It's been a goal for quite some time now but I seem to get sidetracked by all the quilt alongs, blog tours, swaps, and social media in general. I have two blog tour commitments in June and July, but I'm going to resist committing to any more so that I can dedicate some time to this goal. I'm writing this down here so you all will keep me focused and on target!

And after working in my yard all afternoon watering, weeding and mowing, I am hoping all my work will help it grow into a beautiful oasis. Ha! I'm really just hoping that it stays alive and survives the summer. I discovered today one large pot that I planted a couple of weeks ago has already become a victim of the rabbits that think my flower pots are their salad bar!

This post could grow exponentially with all the things I really need to become better at (time management) or improve upon (weight), but we'll leave it at this short list;)

~Sharla

P.S. I did take a creative break this afternoon between mowing and pulling weeds to make the "Grow" garden sign above. A reminder for me to continue to grow - personally and creatively.

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Hello Ello!

Wow! It's been an interesting week on Instagram since IG announced they were moving from a chronological feed to an algorithm driven feed. The quilting community on IG has been in an uproar since - signing petitions, boycotting IG with a Silent Sew In on Friday, and then yesterday, a wave of quilters joining Ello.

Ello is an online social networking service similar to Instagram. According to Ello, it is a place where creative people can connect and build communities. Sounds perfect for quilters.

First I have to confess that I don't understand all the ramifications of Instagram going to an algorithm feed much like what Facebook uses. But I do know that I hate how Facebook chooses what I can see on my feed. I miss most of the things I'd really like to see on FB and have used it less and less as a result. I really was excited to find a whole community of quilters on Instagram that I could follow and draw inspiration, ideas and knowledge from. I love the photo-based posting of IG because I am such a visual person. The idea that IG will now choose what I see based on popularity of posts means that I'll lose touch with people I enjoy seeing and as an IG member with a small follower base, I'll probably not show up on many people's feeds either.

So, I decided to check out this new social networking app called Ello that everyone was joining yesterday - including me! And, after 24 hours, here's what I've learned so far.....

The Pros:

• In many ways, Ello is very similar to Instagram. Above is my bio page on Ello. As you can see, you have a banner photo, profile photo, short bio, website listing, and numbers of followers and following.
• Unlike Instagram, Ello is committed to not selling ads on the site. Yay! Those ads were showing up more and more frequently on IG.
• Ello has a chronological feed. No algorithms!
• On Ello, you can post multiple photos with comments interspersed which gives it more of a blog post feel, I think.
• You can zoom in on photos! I've always hated not being able to zoom in on photos on IG - not that I'm suggesting that I'm getting older and my eyesight is not as good! Ha!
• You can also post links!!! Some of my first posts on Ello were posting some of my quilts to give people a taste of me. I was able to share the link to my Chainlinks quilt recipe on the Moda Bake Shop when I posted the photo. Love that.
• Although I'm a visual person, its kind of handy to be able to make text-only posts like you can on Facebook.
• You can post on a computer or laptop too, not just on your phone.
• The biggest pro for me right now is that I'm getting in on the ground floor of this community on Ello. When I joined IG, the quilting community was well established and its been hard to find quilty peeps to follow me. On Ello right now, everyone is searching for friends and it's exciting to be in on this new adventure.

The Cons:

• It's slow. You get a lot of spinning circles waiting for photos and content to load. Ello is still in Beta mode, so hopefully the speed will improve.
• The Ello app isn't available for android phones yet. (Although I have an I-phone and this doesn't effect me.) For those with android phones, at least you can go online through your computer for now.
• The keyboard in the app doesn't have @ and # on the alphabet keyboard so you have to switch back and forth when typing hashtags or tagging someone. What a pain!
• I'm not leaving Instagram yet, so I will be posting in both IG and Ello. Do I really have time for that? I don't know, time will tell.

I'm still feeling my way around the Ello site and the quilting community on Ello, so I purposely did not make this a how-to post. I'm sure there are other places to get that technical info so just Google it. I haven't done that yet - I'm kind of a jump-in-with-both-feet kind of gal, so I'm paddling through it.

I hope you'll come find me on both Instagram and Ello! (There are links to both of my profiles at the top of this blog in the right-hand column.) I'd love to connect with other quilters. In the meantime, please share any helpful tips you've learned on Ello so far!

~Sharla

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Farm Girl Vintage & Wheat Harvest

Wheat harvest is in full swing here in western Kansas, so I didn't think I'd get the chance to work on my Farm Girl Vintage blocks this week. But it rained Thursday night and it was too wet to cut on Friday so.......guess what I got to do?!

It's week 9 of the Farm Girl Vintage Sew Along and we are now one-third of the way through the blocks. This is going by so fast, we'll have all 45 blocks completed in no time! You can visit Lori at Bee In My Bonnet to see her blocks and all the different ways she uses them - she's so creative.

Here are my blocks for this week.....

This is the Feed and Seed block. I thought how Lori arrived at the on-point plus in the center of this block was quite clever and very easy. I love the instructions for the blocks in her book "Farm Girl Vintage", she makes them all so easy!

And this is my Fresh Pears block. I still have to embroider the seeds in the right pear, but wanted to share with you now. I kind of wish I would have made my pears green instead of yellow, but they should add a bit of pop to my quilt. This is all of the sewing I had time for this week because of.......

Wheat Harvest! I thought I'd show you a little bit of this vintage farm girl's life this week.

Day 1 - I'm the combine driver in this two-person operation. The hubby does everything else! It gets a little monotonous driving the combine for hours and hours, but it gives me lots of time to plot my next quilt projects in my head.

Day 2 - Dumping the combine into the grain cart 'on the go' is a lot easier now with the invention of auto-steer. A lot of things have changed in the last 36 years since I married my farmer.

Day 3 - The equipment has sure gotten larger since I first became a farm girl!

Day 4 - With almost a half inch of rain and cloudy skies, there was no cutting done. A day of rest - and sewing - was kind of welcomed.

And now it's Day 5 - and the farmer hubby is ready to head to the field. No more quilting and blogging for me for the next few days. The weather forecast is for hot and dry days, perfect for wheat harvest!

~Sharla

P.S. Thanks to everyone who visited my blog this last week during the 2015 New Quilt Bloggers Blog Hop. I've tried to reply by email to everyone who has left a comment (unless you are a no-reply blogger), and I apologize if I missed anyone. Just know that I really appreciate all the comments. It's been a really fun experience!

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My Piece of Heaven

I thought it would be appropriate that my first post would introduce you to my "design" studio. It's really just a bedroom that I converted into my little piece of heaven after my kids left the nest. It's where I enjoy dreaming and creating. But dreaming and creating can be messy, so before I can give you a tour of my studio, I need to tidy up! I'll be back soon:)

~Sharla