We hope everyone has a Blessed Christmas and a wonderful, productive, Happy New Year!  God Bless us everyone.

Good morning! Yes I am still doing Custom Embroidery. I decided that my website was just costing me money, not making me any, so I have dumped it. My presence on Facebook has been much more helpful and then the ‘word of mouth’ referrals are the very best and have brought me more work than any other venue.

I will be at the 2020 Bruneau Cowboy Christmas show November 14th and 15th this year with a few new items. Then will be at the Elks lodge in Mtn Home on November 21st for the bazaar there. As always folks can order Custom work anytime. Of course if someone needs something for a Christmas gift please contact me soon so I can get it done in time. Thanks.

Contact me via  only1co@gmail.com or PM me on my Facebook page : Only One Company.

Fall has arrived at our home in Southwestern Idaho, the colors are beautiful, the air is decidedly crisp , the garden is nearly done and just needs cleaning up here very shortly. My thoughts now turn to warm soups, fresh bread…comfort foods. Also thinking about gifts to make for family and friends. My three sisters and I are doing a project to give Christmas stockings to children in need. No, of course they don’t NEED stockings , however, it is the immeasurable joy and happiness these can bring to a small child on Christmas morning that makes it a worthwhile endeavor. May we all love and care for our family, friends, and neighbors in this crazy world we live in. Even virtual hugs are better than nothing and can convey hope and caring.  God Bless us all.

the Virginia creeper is just stunning

My dahlias like the cooler weather obviously as they are blooming like crazy.

Love the bright colors of these cosmos.

Fall colors for our table

After recently running out of a particular fabric, and looking all over the country for some I learned that I should have been keeping the information on fabric of any I think/thought I might want more of. So my plan now is this – Keep the selvage with the fabric name and the manufacturer and an inch of so of the fabric for information should you need to buy more.

I hope this might help someone out there who runs into the same issue I did. Not sure where I will keep them but am thinking maybe a 3 ring binder with clear page protectors.

Another good tip I received from the manufacturer of the fabric I sought was this. Check out QuiltShops.com and you can search lots of shops and refine the search to the manufacturer and fabric name. There are lots of shops listed to check out.  Best of luck all and yup, I am still trying to find the fabric I wanted – see rope picture on this blog. If any of you happen to have some……………….let me know and thanks in advance.

Just something I am playing with currently in my embroidery room. Have some fixes to do as I am doing the jar digitizing on my own and am by no means really good at it. Made this kinda like a coaster and all in-the-hoop.  There will be updates as I figure out the tweaks and improvements (hopefully).

And what was I looking for when I ran across this idea? Well heck I don’t recall at this point if I was even looking for something in particular or not. Found the idea and ran with it.  This seems to be an issue for all of us sisters in our daily lives. We go looking for something and surprise ‘something shiny’ shows up and away we go on another tangent.

Every time I attempt to clean up and organize my craft room(s) I run into this problem—ie: I find things I forgot I had or sort of remember but not sure why I have them—sigh. One would think I might get rid of some of it but “I might need it one day, or at least wish I had it” or “it’s too good to throw out and I don’t know anyone who would use it”, oh the excuse choices are myriad for not getting rid of things.  I did manage to pretty thoroughly clean my craft areas not too long ago and horror of horrors I did throw away a few things but in the great scheme of crafting it was a small amount. Unfortunately all my good plans about keeping everything right where it belongs when I am done with it last all of a couple weeks maybe, then along comes either a customer job for my embroidery or some big project of my own doing and poof all good intentions tend to go by the wayside.

Truly when I am working on a customer order I AM very organized and keep it all rounded up – it’s my projects that get kind of shoved aside in whatever spot is available.

However, as long as my creative mind is still whirring and coming up with new things to try I shall be happy and content and not worry too much about the state of my areas. i do believe that my creativity is a part of what keeps me going and for sure it helps with my ability to stay sane! LOL some might say I am deluding myself on the sane part and that’s ok too. My sane is likely not the same as other folks with the exception of my sisters.

So as ‘they’ say, don’t sweat the small stuff and just enjoy your creativity. Another saying I have on a tee shirt (and no I did not make it) is  Do something CREATIVE every day! I try to do this.

Toodaloo and have a crafty day folks.

Purchased an Echo Show for my husband for Christmas. He loves it! It is quite nifty. So then we had (well ok wanted to) to get some other devices for the house so that the Echo could control them via the Alexa app on our phones or directly thru the  Echo Show.

Whew…confused already? I was.  We got a wifi outlet(2 power plugs, 2 usb ports), hubby got it installed and then I finally got it to hook up to its app (another app on the phones..LOL ) and then linked with Alexa on the Echo Show. So far so good and we can ask Alexa to turn on the living room lamp and she does. There is independent control of each outlet and the outlet as a whole.

So then, we ordered 6 little wifi plugs which you plug into an existing outlet. So far have only done 1 of them. Plugged the little bugger into the outlet on the front porch where we have some rope lights installed under the eaves. Finally got the wifi hook up done, so Alexa could turn it off or on. Then started the daunting task of setting it up to come on at sunset and off at sunrise……. I said some not nice things a long the way as it was very frustrating for the better part of a week  but today, today I finally figured it out and it works!!! Yeah. So I learned i just have to be patient and keep trying and I’ll get it.

I do love the technology but there are days when a kerosene lantern or a candle sound good!! Ha ha ha

Have a great day.

A few things that I made for Christmas and then some Valentine ideas in the works and more to come.

Also a couple of tricks/tips—–

1. Use baby oil to clean your stainless steel appliances. Put a few drops on a dry cloth and rub the surface, follow with a clean dry cloth to polish. Repeat if needed. I tried this and it worked, made short work of fingerprints from our little grand daughters who love to play with magnets on the frig.
2. This tip came from my husband. When needing icing instead of frosting, Open a can of pre made frosting, scoop some of it into a microwave safe bowl and heat briefly. Stir and then pour on your cake or cookies, works really well and makes icing a cake truly simple. Thanks Lynn.

That is it for now been meaning to post for ages but the Holidays kind of got in the way as I am sure you all have had happen.  I am so ready for spring and the seed catalogs keep showing up which makes me want spring even more. However, winter needs to finish up first.

Hope you all have a great rest of winter and we’ll talk again later.

I am so enjoying my flowers this spring/summer. Here are several of my gladiolus, it is fun to see what color will pop up next.  These are in some pots just outside our front porch. I have a large bed of them in the back yard that are just starting to bud, can’t wait to see them burst into bloom. Then there are the hollyhocks I planted with them which should be a riot of color a bit later.  All of the flowers, veggies, trees, bushes, and grasses in our yard and garden make me happy. I think it’s the watching them grow, bloom and in some cases bear fruit and/or veggies that is so fun and amazing to see that attracts me to them. The different colors of even the leaves is compelling and interesting to me. Our little grand daughter, Ellie, whom we are raising loves to go into the garden with me to see whats happening. She loves the strawberries and raspberries and is quite fascinated by the growing tomatoes, peppers, squash and other items. All of this activity is good for my soul, body and mind!!  Keep calm and garden on works for me.

Found a pattern for a crocheted swiffer sweeper cover. Pulled out some cotton yarn, my crochet hook and got to work! It did not take very long to make this and it actually fits my swiffer sweeper! Am thinking if I like it I will make more of them. So instead of using disposable (not to mention spendy) covers I will use home made cotton ones that can be thrown in the wash and used over and over. Here are some pictures of the cover! And I tried it out cleaning my dining room floor today. The floor is laminate and I use a multi surface floor cleaner which you just squirt on and mop. It worked just fine so I will be making more of these for me and some to give as gifts to family members who may also like them. I do like being able to make things I need around the house. Growing up on a homestead in Alaska we learned early on to “make do” with things we had and to make things we needed. I am blessed to have been raised to be independent, self-sufficient and crafty!!

These are some Easter eggs I crocheted, they were quick, easy and fun to make and no messy colors or shells.

The following picture is of Ellie’s “flower” garden…. just wind spinners from the Dollar Store – she loves them. The wind of course has tried very hard to destroy them several times.
Not a big point to this post except to be sure to enjoy the little things in life!

We are looking forward to planting in our garden before too long. It’s about time to start some seeds inside.

Life is short, enjoy it all you can and while you can. God is Great!!! ‘See’ you all next time.