Halloween Decorating

Holiday Decorating is underway at the Ford household. Autumn is my favorite time of year!! 
Here is my first attempt at working with Deco Mesh, and I love it!! My Halloween Garland turned out great!! My angel would be proud! I painted the heads, I was actually looking at a Pumpkin Head doll I created a couple of years ago when I was drawing the faces but the finished ones seem to look more like Jack Skellington. But I imagine most skeleton heads turn out looking like him. 
I planned to make several garlands and sell them, but ran out of time. So I will do some Autumn and Christmas themed creations soon and put them up for sale. I think I will do some garland for the fireplace mantle and maybe some table decor as well. This mind of mine is racing with lots of ideas!
I am still working on revamping my website. I bought a wonderful set of new graphics that I am so excited about. I hope to be done in a month. I know it is taking me much longer to accomplish this than most people I am sure, but I have to work on it in between all the other stuff I try to accomplish in a day. 
Just today I spent 5 hours on yard work. I had raking, pulling weeds, digging up ground, planting some grass seed, and hand watering all to get done. 
I scored some free pavers that someone was giving away. They had an outdoor BBQ they took apart. One mans trash is another's treasure. I scored the treasure. I plan to surround the rose bushes with some and the rest I plan to put down a walk way behind the back fence for the dog. She stands there and kicks as she barks at the world of people that pass by. While she is kicking she digs a gully which I fill in periodically. Well this will cure that. One less chore to do. Yay! 
Speaking of chores, the outside of the house needs to be painted. Ugh. I really do not like to paint walls and trim and such.  My daughter said oh that sounds like fun! I invited her to come help!! We'll see how much fun it still is when we are done! 
I hope y'all like the garland I made.

Mom-mom's Vintage Style Portable High Chair Pattern

My new old pattern. I revised, and took this pattern out of retirement. It is Mom-mom's Vintage Style Portable High Chair. Made out of necessity in 1984, we couldn't afford a high chair along with all the other baby stuff we needed to buy. I collaborated with my Grandmother and this is the result. This is my daughter in the original one. Later that year I made it into a pattern and have sold many over the years. Now it is back for a new generation of parents and children to enjoy. You can find it at my My Etsy Shop. Available for instant download in PDF form for $9.95.

What takes 18 processes, lots of colors, countless hours, many days, lots of love, and one set of hands to complete?

An Original Little Craft Cottage Pattern

TO MAKE A PATTERN:
1.Come up with an idea in my minds eye.

2.Draw design on paper

3.Draw out rough draft pattern pieces

4.Cut out pattern pieces

5.Choose fabric, either from my stash or visiting some Quilt shops

6.Wash fabrics

7.Place pattern pieces on fabric and cut out fabric pieces

8.Sew together while jotting instructions on scrap paper

9.Type up instructions in terms everyone including new sewers and crafters can follow and completely understand

10.Re-draw professional drafted pattern pieces, create a pattern cover

11.Take professional looking photos of finished items

12.Print out the completed pattern

13.Choose another fabric

14.Cut and sew a new item using this completed pattern & instructions

15.Print out the pattern & instructions many times over

16.Print out many photos

17.Glue photos to pattern covers

18.Fold and place in bags for distribution

And this my friends, can take anywhere from 1-4 weeks. According to how much life gets in the way during all these steps of the process.

              We had to say goodbye to our beautiful Willow.  

  She was 15, and had a happy kitty life. Smaller than most cats, she was a girlie girl! I appreciate your companionship,& all your kitty antics.
 I'm gonna miss you. Rest in peace sweet girl.

Happy St. Patrick's Day to all! As usual it has been too long since my last post. I do apologize for that. It's been a very difficult year for us here. I have 4 new dolls (each sold separately)that I made for St Paddy's Day. They are for sale on my website here. St. Paddy's Day Dolls

I also sell the pattern to make these dolls. Her name is Joslyn Annie.  Available in paper pattern form and PDF download at my website, Craftsy, My Etsy Shop, The Patterncupboard, & Patternmart.
On another note My wholesale patterns that used to sell at The Pattern Peddlers are now being sold at QuiltWoman.com.

Hi everyone! OMG it has been way too long since I posted anything. I apologize for that. But I'm still getting past a very difficult year. I'm trying to be positive about life in general. I am slowly getting my crafting mojo back. Still too many sad days. Each morning I pray for it to be a good day, and hope to accomplish something each day. I try my best to have some little drops of awesome each day, no matter how small.
I'm working on some new quilting patterns. I will post them here once I get them done. But that will be quite awhile. I have an idea for about 12 new patterns. The ideas flow out of my brain a lot faster than I can create these things!! hahaha
I have a Chef Pierre Bag Holder doll partly made for a custom order. He is such a great seller. Here's a couple pictures of the Chef dolls I make.