Saturday, June 4, 2016

I'm still here

I can't believe how long it's been since I've posted. Life just seems to have it's own plans regardless of mine sometimes. 

In my absence I've somehow managed to become the 'crazy cat lady.' We already had two cats that are house cats. We live out in the country and wanted a cat for outside. A stray that hangs around my Mom's house had kittens so we decided to take two of them. In the meantime a cat and her kittens started showing up at the office. I decided to try to catch her and the kittens in order to get everyone fixed. Well, we caught her and one of her kittens.

It turns out that the Mama cat was pregnant again and repaid my kindness by having three more kittens!! We've now got 9 cats and one of those outside cats is also pregnant. I don't even know when she went into heat. I've managed to have two of the cats fixed, but how did I even get into this?

Anyway, in my world if crafting, I've fallen in love with cross stitch all over again. I've even started a channel on YouTube for my flosstube videos. You can check it out if your interested. My channel is Taryn Verleye.

One of the projects I've been working on is a set of free patterns from Brooke's Books. It's her Animal Advent Calendar.

How cute is that? There's a set of 25 animals and they're adorable. And, they're free! 

I've also made a few needle minders to go with what I'm doing. 


They're listed in my etsy shop if you think you would like one. 

I'll be back sooner with more updates.

Thursday, February 25, 2016

Quick and easy garland

I made this little garland to hang from a shelf at the office. It was so quick and easy, but looks so cute.


I just put some holes in a few playing cards and ran some twine through them. Then I tied short pieces of various ribbons in between cards. Done!

I put it up for Valentine's Day (I put the queen of hearts in the middle), but it could be for just about anything depending on the ribbon. And what a great way to use up little bits of leftover ribbon!

Thursday, February 4, 2016

From sweater to pillow

Some time ago I watched a video where the speaker was talking about finding usable fabric in unusual places. Since I live in a small town and fabric stores are few, I took this to heart. When I'm out at the thrift stores, I look at things a little differently now. 

So, I found this cute little sweater and thought it would make a great pillow for Valentine's Day.


I left the side seams in, cut off the top (including sleeves), stitched the top and bottom closed, and stuffed that baby. 

I think it turned out pretty cute......if I do say so myself.


It's a lot fun to look at things a little differently. Give it a try.

Tuesday, January 26, 2016

American Spirit

Red is my favorite color and I love Americana type things, so I couldn't resist this cute kit.


It came together so quickly and easily. The stitching was quick and simple and so was the rest of the pillow making. I may have to make another......just because.

Tuesday, January 19, 2016

A gift for my daughter

I made a cute little pillow for my daughter as one of her Christmas presents.

The pattern is just her sense of humor.


The pattern is from Daily Cross Stitch.

If you're not signed up with them, you should go do it. You will get a pattern each day that is free for that day. After that, it is available for purchase. They also offer a monthly club. I'm not a member of that so I don't know really what it offers. But, the patterns are cute and pretty simple. Check it out.

Tuesday, January 5, 2016

Dress garland

Do you make things for other people, but have ideas in your head of how you want that same thing for yourself? I do it all the time.

I don't know how many orders of these little paper dresses that I've made and sent out. From the moment I bought some of this red gingham ribbon, I've wanted to make a garland for my mantel. It's taken a couple of years, but I've finally made the dresses and put them on a garland......and it's decorating my very own mantel.


I'm thrilled with how it turned out.


I should do things for myself more often. LOL

With all that said, though, I do have a set available in my shop. The clothes pins on the garland are natural color, but you may choose any color ribbon you might like if you're interested.


Saturday, January 2, 2016

Happy new year

I know this blog has been sorely neglected. Last year just felt so off all year and I felt overwhelmed much of the time. In many ways it was a tough year......I lost four family members and a friend. But in other ways it was good....a new church started in our area that we really like.

Anyway, it's a new year and I'm looking forward to great things this year. 

Instead of coming up with a bunch of resolutions that I'll be lucky to still even remember into February, I like to come up with a word as my theme for the year. (Maybe I was so lost last year because I don't think I did that.) So, I played around with a lot of different words but none were feeling right. Then The word 'gratitude' rolled through my head and that felt all kinds of right. 

So there you go.....gratitude. I'm going to spend my year remembering, noticing, and looking for things to be grateful for.

I bought myself a cute little journal to keep track of it in.


I'm excited about this and looking forward to the changes that taking the time to see and be grateful will bring.

Hope the new year is bringing you inspiration and excitement as well!