John saw all the drawstring bags I’ve made and asked me if I could make him a golf shoe bag for when he goes golfing (one of his main hobbies besides woodworking).
We found a bolt of nylon fabric to line the golf shoe bag and I altered the Sotak Handmade pattern I use for drawstring bags to make it longer for a golf shoe bag. After I made a test bag, I made John a bag.
Here’s the photoshoot:
The nylon liner in the bag is backed with fusible fleece that I had to carefully iron from the fusible fleece side to adhere to the nylon without damaging the nylon with heat. The nylon lining will allow John to easily wipe out any dirt from his golf shoes that gets in the bag.
John told me that “men like long drawstring cords” (Perhaps he secretly did a national survey of preference, ha! And what about women golfers – do they have drawstring preference??!!?!) and so I used long cords used for drawstrings on clothing for the drawstrings for the golf shoe bags.
We are going to give the test bag to his favorite cousin who is also a golfer. They should look adorable on the golf course with their handmade golf shoe bags – ha!
I love Colorado and I’ve been lucky to live here for a little over 6 years.
In 2019 when I was considering the move to Colorado and not sure if it was the right thing or not, the Universe gave me a sign, and this ad was the first thing I saw when I opened a magazine to read while I was still deciding:
That ad did not lie, I feel “truly alive” here!
I want to share that feeling and my love of Colorado with friends and family who come to visit, so I placed my completed Pieces of Colorado quilt in our daylight basement guest room:
In addition to celebrating Colorado, I wanted to celebrate the beauty of the U.S. National Parkssome of my country’s most beautiful and precious lands.
So throughout the guest room I have framed posted of National Parks especially those that John and I have visited (together or in our previous lives) and ones we plan to visit in the near future. I thrifted the pictures – got them from a book on the art of of National Parks posters that was not in good condition but most of the pages were.
I also thrifted all the other art/decor in room, including the beautiful rug which I found for $12 at a Goodwill Outlet (we cleaned it very well).
And John made the bedside tables which include built in outlets for easy access to charging devices for guests.
He also built a little bookshelf for the “guest library” where I keep books that I’ve already read and want to keep for guests to read while they visit and/or take with them home.
Here’s a tour:
Here’s a closer look at some of the cool Colorado and National Park art I found at thrift stores (many for under $5):
I struggle with buying anything new these days and there are so many treasures at thrift stores (plus I am keeping stuff out of landfills and giving them a new home).
On the desk in the guest room (we did buy the desk years ago new), I have a collection of thrifted books on National Parks below a thrifted radio:
Yes that is a National Park (Grand Canyon) thrifted mug holding pens for guests to use (I have a thrifted note pads in the desk drawer).
I also have a basket where we are keeping any maps, brochures or pamphlets were pick up while visiting National Parks for guests to look through (along with some unused slippers for them we’ve collected from hotel stays):
When designing our guest room I wanted to have the things I wished people would have for me when I visit and so we stocked the guest room closet with two (relatively inexpensive) bathrobes so our guests can feel cozy:
I hope this doesn’t sounds like a “soapbox” but I feel strongly that if people spend their money and time to come and visit you, you should make them feel VERY welcome. When traveling it is challenging to be away from your comforts of home so we try to give them as many comforts as we can.
We have our guest bathroom well stocked with what we think guests might need so if they are visiting us they don’t have to worry about bringing a lot of toiletries. We also make sure there are plenty of fresh towels. We’ve even put a little hamper basket in the guest room closet for their dirty towels, etc.
People might think we are “over the top” in our hosting but we want to honor each person who visits our home.
I guess this thrifted sign in our guest room we hung above one of the windows sums it up:
Oh wait, this post was supposed to be about the Pieces of Colorado quilt being hung, I think I digressed – ha!
(By the way if this post left your eyes rolling in your head, just accept that John and I are weird…ha!)
What is an “Agriculture Report”? Well I was inspired by @quiteayarnblog‘s ongoing series of posts titled “Agriculture Report” (and this title always cracks me up) that are actually updates of what is going on in her garden.I just had to adopt this same title for updates on what is going on in my garden/my “garden report“…
Yes if you were in around in 1970 you might remember this song sung by Lynn Anderson – Rose Garden with it’s catchy line: “I beg your pardon, I never promised you a rose garden”:
This song popped into my head as I was snapping some photos for this post on my early summer garden.
We are starting our own “Rose Garden” in the front yard’s raised bed and hope to someday have a large rose garden in the backyard. I love roses and roses are VERY special to my husband John.
John was very close with this paternal grandparents growing up and being at their house was his favorite place to be as a kid. At 14 he even blew off a big school dance to go hang out with his grandparents.
According to John his grandfather had a magnificent rose garden and John would hang out with his grandfather as he tended his roses. It was always his secret dream to have his own rose garden someday. We are working on making that happen.
Slowly, over the past couple years, we’ve been adding roses to the front bed:
Here are some of the other flowers currently in bloom, primarily perennials, that we’ve added in to to keep the roses company:
We’ve run out of space to put roses in the front of the house. So we are planning to change the landscaping of the backyard someday, removing the rocks that border the fence and replace them with garden beds with soil so we can plant a large rose garden in the backyard.
We also have plans (perhaps too ambitious..) to build a greenhouse where the raised bed currently sits and relocate the raised bed. My Pinterest inspiration board is getting full of images of greenhouses!
For now we have plants in pots and a raised bed that John built last year:
I am growing lots of sunflowers from seed in the raised bed (they are doing well so far); and growing a couple other flowers from seed and trying to grow basil from seed, which seems to be working so far.
We bought one rose for the backyard that was on sale and a beautiful red color and for now we have it in a pot until we redo our landscaping (big undertaking) in the future:
I also have my annual tomatoes and herbs growing on my upstairs back deck:
So this concludes my “Agriculture Report” and I just realized I did basically Promise John a Rose Garden – ha!
I haven’t shared an updated tour of my quilting/crafting studio in quite a while. I thought I’d share a current studio tour and share how I’ve decorated and equipped it with many thrifted items bought second hand from charity thrift shops (local and found during my travels).
My studio is located in the former Primary Bedroom of the house. A couple years ago my husband John and I decided we didn’t need that much room for our main bedroom and moved to a smaller bedroom. Originally it was a carpeted room but in summer 2024 John put in a floor.
Here is the current view of the studio when you walk in the double doors:
The cutting table is comprised of two adjustable desks from World Market set at their highest position. John built a shelf that connects the two desks to provide additional storage.
Underneath I store the bulk of my yarn collection which includes a lot of thrifted yarn(last year I came across cheap collection of gorgeous and usually pricey fingerling weight sock yarn in brand new condition at a thrift store that I couldn’t leave the shop without for the imaginary day I start knitting socks…):
I use wine crates from liquor stores (which I either got for free or for a couple dollars) to store my fat quarter fabric collection (which I admit is a bit obscene…). And no I did not drink the wine formerly in the crates in order to obtain empty crates, ha!
John built the shelving unit below the wine crates in the first image above where I store some of my cotton fabric yardage; as well as the ironing station in the second photo.
Most of the art in my studio is thrifted including these two pieces that I love:
If you aren’t familiar with my story I am a widow who moved from my awesome life in Oregon to Colorado in 2019 to begin anew and reinvent my life (which included meeting John, a widower, and starting a new journey). Early on I had doubts about my big life move but signs like this remind me that I am where I need to be; and to “embrace new beginnings”.
I have a thing for fabric scraps (though I’ve culled my ridiculous collection of fabric scraps over the years and donated many bags of scraps to charity thrift shops) and I store my fabric scraps by theme in thrifted baskets in a shelving unit that John built me a couple years ago.
I have most of the baskets labeled with wooden tags and thrifted adhesive letters. In addition to fabric scraps I have some specialty fat quarters and my collection of fabric panels. The two baskets on the second to last shelf are gifts from an Oregon based friend who had her friend crochet me these baskets/bags from recycled plastic shopping bags!
Here is another shelf unit that John made using plumbing pipes and wood. It houses more of my cotton fabric yardage as well as thrifted various thrifted fabrics to include silks, wools and synthetic home decorating fabrics. On the bottom shelf are containers filled with projects waiting to be made.
The shelving unit contains a very important item in my studio: the candy bowl which I found at a thrift store:
Occasionally you need a sweet treat while you are creating!
My sewing table was a free table I got from neighborhood online forum offering used items for free or for sale. John made a topper for it to expand the surface area and put openings in the table to run cords through.
Above the table is the sign: “Happiness is homemade” that I found at a thrift store a couple years ago. It always makes me smile.
In addition to several of my sewing machines, I have various supplies, goodies, a radio and a bluetooth speaker for crafting music, on my sewing table;
All the jars and containers on the desk as well as the decorative plates holding pincushions, etc. are thrifted. Many of the buttons in the jar of buttons and the little spools of ribbon in a jar are thrifted. The wooden sewing box that says “Clarks…Making Cotton” is from John’s beloved grandmother. I am honored to have it my sewing space and I store larger buttons in it.
John built a little extension table for my sewing table and under that table I store MORE containers with projects waiting to be made; and projects in a thrifted basket.
I love the view out my studio windows next to the sewing table. I am surrounded by Aspen trees and it feels like I am in a treehouse.
The little art flags that hang on the window were discovered for $1 all bunched up at a thrift shop. They appear to be images painted on colored kraft paper and using a low heat iron I was able to smooth all the little flags out and hang them at the window.
Above the windows on each side of the sewing table are shelves that John built filled with more thrifted baskets and various decorative boxes storing supplies and fabric scraps:
The area rug in the studio is a Ruggable washable rug that I found for $5 at a thrift store. These rugs retail for over $300! I laundered the rug and purchased the special rug pad for the rug from Ruggable so it would lay properly.
Do you see the exercise ball and thrifted basket to the left of the rug? In addition to a sewing studio, I also use this space as my morning stretching/yoga studio, layout out a yoga mat.
John gave me his old bar mini fridge (which I’ve liberally covered with stickers from my travels) and I added in a tea station to the top of it which includes thrifted containers and baskets for tea and biscuits; and thrifted mugs for tea:
Must have tea and biscuits while crafting!
Maybe I need more tea and biscuits as here is the design wall in my studio that John built which is EMPTY right now as I finish up sewing the binding down on the Pieces of Colorado quilt (see the post Quilt in Progress: “Pieces of Colorado” Update #2):
And finally, the tierneycreates Beastie (made by Helen @ Crawcraft Beasties) hangs out in my studio in her “apartment” box made by John.
The antique sewing machine music box in the “apartment” below was a thrift store find gifted to me by my stepson and his wife a couple years ago.
Thanks for stopping by for an updated studio tour and to see what I’ve collected from thrift shops for my studio!
For the second year in a row I am participating in the annual group Ovarian Cancer Charity Fundraising Quilt headed up by the lovely Australian based quilter Kate C. @talltales from chiconia.
I made two 12.5 inch by 12.5 inch blocks and shipped them off to Australia on Monday. (By the way I have a really good friend and penpal in Austria that I regularly mail letters and I made sure to clearly enunciate the country to the my regular postal clerk and make sure envelope was going to “Australia” this time and not “Austria” – ha! My Austrian based friend years ago sent me a funny magnet with a kangaroo with a slash mark over it that read: “there are no kangaroos in Austria”!)
This year’s theme is “Tealing All Our Stories” and we are to make bookcase shelf themed blocks. Check out Kate’s blog I linked in the first paragraph if you’d like to see some of the blocks she’s received from other quilters around the world.
So if you haven’t guessed, we needed to make teal, the color used to represent Ovarian Cancer Awareness, the feature color in our blocks.
I had a fat quarter of tiny stripe pattern Figo fabric I won at QuiltCon in February (see my post QuiltCon February 2025, Phoenix Arizona if you’d like to read about my first trip to QuiltCon), that reminded me of pages in a book seen from the side of a book and that was my inspiration.
I created two blocks of stacked books view from the pages side:
I happened to have in my fabric stash some unusual ombre teal fabric that sort of looked like mountains and I used that as the. background for my book stacks to represent Colorado where I live.
In order to unify all the bookcase blocks, Kate asked us all to put a 1 inch finished border around our blocks and that is why you see a cream border. She also asked us to use a dark teal as the background for whatever image we create for our blocks.
Fingers crossed the blocks arrive safe to Kate’s house in Australia (and don’t wander over to Austria, ha!)
If you are interested in the progress of this quilt please follow Kate’s blog @talltales from chiconia; and I will try to post an update on the quilt when she has the layout complete (she does a tremendous amoung of work on these annual charity quilts, the rest of us just have to make a couple blocks and ship them off!)
Postscript
I’ve fallen a bit behind in blogging as we’ve been enjoying the late Spring/nearly Summer warm weather and going on some fun holidays and roadtrips – from day long trips where we come home at night to trips over several days. I’ll blog about some of them in the future.
This past weekend we went to the community garage/yard sale and picked up some fun items, each for $2:
A leather top hat for John (for fun or costume wear):
And a lovely cast iron Japanese tea pot set for me:
tierneycreates 