Knitted Breast Cancer Awareness "Ribbons"

I am always looking for small projects to carry with me, something quick and easy to make. When it's something meaningful or something I can give as a gift, all the better.

Every October we see more and more pink to raise awareness of breast cancer. I love this easy and new way to show your support.


All you need is yarn, double pointed needles, matching thread, and pin backings. Buttons are optional, but I liked the detail they added. I chose this yarn because it has a very pretty sheen to it. It's thicker than finger weight, but not quite sport weight.

I-cords are very easy and quick to knit and, as I play around with them, I'm finding more and more uses for them. I didn't measure the length I just knitted until I folded it into a ribbon shape and liked the size.

For the "ribbon" on the left, I used size 3 needles and for the one on the right I used a size 4 needle. For both, I casted-on 4 stitches. These are very easy to customize, using different thicknesses of yarn, different sized needles and number of stitches. They can be any size you like, play around with them.



When the I-cord is the length you like, fold it into a ribbon shape and sew it in place. I sewed it in place while sewing on the button and pin backing. And there, in less than an hour, you have a pretty, new way to show your support to an important cause!

Another wonderful thing about these knitted "ribbons" is that you can make them for any meaning just by changing the color of the yarn:
Yellow = Support Our Troops
Red = AIDS Awareness
Purple = Domestic Violence Awareness
Orange = MS Awareness

So the next time you're looking for a quick, easy, meaningful project, pick up some double pointed needles and make a knitted "ribbon".

A "Gone With The Wind" Christmas Tree Skirt

My cousin, Lori, loves Gone With The Wind. She quotes the movie, has posters on the wall, and every year she buys the new GWTW ornament that Hallmark comes out with. Her Christmas tree is a 6 foot tall tribute to her favorite movie.

Last year Quilting Treasures came out with a line of GWTW fabric. I knew I had to make something for her, but what? I got on this website of sewing patterns, it's where I go when I need inspiration for a new craft. Every pattern maker I've ever heard of, and some I haven't, are on this site. It was here I found this pattern and decided to make her a Christmas Tree Skirt.

The company kept pushing back the release date of the fabric, I originally wanted to make it a Christmas present for her. The fabric was pushed back from Decemember to January. When it was finally released, I started looking around, going to my normal fabric shops, and coming up empty. One store had had it in stock, but it sold out immediately. I found that to be a common problem. As with most specialty fabrics, they are often difficult to find and pretty expensive, especially when ordered online.

I finally found three different online stores with the different fabrics I needed to make the tree skirt. I ordered a couple yards here, a couple yards there, until I had what I needed.

Originally, the tree skirt pattern called for two fabrics for the pie piece shaped sections on the front of the skirt and another for the back. But with all the beautiful GWTW fabric available, I had to do more than that. There are 8 pieces on the front, so I bought 4 coordinating fabrics for the front and back.

My apartment is very small and the biggest problem I have is finding enough room to spread out the fabric to cut it and then piece it together properly. This makes it much more difficult to make large projects than it should be.

I have a large cardboard measuring/cutting board that I laid out on my queen sized bed to piece together the pieces for the front.


When I went looking for the trim, I knew I wanted something that complimented the fabric, but I didn't want anything glittery or tacky. I absolutely loved this one! It is a solid brown, a velvet ribbon with thin brown cord woven around it in a pretty design.

I needed 11 1/4 yards for the tree skirt. They didn't have that much on the big "cut-to-sell" spool, but they did have six individual spools of 4 feet of trim. I ended up buying those six spools and then getting another 5 yards off the big spool and it was just enough.

This trim was more difficult to work with than I imagined. The cords would fray quickly when cut, so I had to act fast and sew the edges before they had a chance to fray.


This is the back to of the skirt. I loved this fabric and thought it would work best to compliment all the other fabrics.

And here is the finished product.

It is huge! I am really happy with how it turned out.

And, even more importantly, Lori loved it!

4-Legged Assistant

This is Seamus (pronounced Shay-mus). He's a 3 year old cocker spaniel and he is my crafting assistant.


It goes back to when he was just a little, 7 pound, 8 week old bundle of fur.

He just wanted to be held, so I set him on my lap, picked up my needlework, and didn't think anything about it. After a while I felt a gentle tugging on the embroidery floss. I lifted my work aside and saw Seamus had rolled onto his back and was batting at the floss with his paws, trying to nip it with his teeth. My first thought was "Aw, that's so cute." But I have since learned better. I should have taken it for what it was: A Warning.

I had to become very careful with my notions. Skeins of floss and spools of thread would disappear. I later found them in his favorite hiding place, under my bed. The labels would be ripped off the skeins and the floss would be unraveled, damp with puppy spit. The thread on the spools was untouched, but the ends of the spools would be chewed to the point where I could no longer use them in my machine.

Seamus has a weird obsession with fabric.

I live in a very small apartment, so the easiest thing for me to do when I need to measure and cut fabric is to move my coffee table and spread it out on the floor. No matter where he is, I swear Seamus can hear me unfolding fabric. As soon as it's set out and I start measuring, he appears. His favorite thing to do is to plop his butt right on the fabric and stare at me, like he's daring me to cut around him. If that doesn't work, he sprawls across it. He doesn't just lay down, he spreads out as far as his body, legs and tail will go, covering as much of the fabric as he possibly can.

A couple years ago, when he was still just a puppy, my parents redecorated their family room and went with a lighthouse theme. I found some pretty Waverly decorator fabric, covered in lighthouses, and decided to make pillows for their couch. As I measured and cut the fabric, Seamus sat next to me, watching my every move. I dropped all the scraps into a pile beside me to deal with when I was done. Like something out of a cartoon, Seamus got up, sniffed through the pile of scraps and selected one. Carrying it in his mouth, he proceeded to creep across the room, heading toward the bedroom. I called out to him. "Hey, what are you doing?"
He froze, dropped the scrap of fabric and sat on it, giving me the 'What? I'm not doing anything' look. I don't know if he thought I didn't know he had the fabric because he sat on it or what, but it was one of the funniest things I ever saw him do.

I try just about every craft project I can get my hands on and several years ago, I bought my first and only latch hook project. It's a small rug of the Mary Engelbreit Scotty dog design and I love her work, so I thought I'd give it a try. Every so often, I take it out to work on it, and, of course, Seamus has to help.


It's nice to know that no matter what project I'm working on, I'll always have a little helper. Whether I want one or not.

Trying something new

It's funny, I remember when blogs first started and I couldn't understand why anyone would want to read someone else's thoughts. Who cares? And now I find myself reading and checking blogs on a regular basis. So, why not?

I have learned so much from others and I enjoy finding others with the same interests as me.

I decided to start this blog for a number of reasons.

1.) I wanted to try something new.

2.) The future of my business is on the Internet, so I wanted to learn more about blogging, and what better way to learn than to actually do it.

3.) It's just one more way to keep busy and stay out of trouble.

4.) I enjoy writing and I thought what better way to use this skill than to write about what I enjoy: Reading, Crafting, and Baking.

There are, obviously, three purposes to this blog:

1-Reading Hello, my name is Joanne, and I am a Bibliophile. I love talking about books. Books I've read and loved (or hated), books I haven't gotten around to reading yet, and anything to do with my favorite authors.

2-Crafting I sew, do cross-stitch/embroidery, and I just started knitting. I love sharing projects I've done, talking about projects I'm working on, and sharing tips as well as seeking advice and ideas from others.

3-Baking I love baking. I never planned on making it my career, it's just a hobby I enjoy. I do have a small side business making small, specialty cakes for friends and coworkers. But I have fun with all types of baking: cookies, cupcakes, bars, etc... I experiment with recipes, I've created a few cupcake/cake recipes of my own and I'm pretty proud of them. It's just one more thing I like talking about and sharing pictures, recipes, and ideas.

I know what direction I'd like to take this blog, but in reality, we all know nothing goes exactly as planned. So I look forward to seeing just where this goes.

Thanks for stopping by!