farmgirl style…

I’ve been working on a set of farmgirl.ish charms for the MaryJanesFarm store in Moscow, Idaho.

While I was making these I realized that I have slipped past the wanna-be farmgirl and am {nearly} a bonafide farmgirl. 

…I say ‘nearly’ because there are gals that work it so much harder than I, but I truly feel it when I’m out there mucking out the stalls and milking outside when it’s snowing or the temperature has slipped down into the teens.  I’ll admit though that I do really enjoy it all and as soon as we get our little barn a bit further along I can do my milking inside…Whew!

…here are a few other charms that slipped into the mail pouch…

Stylin’…the farmgirl way!

Can a girl {who loves boots of all kinds} have too many?

I’ll just answer that one myself…

No!…it’s just not possible

I picked up these beauties while being ‘thrifty’ last week.

blessed indeed

I recently made these charms for a customer.

Oh, how I loved working with her photos.  I just fell in love with them {in fact, I got permission to use them in other charms…thank you Lauralie for sharing}.  The little girl on the horse in Lauralie herself and her mom is one of the ladies in the other picture…don’t you just love that red hat?

chickens in the basket…

So many of the people in my life know that I am always a good source for getting rid of some of the ‘junk’ they have lying around.

I could spend a lot of time evaluating that and just what it might say about ME, but I won’t!…not today anyway!  After all, I have the greatest junking weekend of the year coming up…this weekend!!!   The Farm Chicks Sale   {hooray! hooray!}

My son recently said, “I have an old bike out back, do you want it???”   …”sure!”

…and such a cute bike it was ~ I saw lots of potential there!

Let me just insert another ‘love’ here…Jennifer Paganelli’s “Sis Boom” fabric.  From the moment I saw a write-up in Country Living magazine, many years ago, on her new line ‘Girlfriends‘, I have been a fan.  I’ve had a little stash here {from quilthome.com} that I have envisioned sewing into something grand but slipped a bit of it away to use on this vintage bicycle re-do.

All I can say is, “Too Much Stinkin’ Fun” ~

I loved every minute of wrapping this bike up in such fun, beautiful fabrics.  I think that I smiled the whole time!  🙂  I called my brother and asked if he could come ‘up’ and take some pictures…he did!

Market Shopper ~ Sweet Rustique

I have had so much fun making this new Market Shopper.

It is a bag that measures 13″ x 27″. 

It’s nice and deep…perfect for that special sale or farmer’s market.

I have been collecting vintage barkcloth {old drapery} for years and it teams perfectly with the rustic burlap.

I always prefer to hi-light any special characteristics…{i.e. time-worn holes, care instructions, etc…}

This one is just too much fun!

I took a part an old oil painting and hand-sewed it to the front of one of the bags.

Oh, My!

This was a pretty perfect way to spend my Mother’s Day…

Farmgirl~Style Market Shopper

I’ve been accumulating these feed sacks for a few months waiting for an opportunity to begin sewing them into Farmgirl~Style Market Shoppers.  They are adorable and a fun new addition to the other {local} designs that I can get my hands on.

I have about 12 of these to work with plus I have been known to switch chicken feed based on the cuteness of the bag so for now I’ve got three of these bags full of feed.

Apparently Purina prints these for a Breast Cancer Awareness campaign that they do in October…they donate a percentage from each bag.  So they are available seasonally.

I almost forgot my favorite touch…a little rosette sewn to the front!

These Market Shoppers are for sale for $28.

You can contact me here to purchase one or see me at The Farm Chicks sale in Spokane, WA  on June 4th {my 28th anniversary} or June 5th!  😉

buried in bags

It was {thrilling!} to me that my Market Shoppers were a HIT at my last show!

You see, this was their first time to make a public appearance and I just didn’t know how they would be received.

Now it’s {past} time to get some more made.

I was excited and relived when I visited my local feed store, who has been saving them for me, only to find that they had about 25 there.  Some of the employees are now saving them at home and bringing them in. yay!

It feels like my house has been taken over by these little critters.

I’ve made a couple just for ‘me’ before, only to sell them.  This week I made another one for myself with a few extra touches {like using my favorite pair of jeans that I was forced to ‘retire’} and I won’t part with this one.

I have several gals waiting for me to get one done for them and in the mail….so, here I am, getting back to it!

market shopper :~: farmgirl style

I’m trying to get as many things done as I can and checked off the {mental} list for my summer shows.

All packed and ready to go…

vintage grain sacks

Recently at a garage sale I ‘scored’ by finding a stack of unused grain sacks ranging in size from small to tiny.

The man I bought them from, who was an ‘older’ gentleman, said they had been in his grandfather’s basement.

They are so old and perfectly preserved.

I can’t bear the idea of cutting these up so I will try to sew them into things, keeping them intact as I go!

I made the one hand bag, using one of the grain sacks as the front pocket.  I like it well enough that I’m hoping to get some more made.

wish me luck on that one

Queen Bee

MaryJane had an opportunity recently to go to NYC to meet with a group of farmgirls.

She called me a couple of weeks before that and asked if I could make some charms for her to take and give to these gals.

She, along with her master designer, Denali, came up with this amazing design…then it was up to me to charm them up and get them off in the mail.

She sent me a few pictures of her time with these ‘charming’ girls in NYC.

There must have been some time slipped in for a birthday celebration as well!

cute cake

feed sack~:~shopping bag

Here is a much more chic feed sack:turned shopping bag.  The last one wasn’t such a great hit but I think that this one hits the mark.

Generally, when I assemble anything…from bags to aprons…I will only use items from my stash.  I never ‘go shopping’ for just the right elements…I make sure that I have what I need right here.

One exception to this might be a custom order where the customer provides the main ingredient…those are more challenging for me, but I love doing them!

The canvas handle is from some yardage that I picked up at Goodwill.  The small, red corduroy handles came from a bag of scraps at a thrift store.  The red and white gingham was previously used for the tables at my son’s rehearsal dinner. The feed sacks were passed on to me by my true-blue-farm-girl-cousin Heidi who we are always keeping an eye out for a splendid true-blue-farm-boy…for only splendid will do!

I love Washington and I really ♥LOVE♥ Eastern Washington so I simply had to save the strip on the bag that said ‘Spokane, Washington’.  I sewed it onto the canvas handle.

It’s just too much fun!!!

Sometimes, as you know, I tickle myself!