Favorite Jeans into a Skirt

I made both of these skirts from a pair of jeans! I also added some mudcloth and leather which helped to make very unique skirts.

If you have a pair of favorite jeans you would like to make into a skirt, here are some ideas, but if you would like me to do it, you would have to send me your jeans ( a pair that fits you well) and there is a $65 dollar charge, that includes shipping. I will use leather (if I have it) or mudcloth or any fabric that I find that works with your jeans. Each skirt is different and takes on it's own personality so you will be surprised and happy with what you get.

Me and Writing

I am not a writer but since I have started this blog and reading other blogs, I find that I am always thinking about writing and thinking of things to write about. For instance, I saw a tree the other day in a field, the tree was standing there all alone and it had no leaves on it. I thought what a beautiful tree, I am going to take a picture of that tree and write something on my blog about it. Also there is a young lady at my church that loves purses, every Sunday and every Wednesday (Bible study) she has a new and different purse. And each purse tells me what kind of mood she is in today. Well I asked her what was her favorite thing, and guess what she said, "purses". It shows, and she takes good care of her purses too, along with her great purses, she is always dressed so nice earrings, bracelets, dresses or pants she always has the right purse for each. Here is a photo of my purse diva. I am writing this because when we say that we have nothing to write about there is really alot we can find in our everyday life to write about. See I have started two subjects. Now you can look forward to two new posts from me one about that tree and another about the Purse Diva. That leaves it open for the hat diva, and the shoe diva. Also I still have to write and post about my art which you will be seeing some new stuff real soon. Like this doily.

I love making doilies. And you will see more in my Etsy shop. This is a blue pinwheel doily. It took me about 2 weeks to make. Some people that crochet will say oh that is a long time. I crochet after I have finished a day of sewing. It relaxes me. I have seen some very beautiful crocheting and that will be another thing to blog about.

Late Autumn in Tennessee Part 2

Ok the vote is in, I will make a kimono style jacket out of this beautiful piece of fabric. Thank you everyone that voted, that helped alot. The next time I make a piece like that I will do another poll. So stay tuned. Here is a picture of the fabric I am going to use. It will be a lined jacket and I will use a soft maybe sheer fabric for the lining. Also here is a picture of the style of jacket I plan to use. When using this kind of fabric, the less detail the better.

Would you like to have one of these jackets in your wardrobe collection? What would you wear it with?

Late Autumn in Tennessee

WoW! I created this fabric by sewing strips of chiffon and georgette fabrics together the colors are warm and earthy and remind me of the colors of the trees here in Tennessee at this time of year. Now that I have created it I don't know what to make out of it. Some of the things I thought of are: duster, jacket,shawl, wrap, caftan. Keeping in mind that the fabric is mostly sheer. It is very light and airy. So if I make a duster, it would look very good with a solid color pantset under it, or a straight black sheath. I am going to post it on here and in my Etsy shop. I am offering it for sale in my shop and I thought that maybe there will be a creative seamstress/artist that can think of something to do with it and want to buy the piece. I will leave it posted for two weeks only in my Etsy shop. So think about it.

Will you cast your vote for the one of the items and let me know what you think. Thanks.

Another First

This is from an email I got from my son-in-law. He is an avid formula-one fan. That'a auto racing.

I'm extremely happy that Barack Obama has taken the presidency. There are two things that I really wanted this year, both were obtained in the last week. One a new, inspirational, black President, and Two a new, inspirational, black Formula One champion. Because you all know about Barack Obama, there is no need for me to explain. But you may not know about Lewis Hamilton. The first Black Formula One champion and the youngest formula one champion ever.
Formula One is the highest paid auto racing series in the World as well as the most watched Race series in the world. Forget NASCAR, Formula onesupersedes. Take a moment to educate your self (with the URL below) on another great accomplishment. Not quite the Presidency but another positive step in the same direction for Blacks and the world in general.
Enjoy...Thank God.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport2/hi/motorsport/formula_one/7705325.stm

Me and the First Lady!

I was invited to a friend's house for her birthday. And guess who came to the party! Yes Michelle Obama. She even let me have my picture taken with her. The first thing Michelle did when she came in the door was kick her shoes off. She is a very nice person.
The person who had the birthday was Helen Miller, she is the state senate representative for Fort Dodge, IA. She commissioned me to make a jacket for her and she is also a very nice person.
This is a very historical event and I am so proud to be a part of it.

Endless Possiblities

Since I moved to this little town of Paris, Tennessee, I have not tried to market any of my work around town, until one day I was walking downtown in the city sqaure and came across this cute little shop called Endless Possibilties. I thought it was a great name for a shop. So I went in and talked to the owner. She was standing behind the desk in a daishiki, I thought "this is a good sign" so I talked to her about me displaying some of my work in her shop. And she was delighted. So here it is, I just wanted to share. She not only features artists in the area but you can also bring in furniture and antiques. Not a junk shop. So my artwork looks very nice on her shelves. I thought I would start out with just my boxes first and I also put a vest in there. I think I will add my bags next. So if you happen to be in Paris, TN, stop in Endless Possibilities for a visit.

Before Christmas Sale and Trunk Show

Right now there is a sale going on in my Etsy Shop! You are invited to come browse and purchase anything in my shop at a whopping 30%off. So if you have been eying one of my one-of-a-kind items at 30%off. To get your 30% discount just go to my shop and purchase your item at regular price (using PayPal), and then I will immediately return your discount amount. If you choose to pay with a money order, you can send the amount minus the discount. Also receive free shipping within the Continental USA. So this is a great time to purchase your original design by Stormee's Ultimate Designs.

This sale ends November 30, 2008.

The Scrappy Jacket

This is the Scrappy Jacket that is listed in my Esty shop. I thought I should model it myself. I grabbed a bag of my silky scraps and sewed them all together (randomly) then I cut out the jacket. It was interesting how it came out. I also lined the jacket with a soft coral silk fabric. I also hand sewed small square (plastic) crystal beads all around the band and sleeves. This jacket is so nice, it is light and airy and you feel good when you wear it because it does not feel like you have anything on. If I look good in it you know you will too. If you want to purchase the jacket, you can leave a comment on this blog, go purchase the jacket and I will give you 25% discount. Just purchase the jacket (using paypal) and I will refund you the 25%, what a bargain.

Random Acts of Fans Quilt

This quilt started me back into the world of quilt making. For me, I think I have been making quilts all my life. I don't remember a time in my life when sewing was not the center. My grandmother quilted and won a few competitions with her quilts. She used to have me sit with her cutting pieces for her quilts. Each piece has to be precise. As I grew older I turned my intrest to making clothes. Then I started making quilted jackets and I really love making them. Each jacket that I make comes out so different from the last. Each one that I make, makes me want to make another. I love blending the colors and finding colors in fabric that don't come to life until you add another color with it. So when my Quilts and Heirloom team presented the fans challenge on our blog I decided to take the challenge and make a quilt. We was supposed to do 36 squares any size.

So I cut 36 squares and used the crazy quilting technique on each of the 36 squares. I will tell you that after about the 10 square I was ready to quit. But I don't like to start and not finish so I kept on going. It took about 4 days, to crazy quilt the 36 squares, I did 9 squares a day. Then I sewed the squares together randomly. I did not try to match colors or angles. As I finished each square I turned it upside down so that I would not try to coordinate it with the one I was working on. That is how I came up with the name "Random Acts Of Fans" I love the way it looks sporatic and unconventional. I also made a pillow that looks so prettly with it. It is a small quilt, 48 X 48 inches. Just big enough to cover your legs while you watch tv. I made one for my friend and she uses it at work to cover her legs from the air conditioner she says it is the perfect size. I am often asked how long it took for me to make a quilt. Well this quilt took me about 1 week. I try to do projects that go fast, that is what keeps my art interesting. Thanks for checking out my blog. Please visit my Etsy shop for more details about this quilt and to see some of my other designs I have available.

Sudoku Quilt

After I did the Sudoku Oops with the jacket, I wanted to follow with the Sudoku Quilt. This time I started with a Sudoku puzzle that was already solved. Then I cut squares from 9 different fabrics,put them in piles and gave each pile a number from 1-9. Then used my (solved) puzzle to arrange the top. Now what I had to do was sew together 9 nine patch squares. It was easy, I got a little carried away and the last square that I put in was upside down. But that was the great thing about the way I put the quilt together because it was easy to take that one square out and turn it around. The part I really enjoyed was the free-motion quilting. I did not do any handstitching on this quilt, thank God for free-motion quilting. I like making small lap quilts. I am not ready to commit to large bed quilts. I like to get done in a couple of days. I love the way the colors came together on this quilt it is bright and cheerful. You can go to my Etsy shop to get more details.

I love Paris Swing Jacket

I have always loved the swing jackets, I was going through some old photes in my family album and came across a photo of my mom in this swing jacket, it was a black and white phote so I don't know what color the jacket was she had on. It looked like it might have been white or off white. I always loved the way my mother looked in that jacket with it's big cuffed sleeves. So I decided to recreate that jacket. I made my jacket with denim fabric. Also I used a method where you cut the denim full of small holes, then wash the piece so that it frays, then quilt it to another piece of fabric. I used denim as a backing fabric for this project and I free-motion quilted the two layers together. Then I used that piece for the facings for the jacket and the cuffs. It gave a very nice contrast. I then lined the jacket with beautiful bright green satin lining. Oh and then I added a bag. You won't be able to resist it. It is so nice. And the denim is so soft.

Now that I live in Paris, Tennessee we have an Eiffel Tower Replica which I found to be a very nice spot to take pictures. My friend Yolanda, was a willing model and I think she complimented my swing jacket very well. Visit my Etsy shop for more information and pricing.

USS General Simon B Buckner

When I was about 10 my mother, siblings and I left Germany on a naval ship. We left Bremerhaven Germany and came back to the states, landing in New York 11 days later. The ship was so big and I always remembered it. I remember the name of the ship
(the USS General Simon B Buckner). With this great technology called the internet I have been able to find a picture of that ship and wow, it does not look as big as I always pictured in my mind. I remember a bad storm and I remember calling it a big boat and the sailors telling me that it was not a boat. What an adventure for us. My dad had told me to make sure I ate and kept my head up so that I would not get sick. And that is what I did, my mother and siblings all got sick but I did not, I ate every meal. And I remember eating the most delicious meals. One day my Mother was too sick too go to dinner so my brothers, sister and I went to dinner alone, I ordered apple pie ala mode. I had always heard about it
but had never had it before. I did not know that it was apple pie with ice cream on top. My brother's laughed and laughed at me, my mother have made that for us so many times. Anyway this is a picture of that ship. Click here to see the ship.
http://www.history.navy.mil/photos/images/i05000/i05100c.htm

Featuring Tote Bags

Right now I am featuring tote bags in my Etsy shop. Yesterday I got carried away with this idea of taking the silk cuttings from my serger and arranging them on fabric. I covered it with tulle and free-motion quilted the top. What happened was I was serging some silk scarves for another project and when I got ready to throw out the cuttings they looked so beautiful that I just could not throw them away. So I decided to make something out of them. They add great texture. Please visit my shop to see more details.

Just Shirts

Right now I am featuring shirts in my Bobby Joe S40 Designs shop. My husband and I are working together to design unique and exciting shirts for men. You might think, what can you do different with shirts, well click on the link to our shop and see what we have designed so far. I hope that you will like what you see.

Here is a sample of what you will see there.

Cotton Fields

Yesterday my husband and I went to visit his sister and on the way to her house we passed several cotton fields. Finally as we got closer to his sister's house I could not hold it any longer I made him stop the car so that I could get out and go and touch the cotton growing. I could not believe that cotton actually grows just like the balls you get at the drug store. YOu know the cotton balls that we use to cleanse our faces, I know that there is more of a process to it than just picking the cotton and using it. I went on a search to find out more about the process and found some very interesting articles. On article talks about how the cotton is picked then separated from the seed. There are certain machines that are used for this process and you can read about them in on this website called Cotton's Journey. Of course I took these pictures so that anybody that has not seen cotton growing up close and personal here it is through my eyes. One day I will go to the fields when I see the cotton trucks out there picking and processing. Until then here are some photos I took.

Caramel Cake

One of the mothers at our church made me this awesome caramel cake. I don't want to cut it. It is so beautiful. She makes the best caramel cakes. Anyway here is a photo of the cake. I know that you would love a piece also. I wish I could share with you because you know I cannot eat this whole cake. I think I will freeze most of it.

A Sudoku OOPs

I had the idea to work out a sudoku puzzle on the back of a jacket. So I made 9 squares of 9 colors and tried to work the puzzle without refering to the book. I had a book of sudoku puzzles but do you think that I would have taken one of those puzzles and created the grid from that? Oh no. I tried to do it myself as I made the jacket. Anyway I thought I had the puzzles solved but if you look close enough you can see that I have two of the same pattern in the same line. That is why it is called Sudoku OOPS. But you will have fun creating your own sudoku puzzle. You might want to start with a pencil and a book of sudoku puzzles.
Here is my jacket, you can view it on my webpage, it is the jacket at the bottom of the page.

What a mess!

Have you ever started a project and it just went all wrong? Nothing turned out the way you wanted it to. Well that is what happened to me yesterday, I started a pair of men's trousers, I measured and measured because I really wanted them to turn out great. Well when I got the front of the pants done, they were about 2 inches smaller than they were supposed to be. Then the back was 2 inches shorter, what happened? So I tried to ease in as much of the front but the side seam looked crooked. I did not want to take out any of the pleats so the front of the pants is goint to look funny if I use it anyway. I used a Vogue pattern and I used the size for 36inch waist, but no matter what I do the size is not going to come out to a 36 inch waist. It is alot smaller. So I think I am going to redo the thing and cut out the 38 for the 36. Anyway I just folded these pants and put them aside for a few days, I haven't given up ong the pants but I sure had to put them aside for a while. I think I will go and work on something else and come back to it later.

Coming soon also

Everyone loves to give beautiful handmade blankets, whether they are quilted, knitted, or crocheted. My sister Betty designs the most beautiful knitted blankets, that will be seen on my website very soon. I have some talented sisters and you will be seeing alot of their talent at work on my website very soon.

When you can't have a real dog.

Well I have never wanted a real dog, but I love dogs. I have only owned 2 dogs in my lifetime. But I do like dogs. But the other day I went over to my sister, Betty's house and another sister, Paulette was visiting from Iowa, and Paulette was making these fluffy cute little doggies out of yarn. At first I thought that they were real little dogs but come to find out, they were little yarn dogs that you can sit on your bed or on your couch. She made one for me and I set him on my couch, sometimes I set him on my bed, then sometimes I set him on the bottom step. Makes me feel like I have a little puppy that is getting under foot. You can have one too. Just go to my Etsy shop and you will see them for sell there. Or you can find them on my website. As you can see they come in all colors, you can even request a color.

Poem by Sark

I have always loved this poem by Sar
Stay loose.Learn to watch snails.Plant impossible gardens.Invite someone dangerous to tea.Make little signs that say yes!And post them all over your house.Make friends with freedom & uncertainty.Look forward to dreams.Cry during movies.Swing as high as you can on a swingset, by moonlight.Cultivate moods.Refuse to “be responsible.”Do it for love.Take lots of naps.Give money away.Do it now.The money will follow.Believe in magic.Laugh a lot.Celebrate every gorgeous moment.Take moonbaths.Have wild imaginings, transformative dreams, and perfect calm.Draw on the walls.Read everyday.Imagine yourself magic.Giggle with children.Listen to old people.Open up. Dive in.be free.Bless yourself.Drive away fear.Play with everything.Entertain your inner child.You are innocent.Build a fort with blankets.Get wet.Hug trees.Write love letters.

New Earrings

My daughter, Aimee, made me these earrings. They match my outfit perfectly. We had a very nice day at church. Yes I made my outfit. And I also made the vest that Bobby has on.

The Cinderella Dress

I call this The Cinderell Dress because it is going to take a special person to wear this dress. It is a beautiful sundress, with beads down the back. The fabric content is 95% cotton with 5% lycra for a little stretch. It would not fit my mannequin so it is for someone whose hips are about 32-34 inches. The waist is 30" the length is 38"If it is too big, you can easily alter it, or have it altered. And guess what! It is free, if you are the "Cinderella" that can fit into this dress it's yours. I just need you to pay the $8.95 for shipping (through PayPal or RME). So all you Cinderella's get your tape measures out. The first one to respond and pay the shipping, receives the dress. It is a beautiful dress I would just like to have someone wear it before the summer is over. You can comment on this post if you are Cinderella.