A Pillow Makeover...

....or another case of crafting ADD! Last Thursday I had the brilliant idea that we should have a surprise 75th birthday dinner for my FIL on Saturday. No sweat - 48 hours to clean & cook a dinner for 17!

While cleaning up the house I decided that the cranberry pillows on our couch were too christmasy/wintry and that I needed to bring a bit of spring into the house...so I snuck down to my sewing room to see what I could whip up!


Before:


I have long admired the log cabin squares that Jona of Stop Staring & Start Sewing fame has been working on so I decided to give it a try myself!


attempt #1 - shades of aqua and celedon. Some Amy Butler, Erin McMorris and a touch of the new Oh Cherry Oh! It was so much fun I started in on another...


some green & yellow this time - Heather Bailey, Amy Butler, Oh Cherry Oh!...I was really getting the hang of this & could see how Jona was addicted. So back to the basement I went...


pinks & oranges this time....just needed one more to balance the couch!

I think I saved the best for last! I went through the pile of strips I had cut for the other 3 pillows & started with Heather Ross's matryoshka's in lavender and ended up with my favorite pillow of the day!

I may attack the living room pillows next with Patty Young's Andalucia! Let me know what you think about the great pillow makeover!

A Star is Born....

...or should I say, A Store is Born!



I have just opened a second shop on etsy...Betty's closet.

This shop will be stocked with fabric and other fun crafting goodies that I find. I have a stash of vintage patterns I will be listing here as well as some vintage trims and Andalucia ribbons.

So how does someone named Kristen who has a store named gock's frocks open a store named Betty's Closet you may ask??? Well...a little history is in order.

I originally chose the name - gock's frocks as my maiden name is Gocker and it was my grandma, Betty Gocker who taught me to sew MANY years ago!



when I would go to her house and we would work on a project together we always went to the closet in her sewing room to gather our goodies...pins, measuring tape, patterns, fabric, thread and more...Betty's Closet.

Thus...a store was born!