.
I hardly remember a time in my life that I didn’t enjoy having a needle and thread in my hand. And in the slower winter months I always find it so soothing to sit and hand sew.
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Debbie Bosworth
is a certified farmgirl at heart. She’s happily married to her beach bum Yankee husband of 20 years. She went from career gal to being a creative homeschooling mom for two of her biggest blessings and hasn’t looked back since. Debbie left her lifelong home in the high desert of Northern Nevada 10 years ago and washed up on the shore of America’s hometown, Plymouth, MA, where she and her family are now firmly planted. They spend part of each summer in a tiny, off–grid beach cottage named “The Sea Horse.”
“I found a piece of my farmgirl heart when I discovered MaryJanesFarm. Suddenly, everything I loved just made more sense! I enjoy unwinding at the beach, writing, gardening, and turning yard-sale furniture into ‘Painted Ladies’ I’m passionate about living a creative life and encouraging others to ‘make each day their masterpiece.’”
Rebekah Teal
is a “MaryJane Farmgirl” who lives in a large metropolitan area. She is a lawyer who has worked in both criminal defense and prosecution. She has been a judge, a business woman and a stay-at-home mom. In addition to her law degree, she has a Masters of Theological Studies.
“Mustering up the courage to do the things you dream about,” she says, “is the essence of being a MaryJane Farmgirl.” Learning to live more organically and closer to nature is Rebekah’s current pursuit. She finds strength and encouragement through MaryJane’s writings, life, and products. And MaryJane’s Farmgirl Connection provides her a wealth of knowledge from true-blue farmgirls.
Cathi Belcher
an old-fashioned farmgirl with a pioneer spirit, lives in the White Mountains of New Hampshire. As a “lifelong learner” in the “Live-Free-or-Die” state, she fiercely values self-reliance, independence, freedom, and fresh mountain air. Married to her childhood sweetheart of 40+ years (a few of them “uphill climbs”), she’s had plenty of time to reinvent herself. From museum curator, restaurant owner, homeschool mom/conference speaker, to post-and-beam house builder and entrepreneur, she’s also a multi-media artist, with an obsession for off-grid living and alternative housing. Cathi owns and operates a 32-room mountain lodge. Her specialty has evolved to include “hermit hospitality” at her rustic cabin in the mountains, where she offers weekend workshops of special interest to women.
“Mountains speak to my soul, and farming is an important part of my heritage. I want to pass on my love of these things to others through my writing. Living in the mountains has its own particular challenges, but I delight in turning them into opportunities from which we can all learn and grow.”
Dori Troutman
Dori Troutman is the daughter of second generation cattle ranchers in New Mexico. She grew up working and playing on the ranch that her grandparents homesteaded in 1928. That ranch, with the old adobe home, is still in the family today. Dori and her husband always yearned for a ranch of their own. That dream came true when they retired to the beautiful green rolling hills of Tennessee. Truly a cattleman’s paradise!
Dori loves all things farmgirl and actually has known no other life but that. She loves to cook, craft, garden, and help with any and all things on their cattle farm.
Mary Murray
describes herself as a goat charmer, chicken whisperer, bee maven, and farmers’ market baker renovating an 1864 farmhouse on an Ohio farm. With a degree in Design, Mary says small-town auctions and country road barn sales "always make my heart skip a beat thinking about what I could create or design out of what I’ve seen.”
Rooted in the countryside, she likes simple things and old ways … gardening, preserving the harvest, cooking, baking, and all things home. While you might find her selling baked goods from the farm’s milkhouse, teaching herself to play the fiddle, or sprucing up a vintage camper named Maizy, you will always find her in an apron!
Mary says, “I’m happiest with the simple country pleasures … an old farmhouse, too many animals, a crackling fire, books to read, and the sound of laughter … these make life just perfect.”
Alexandra Wilson
is a budding rural farmgirl living in Palmer, the agricultural seat of Alaska. Alex is a graduate student at Alaska Pacific University pursuing an M.S. in Outdoor and Environmental Education. She lives and works on the university’s 700 acre environmental education center, Spring Creek Farm. When Alex has time outside of school, she loves to rock climb, repurpose found objects, cross-country ski on the hay fields, travel, practice yoga, and cook with new-fangled ingredients.
Alex grew up near the Twin Cities and went to college in Madison, Wisconsin—both places where perfectly painted barns and rolling green farmland are just a short drive away. After college, she taught at a rural middle school in South Korea where she biked past verdant rice paddies and old women selling home-grown produce from sidewalk stoops. She was introduced to MaryJanesFarm after returning, and found in it what she’d been searching for—a group of incredible women living their lives in ways that benefit their families, their communities, and the greater environment. What an amazing group of farmgirls to be a part of!
Nicole Christensen
Suburban Farmgirl Nicole Christensen calls herself a “vintage enthusiast”. Born and raised in Texas, she has lived most of her life in the picturesque New England suburbs of Connecticut, just a stone’s throw from New York State. An Advanced Master Gardener, she has gardened since childhood, in several states and across numerous planting zones. In addition, she teaches knitting classes, loves to preserve, and raises backyard chickens.
Married over thirty years to her Danish-born sweetheart, Nicole has worked in various fields, been a world-traveler, an entrepreneur and a homemaker, but considers being mom to her now-adult daughter her greatest accomplishment. Loving all things creative, Nicole considers her life’s motto to be “Bloom where you are planted”.
This is all new to me but I may have to do a little looking into it!! I love your rice bag!! And absolutely it would make a delightful gift for any occasion ( my birthday is next month j.k. ) if I search “rice bag” will I find a pattern? Also off this subject have you ever made a quilted tea cozy? I have never quilted & am quite intimidated by it but I think I would like to try a very small project. When my sis was visiting we had lunch at a tea room & they brought my tea in a small teapot covered with a cute cozy to keep it warm. I thought hm, I bet I could do that.
Hi Cyndie!
YES! There is a pattern. I’ve gone back and edited my blog post to include the link to the pattern. It’s toward the end of the blog post.
Years ago I made a tea cozy. But I haven’t made one for years. They are really darling. And yes, I bet you could make one!!!
~ Dori ~
Dori: where would you recommend looking for a pattern for a tea cozy? Pinterest? Etsy? Or elsewhere? Thanks for the link to the rice bag pattern also!!
Happy Sewing!!
Love seeing this idea again. It’s a wonderful way to patch things besides starting a new project! Thank you
Dori
Making a tea cozy would be a great first quilt project for you. 1 made 2 several years ago. If you need help go to a local fabric store and talk to the clerks and owner. They can usually hook you up with a class or group to get started. Have fun, you’ll never regret this pursuit as it brings much pleasure and great friends into your life!
I think I would use it to carry some of my other quilting projects in when I am not at home.
Thank you for showing us how to it is used. I really like how you used tabs to thread your cord through for the handle!
Take care.
Thank you Emily!
~ Dori ~
That is adorable! I have never heard of this type of sewing, but I will check it out soon. I might need a rice bag to carry some of my business supplies in.
Carol,
I went back and edited my blog post to include the pattern that I purchased for making the bag. In case you’re interested!
~ Dori ~
Your lovely bag is the perfect project bag for knitting etc. I would love to receive a gift like this!
Merry Christmas to you and yours Dori, thank you for sharing!
Jutta,
I am using mine for my ball of yarn for a crochet project I’m working on and its great!!!
~ Dori ~
Dori, this bag could be used for all sorts of things, ie., groceries, yarn/fabric storage, a quick overnight bag, the possibilities are endless. I am thinking I would like to try my hand at Sashiko. it really jazzes up mending projects and other things one might sew such as regular quilting items. Think I will search for more info thank you so much.
Jill, yes! I am using mine for my ball of crochet right now and its great! I think the next one I make I will put a little pocket for scissors and crochet hook on the inside.
~ Dori `
Well I am in the grove to do some exploring here. Have a Christmas tree ornament I am going to experiment on with Sashiko. My head is trying to think of all sorts of applications… oooo what fun!
What a fabulous idea. Happy holidays to you and yours.
Thank you Marlene! Happy Holidays to you too.
~ Dori ~
I love your work Dori, you are so creative. Merry Christmas.
Hi Dori! Really enjoyed your post on sashiko embroidery. Isn’t Katrina great? Slow fashion movement, mending, natural dyes. Thanks for sharing these ideas. I have 4 little grand daughters (the oldest is 8) who hang out with me a lot. They want to sew — I was thinking of aprons & you inspired me to use sashiko as part of it. Even though I sew (and MY grandma taught me to mend) I’m much happier playing with clay. :). I like that the stitches can be so casual.
What fun! Thanks for showing us this technique. I learned from a Japanese woman how to do this and included the how-to in the quilting classes I taught. Happy Holiday to you and your family. I’ll bet you don’t have 22 inches of snow. lol
Beautiful Bag Dori!
I love to do hand sewing and this would be great for traveling!
Love all your ideas.
Merry Christmas and Happy New Year
Hey Dori,
Good morning to you from a snowy Alabama. I love sashiko, I use it a lot on my denim quilts. Wanted to share this with you since you have granddaughters. Several years back my God daughters came in dressed in The latest fashion. Jeans with rips in some rather inappropriate spots. I told them no, just no. I gave them an alternative though. We would raid my fancy scrap box and put cool scraps behind the rips. Silk, satin, lace, velvet and much more went into those jeans. When they got to school their friends loved them and wanted to know where to get some. My eldest goddaughter told them she got the jeans at an exclusive designer. You patching your jeans brought back the memories. Good times.
How fun! Thank you for sharing this!
Simply lovely Dori. I am going to try this. It looks so easy and relaxing. Making the coasters would make a wonderful gift. And the bag could be used for almost anything. Have a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year.
I love this bag! How funny it is that just a couple of months ago I came across a book on mending that I couldn’t resist. It introduced me to this type of stitching and sent me on a journey to find out more. I now use it for hand quilting! Boy, does that take the pressure off! I have severe arthritis in my hands and tiny, well-spaced stitches are impossible. This is a fun and beautiful style – and now I’m going to snag that rice bag pattern of yours.
Thank you for introducing me to a new thing. I can see all kinds of uses for this type of sewing. I’m excited to get started on a project. I have a jacket that the dog ate a hole in it. I just purchased a decorative patch but it has not really been an improvement. Now I know what will be.
The rice bag is lovely. It could be used to hold knitting,crocheting or some small little objects. A pack of tissues,a pen,pencil or even a small note book or address book. Thank you for this interesting post. God bless. Wishing you and yours a blessed and merry Christmas. Have a healthy and Happy 2020.
Marilyn
Dori, I think your rice bag is so cute and I know I would probably use it for many different things including a beach bag or even a craft bag for scraps of material or threads or yarns or to carry things from one home to another during holidays when you give gifts for stockings or under the tree. i know it is not very big but the other day I picked up about 3 little dolls and 3 packs of toy cars to donate for the children who don’t have any presents at Christmas and this bag would have been ideal for carrying them to the donation site. They were not to be wrapped so were visible to see what they were on bringing them in. I think the ‘no wrap’ thing was due to all the bad things going on today and unwrapped gifts are ‘safer’. But the rice bag is like a gift in itself also. Thanks for sharing this with all of us. Have a wonderful and Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year for all of us.
Inspiring! Cannot wait to try this. Thanks for sharing! Merry Christmas!
love reading about your project even if was last year