Thursday, May 23, 2013

Hobby Hoedown: Joselyn Vaughn and Transformed T-shirts


Please welcome my friend, critique partner, and talented author Joselyn Vaughn to the Hobby Hoedown. I'm thrilled to spotlight her hobby, but I am also excited to introduce you to her brand new sweet romance, Climbing Heartbreak Hill,  just released by Astraea Press on Tuesday!


With the help of the junkyard king and a mechanical bull,
can Tara and Ryan find the courage to climb Heartbreak Hill together?

Not only can Joselyn create funny and heartwarming romances, she is very accomplished with a sewing machine. Take a peek at her cute designs fashioned from T-shirts.


Transformed T-shirts by Joselyn Vaughn

I run a lot of races and quite often the race entry comes with a t-shirt. I have shirts in drawers, hanging in the closet, and stacked under the bed. Some are nice, some are sentimental. Some are not. When they offer an ugly one, I’m lucky if I remember to ask for an XL, then my husband can wear it. He’s somewhat less particular about what he wears than I am.

I’ll eventually make a quilt with the sentimental shirts, but what about the others? I may just refashion them like these.

These aren’t race shirts, but shirts I really like, but are not a style that I wear often.


First, I cut off the collar and sleeves. I made a buttonhole on the bottom, then sewed a channel around the bottom for the ribbon. I had a slight mishap on the purple one when I tried to put two buttonholes on the channel. Somehow (probably user error), they didn’t line up properly, but I figured the ribbon would cover them anyway. I made two more channels across the front and back and wove the ribbons through them. Tie some bows and you’re done. Very easy.

Can you believe my daughter turned up her nose at the purple ribbon when I tried to put it on one of her dresses? But then, she likes to wear polka-dots with camouflage and stripes. Our tastes are a bit different




Back of the Cover from Climbing Heartbreak Hill:

Professional runner, Ryan Grant, blows out his knee training for another attempt at the Boston marathon and the dreaded Heartbreak Hill. Ryan retreats home, not looking for anything more than a fast recovery, but he finds solace in the arms of his tax preparer, Tara Mansfield.
Tara’s cheerleading career ended abruptly and she faces an upward climb beating the stereotype as dumb blonde in her new calling as an accountant. Framed with defrauding the IRS during the last weeks of the tax season, Tara’s tentative confidence is shaken, but Ryan coaches her in ensnaring the true perpetrator. She cheers him on in discovering his identity as a coach rather than an athlete.
With the help of the junkyard king and a mechanical bull, can Tara and Ryan find the courage to climb Heartbreak Hill together?

BUY LINKS:


Amazon


A portion of my proceeds for Climbing Heartbreak Hill will be donated to the One Fund for Boston to help those injured in the bombings at the Boston Marathon.

Contact Links:

Website


Twitter: @joselynvaughn

About Joselyn
I live in the Great Lakes state with my husband, three rambunctious children and two barking Beagles (I suppose that is redundant.) When not suffering the woes of potty training three toddler/preschoolers, I enjoy reading, running (sometimes it's fleeing the craziness at home), reconstructing clothing, thrift store shopping and surfing Pinterest.com. (I spend way too much time there and am getting all kinds of exciting ideas for projects for my husband to do. He is less than thrilled by this.)
I love writing romance because I enjoy stories where everything works out all right in the end and the main characters have a happily ever after. My stories are set in small towns with quirky characters that take on a life of their own.

These shirts are so cute, Joselyn. Thanks for sharing!

Remember to leave a comment because May is my birthday month so I am celebrating with a fun opportunity for commenters.  You can name the shadow person in my work-in-progress!  Having that character's name will be a birthday gift I will truly appreciate. After your name is drawn on Monday, May 27 at 9 pm, I'll give you the info about the character so you can conjure up a name for him. Your name will appear in the acknowledgement section of my new mystery. Please add a note when you comment so I'll know you're interested in naming the character. Put on your thinking caps!

Thanks for visiting the J.Q. Rose blog!

15 comments:

Joselyn Vaughn said...

Thanks for having me, JQ! I would wear one of these today, but it's too cold.

Patricia Kiyono said...

Love your re-fashioned t-shirts! That particular style wouldn't look good on me, so I usually end up making them into quilts, or pillows. I made a reading pillow once that my daughter used for a long time. It's always a good feeling to get extra life out of something, isn't it?

Joselyn Vaughn said...

Patty, I think I would cut the neckline differently on the next ones. I would try to make it wider because it doesn't gather as much as I would like.

J.Q. Rose said...

Hey Joselyn, I am delighted to have you here. You're right about being too cold for a t-shirt. Can you re-fashion sweatshirts???

J.Q. Rose said...

Hello Patty. T-shirts are so comfy. I love the fabric. I never thought about using them again in quilts or pillows. They would make a cozy quilt to snuggle under.

Tess Grant said...

Cute shirts! I have a bunch from my rowing days in college and a bunch from traveling pre-children that I need to do something with.

Happy B-day JQ!

J.Q. Rose said...

Thank you, T! I haven't heard about the rowing days...

Joselyn Vaughn said...

I did a sweatshirt once. It's on my blog. I have some college sweatshirts that I want to do something with, but they are sentimental, so I don't want to screw them up.

Joselyn Vaughn said...

Here's a link to the sweatshirt posts:
http://joselynvaughn.wordpress.com/?s=cut+up+sweatshirt

J.Q. Rose said...

I just visited your blog and saw the amazing sweatshirt you hacked up into a classy, cute top. You're the best!

Miss Mae said...

Great idea to "re-do" t-shirts. No need to throw them away, right? You are surely gifted, I've never been able to do anything like that!

Love the premise and cover of your book. :) Really nice to meet you. :)

Joselyn Vaughn said...

So glad you could stop by, Miss Mae! I think it comes from my mom's refusal to throw anything away.

Anonymous said...

Great to meet you Joselyn. What a great idea with the t-shirts - they really are transformed! I'll pass your tip on to my daughter, who is also handy with a needle. Good luck with the release of your book. I love a sweet romance!

Anonymous said...

Hi, Joselyn! The re-fashioned t-shirts are cute. Happy Birthday!

Joselyn Vaughn said...

Helena and Suzanne, thanks so much for stopping. The shirts are fun and easy.

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