I don’t know about you, but about this time of year, I am tired of the long, dreary winter! This apron has cheered me right up! It is made from a Michael Miller fabric that has borders along each selvage. We used the border print for both the top and bottom of the apron–so fast, fun and easy! The pattern is “Emily’s Apron.” Try one—-it’ll make your wintertime blues fly away!
Ahh…Spring!
March 1st, 2010Fun With Flowers, Hairclips, and Headbands
December 19th, 2009Let’s face it, girls love hair accessories! Here are a few ideas for some quick and easy ways to dress up clips and headbands:
From the Moda Bakeshop, dress up a clip with a simple cover button:
With Heather Bailey, I say Hooray for Headbands!
Add a fabric flower from one of many online tutorials to an already-made headband, or simply put a clip on the back. Check out a couple of tutorials here.
And finally, this simple but amazing pattern for covering a cheap plastic 1/4″ headband has got to be one of my new favorites! I’m talking a 10-minute project here….
Fun With Fabric and Food
December 12th, 2009Calli at Make it Do inspired this great idea for a last-minute Holiday Gift:


Here is the recipe:
Oatmeal Cookies in a Jar
- 3/4 cup white sugar
- 3/4 cup packed brown sugar
- 1 cup rolled oats
- 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
- 1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1 cup chocolate chips
Using a 1 quart jar, layer in the ingredients in the order given. *IMPORTANT: Pack down the jar after each addition. Put the lid on, and cover with a 6-inch square of fabric. (You could make a circle. I cut the corners off my square so they didn’t stick out so much). Secure the fabric over the lid using a rubber band, then cover the rubber band by tying a nice piece of ribbon around the lid. Attach a label to the jar with the following instructions:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. In a medium bowl, cream together 3/4 cup of softened butter, with 2 eggs and 1 teaspoon of vanilla. Add the entire contents of the jar, and mix by hand until combined. Drop dough by heaping spoonfuls onto an unprepared cookie sheet. Bake for 12 to 15 minutes. Makes 2 dozen cookies.
I made some labels for you, which you can access and print by clicking on this link: Cookies for Santa Labels.psd
Another idea: Cut a 10-inch square from your favorite Christmas fabric and wrap up some candy, tie with a ribbon, and you have a great party favor! I wrapped Ghirardelli Peppermint Bark in this candy cane fabric:

You can also wrap a charm square around your favorite candy bar and tie with a ribbon. Attach to a wrapped package instead of a bow.

Another fun idea is to make a drawstring bag and put gingerbread cookie mix inside. Tie some cookie cutters to the bag. Don’t forget to include instructions for making the cookies on a gift tag.

Santa’s Treasure Sack
November 19th, 2009Loving this finished project! It went together much easier than I anticipated. It seems like it took longer to cut out all the pieces than it did to actually sew the project. The pattern calls for stitched Santa’s, etc. where I have the brown floral panels. While I think they are amazingly cute, I decided to be realistic–I would NEVER finish the project if I did them! So I opted for the brown floral instead, and I’m quite pleased with the result. All you ladies who are making this project–I’d love to see yours when they are finished!

Fanciful Flowers
November 12th, 2009As promised (many weeks ago), a picture of my Fanciful Flowers quilt from the book Material Obsession. I love the way it turned out.

I still need to stitch the seeds onto the flowers, but decided to wait until after it is quilted–I made tiny yo-yos rather than applique pieces–love the dimension it will give the quilt when it’s all done!

I think I’ve decided to hand-quilt this baby. I went back and forth between hand and machine quilting–but in the end, I decided I loved the way it looks in the book–hand quilted! I haven’t hand quilted anything for a long time, but I love to do it. Looking forward to the challenge!
Can’t Get This One Out of My Mind
November 11th, 2009Just a little project I’ve been obsessing about. My inspiration came from this picture and a paper pieced stocking pattern from Jillily Studio. Check back in a few days for the unveiling of the finished project.

Cold Hands, Warm Hearts
October 30th, 2009
Our Quilt for the Holiday Shop Hop 2009
“Cold Hands, Warm Hearts”
For those of you who received the pattern and need fabric requirements, here they are:
1/4 yard each of:
4 reds
4 greens
4 blues
4 creams
3/8 yard inner border
1/2 yard binding
This was enough fabric for all the blocks and borders–obviously I pieced together my leftover fabric after making the blocks to make the outer border. This quilt is 50″ x 50″
Have you Seen This Book?
July 4th, 2009We are loving the new book Material Obsession by Kathy Doughty and Sarah Fielke. Apparently many of our customers are, too. It has been flying off the shelf. We’ll be receiving more this week. The subtitle of the book is “Modern Quilts with Traditional Roots” and these quilts are so fun! They range in difficulty from Easy to Advanced, and if you are into happy quilts (which I currently am) this book is for you! I was going to list which quilts I really love, but there are too many (23 projects are included in this book). I am currently working on one called Fanciful Flowers–pictures coming soon! The other thing that I love about this book is that it has a section on quilting basics in the back. What can I say? It’s a must-have for every quilter. Price is $24.95, and the bonus is, all books and patterns are 15% off now through July 11th. Get your copy soon!

The Schlep Bag
May 21st, 2009Several people have come into the store to buy fabric for the Schlep Bag. This is a fun, big bag that goes together really quickly. It is an online pattern that you can find here. Be aware though, that there are a few glitches in the pattern. I have detailed them on our Free Pattern Page, and included photos to help your creative process go smoothly. We’ve seen these made from 8″ squares like the pattern calls for, 6″ squares, and charm squares. For a really great BIG tote try 10″ squares!

Apron Winner
May 1st, 2009Congratulations to Stephanie Tripp and her daughter who won our apron drawing. They chose this very cute black and white half apron to share. What a fun way to end our month of Aprons in April!










