This is my first, simple attempt at “quilting”. Using only 1 yard each of 2 fabrics I made a lightweight summer toddler quilt.

Now that I have done this once, I think I can seriously do it in half an hour (and you can too!) For the front I used 1 yard of nice cotton fabric- I love this series of prints from “The Hungry Caterpillar” books. The backing is 1 yard of lightweight cozy quilting fleece, a marbled red.

1) Line up fabrics wrong sides together and sew around 3 sides. I used a serger on all 3 sides but you could use a regular sewing machine too.

2) Turn fabric so it is right-side out and press neatly around all 3 sewn sides. Fold 4th side under and sew across the edge, starting and stopping just short of each corner.

3) Lastly, starting with the 4th edge just sewn, sew on top of the fabric around right-side edge, turning just short of each corner. This will hold the 2 pieces together. I could have also sewn across the blue stripes for added accent since this fabric is patterned this way (but before sewing around right-side edge). You could also sew a pattern on top, or around the characters on the fabric.

Very quick, easy and inexpensive! Great for summer traveling, picnics, for a crib or pack n’ play!

I picked up these for cheap at my favorite antique store to stack in my craft room. I am alway needing more bins to put my fabric and supplies in and know these will travel! My favorite part is the inside because you don’t expect this bright apple green lining.

I filled the smallest suitcase with my wool yarn. The second with scraps and smaller pieces of fabric. And the largest with fabric I know I have at least 1 yard. This helps to keep me organized and to know where to go when I am looking for a new idea, and easy to travel to another room to work. Plus I like buying something that is multi-purposed; if I get tired of them in my craft room I could always use them for luggage!

I really should learn better how to conserve my fabric and cut things out better because I am always left with these skinny fabric strips leftover. Am I really going to use it if I keep it? Should I get rid of them? …This debate gets me at the end of every project because I hate wasting fabric! But this bag turned out pretty cute so I think I am going to rummage through that bag of scraps that yes, I did keep and see what I can salvage.

I love this fabric and went back to buy it numerous times until one day it was gone forever. I had a request for another bag out of it and only had 2 long, skinny strips left. I don’t like to sew a seam across the middle of a bag so I used extra wide grosgrain ribbon to hide where I sewed the 2 strips together. With fabrics wrong side, I lined up my 2 strips and inserted the ribbon in to sew between. I used this kind of ribbon for the handle too and like the layered look that the ribbon gave to the body of the bag. You could try this obviously with skinnier ribbon or with multiple rows if you have several strips you want to use up. I am excited to revisit some scraps I had doomed to the attic!

Magically this lined up almost perfectly, which I didn’t notice until I took the pictures!

Tada! This is the beautiful serger that I got for Christmas! (Thanks family, I am finally using it!) It was intimidating to even get it out of the box but I am hoping that it will really make my sewing look more professional and many projects much quicker, so it’s plugged in now!

One of the first uses I had for it was hemming a pair of jeans. Apparently alterations are a dying art and everyone that enters my house and sees my machine ends up coming back with pants to shorten. I hate turning denim over twice and breaking multiple needles trying to get over the side seams, so I let the serger cut the fabric and edge the bottom of the jeans. Then I just had to turn them under once and sew the hem on my regular sewing machine. It went really quickly so bring them on friends, I’m equipped now!

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This really cute towel screamed Apron to me and it was so easy to make!

This towel set came folded in thirds so I used the pleats to narrow this towel to better fit as an apron. I made a 2″ overlap from the pleat on the right and left and pinned the neck strap within the pleats. Then sewed across the top, securing the neck straps. Next I measured 15″ down from the top and sewed down the pleats. This left it to flair like a skirt a little at the bottom.

I tucked the ric rac ends under on the back side and sewed down the middle of the ric rac on the front. This would be such an easy way to make any color combination to match any kitchen.

I used grosgrain ribbon for the waist ties. I burned the ends slightly so that they wouldn’t fray and just sewed on the back side along the edge seam higher than where the sewn pleat ended. Super quick and easy!

This apron can be found at my shop in black and red.

This will be the first of many updates I post as I slowly update the house we just purchased from an elderly couple. The first thing you saw when you entered my front door (previously) was a thick, dusty lace curtain on the back of the pretty paned glass door. Followed by its brother door about 6 feet away at the end of the entry. But these door curtains proved to be about the easiest to remake.

Before:

I chose an earthy, brown, gauzy sheer that would give some privacy but still let in some sunlight. I hardly ever pin my fabric but turn it under twice and iron down my hem to make the casing for the top and bottom curtain rods.

Then I sewed each end and slipped it on! The trickiest part was making sure I measured the fabric and sewed my hem at just the right height because I had barely enough fabric to make the two curtains. Of course I bought the fabric because it was on sale, and estimated the yardage using my arm, but that is one of the ways God looks out for me because it is always enough (just barely!!)

After:

These should look nice with the warm color that we are going to paint the long entry and hallway (still to be determined). Any favorite hall colors?

I can’t believe how expensive decorative pillows are to buy!! We recently moved and I want to change some of my old pillows with new colors so I headed to my favorite aisle for inspiration- the clearance aisle at TJMaxx.

I found a single king-sized sham to make a cover for my old couch pillow. I like using shams because they are already lined, thick, and since they are quilted already have style to them. I also like to be able to take the pillow cover off and wash it since we snack alot on our couch. The sham was so long that I could fold it in half and perfectly surround my old pillow.

To make your own:
1. Fit pillow (or make one desired size) and measure how far in to make the seams. I made a mark all the way down with chalk. I liked the striped fabric the inside was lined with and the scalloped edges, so I decided to sew the seams on the right and left on the right side of the pillow sham, stopping a few inches from the top. This left a slight flap so I could see the reverse lining. (do not sew on the wrong sides as I marked to do here!)

2. Sew down chalk line on top (right side) of sham, or on reverse side if you want to turn it inside out (like making a normal pillowcase).

3. Measuring down on the inside along the top I used adhesive strips of velcro every few inches to attach at the top. Even though this doesn’t need to be opened every day I am going to now sew a line down the middle of the velcro because it hasn’t stuck as well as I’d hoped.

I liked that this was $5 update and the recycling of my old pillow!

After many years of sifting through the old lady coats at Goodwill I finally found a good match for me! Unfortunately it came with some stains and hideous gold nugget buttons. But both were an easy fix! Dry cleaning help to freshen it up and I chose some buttons that were silver and had faux pearls on them so it still had an vintage feel. The tie in the back had come unsewn but after 15 minutes of mending I had a great winter coat!

Before:

After:

$7.50 for coat, $3 on buttons, and $5 on drycleaning = $15.50! Not bad!
Send a pic if you have a great update to share!

I haven’t shared my craft space before now because it was basically, well, the dining room table. We don’t have space for me to have my own studio but I have claimed a corner of our office as my own. This view is taken from my living room couch so you can see the need to keep it somewhat pleasing to the eye.

I love this desk that I got at my favorite antique store. The drawer has an organizer it it for my scissors, marking chalk, pins, measuring tape, etc. I got the baskets separately and usually keep my current project in them for easy access. A bright, adjustable lamp provides good, direct lighting over my work. I like too that if we want it to look like a desk I can just stash my sewing machine away.

The rolling cart next to it is where I have organized my mailing envelopes, tags, and stock for etsy or swaps. I have a bamboo magazine holder for craft books and patterns, and matching photo boxes for ribbon and notions. Somehow I manage to fit it all in and store stuff that I only need occasionally in the attic.

I love these cute little jars I got for cheap at IKEA to display all my colorful buttons. Seeing the colors makes me happy and the jar help to organize by color which is helpful for matching and very time saving! And I love the shelf above with drawers where I can just reach up and get often used tools.

So here’s the Oprah-with-her-makeup-off reality of what it looks like mid-project. But now that I have had it organized I am eager to get it back into shape!

See you can pack alot into a corner and make it work! The irony, now that I am organized, is that we are moving to another house this month where I will actually have a whole room for my crafting! I have so many ideas and can’t wait to show you when it is done!

These black and white striped mittens caught my eye as I walked through my favorite store. What an easy, instant way to make a zebra!
So I grabbed a variety pack of googley eyes, felt, and yarn and introduce Zeal the Zebra!
The part of Zeal that I was most proud of was his mane.

To make the mane: I held out my index and middle finger and using black wool yarn, held the end of the yarn with my thumb and ran the yarn around my two fingers in a figure eight. Then I carefully slid the looped yarn off my fingers and onto a piece of velcro about 5″ long (the soft side). Spread the mane out on the velcro as you desire and sew down the middle holding the yarn in place. Then attach the mane strip to the mitten with fabric glue. I used fabric glue also to stick on the eyes and a rounded pink strip underneath for a tongue. A quick 10 minute addition to your kid’s puppet show!

If Zeal is for you I have one left in my etsy shop and his sweet friend Skip the Skunk!