it frays up so nicely into a thick froth of chenille.

This style is so easy that it would make a great first quilt for a new quilter, yet it makes a plush, incredibly soft blanket.

This type of blanket is perfect for those fabrics you like so much, you don’t want to cut them up. Show them off!

You can see more about cut chenille blankets here.  In the near future, I hope to make another one of these for a little sports-fan-to-be!

I found this prayer this morning and thought it sounded so modern, that it fit “today” so well.  I was surprised to find it was written by Sir Francis Drake in 1577.

This makes me want to dream a little more, dare a little more and try not to worry so much when I lose sight of land.

I posted a tutorial recently for making half square triangles, the basis of this quilt and pillow, if you’d like to try it for yourself.  I plan to use half square triangles for a very different style of quilt for another upcoming little one soon, but for now I’ll just enjoy the feeling of accomplishment from this one.

Have a great day!

I made this little purse sized sewing kit for a friend and then completely forgot to send it to her.  Oops!  Then I saw Sew4Home repost their World’s Cutest Felt Sewing Kit and remembered — Doh!!  I altered their design slightly to fit the little sewing kit “ingredients” I was able to find, and personalized the outer design for my friend who is from and dearly loves our beautiful state of West Virginia.

Click through to see Sew4Home’s cute cat design, but keep in mind that it’s an easy design to adjust.  These make wonderful gifts IF you remember to send them!  (Sorry, Lori!)

I started the new year as I intend to go through it — making quilts!  So many things I sew are given away as gifts, and after the flurry of Christmas sewing I was ready to be selfish and make something to keep.  I made this lightning quilt as a wall hanging for our family room to soften up a space dominated by the TV and computer screen.  My eyes need a break from all the technology!  This quilt gives just enough “homemade” to relax me.

If you’d like to try making one, here’s a link to the tutorial on Jenn of All Trades.  It was her first tutorial and she did a great job!  (Leave her a comment and tell her so if you agree!)  It really is a simple design, and she’s explained it very well.  She made hers as a doll quilt with 3.5″ squares, but I used 5″ squares for my larger wall hanging, with fabric strips 2″ to 2.5″ wide for the lightning.  You’ll want them to be a bit wonky, so don’t stress too much about measuring those strips.  Wing it, it’ll look great.

Since this was meant to hang on the wall, before binding I added a couple little “pockets” in the upper corners and across the back.

I had a piece of PVC cut to fit used a couple Command adhesive hooks to hold it up.  (Some of the left over PVC pipe went into another bit of craftiness that I’ll share with you later.)

I might make this design a couple more times.  I have some fabric from Kenya and think this might be a great showcase for it, with a solid cream background and colorful African wax prints as lightning.  (It would be auctioned or sold to raise funds for MFFO.org.)  This would also make a great baby quilt for a little boy, wouldn’t it?  I’m picturing a dark blue sky with bright yellow lightning.  Don’t be surprised if you see this again!

I’ve spent the day working on a half square triangle quilt.  Isn’t it beautiful when held up in front of a window?  It’s a shame I can’t stitch the sunshine right in.

You can see more variations of half square triangles in finished quilts in this Flickr gallery.  Ready to try it yourself?

You’ll want to start with simple squares.  I like to use charm packs, packs of precut five inch squares that usually include prints from an entire line of fabric.  (The fabrics used here are Fossil Fern by Benartex, a fabric line that’s been in print for an amazing 15 years!)

Sort your squares into three piles by color value: light, medium and dark.  Then pair up colors by taking one each from two different piles, placing the lighter on top with right sides facing.  Draw a diagonal line from one corner to another.  (This line won’t be seen, so feel free to use a regular pencil if you like.)

Use the line as a guide to sew a quarter inch seam along one side,

then the other.

Cut along the pencil line and you’ve got two new squares.

Press the seam open.  Don’t worry about those wonky little bits that stick out, they’re about to be trimmed off.

I’ve started with a five inch square, but I’m going to trim it down to 4.5″.  This will allow me to even up the square nicely.  I like to use a square template for this because it’s got handy lines for me to follow, but you can also use the lines along your cutting mat.  For the first cuts, I line up the center seam with a diagonal line on the template and make sure the fabric under the template is still larger than 4.5″, then cut along the right and top edges.  Having that perfect center line will make piecing much easier later.

Flip the fabric around so the two uncut edges are at the right and top again.  Line up the center seam with that diagonal line and make sure the bottom and left edges are at the 4.5″ marks.  Careful cut the top and right sides.

This will give you a half square triangle made of two perfect triangles.

And then you’re ready to set them out in different patterns and see how you like them best!

I made this mobile of Spool birds several months ago, but they’ve just been hard to photograph, so I haven’t bothered to post about them.  Christmas morning, while waiting for the girls to wake up, I snapped another pic from my seat on the couch.  I love the shadows they cast enough that I think I’ll go on and post this anyway.

Here’s a more straight on view.

Check out the Spool Sewing birds here and find the free PDF pattern and tutorial here.  They’re hand sewn and very easy, a great craft to do on the couch in the evenings while you relax.

If I had high ceilings, I could see me doing something like this:

Sorry for the blurry picture, but doesn’t it make it look even more like they’re flying?  This is the ceiling at Flight in Hendersonville, NC.  I was lucky enough to visit there on a girls’ weekend several years ago.  I have so many happy memories from that trip!  My little bird mobile makes me think of it and smile.

This little play mat/quilt was made for my friends Clint and Angela’s boys.  Clint was battling testicular cancer when we came up with this idea.  This post was the hardest one I’ve ever tried to publish, because I didn’t like talking about even the possibility that he might die.  I miss you, Clint.

9.  A Quick, Easy Way to Frame a Bathroom Mirror

Velcro.  It’s AMAZING.

8.  Dr. Who Fabrics

Whovians want their fabrics!  I’ll be showing you a TARDIS messenger bag soon, I hope, but here’s a little zipper pouch I made with some of the other fabric.  These are large enough to hold a phone and an iTouch, and I made a little stack of them for my kids and their friends at the start of the school year.

7. One More!

I made three of these bags this year.  I got to keep this one!

6.  Sunglasses Case Tutorial

When I was fairly new to sewing, I was upset that I couldn’t find a sunglasses case tutorial.  So I made my own.

5. Button Monogram Pillow

Easy monogram pillows!

4. Snowball Soap

This is a really easy to do with or for kids.  Grate Ivory soap, mix in a bit of water and form into “snowballs”.  They’re even better if you hide a little toy inside!

3.  Mom Knows Best

Bags made from the Summer 2011 issue of Stitch magazine, designed by Ayumi Takahashi.  This one was for my best friend Kim, and in the post you can see the one I made for my Mom, too.  I love these bags!

2.  Stencil Painted Headboard

I still adore this headboard and am so glad for the time I invested in it!  (But it did take AGES to hand paint on these textured walls!)

1.  52 Reasons I Love Him

There are many, many more than 52 reasons why I love him, but I was happy to share of few of them!

Thank you for bothering to read my little craft blog, and Happy New Year!

Did your Grandma have tea towels with calendars on them?  Mine did, and lately I’ve been missing my Grandmas and appreciating all things “vintage” just a bit more.  (I can almost feel a vintage Pyrex obsession coming on.  Red.  Or aqua … anyway. )

Spoonflower has a great selection of tea towel calendars.  Buy a fat quarter and it’s the perfect size for a kitchen towel.  I made this one for a friend, backing it with linen to make it a little more absorbent and substantial.  I also added little ribbons across the back upper corners so she can hook it over a cabinet knob or add a dowel rod to hang it on the wall.  I hope it makes her happy every time she sees it!

The one underneath will be for me!