This is the tutorial I promised for the Star Mat I am making for Christmas. In fact, I will make a few of them to give as gifts and for the Holiday Festival I will participate in within a couple of weeks - I am sure the ladies will like to give them as gifts, too! However, as I mentioned in a previous post (here), you can use this pattern with any fabric to match your home decor, or for another Holiday. Although this is a simple project, the tutorial is very detailed so as to make it easy on … [Read more...] about Star Mat Tutorial
Bias Ruler
This Bias Ruler is a 'must-have'! Bias binding used to be a hassle as often I would have to undo the stitches because the strips would not line up perfectly. No more! Cut the strips with the ruler, making sure you also cut on the two notches at both ends of the ruler. Then, align the strips perpendicular to one another, matching the notches. Voila! I have so many rulers, but this one will be used all the time... I got it a few weeks ago and used it for the first time this weekend. Have you … [Read more...] about Bias Ruler
Snow pumpkin?
My friend Celeste and her daughter brought over this awesome pumpkin the other day. I love how they decorated with black and white ribbon - against the white paint. The black tulle ribbon on the stem completes the look. Today I am calling it 'snow pumpkin' because, if you notice on the left side of the picture, we got two inches of snow yesterday (see next picture). No fair! This is still October!!! Sapphire the cat went out on the deck for less than a minute this morning, curious about the … [Read more...] about Snow pumpkin?
Star table mat
This is a quick and fun quilt project! You can customize it for any season. It can be used as a mat for a candle holder, or as a charger. I will make a tutorial for it soon. In the meantime, here are the two I've made so far. Others will be coming up as I just got more cute Christmas fabrics. There is batting in between the layers, and I top-stitched using contrasting thread. I decided to only stitch in the ditch, but any quilting would look great. I can imagine a table … [Read more...] about Star table mat
Christmas Wreath Wall Hanging
I just finished this wall hanging yesterday. The wreath motif came from a Christmas Tree Skirt I found in an old book. It took a while to make templates and cut out all the pieces, but I like the way it turned out. I machine appliqued the wreath and embroidered the words. The picture is not great (rainy day makes for weird pics), but here is a detail: It measures 17 1/2 x 15 1/2. The cross-hatch quilting contrasts well with the shape of the wreath, even though I had to start and stop … [Read more...] about Christmas Wreath Wall Hanging
Creative mending
My youngest son, Ryan, asked me to mend his jeans for him. They are one of his favorites - the other one is just like this one! He actually told me how he wanted me to do it. At first, I thought he wanted me to cut out fabric and sew it on top of the rip (or I could use one of those patches that we glue on the pants). Well, this is what he wanted: I call it "Ryan's broken heart jeans"... Now, he wants me to fix the other one, too. I wonder how long this 'patch' will last, and also wonder how … [Read more...] about Creative mending