Candy Cane Stick Horses These ornaments remind me of childhood in so many ways! First, they conjure up images of kids romping around riding stick horses, pretending to be knights or Mounties or cowgirls. They also inspire me to reminisce about my own girlhood, when my mom would do crafts with us. The pattern for these […]
A Swag of Flags This colorful swag of fabric flags makes a great decoration for parties… or for no reason at all. By the way, what is the right name for this thing? A garland? No, that is supposed to be flowers or leaves or something. Banner? No, that is supposed to be one long strip. […]
Hand -Stitched Sweet Bunny I have a deep affection for bunnies. While I have never really owned a live rabbit, I feel as though I do, since our large backyard often has a rabbit or two wandering through it. I love watching them from the kitchen window, as they hop and nibble and twitch their […]
2 Fine Girls and a Fine Dog Last week, I ran across a picture of my sister, Cindy, and I posing with our childhood pet, a chubby fox terrier named Ginger. (We insisted that her name should be Ginger, despite that fact that her fur was black as coal.) I have a strangely vivid memory […]
Human Plushie I had a request to make a human female plushie and (at long last)… here she is! The request was for a specific style of stuffed doll, similar to the Japanese “UFO Catcher” plush anime characters. She was originally supposed to be about five or six inches tall, but she ended up closer to seven or […]
Lighthouse Tea Towels My sister, Cindy, has a vacation home in Maine, right on the Eggemoggin Reach. They spend summers and Christmases there, and also loan it out at other times of the year. When I was at a fabric store looking for embroidery transfers for another tea towel project, I saw a package of lighthouse […]
Cozy Winter Wreath Featuring Wool Roses Doesn’t it always seem a little barren in the house, when the Christmas decorations come down? Here is a special wintertime wreath, meant to be hung when the Christmas décor is packed away. I have seen a lot of these wreaths on the Internet lately, so I’m not sure […]
Cupcake Ornament Made from Recycled Sweaters We had an ornament exchange this year at work, and I wanted my contribution to be handmade. I found directions at the Better Homes and Gardens web site, telling how to make a cute cupcake ornament from recycled wool sweaters. Although I did not follow the directions exactly (I […]
Facebook Twitter and You Tube Throw Pillows These are great gifts for a young person who is a fan of Facebook, Twitter, and/or YouTube. My pillows are made out of flannel (except for the lettering on the You Tube pillow, which is felt.) However, they could also easily be made from fleece or felt. I put a flap on […]
Quilted hoop clock with book title buttons This quilted clock was a gift for someone who loves children’s literature. I followed a great tutorial over at a.squared.w. The only changes I made were: Lining up the hours on the seams instead of the centers of the sections. Using foam core rather than wood for the back. […]
Dishy! Just a quick post to show you the casserole carrier I made. First saw this on the Chica and Jo web site. (Love that web site!) Then dutifully trotted over to 2 Little Hooligans for the tutorial. The only modification I made, was making a round velcro emblem to replace the spoon holder. Yummy!
Chim Chim on the Cheap (and Quick) When I was a kid, we would have called this a “stuffed animal”. But now, there are so many new words that people use to describe plush toys… I’m not quite certain what to call it. Plushie? Stuffie? Softie? I tried to search online for the distinctions between these, […]
A Plethora of New Patches As you may know, I have been swapping patches for a while now… I’ve been experimenting with all sorts of techniques, which has made it a lot of fun! The main image for this patch is a scanned picture from a wonderful Alice in Wonderland coloring book available from Dover Publications. (For […]
Did somebody say HOOK? Recently, I did a craft swap with someone who adores crocheting… and also adores Ariel and other Disney gals. I used this great tutorial to make her a crochet hook wallet, since her Pinterest suggested she might want one. To make it special for her, I added appliques of a couple of […]
Folded edges form multicolor stripes When I was young, I would occasionally help my mom or my sister fold and put away the bath towels. (In case my sister reads this, I should probably admit that it wasn’t very often!) Anyway, I remember my mom (or maybe it was my sister…) being very particular about how […]
Moore Teesha-style! So I am totally addicted to swapping these little Teesha-Moore-style patches. If you haven’t seen some of my prior posts, you can learn more about the technique by clicking this link. Here are a few more examples: As I do more of these, I am starting to experiment with different techniques, for example […]
Ballerina warrior princess! In a recent craft-swap email, my swap partner referred to herself as a “ballerina warrior princess”! I don’t know exactly what it means, but the turn of phrase lodged in my imagination, and I had to create something for her, using that as a theme. This is a vintage photo that I printed […]
Cute as a button! Just a quick post to show you some button cookies I made recently, using directions and templates I found over at E.A.T. (Emily and Amy’s Treats). Their version is way cuter — the buttons are bright and colorful. I did make a few changes in my version. For one thing, I covered […]
