Ten FREE Travel Accessories to Sew

Summer vacation usually involves travel! Are you planning a plane trip or long car ride this summer?  I have compiled a round-up of ten awesome travel accessories to sew for yourself and the family. And all the patterns are free!

These practical and useful travel accessories are easy to sew and will make your journey enjoyable and memorable. Also, you can coordinate with your luggage by using the same fabric for all your projects.

Read more

SEWING FOR CHARITY – PART 3

MAKING THE FIRST PILLOWCASE DRESS (A TUTORIAL)

I recently decided to support a special project by sewing dresses for girls. You can read how this sewing for charity project all started in Part One.  Find out all about a pillowcase dress and what they are.  And what made me decide to sew so many of them.

In Part Two – “Ready, Set, Sew”, my fabric arrived and I found a few patterns to use to make this cute little pillowcase dress.

This week, I had the opportunity to make the first pillowcase dress and share my version in a tutorial for those who are following along.

Let’s start stitching!

Read more

Learn to Crochet Part 6 – Posts

This week we will be posting but not to Social Media. We are going to learn all about crochet around posts.

If you want to learn to crochet, join us in making this cozy Afghan.  Each month, beginning in February, you will learn how to crochet three different blocks.  After 10 months (in November, you will have 30 different blocks in total that we will learn to stitch together in December to make a wonderful lap-sized afghan perfect for Christmas gift giving, although, you may be tempted to keep this for yourself to use for snuggling on the couch.

Our crochet along is finished, but you can start anytime and work at your own pace.

If you would like the entire series in one convenient PDF, you may purchase the e-book in my Etsy shop!

This is the sixth part of the twelve-month series.   See Part One for all the links to all the prior posts.

Let’s start crocheting!!

Read more

Sewing for Charity – Part Two

Sewing for Charity – Ready, Set, Sew!

I recently decided to support a special project by sewing dresses for girls. You can read how this sewing for charity project all started in Part Qne.  Find out all about pillowcase dresses and what they are.  And what made me decide to sew so many of them.

As mentioned, when searching for pillowcase dress patterns, I stumbled upon this fabulous charity, Little Dresses for Africa (LFDA) that believes that every girl in the world should own at least one dress.   Their mission is to plant in the hearts of little girls that they are worthy through the distribution of handmade little dresses, made of pillowcases by loving hands from all over the world.

Read more

Ten Awesome Gifts to Make For Men

Now that Mother’s Day is over, it is time to set our site on DAD. Trying to decide what to get that special man in your life as a Father’s Day gift is not easy so why not make him something that will brighten his day. This list of ten awesome gifts for men provides ideas that are easy to make. All the links include instructions and tutorials to follow along.

Let’s start creating!!

Read more

The Owl Quilt – A New Design by Nana K

This gorgeous but easy Owl Quilt was designed for my best friend’s grandson.  I had previously made an owl quilt for my grandson and had some leftover owls.  As my daughter wanted her quilt all in minky, it was made using a simple four square block.  But for this one, I combined the minky owls with cotton and got creative.  I think you will like the design.

Don’t let the instructions scare you  – This quilt is very simple to make.  Made with 4 inch and 8 inch squares and quilted with a straight quilting stitch, the simplicity of the design is perfect for a baby and an owl-themed nursery. 

Let’s start sewing!! 

Read more

Learn to Crochet – Part 5 – Going Loopy

Blocks 10-12  FLO/BLO   

If you want to learn to crochet, join us in making this cozy Afghan.  Each month, you will learn how to crochet three different blocks.  After 10 months (in November), you will have 30 different blocks in total that we will learn to stitch together in December to make a wonderful lap-sized afghan.

Our crochet along is finished, but you can start anytime and work at your own pace.

If you would like the entire series in one convenient PDF, you may purchase the e-book in my Etsy shop!

This is the fifth part of the twelve-month series.   You can find the links to all the posts in Part 1 HERE.

Now that you know all the basic stitches, it is time to have some fun.  We are going to twist and turn, create clumps and learn some new methods! 

If you haven’t mastered the basic stitches yet, you will find them in the past posts.

This month we are going LOOPY.  We are going to change the basic stitches by crocheting into the front and back loops only.   Crocheting in only the front loop or back loop creates a totally different look to your stitches.

Read more

Sewing For Charity – Part One

SEWING FOR CHARITY – How it Started!

Over the next few months, I have a goal.  I am planning to make approximately 20 dresses and 10 pairs of boy shorts.  Why am I doing all this sewing for charity?  

UPDATE: 4 more parts in this series have been released.

  • Part Two – Ready Set Sew
  • Part Three – The First dress complete with pattern and tutorial.
  • Part Four – Making 20 dresses including “how-to’s” for decorating and things I learned while making the dresses
  • Part Five – The final chapter includes making of the “Britches for Boys”.

Read on and I will tell you the story of how this all started…..

Read more

On a Night Like This (A short story challenge)

This week I am writing an additional blog post because I have been challenged.  Challenged to write a short story using a starting prompt.

The challenge – 

  • Start with the partial sentence below
  • Create a short story by adding to the sentence 
  • Post the story on your blog
  • Share my post with you and to the link party below.  You can find more stories like mine at the party.

So here it goes!!

Read more