>Yeah for Monday!

>I can honestly say this is the first time in about three weeks that I’ve been happy it’s Monday! That is because due to the Memorial Day holiday, I have today off!! I do have a little quilting I plan to do, specifically a very cute and fast quilt I’ve gotten all ready to quilt. I call it the Love U Charm quilt but this pattern could be used with any charm pack and about 1 yard of fabric. I’m probably going to take better pictures of the process for the next one I make and then write it into a tutorial. I use this pattern/design at my last Crafty Girls Workshop meet up at my house as a quick pattern for the participants to make for charity quilts. I had two lovely ladies decide to make the quilts and they picked the absolutely cutest charm packs! First, Ms. M chose the Tweet Tweet charms which have the cutest birdies printed on them and would work for either a little boy or girl! She also chose a yard of the green brick road stripe from the Oz collection as the sashing, which is a wild choice but really ended up coordinating really well! And Ms. P chose a Boutique charm pack and the green dots from the Oz collection for the sashing. I think they are very cute together, what do you think?

Well, I’d better get my lunch finished up so I can get to quilting! I hope to get it finished so I can post the final picture tomorrow! Since tomorrow is the first day of June, I’m going to have a special post too. Something that I need help with from all you fabulous crafty peeps out there! Stay tuned!

Happy Stitches,

Anna

>Pillowcase Tutorial!!

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Yes, it’s finally time. The pictures are all ready and the instructions are written. Here is the LOOOONG awaited pillowcase tutorial, created by Regina (the rather silent Crafty Girl). At the end of this post I’ll include a link to open a PDF of this tutorial so you can save and print it and keep it close to your sewing machine (mine is in a different room from my computer.) That way you’ll always have a quick go-to project for fast gifts. By the way, the fabric used in the pictures is Oz by Sanae! We have a lot of it in our shop in various colors for many tastes. We also have a KIT available, just tell us your fabric choices (anything from our shop) and we’ll cut it and ship it to you right away!

Easy Peasy Pillowcase Tutorial

Materials Needed:

3/4 yd for case

1/4 yd for band

1/8 yd for accent band

1-1/4 yd lace (optional)

Fold the pillowcase fabric in half and straighten the edges. Remove the selvage from the edges of all the fabrics. The selvage is the tightly woven edge that is either white with the name of the fabric or may be the same color as the fabric but has very small holes along the length of it.

Step 1: Fold the fabric for the 2 bands in half lengthwise (wrong sides together) and press.

Step 2a: If you are using lace, draw a line 1/4″ away from the raw edge of the accent band (lengthwise).

Step 2b: Pin your lace directly below this line. The header of the lace should be touching the line. Sew in place.

Step 3: Line up the raw edges of the accent band (with lace) and outer band, pin, and sew the accent band to the outer band using 1/2″ seam allowance. (picture below)

Step 4: Lay pillowcase fabric out flat, right side up. Line up the raw edges of the band piece and the pillowcase body. Accent band and optional lace will be sandwiched between. Sew together with a 1/2″ seam allowance. If you have a walking foot, this is a good time to use it. Trim the seam allowance to about 1/4″ and finish the edge with a zigzag stitch over the edge of the fabric (this prevents fraying).

Step 5: Fold the entire unit in half lengthwise and pin together. Take special care to match-up the seams on the band section. Sew together using a 1/2″ seam allowance.

Step 6: Trim the seam and zigzag stitch over the raw edge. Turn right side out and push out the corners. Press.

CONGRATULATIONS!!!! You now have a pretty pillowcase for your bed!

Note: If this tutorial is unclear or you have any questions, PLEASE feel free to ask either here in the comments or by e-mail. We’d also LOVE to see if you make any of these how they turn out!

PDF Version Here

Happy Stitches!

Anna

>In the Holiday Spirit

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Yeah, I know it’s sort of late to be thinking about making Christmas-y decorations but I can’t help it. Lots of people around blogland seem to be finding the time somewhere to make such cute things! For example, Jodi, over at Pleasant Home has created some of the CUTEST table runners ever and with just simple strips! She said I could borrow her picture to show off her work. She takes such awesome pictures too! See!?

She gives pretty great instructions on her post about this as well, if you want to whip one up before all the great holiday parties you’re planning to host! (I’m not going to host any until I get some new flooring and my downstairs painted, but that’s another story.) Now, how does this relate at all to my shop you might ask? Heehee, I have to relate it back, well, wouldn’t this tablerunner look SOOO awesome done up in some CUTE retro fabrics like we have in our shop? How easy it would be to cut them into 2 1/2″ x 11″ strips and one short stack would get you A LOT of strips! Here are some of my suggestions for cute fabrics for this from the shop.

Riley Blake Retro Christmas Short Stack (1 of 3 choices)

or

for a more traditional look

Studio e Christmas Short Stack

Remember you should be able to get several table runners from each Short Stack and if you were to add in a little bit of our solid white, Moda Bella Snow it would be a perfectly quick project. I think the best thing about those Riley Blake FQs is that because they aren’t so traditional and they have snowmen, you can keep the tablerunner out way into January! Fun! Thanks Jodi for this inspiration and thanks for letting me borrow your idea. This is what I call collaboration! Oh and don’t forget, if you want a variety, we do have the Create Your Own Short Stack option too! Then you can get 3 of the Riley Blake and 3 of the Studio e or add in some from Anna Griffin or even some of the red, white, and blue stars for a jump on a July 4th runner. (The combinations are endless you know.)

Happy Stitches to You,

Anna

>Take a Break for Some Java and a Quick Project!

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I had a great time over the loooong weekend, just hanging out at Regina’s house on Saturday. We sewed some items in preparation for a spring craft show, and also got to work on some REALLY fast embroidery projects. This is my particular favorite, look at the flour sack towel Regina embroidered:

Is that cute or what!? As it turns out we have a kit for this exact pattern, and the iron transfers include 9 different patterns in ONE set! The kit also has 3 premium, 100% cotton tea towels that have a blue band, but if you see a different color in our shop, you can tell us and we’ll switch out the color of the towels. We also have plain flour sack towels that look totally adorable when you do a super easy blanket stitch along the bottom as Regina did on hers. Here is what the patterns look like. Click on the picture to go directly to our shop to see the entire listing.

I always feel like I am pressed for time and was sort of getting sad because I didn’t know if I would have enough time to make gifts for my family this year. But I finished one of these designs in an evening and with this kit, there are three towels which is perfect for a set for a family member or, if I were to make up all three, I could pair them with some cute kitchen utensils for a great, easy, practical and home made gift! How about adding in a jar of hot cocoa mix? There are plenty of awesome instructions around the Internet for those. Wouldn’t that be adorable with these coffee themed towels? We also have some holiday towel patterns in a kit that even includes the thread. Now how can anyone go wrong with that!? Well, time to get going, I have to get to work on my second towel for this week!

Happy Stitches to You,

Anna

P.S. The SHORT STACK sale has been extended so check out the 10% discount on all short stack bundles in our shop!