Teesha Moore Patch Swaps Today’s blog entry was supposed to be just a quick post to share a few Teesha Moore-style patches I’d made recently for a craft swap. But then I got to thinking about patchwork quilting in general, and then about quilting bees. And I began wondering whether these patch swaps are like […]

Cuppa pins! I participated in a “Fabric Lover’s” swap recently, where the participants were challenged to create a variety of items related to fabric crafts. There were seven themes; one of them was TINY, meaning items were supposed to be two inches or smaller. My swap partner had expressed a great fondness for tea, so I came up with […]

Carpe diem! Words are powerful things. They can inspire us, or touch our hearts. For most of my adult life, I have collected quotations and posted them where I will see them daily, in an effort to absorb their messages. Typically, I jot them on wipe-off boards, or print them via my computer’s inkjet printer and then tape them […]

Sharp looking pins These bejeweled sewing pins are pretty, but also practical — they sparle, making them easier to find in the folds of fabric, or if dropped on the floor. They make a great gift for anyone who enjoys sewing. To me, they look like fancy, antique hatpins. You can create a set by […]

May the odds be ever in your favor! Have you read or seen the Hunger Games? My son, Will, was actually the person who got me started on the book series, and then the whole family saw the movie when it came out. As I so often do, I participated in a craft swap on the […]

Pencils take a stand! In my last post, I told you about the Big Bang Theory swap I participated in recently. In most swaps I’ve done, you exchange more than one item, using a points system so that the swaps will be fairly equitable. For the “big” BBT item, I sent this hand-sewn pencil holder, featuring the […]

Upcycled upholstery I admit it. I have a terrible addiction to upholstery samples and drapery remnants. There is just something SOOOO appealing about their colors, designs, and textures — irresistible! So I have a lot of them in my “craft stash.” Very often, you can get several samples that are a “set” — all part of a […]

Yet another fabric journal… I have been ill, so haven’t been crafting as much lately. So the only way I can keep posting is to pull out some old projects. For this post, I dug out another one of the Teesha-Moore-inspired fabric journals I’ve been making for the past few months. I finished this one sometime this past […]

Scrapbook of attended events So, my eldest neice, Anna, is in college in New York, and she is studying theater. As you can imagine, she goes to lots of public performances: plays and shows and concerts and the like. And she is also heavily involved in staging events like those. This year, I’ve been enthused about making fabric journals. Now, […]

Coiled zipper bracelet    This wrist band reminds me of a coiled octopus tentacle. I made it from a vintage zipper from a craft stash I inherited from my mom. My mom was a church craft bazaar organizer, a girl scout leader, and a home sewer. The woman had accumulated quite a craft stash! When I went through […]

Mixed media memory book This past summer, my husband and son and I took a vacation to Los Angeles. The weather was blissful, the sights were breathtaking, and we did, in fact, see an actual TV star in person. When we got home, we missed it so much that I decided to make a memory book, […]

Crochet-topped towel to loop over a handle My grandmother sent me a set of two towels like these many years ago, and they have been used constantly ever since! Because of the button loop at the top, the towels can be attached to an oven handle, a cabinet drawer, a hook, or a towel rack. […]

Build-your-own flower adornments    Is it a hair clip? …a pin? …a headband or purse decoration? Surprise! It’s all of these, and more. This year, my little neices are getting these felt-and-fleece adornents, that feature interchangable multicolored flowers and leaves. The girls can stack the little flowers however they like.  All of the flowers start out as […]

Embroidered Days of the Week Tea Towels A co-worker of mine married recently, and I thought immediately of a traditional wedding gift in my family, tea towels embroidered with various colorful designs and the names of the days of the week. No one knows how many sets of these my grandmother has made over the years… […]

So I recently had a blast participating in Craftster’s “One Tiny Harry Potter Thing” swap. My partner said she liked Minerva McGonnagall, so I decided to make her quill / pencil cup. Since Professor McGonnagall is the head of Gryffindor house, I put a Gryffindor crest on the front of the cup. Since she is Scottish,  I […]

I was enchanted when I saw some wonderful, roughly-quilted scrapbooks on one of my current favorite web sites, Craftster. The creator of these lovely books, Craftster’s Phizzychick, credited Teesha Moore, who has a series of YouTube videos showing how to make these gorgeous journals and scrapbooks. I owe my cousin a wedding present, so it was […]

How to make a sweatshirt scrapbook The other day, I was sorting through some old clothes to donate to charity, and I ran across a sweatshirt from my son’s elementary school days. On the one hand, it seemed silly to keep a child-sized sweatshirt when my son is now in high school, and stands over six feet […]

I made this advent calendar for my nieces, based on instructions from Chica and Jo. Theirs depicted the Grinch; for mine I used my favorite childhood Christmas special, Santa Claus is Comin’ to Town. The pockets are great for inserting small gifts. I used a red felt backing, and trimmed it with fun fur to make […]