I've been working on some Halloween related sewing and crafting this month, so I wanted to share two of those projects today. Plus some of my other spooky decor!


I seem to make a new Halloween lined drawstring bag every year, so of course I had to make one. Here is the one I made last year: Tiny Treat Lined Drawstring Bag + Other Halloween Projects


Ta-da! How cute is it? This is the everything size bag (tutorial size) from my lined drawstring bag pattern. I used the peek-a-boo lining variation from the expansion pattern, so we get just a little bit of the lining showing! The exterior fabrics are from Spooky 'n Sweeter by Art Gallery Fabrics*. Adorable fabric. The lining is an old print from my stash, not sure what it is. It's a great match though, lucky me! I finished up the bag with twill tape and wooden beads, both of which can be found in my shop.

Lined Drawstring Bag Pattern
Lined Drawstring Bag Expansion Pattern
Cotton Twill Tape
Round Wooden Beads


My other craft project this season is a spooky village!! I have been following the A Beautiful Mess blog for a long time and I was inspired to make my own village this year after hearing Elsie talk about hers on their podcast. They have a few blog posts about it, but this seems to be the most comprehensive: Our Spooky Village

I found all my birdhouses at JoAnn Fabrics and painted them with acrylic paints. I gave each house a shiny surface with clear sparkle paint at the end. I drew on the spiderweb (still need to find a small spider!), with a silver sharpie paint pen. The bats were cut out of cardstock with my Cricut Maker*, and attached with a little dot of hot glue. I absolutely love how they turned out! I want to embellish the purple house but just haven't decided how yet. This was a relaxing and fun project and I look forward to expanding it in the future!


Thrifted this little ghost for $1 this year. I love him.


Gotta have a giant spider in a plant!


A few Halloween softies. If you've been here for a while you know most of my holiday decor tends to be stuffed animals. :)


We thrifted this galvanized bucket this year for $2.50. I filled it with my two Halloween quilts! You can find them here:

Webbed Quilt (+ Pattern)
Halloween Nine Patch Quilt


I didn't get a good photo of it this year, but I always display my Coffin pillow! Make your own using my free tutorial: Paper Pieced Coffin Quilt Block Tutorial


And here is our fully decorated mantle! I made the Spooky Town Wall Hanging last year. I used Dana Bolyard's Ghost Town Quilt Pattern to make it.

Have a Spooky Sweet Day!

*Note: Any links marked with an asterisk in this post are affiliate links. This means if you click through and buy something, I make a small commission, at no extra cost to you.

Kona Cottons Florette Quilt

Happy Wednesday! I meant to share this quilt with you in August, but time got away from me. Better late than never I suppose!

Disclosure: Robert Kaufman provided the fabrics for me to make this quilt.


Last year I was invited to make a quilt for Robert Kaufman's annual Kona Cotton calendar. I chose the month of August because the colors were purple/blue. My favorite colors! I decided to make a throw quilt using my Florette Quilt Pattern with these colors since I'd only ever made it in a wide range of colors. Using only solids is already out of my comfort zone, but solids in the same basic color? Woo! This was a challenge for me, but I was excited to try.

Find the pattern for this quilt here: Florette Quilt Pattern


I decided pretty early on to arrange the flower colors in a gradient. I tried a bunch of different layouts before landing here, but I really love how it turned out. Gives it a bit of extra movement. I also knew right away I didn't want to use a neutral for the background. A soft blue seemed like a good choice instead and I'm glad I chose it. It's a little hard to see in the photos, but in person it is much more obvious that it's blue!



For the quilting I sent it to Melissa Kelley of Sew Shabby Quilting. I went with one of my favorite quilting designs Malachite. It just looks good with everything, I swear!


You guessed it, it's bound up (and backed) in more purple! Here are all the fabrics I used to make this quilt:

As I mentioned, this entire quilt is made from Kona Cottons by Robert Kaufman. The background is actually Sky, the cornerstones are Hyacinth, backing is Grapemist and the binding is Noble Purple. The block fabrics are: Amethyst, Blue Bell, Bright Periwinkle, Hyacinth, Lavender, Lilac, Midnight, Purple, Nightfall, Denim, Cloud, Deep Blue, Evening, Cornflower, Grapemist, Tulip, Lapis, Regal, Princeess, and Noble Purple. You can see all the colors, and the quilt mock-up here: Kona Florette Quilt



And here it is in the Kona Calendar for 2021! :)


This was a fun project that stretched me outside of my comfort zone. It was also one of the only quilts I finished in 2020. I'm not sure I'll ever be super into making all solids quilts, but I definitely want to make more single colors quilts. I just love prints too much to give them up!

Find the pattern for this quilt here: Florette Quilt Pattern

Happy Quilting!

September Monthly Report

It's time for the September monthly report. See past reports here.


In September, most of my sewing efforts were put towards two projects. The first is a project for a magazine, which will be out in the Spring. The second is my green patchwork quilt.


Partway through the month I finished all the blocks for my green quilt and started laying them out. It was only then that I realized I sewed the green/white nine patch blocks with the colors in the wrong spots. The blocks were perfectly lovely as is, but they didn't reflect my vision for the quilt. I ended up deciding to fix them and also make the quilt a little larger.


Much better. I like the blocks before, but I was sad to lose the Irish Chain look. I am so glad I took the time to fix them and to make more blocks. Totally worth it.


My only finish this month was the wine bottle gift bag I shared in my previous blog post (read more about it here). Here is the quick info on it though: I used my Wine Bottle Drawstring Gift Bag Tutorial. For fabrics, I used Strawberry Fields by Rifle Paper Co* for the exterior main, Sprinkle by Cotton and Steel* for the accent and Widescreen by Carolyn Friedlander* for the lining.
It's finished with black nylon paracord from Bored Paracord and Round Wooden Beads from my online shop.

To keep myself accountable for my stash goals, I track my yardage for fabric and yarn each month. Read more about how I track here. Here is how I did in September:

September Fabric
Used up: .5 yard
Brought in: 0 yards
Net: -.5 yards
Year to date: -37.25 yards

September Yarn
Used up: 0 yards
Brought in: 0 yards
Net: 0 yards
Year to date: -1823 yards

Not a lot of activity on the yardage this month. Didn't bring anything in, and only finished one drawstring bag. No movement on yarn related projects.



I had some great luck thrifting this month. Found these two vintage christmas pyramids to add to my collection. I found them at the same time, for only $6 each! They need a little TLC, but I couldn't leave them behind.


Made a batch of bretzel last month, it really hit the spot. I hadn't made it since last Spring/Winter. Such a great recipe. Find the recipe I use and a video of the boiling process here: Bretzel Bread Tips & Tricks


The dahlias are looking so good right now! :)

Have a Great Month!

*Note: Any links marked with an asterisk in this post are affiliate links. This means if you click through and buy something, I make a small commission, at no extra cost to you.

Strawberry Fields Drawstring Gift Bag

Happy Friday! Thought I'd pop in here at the end of the week and share a lined drawstring bag that I made recently. I used my Wine Bottle Drawstring Gift Bag Tutorial to make this bag.

One of my very favorite things about sewing is being able to make handmade gifts, especially at a moments notice. A few weeks ago we were going to a friend’s to celebrate their new homeownership. I realized a little more than an hour before we were supposed to leave, that I didn’t have a gift bag that would fit the bubbly we were taking with us. Rather than have to run out to the store or bring it unwrapped, I went up to the sewing room and in about 45 minutes I had a bag made that I tailored to what I hoped our hosts would enjoy. Not only super satisfying, but helped take the gift up a notch. Double bonus.


I didn't have loads of time to choose fabrics for this bag. I started by choosing a focal fabric for the main part of the bag, and this floral from Strawberry Fields by Rifle Paper Co* caught my eye. It was really easy to pull coordinating prints around it, since it has so many colors in it, and I knew I could also use black paracord for the ties. For the rest of the bag, I went with Sprinkle by Cotton and Steel* for the accent and Widescreen by Carolyn Friedlander* for the lining.


When I'm on a time crunch I try my best to choose projects that I've made enough times that I don't need the instructions. For me, that's got to be a lined drawstring bag! I've made so many, I know I can make them fast.


As I mentioned, I used black nylon paracord for the ties (which I buy from Bored Paracord), and finished it off with 3/4" wooden beads, which I carry in my shop here: Round Wooden Beads.


For the future, I may make a little stash of these to have on hand, just in case! Great for gifting wine or a nice bottle of olive oil. You can find the free tutorial for making this wine bottle bag here on my blog here:

Wine Bottle Drawstring Gift Bag Tutorial

*Note: Any links marked with an asterisk in this post are affiliate links. This means if you click through and buy something, I make a small commission, at no extra cost to you.