Happy Wednesday! I'm so excited to share my Christmas tree skirt today! I've been having a lot of fun making holiday pieces this year, including the stockings I shared last week: Handmade Christmas Stockings


I have been wanting to make one of these ever since my friend Christina designed it for a swap way back in 2010. A few years later, she released her pattern for it, but I didn't have a tree! Now that we're in a house with room for a full size tree, I finally could make one!


For the fabrics and colors I wanted it to be traditional Christmas colors. I'm not a huge fan of red, so adding in pink helps balance it out for me. I started with this adorable green print from Little Joys by Elea Lutz and pulled blenders in shades to match. For the background and binding I used Le Creme Swiss Dots by Riley Blake in baby pink.


The top actually came together really quickly back in September. Then I let it sit for a little while. I wasn't sure how to quilt it right away, plus I was already worried about the binding!


I ended up dusting off my free motion quilting skills and did a simple doodle loop all over. It felt like it was the right choice for this project and I'm glad I took the time to do it. It took a little while to get comfortable with it again, but it was worth it!


For the binding, I knew I wanted to use the same fabric as the background so that it would blend in nicely. I don't know why I was so worried, the binding went on really smoothly. The inside corners were a breeze and even the inside circle went on easy. I attached it to the front by machine and took the time to hand stitch it to the back.


I love, love, love how this project turned out. It's such a unique design and I think it looks great around our tree. I'll look forward to pulling this out every year!

Happy Quilting!

November Monthly Report

Happy December! It's time for November's monthly report. See past reports here.


At the beginning of the month I traveled to Michigan to teach at this year's Glamp Stitchalot event hosted by Pink Castle Fabrics. I taught at the inaugural event in 2015, so it was really fun to be back again. It was a great time, thank you to all of the lovely attendees, fellow teachers and Pink Castle Fabrics staff! You can see my four samples from my class above.


I got to room with my fellow teacher and friend Amanda Jean at the event, so I knew I wanted to make her a little something! I stitched up a scissor cozy using this tutorial, with some fabrics I knew were right up her alley. This is a really satisfying little project to make, if you haven't made one yet!


Stop the presses, I'm actually knitting again! I have not spent much time knitting in the last year to year and a half. Lately I've been feeling the itch to knit, so I started a pair of colorwork mittens. I'm knitting the Sweet Nectar Mittens. And of course storing them in a drawstring bag. This is one of my favorites, it's the project size (pattern), which is perfect for a project that takes more than one skein of yarn.


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

November Fabric
Used up: 21.75 yards
Brought in: 7.75 yards
Net: -14 yards
Year to date: -29.5 yards

November Yarn
Used up: 0 yards
Brought in: 0 yards
Net: 0 yards
Year to date: +218 yards


I am really happy with my yardage in/out this month. I had a few purchases this month while I was at Glamp and also around black Friday, so I wasn't sure how my numbers would even out. I ended up finishing up a quilt, my tree skirt, two sweatshirts and a few other small projects that helped. 


We spent a ton of time in November dealing with our leaves. This tree in our front yard is so pretty all year, but especially right before it looses it's leaves. Just wanted to document it! We're really glad that we've got pretty much all our leaves taken care of until the Spring.


Spent some time over Thanksgiving weekend making a few handmade ornaments. I make these paper star ornaments every year so that I don't forget how to make them. This is a great set of instructions if you're interested in making some too: 3-D Stars Tutorial


George bun! He's as cute and sweet as ever.

Have a great month!

Handmade Christmas Stockings (and Template Download)

Happy Wednesday! Today I wanted to share a holiday project I made this Fall, stockings! Now that we live in a house and have a mantle, it was finally time to make some stockings.


I knew I wanted to make three stockings, one for each of us and one for George bunny. Initially I thought maybe I'd do something patchwork like the mini stockings (tutorial) I made a few years ago, but I decided something a bit simpler was best. So I dug into my Christmas fabric and had enough of this pretty vintage holly print I found thrifting.


I scoured the internet looking at different tutorials and patterns for stockings but I could not find one with the shape I was looking for. I wanted it to have a classic shape, with a straight "foot" and a straight "leg" too. So, I ended up drawing my own template, and I'm really happy I did! Since I had a hard time finding one, I want to share it with you. Pair it with your favorite stocking tutorial! It's approx. 16.5" tall, 6.5" wide at the "leg" and 10" wide at the "foot".

You can download it here: Vintage Stocking Template Download

For mine, I kept construction really simple. I used fusible fleece on the exterior pieces and added a small hanging tab to each one.


I skipped the cuff and instead made a bow for each stocking. I was inspired by these stockings, but instead of stitching them in place, these bows are attached with safety pins. That way if I ever change my mind and want to switch things up, they're easily removable. I cut my strips 7"x42" for each bow. The red is Kona Red that I picked up at a local shop here in CT.


I love how these turned out, I think they have such a vintage-y feel to them, which is exactly what I was going for. I couldn't find any holders I liked, but I did find some really budget friendly low-profile ones at Target that just kind of blend into the mantle. Win-win!

Happy Sewing!

Black Friday Pattern Sale

It's time for my annual Black Friday Pattern Sale! I'm making things easier for you and me by skipping the coupon code, all patterns are already marked down 25%! Sale will run from today (11/23/18) through the end of the day Monday (11/26/18).

Shop the sale here.

Happy Sewing!

Bear Paw Pillows in Quilts & More Winter 2019

Today I'm excited to share my project in the Winter 2019 issue of Quilts and More magazine! You'll find my trio of bear paw pillows in the Scrap Lab section!


Photo used with permission from Quilts and More™ magazine. ©2019 Meredith Corporation. All rights reserved.

Scrap lab is a section in each issue where three designers share a project made with the same fabrics. This time around it was a selection of solids from Paintbrush Studio. I loved working with these colors!


I made three pillows, which are a twist on a bear paw design! I love how bold they feel, in all solids! Here are all three:








Each pillow finishes at 20" square and has an envelope closure on the back. You can find kits with these same solids here. They fit on our theater seats perfectly!

Happy Quilting!

October Monthly Report

Happy November! It's time for October's monthly report. See past reports here.

Vast quilt top from Patchwork Essentials.


October was a really busy month over here. My parents came to visit, and a few weeks later Michael's grandparents visited too. While my parents were here we tackled a bunch of projects around the house, including preparing and planting grass in our backyard. It was quite an undertaking, but I'm glad it's in! We also took a trip to Monger's Market and picked up this set of vintage lockers. I've always wanted some, and they had a huge selection.


Despite all the work on the house that we did this month, I actually got a good bit of sewing done. I didn't finish anything huge, but I made progress on a number of projects that were lingering. I did finish a few small things, including this patchwork drawstring bag. I had some smaller pieces of my friend Anna's fabric collection, Forage, to play with. I chopped it up into squares and made an Artist size lined drawstring bag!

Patchwork Drawstring Bag Tutorial


I also made a zipper pouch for my friend Brianne's birthday! This is the cosmetic pouch (slightly upsized to fit the zipper I had on hand) from my Triplizip Pattern. I added a little hand quilting for an extra fun detail. It was fun to use some of this linen cheater print from an old Heather Ross collection, Nursery Versery.


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

October Fabric
Used up: 5.5 yards
Brought in: 4 yards
Net: -1.5 yards
Year to date: -15.5 yards

October Yarn
Used up: 0 yards
Brought in: 0 yards
Net: 0 yards
Year to date: +218 yards

Pretty happy with my intake this month. I bought some solid red fabric that I used up right away for a set of stockings (I'll share those soon!). Closer to the end of the month I ordered some more sweatshirt fabric. I finished a new sweatshirt this month, and that spurred me on to make more!


Here is the sweatshirt I finished! This is my second hooded sweatshirt that I've made, and I'm loving it. I drafted the pattern for it from my favorite Loft sweatshirt. It was really simple to create the pattern, and with this one I was able to further adjust it so the fit is just how I want it. For this one I used organic cotton fleece from Birch Fabrics. I'm not sure what color this is, I found it in a remnant bin at a local shop last year.


I started a new project with some of my indigo scraps! I had a bunch of skinny strips, and one day I decided to just play with them. I used the June quilt pattern from my friend Amanda Jean's book No Scrap Left Behind. I only made a few blocks because of the limited fabric I was working with. I'm not 100% sure where I want to go with it from here, but I'm not in a hurry, so I'll let it sit for a while.


This was the first Halloween in our new house, and so our first time handing out candy! We had been warned that Halloween was pretty crazy in our neighborhood, so we decided to dress up and decorate the house too. We went with a Stranger Things theme, I dressed up as Eleven, and Michael is Mike. We had a ton of fun and we went through an insane amount of candy!


Even George was sleepy the day after! And maybe a little grumpy! :)

Have a Great Month!

Happy Halloween!

Happy Halloween from your favorite beanie baby bunny, George! (And Jeni + Mike)

DIY Enamel Pin Banners: New Sizes Added!

Happy Monday! Guess what? I've added two new sizes to last year's Enamel Pin Banner Tutorial! The original size is now the Large, and I've added a Medium and a Small option! You can find the updated tutorial here: DIY Enamel Pin Banner

Want to see the new banners I've made? Keep reading! 


After we moved, I couldn't find my original banner, so I made a new one! Actually I thought I'd given the original away, so I stopped looking pretty quickly. These whip up so quick, so in an afternoon I had a new one to fill. For this banner I used a nice gray Essex Linen and paired it with a fun minty pom-pom trim from my stash. I've added a bunch more pins to my collection, and I've listed as many as I can down below!

Bear Paw Pin by Patchwork Threads, You Seem Cool Pin by The Little Friends of Printmaking,  Leslie Knope Pin by Sweet and Lovely, Puffin Pin by Boy Girl Party, Bowtie Cat Pin by Boy Girl Party, Corgi Pin by Boy Girl Party, Hylian Sheild Pin by The Wooden Pin, No Regrets Pin by Colette Patterns, Hogwarts Castle Pin by Sore Winners,  Singer Featherweight 221 Pin by The Singer Featherweight Shop, Vintage Sewing Machine Pin by Maker Valley, Bunny Knit Pin by Crafted Moon, Blerg Pin by Sweet and Lovely, Kawaii Bee, Mushroom, and Flower Pins by Em and Sprout.


Next up, a medium sized on for my Stitch pins! As you can see I have quite a few of these and I was thinking they'd look better on their own banner. So I chose details that I thought matched well with the movie (Lilo & Stitch). I used a print from Carolyn Friedlander's Euclid collection, plus some pom-pom trim and a couple wooden beads. I love how this one turned out, it makes me smile every time I see it.

These are all from Disney, purchased in the parks over the years!


Finally, a small banner! I recently picked up these spooky pins from Em and Sprout on Etsy, and they seemed like they needed their own banner! Plus a button I thrifted years ago. I used cotton chambray dots in black from Robert Kaufman, which is a real favorite. I liked that it felt Halloween-ish but is still a neutral that will look good with other pins if I want to switch it up!

Halloween Pins and Kawaii Baby Demogorgan by Em and Sprout.


Once I uncovered the first pin banner I made (seen above!), I wasn't sure what to do with it. Then I remembered my huge stash of buttons! I had more than enough to fill it up. I could probably fill up another one to be honest!

No links for these ones, apologies. I bought all of these in person or was given them at events or by friends. I did buy quite a few at Anthology in downtown Madison, a shop I really miss. If you're in Madison make sure and stop in for some great gifts (and a few goodies for yourself!).


Speaking of gifts, these would be perfect to make and give alongside some cute pins! Find the full tutorial here: Enamel Pin Banner Tutorial.

Happy Sewing!