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February TSNEM – Sashiko Embroidery

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This month for TSNEM I tackled something I've been wanting to do for a year (almost exactly, I posted about it February 4 of last year!), sashiko. My mother-in-law got me a few of the sashiko kits and a couple colors of thread. I bought some more colors from TaDaa Studio Stitch on Etsy and decided to make a bit of a rainbow. Sashiko thread is cotton but it's thicker than DMC and it doesn't split into smaller strands. I did another little sashiko project and used 6 strands of DMC and it worked just fine. So if you want to try out sashiko but are put off by the ... Read More

Gifts I Made – Grandkids Signs

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I was really excited for this gift because it gave me a chance to use my Silhouette CAMEO and try out the vinyl material. I made one of these Grandkid signs for my parents and for Josh's grandma. Josh cut a board to size for me and I painted it with a layer of craft paint. I only did one layer with a really thick brush so that you could still see the texture of the wood underneath. Using the vinyl material was really easy and I got it transferred on there without too much difficulty. I drilled a hole in the bottom two corners and used some stone colored ... Read More

Virtual Busy Bag Swap – Sock Matching Game

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I've done some busy bag exchanges in the past, but my ideas are always a bit limited because I have to make so many of them. So when Stephanie from Swoodson Says suggested a virtual busy bag exchange, I was really excited. I would just have to come up with an idea for a single busy bag, so I could put a lot of effort into making a super awesome one. And I might have gone a little overboard... What You Need: Clothespins Clothesline (I found one at the Dollar Tree. I tried to use thinner twine I had around but it wasn't thick enough for the clothespins to stay ... Read More

Book Review – Stitch Love

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I have been eagerly awaiting Stitch Love from Mollie Johanson since I first heard about it months ago! Mollie is the amazingly talented lady behind Wild Olive and someone I am pleased to call my friend. The other weekend Mollie and I went out to breakfast and she gave me a copy of her book and it is so unbelievably adorable, I immediately knew I needed to make a project for Evie. Evie picked this super cute whale purse which was perfect, I've been wanting to make her a purse for awhile. Whenever we go on a walk she always picks up treasures that I end up having ... Read More

Plastic Canvas Valentine’s Box Pattern & Tutorial

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I'll be honest, I never really considered the serious crafting possibilities of plastic canvas until Diane from CraftyPod opened my eyes. Last year she organized the plastic canvas blog hop that I made baby blocks for and I've been wanting to experiment more with it ever since. I had this idea for making a heart box for Valentine's Day but I was struggling with getting the shape right. I emailed Diane and she suggested sticking with 45 degree angles when working with plastic canvas and that helped immensely! I have a pattern for the box at the end of the ... Read More

Gifts I Made – Embroidered Felt Mandalas

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Several people received these embroidered felt mandalas for Christmas this year, made with this tutorial from Wendi at Shiny Happy World. For the larger one I used this Sulky 12 wt. cotton "Petites" thread and I really enjoyed working with it. Combine that with Benzie wool blend felt and it was really great to stitch with! Wendi was also the one that let me know about the existence of this thread, it's really great. The thread can't be split but it's much thinner than DMC thread, it's the equivalent of two strands. It's really nice to just be able to cut it and ... Read More

A Local Quilt Shop – The Notions Nook

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Over the holidays I was in my hometown of Rockford, Illinois and I stopped by the quilt shop Notions Nook. It's a pretty tiny shop but has a lot of really great stuff! They have a lot of 30s reproduction fabric which I immediately zeroed in on. I couldn't resist this buy 5, get 1 free fat quarter sale and I picked up a little rainbow of fabrics. The woman working was super nice and it was just a great shopping experience all around! Besides the six fat quarters, I also got a couple 1/8 yards and a yard each of the pink and blue ... Read More

A Secret Santa Swap – What I Sent

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The amazing ladies at &stitches did a Secret Santa swap and I had the pleasure to make something for Nicole from Follow the White Bunny. I was really excited about the exchange but also very nervous because I didn't want to send a disappointing package! I knew I wanted to do something with cross stitching (it is a stitching blog after all!) but I also wanted to make something more than just a hoop to hang up. I went and picked out fabrics based on the colors that Nicole said she liked and I made a Flower POW Mug Rug from CraftyPod's pattern and a hexagon zipper ... Read More