June TSNEM – Casting Plaster

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I've had this plastic votive kit from Darby Smart for years, they don't sell the kit anymore but you can buy the individual supplies and see the tutorial here. For the theme of "heavy craft," this seemed like the perfect time to try these. I had also seen this tutorial on making concrete gemstone pendants and had gotten a chocolate mold that's been sitting on my shelf for years. The whole thing seemed like it would be a lot more difficult than it was. Mixing the plaster wasn't hard or overly messy. The plaster came out of the molds easily (though I did drop ... Read More

June TSNEM Highlights and July Linkup

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I had every intention of getting my project done early this month and then there I was, doing it the night of June 30. So I did try something new and I'll be sharing my project tomorrow. But until then, here are some projects by people who were more on top of things than me this month! Stephanie from Swoodson Sews tried out metal stamping. What a neat way to recycle cans! Mary from My Life on Craft shared this photo in the TSNEM Facebook group. She made these amazing plastic beads from an old water bottle! She colored them with Sharpie and melted it with ... Read More

Inside Aurifil and Aurifil Inside

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The other week Alex Veronelli, the CBDO of Aurifil Threads came to Sew Generously, a local quilt store in St. Charles, IL. Mollie, Faith, and I met up for lunch and then headed to the quilt shop. We had all previously interacted with Alex on social media so we were all excited to meet him. The beginning of the lecture was like an episode of How It's Made. Alex showed a video of the thread production process and all the different steps. I find it absolutely fascinating to watch factory video tours, I love seeing the machines that someone invented to do one ... Read More

One Thimble Issue 11 – Wild Things Baby Shoes

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Please note: This post contains affiliate links as indicated by an asterisk. I absolutely love Issue 11 of One Thimble*, there are so many fun projects. When I was picking the pattern to try, I couldn't resist these Wild Things Baby Shoes*. I originally intended to make them as a gift for a friend's baby, but my children claimed them for their toys. Mira told me her mouse's feet were very, very cold and thanked me for making him shoes. This pattern is super adorable and a relatively easy sew (except I don't read directions well so the seam ripper had to ... Read More

1000 Cranes? What Was I Thinking?

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When I started my 1000 crane quilt project I was well aware that the undertaking was insane and that it was going to be a lot of work. Then I breezed through my first 100 in about 3 months and I felt like I was going to be ok and I got a false sense of security. Fast forward 10 months and I have only have 148. So that means that in over 3x the amount of time I only finished half the amount of cranes I did in those first 3 months. And to make it worse, I went to here and checked how many days I have until my target completion day and found there's less than ... Read More

A Cotton + Steel Gift Package

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I've been slowly working on a Cotton and Steel star sampler quilt. You can see the progress on Instagram. I'm using the Cluck Cluck Sew July stars tutorial which ends up with a ton of little triangles from trimming. I couldn't bring myself to throw them away so I kept them all in a bin and decided to pull them out for a gift. I made a ton of tiny 1.5" finished half square triangles and put them together into a zipper pouch for a gift. I also used Cotton and Steel scraps to make a reusable coffee sleeve using this pattern. I had a hard time giving up ... Read More

Free Pattern Friday – Frozen Tsum Tsums

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My Tsum Tsum cross stitch patterns have consistently been my most popular post since I put them up. It's been on my to do list to make more and it finally happened. So here are Elsa and Anna in Tsum Tsum form. Download the PDF here – Elsa and Anna Tsum Tsum Cross Stitch Pattern There are more free patterns to download here, and patterns to purchase here at my Etsy. If you stitch up one of my patterns, I'd love to see it! Tag it on Instagram with the hashtag #hugsarefunstitches So tell me, which Tsum Tsums would you like to see in cross stitch form next? ... Read More

May TSNEM – Hand Quilting

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The May Try Something New Every Month theme was "hand sewing" and I really struggled to think of something I hadn't tried before. I decided on hand quilting. I have tons of quilt tops finished, but I also knew that I didn't have the time to hand quilt a larger quilt so I decided to make a rainbow star mini quilt specifically for this. I watched this video on hand quilting basics by Wendi Gratz. I seriously love that woman, her videos are always the first place I search when I'm trying to learn a new crafting skill, she explains it all so well. I went out and got ... Read More