For the past few years I've been a contributor at &stitches and I am so grateful to have been apart of such an amazing group of stitchy people. The decision was made to end the blog but we decided to go forward with a yearlong stitch along that was already planned. Every few weeks one of us will be sharing a prompt for stitching a 1" square. Check out the schedule (and download a template) here, and join along with us. First up was Carina, next was Julie, and you can see Nicole's over on Instagram. And now here's my prompt for you - RAINBOW! I drew 17 ... Read More
Tutorial – How to Make EPP Hexagons
(Please note: This post contains affiliate links as indicated by an asterisk*) English paper piecing has become my favorite on the go craft. It's perfect because it's portable and can easily be picked up and put down (which is key for me trying to stitch with small children around). I always have a pouch full of hexagons in my bag that I can stitch at the library or if I end up stuck in the car with a sleeping toddler. Hexagons are my favorite shape for EPP and I think it's a great one for getting started. Here is a quick tutorial on how to baste and join them. ... Read More
Project Starter’s Anonymous – Another Hexie Quilt
My Save the UFOs campaign is not going great, I didn't finish anything rom my list in March and April isn't looking very promising either. I did start a pretty big project though that I'm absolutely in love with. Despite having two hexie EPP quilts in progress, I started another. I love this because it only uses a couple colors and the placement is random so it's a really mindless project. I keep a pouch full of pink, red, and orange hexies ready to be basted, and then another full of ones that are done. I just grab and start attaching without thinking about it ... Read More
Free Pattern Friday – Happy Coffee
So I was struggling to come up with an idea for a free pattern and Kristy from Simply This Life suggested coffee. I love how it turned out, it'd be super cute for the kitchen! When stitched on 14ct Aida the finished project is 4". Download the PDF here – Free Pattern Friday - Happy Coffee 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 ... Read More
March TSNEM – Watercolor Tinted Embroidery
Yes, I'm aware that March has passed but let's not talk about that. The March theme for TSNEM (try something new every month, read more about it here. was painting. This was a difficult one for me to come up with a project for because I've done tried to many painting techniques in art classes throughout the years. You can see some of them here where I showed off illustration projects I've done. I decided to try out using watercolor paint to add color to an embroidery. I was Googling around for tips and the first thing I came across was a post from my friend ... Read More
Scrapbusting Ideas – Home Projects
So if you are like Alicia from Felt With Love Designs and I, you're always looking for ways to use up your fabric scraps. We started something this year that we are calling the No Scrap Left Behind Challenge. Every other month we are setting a theme and we would love for you to join along. The first theme was "small projects," check out what I made here and what Alicia made here. The next theme is "home" and I have a bunch of fun, scrap busting project ideas. One of my favorite ways to use scraps is by making hexagons. They don't need much fabric and they ... Read More
Geometric Heart Mini Quilt
When I made my geometric heart cross stitch pattern I always wanted it as a quilt. At the time I didn't know anything about quilting and knew I wasn't up for the challenge. A few months ago I realized that my quilting knowledge made it possible for this to actually happen now. I made it entirely with scraps, each square is 1.5" finished, the whole thing is about 9" square. I want to get a wall of mini quilts going and I'm really pleased with this one being the start of it! ... Read More
Cross Stitch Pattern – Earth Core
One of my 2016 goals was to release one paid pattern a month. That hasn't been going exactly as planned since it's already March, but better late than never! My solar system patterns are consistently my most popular - both the rectangle version and circle version. I wanted to make more science cross stitch patterns and so I stitched up this cross section of the earth's core. I love how it turned out and hopefully you do too! You can get your own version over in my Etsy shop! There are more free patterns to download here. If you stitch up one of my ... Read More