Sweet hearts

Today we have a cute little craft for you. This is a traditional Swedish heart. We usually make these around Christmas time and hang them in our tree but, we thought it would be cute to use these for Valentines day as well this year!

You will need:

two strips of contrasting fabric (a light and a dark will look best) 3″ x 11″

two strips of heavy fusible stabilizer 3″x 11″

scissors

*sewing machine optional!

First iron on your fusible stabilizer to the wrong side of your fabric. This will reinforce your fabric and give your basket some shape.

Next, fold your strips in half and round off the cut end. I use a small glass from the kitchen as a template. It doesn’t have to be perfect just round off the corners.

Then with your strips still folded in half, on the folded side, make 2 cuts perpendicular to the fold, 1″ apart from each other, and 3.5″ long.

Now comes the tricky part.  We will be weaving through and around our strips as opposed to the traditional over and under type of weaving.

Keeping each strip folded, set them down so that the folded sides face each other.Now take the top strip of your light fabric and weave it in between the layers of your first dark strip. 

Then weave the second dark strip in between the layers of your first light strip.

Next weave the light strip in between the layers of the third dark strip. Your first row is done. Now just repeat  starting with the opposite color. Do this for each strip set and you will be done!

You may want to fray check your fabric if you don’t like the raw edge look. You could also do a decorative stitch around each of your raw edges. We did a zig zag on a couple of them and thought they turned out cute.

If you want a tighter seal on your basket just stitch a small seam at the top of the sides to keep it togetherYou could also add a ribbon or ric rac handle by slipping your ribbon in between the layers of fabric at the center of the heart basket and stitching it down.

Now just fill and enjoy!

Freebie Makeover

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Spare Backpack

My kids got these great lightweight backpacks for free from their summer school program. They are not very attractive though, and every other kid at school will be carrying the same backpack! So, I thought it would be fun to try some embellishments!For the first one, I tried adding a monogram. I just found a cute letter on the computer. Enlarged it to the full sheet size (8 1/2 X 11″) Then I printed it. Most printers have the option to print in reverse. It is smart to go ahead and print your letter in reverse so that you can trace it easily onto the back of your fabric. This way when you flip your letter over it will be facing the right direction!p5280028Then trace your letter onto some iron on backing…p5280030I also took a 12″ square of fabric and ironed it down. Then I added her letter H, and a cute little heart (at her request!) Once they were all ironed down, I just satin stitched around the edges and we were done!p5280034

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Finished Product 🙂

Free backpack + Stash Fabric+ very easy = One happy kiddo with a backpack like no one else!

Of course, having four of these little freebies, I couldn’t stop with just one! So, I thought about all the little floating blocks I have…you know the one block that didn’t fit into your quilt top. Well, I thought this would be so cute to dress up with some left over blocks…Just like before, take your block and iron it to the fusible web. Square it up so your edges are nice and clean.p7100008Peel off the back and line it up. Then Press it down!p7100009Can you see the writing through the white fabric? Well, I can too! and it bothered me so, I added some things! a second block, and a little flower. I did a simple zig zag stitch around the entire thing and I LOVE this one! It turned out even better than I imagined!p7100013Necessity is the mother of invention right? and don’t we all LOVE a  happy accident??!!  This will become our new library book bag. So, I don’t have to pay another $5.00 in fines when we go back! 🙂 oops! I was also thinking that this would be a fabulous way to dress up those $1.00 reusable grocery bags that you can get at most grocery stores. Someone once mentioned that they felt weird taking a Walmart grocery bag into a Target. Well, if your bag is all dressed up and you cover the store name with a quilt block, then you are good to go! Take that bag into any store you like with no discomfort whatsoever!  Either way, keep your eyes peeled for fun things that can be made over in a jiffy. They are closer and more abundant than you think! Enjoy!