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!

Color Wheel= Sunshine

So yes, its been snowing, and its really cold!  I don’t know about all of you but about this time of year I start to miss the sunshine 🙂 So, I thought, what could I do to brighten up my day?  Well sewing something usually helps and sewing something bright is even better!

I’ve been dying to use a Kona Solids Charm pack so here it is!

I took one charm pack and cut each 5″ square into a 2.5″ rectangle.P1010001

Then I took my dresden ruler and cut twenty of them into dresden plate triangles.

lovely scraps!
lovely scraps!

I assembled the Dresden plate and machine appliqued it onto a black background (15.5″ square). I also machine appliqued the black center circle.

Then I took the remaining rectangles from the charm pack and made a piano key border for the dresden. It measures approx. 25 inches square.

I still need to decide how to quilt it. and what color thread to use! (the really tough choices:) I absolutely love this little mini quilt! It is so bright and cheerful! and so easy peasy… This is a perfect project for a dreary winter afternoon! Enjoy!

All done!
All done!

Double Hourglass Tablerunner

This was a fun one for me! I thought I had done just about as much as I could with this honey bun…and yet, I still wanted to try one more thing! I had noticed a few double hourglass quilts online and really wanted to try my hand at making the block. However, the tutorials I found were difficult at best. So here is a quick explanation of what I did to make my blocks…

Start by dividing your strips into light and dark sets. These need to be at least 14″ long. Select one light and one dark strip then sew them together…p4230026Next take your large square ruler…see that diagonal line that runs from corner to corner?? That is a 45 degree angle line Now turn your ruler so that the 45degree line is at the bottom of your fabric and the corner is at the bottom edge of your fabric….p4230007Cut your fabric along the outer edge of the ruler to start your first triangle.p4230011Now slide your ruler up so the 45 degree angle is at the top of your fabric…p4230013Now, cut that angle.  You should have a triangle that looks like this:p4230014Now you will want to continue sliding your ruler up and down and cutting triangles until you have four.p4230016You should have two matching sets of two that match each other…lay them out opposite each other, p4230018then pin like crazy, p4230024

and sew them together in traditional hourglass style…p4230021p4230025Here is your complete block…(I know the fabric doesn’t match) 🙂 (I didn’t quite have enough to do this last block! So, I had to improvise!)

Now for the table runner part:

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Finished

I took my blocks and laid them out in a three by six pattern. I added a couple of extra strips in between the two end rows and the middle . Then added a red border as a frame! It was machine quilted but, I think it would look great with a stitch in the ditch or cross hatch design too! p4120103

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Finished

Have fun trying something new today! Enjoy!

Sugar Pie Honey Bun(ch)!!!

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Finished Product

“…You know that I LOVE You! I Can’t Help Myself, I love you and nobody else!…”

Oh yeah! Honey Buns are great! They are the little sister to the Jelly Roll…a sweet little package of one and a half inch strips.  All from one line. All coordinated! Endless possibilities!

Today I have two fun projects for you…first the canister. You all know how much I LOVE to recycle so here is another Green project! Here is what you’ll need:

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Materials

a can…any size will do. I am using a #10 can for a canister, but I think smaller cans would be adorable too. Perfect project for kids and great gifts for teachers!

  1. Mod Podge
  2. foam brush
  3. scissors, and pliers
  4. and of course, your favorite honey bun! We are using Fresh by Deb Strain
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Be Careful!

First, make sure that your can is clean. Next, I took a pair of pliers and just squeezed around the lip of the can to make sure there are no sharp edges left.

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Unwrap a smile
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Time to get dirty
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Starting out
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Start Wrapping
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Oh Podge

Then comes the fun part…open up that jelly roll! I know its so hard to unwrap such a pretty package…but, you can do it! Choose six or seven of your favorites and line them up in an order that you LOVE! Then just start slathering on the mod podge…I started at the top of my can and folded the fabric over the edge to make a nice finished look.Take the strip of fabric and cut it where it overlaps itself. Take your time and try to line up your seam. Be sure to seal it with lots more mod podge.

Then you will want to continue coating your can with mod podge and lining up your strips until you reach the bottom of your can. I lined my final strip up with the bottom edge of the can and then added a final coating of mod podge to the entire thing.

This will make a nice sealed finish. If you want a smooth feel or a shiny look, just spray the can with a craft varnish. It will dry clear and looks beautiful!

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Looking good
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Finished

And there you have it! a lovely canister! Use these for storing spoons, scraps, buttons, toys, pencils, they would make gorgeous planters for the front porch, or a lovely herb garden…like I said before…Endless Possibilities! So very GREEN!

Isn’t it just the cutest little thing…oh, and do you see the little kleenex holder in the picture…That little honey of a project is coming right up!  So, check back soon, your next tutorial is on its way! and believe me, with one honey bun…you can make a BUNCH of projects!!! Love it!