quilt blocks. like actual blocks.

Literal Quilt Blocks for my big sister Leigh for her birthday! I have had the idea for this gift (and also the supplies) for at least two years. Sorry, Leigh. Sometimes it takes a while for me to get to things. Your birthday rolled around again and it finally lit the fire under me. (But still too late for your actual day. Doh!)

I sent this block set to her along with the HST card I made and a handy chart with block layout suggestions:

The 4x4 set of painted blocks is just meant to be a fun, quilty coffee table display or to stand upright on a bookshelf. Leigh's a very talented quilter so I thought she'd have fun switching the designs of the blocks around to suit her mood.

I spent a very looooong time playing with this set. It's fun! See:

You get the idea! So many possible combos. You can make each design in only one color, two colors, or use all three. And if you are methodical when you paint the blocks and do each one the exact same way, each time you build a design on the front there's a different symmetrical design on the flip side.

I bought the precut 1.5 inch wood blocks on Etsy. Six sides to each block = three solid colors and three HSTs in the same colors. Any sides with unusually dark or flawed woodgrains got covered with a solid. I was pretty happy with the nice quality of the unfinished blocks. (Tip: Make sure your blocks are all nice and square before you paint.)

I debated greatly on the best way to get the color on the blocks. I thought about cut paper and Mod Podge first, but scrapped that idea (haha, quilt pun) and decided to paint them by hand with acrylic artist paint. Important: Use a good quality flat brush and a careful stroke to paint on the color if you don't want to drive yourself crazy getting paint over the edges. Mine aren't perfect but I decided that lends them handmade charm.

I used a spray clear sealant to finish the blocks. As a project bonus, the fumes gave me visions of heffalumps and woozles. Strong stuff. Definitely use it outside and don't bring the blocks in until they are dry.

And yes, the overspray got on my glass table^. Didn't realize that until I took away the cardboard and noticed it had a nice frosted glass effect around the edges. Soap, water and steel wool took care of the problem. Rookie mistake.

These blocks were a fun project! I'm planning to make at least one more set.

hst card for Leigh

Handmade happy birthday card for my sister Leigh! It's made of half square triangles because
1) she's a fantastic quilter
2) my gift to her is also quilt themed
3) this just seemed like a fun thing to try in paper, right?

But I found it is totally not fun to make a card like this unless you go buy one of these:

Having a square paper punch makes this card a cinch. I picked this up at Michaels. Don't be fooled by the 1 1/2 inch label there. It punches squares slightly over an inch in size, but the size noted on the punch is measured on the diagonal from corner to corner. Weird. Maybe that's standard but it seems goofy to me. I measure squares along the sides.
So the finished card is 5 x 5 inches.

I planned my colors and then assembled the squares like this: whole square on bottom topped by a triangle, which I cut from the punched squares with scissors, just eyeballing it. Then the assembled HSTs were all glued together on a piece of paper by just lining them up end to end.

I used a Tacky Glue pen for the assembly and it was perfect to put just the right tiny amount of glue on the triangles.

Here's the card with the wrapped gift. It's winging its way to her now so I'll wait a few days to post what's inside the wrapping.

In a completely unrelated K-Drama note, guess what's now streaming on Netflix?

Yaaaaaaaaaay! In the middle of it now!

Early Bird/Night Owl reversible pillow pattern is in the shop!

Yay! At long last. This fun, reversible design I came up with for my daughter's birthday has been made into a sewing pattern for the shop. (There's a nicer video clip of this in my Instagram feed.)

Many thanks to my intrepid pattern testers for helping me to make this the best pattern I can! I will be showing off their pillows in a later post!

The early bird gets the worm and the night owl is staying up late! Flip it to whatever side you are feeling that day, or flip it according to the time of day. My daughter uses hers as an accent pillow on her bed and flips it twice a day.

Here are the other two samples I've made, but the color possibilities are endless and of course you can make it look more boyish or girlish as needed:

This pattern is an intermediate level because it has a lot of steps and requires precision in cutting and placing of trims. Machine and hand sewing techniques are used.

I have worked for a good while to make this sewing and applique project come together in the easiest, fastest and most accurate way possible, so I think you are going to enjoy it!

The trims are really the star of the show here. It's a nice project to showcase your favorite ribbons, buttons, rick racks and mini-pom trims. And of course any project that includes pom-poms is aces in my book! The other main ingredients in the pillow are medium weight cottons or tickings and wool felts. And of course, stuffing. And love.

You can find more details in the shop listing. I hope you enjoy the pattern! I've had a lot of fun making these Early Bird/Night Owls! I'm definitely a Night Owl. How about you?

handmade gifts 2015: two more very nice mice

My last installment of the handmade parade for Christmas 2015. I was on a roll with these mice. This girly one is for my MIL, Paula.

Um, I kind of messed up the ear placement somehow and they ended up wonkified, so I added a hat with a pom-pom to hide it. But I really like the hat. It's a pipe cleaner that is just wrapped in a spiral cone and secured here and there with thread.

I like the chubby rear view too.

This little guy with the snowball is for my nephew, Trent. I love his extra fuzzy feet.

They make a cute pair. I'm a little sad but mostly a lot glad that the Christmas crafting frenzy is over. I'll try to remember to start earlier this year. *laughing with you* *slapping knee* Yeah, that's just never going to happen, is it?

P.S. I've now entered the time-eating magical world of Instagram, so follow me there if you like:
https://www.instagram.com/mmmcrafts/

handmade gifts 2015: ornament for Baby John

My niece, Erin, and her husband, Nathan, lost a precious baby boy before he was born. His name is John. I thought this ornament would be a special way for his brother and sister to remember him each year when they decorate their Christmas tree.

The angel was made using my Wee Princess Pea pattern for the doll, only slightly elongated. The wings are made of stiffened wool felt. The babe in arms is made of wood beads, a cotton pipe cleaner, and felt.

We love you, Baby John, even though we never got to meet you here on Earth. As David said in 2 Samuel 12, you cannot come to us, but we will go to you. All our love to my niece's sweet family and my sister's family as you remember this child and grandchild that flew straight to God.

handmade gifts 2015: swan a-swimming and two replacement ornaments for Robyn

The December handmade parade continues...

I was hoping to send Robyn a Maid a-Milking ornament in addition to this new Swan a-Swimming, but time slipped away from me and I was only able to finish Mr Swan here. I think the final pattern will be very similar to this one, but I added some sequins and glass beads to hers for a little sparkle.

Closeup of the stitching for you there. If you are working on my Twelve Days ornament series, it's really easy to add some sequins under your French knots if you like. Or if you just hate sewing French knots (c'est toi, Beth!) you can use a small glass bead in place of a French knot and also layer a sequin underneath the bead for sparkle.

I sent all three of these ornaments to her this year, but only the swan is new. Those top two are actually repeats of nos. 2 and 4. She already has earlier versions of them from years past, but it was really bugging me that her versions don't match the current series and I just like this Turtle Dove and Colly Bird better. They have some added sparkle sewn on them too. Robyn's perfectly welcome to prefer the earlier ones, of course! She knows I'm a bit cracked this way. It's alright.

handmade gifts 2015: a very nice mouse for Thing 1

And here's the other ornament I made using the Very Nice Mice tutorial from Ann Wood. This one is for Thing 1, my oldest.

I gave this one a pom snowball, pipe cleaner stripey scarf and felt mittens. I used cotton pipe cleaners for the arms and feet.

I also shaved off a tiny bit of the seam allowance this time because I was having trouble maintaining the 1/8" allowance she calls for. I'm so used to sewing the smaller allowance for my own felt ornaments it was just more comfortable for me. Required less thinking. Plus it made it easier to close the opening after stuffing.

This one was finished in the wee hours of Christmas morning (surprise, surprise) so I forgot to add the pom pom bow on the head. Thing 1 assures me this is fine because her mouse is a boy and his name is Ralphie.

Here's the finished pair:

They fit very nicely on the tree. 

Thank you to Ann Wood for such a cute and timely pattern!

handmade gifts 2015: a very nice mouse for Thing 2

Have you seen Ann Wood's Very Nice Mice pattern and tutorial? It is just for hand sewing and makes the perfect little ornament-sized mouse. I followed it to make this ornament for my sweet Thing 2.

I added a few of my own touches, of course. Her felt bunny slippers are my favorite part. (Although I can't look at them without hearing a voice say, "He looks like a deranged Easter bunny.")

I also gave her a tiny felt stocking to hold and, of course, a paper cheese wedge. And a little pom pom bow on her head.

I substituted pipe cleaners for the arms and feet instead of using the felt pieces from the pattern. The finished mouse is about 3 inches tall.

I love Ann's original version in its little sailboat! I'd like to try a sailboat ornament next year.