The prize at Give Away Today is some lovely fabric packs from The Material Girls Quilt Shop in South Jordan, Utah. Give Away Today asks us to pick a favorite. That's kind of like asking which you like better, chocolate or ice cream, isn't it?

They also asked us to tell about one of our favorite fabric projects. Again, chocolate or ice cream. But, I guess this one is near the top of my list.

One of my favorite recent projects was a patchwork Scottie dog. We have a local group called PawPals. We have been working for several years to raise money to build an animal shelter for our county. Currently, one town has a pathetic, sorry excuse for a shelter, but even it is available only for residents in that town. Everyone else is on their own. Well, anyway, I could write an entire blog on this subject, but that isn't my purpose here.

What I started to say was that each year, we have a huge rummage sale to raise money for our building. This year, we raised over $19,000 in two days, selling other people's cast offs.
This is only half of the room at the 2008 sale-each one of those vases, and mugs, and pans, and dust catchers had to be priced, and we had 5 days to do it all, working with an average of half a dozen volunteers each day. A lovely lady named Marilyn was in charge of all of this, and she worked herself to a frazzle organizing this event.

As a thank you for her work, I made this patchwork Scottie dog for her. I love making patchwork animals. My fabric stash is full of little pieces of fabric no more than 2" wide. I'm always looking for more fabric and more patchwork ideas.


This pattern is an old, old toy pattern. I had one when I was a child, and I would guess that my grandmother probably had one when she was a child. But it still makes a lovely pillow or toy. Since this was for an adult, I used button eyes, but when I make one for a child, I embroider the eyes.

Do you remember having any patchwork toys when you were a child?

The prize at Give Away Today is some lovely fabric packs from The Material Girls Quilt Shop in South Jordan, Utah. Give Away Today asks us to pick a favorite. That's kind of like asking which you like better, chocolate or ice cream, isn't it?

They also asked us to tell about one of our favorite fabric projects. Again, chocolate or ice cream. But, I guess this one is near the top of my list.

One of my favorite recent projects was a patchwork Scottie dog. We have a local group called PawPals. We have been working for several years to raise money to build an animal shelter for our county. Currently, one town has a pathetic, sorry excuse for a shelter, but even it is available only for residents in that town. Everyone else is on their own. Well, anyway, I could write an entire blog on this subject, but that isn't my purpose here.

What I started to say was that each year, we have a huge rummage sale to raise money for our building. This year, we raised over $19,000 in two days, selling other people's cast offs.
This is only half of the room at the 2008 sale-each one of those vases, and mugs, and pans, and dust catchers had to be priced, and we had 5 days to do it all, working with an average of half a dozen volunteers each day. A lovely lady named Marilyn was in charge of all of this, and she worked herself to a frazzle organizing this event.

As a thank you for her work, I made this patchwork Scottie dog for her. I love making patchwork animals. My fabric stash is full of little pieces of fabric no more than 2" wide. I'm always looking for more fabric and more patchwork ideas.


This pattern is an old, old toy pattern. I had one when I was a child, and I would guess that my grandmother probably had one when she was a child. But it still makes a lovely pillow or toy. Since this was for an adult, I used button eyes, but when I make one for a child, I embroider the eyes.

Do you remember having any patchwork toys when you were a child?

A link to a contest!

The prize at Give Away Today is some lovely fabric packs from The Material Girls Quilt Shop in South Jordan, Utah. Give Away Today asks us to pick a favorite. That's kind of like asking which you like better, chocolate or ice cream, isn't it?

They also asked us to tell about one of our favorite fabric projects. Again, chocolate or ice cream. But, I guess this one is near the top of my list.

One of my favorite recent projects was a patchwork Scottie dog. We have a local group called PawPals. We have been working for several years to raise money to build an animal shelter for our county. Currently, one town has a pathetic, sorry excuse for a shelter, but even it is available only for residents in that town. Everyone else is on their own. Well, anyway, I could write an entire blog on this subject, but that isn't my purpose here.

What I started to say was that each year, we have a huge rummage sale to raise money for our building. This year, we raised over $19,000 in two days, selling other people's cast offs.
This is only half of the room at the 2008 sale-each one of those vases, and mugs, and pans, and dust catchers had to be priced, and we had 5 days to do it all, working with an average of half a dozen volunteers each day. A lovely lady named Marilyn was in charge of all of this, and she worked herself to a frazzle organizing this event.

As a thank you for her work, I made this patchwork Scottie dog for her. I love making patchwork animals. My fabric stash is full of little pieces of fabric no more than 2" wide. I'm always looking for more fabric and more patchwork ideas.


This pattern is an old, old toy pattern. I had one when I was a child, and I would guess that my grandmother probably had one when she was a child. But it still makes a lovely pillow or toy. Since this was for an adult, I used button eyes, but when I make one for a child, I embroider the eyes.

Do you remember having any patchwork toys when you were a child?

A quiet day

At one point in time, I had about a dozen people coming to my house for Easter. I had plans, oh I had such plans.

What with one thing and another, we were 5 for dinner. Once I found out that there weren't going to be any kids here, my plans for Easter baskets and Bakerella's cake pops sort of vanished.

So, instead of the cute, crafty Easter I planned, we had a nice quiet--ok, not so quiet, it was my sister after all-we don't do "quiet"---day.



I made some of RetroMama's fabric eggs. I made some yoyo chicks and bunnies from ThriftyFun. And I made some pom pom chicks and bunnies to fit inside plastic eggs. There are tutorials all over the net for these, but I've been making them for years, way before regular people had the internet. As I recall, I started making them for kids whose own kids are now hunting Easter eggs!

To top it off, I folded my napkins using the bunny fold found on the bloom.acious blog. Aren't they the cutest things?

A quiet day

At one point in time, I had about a dozen people coming to my house for Easter. I had plans, oh I had such plans.

What with one thing and another, we were 5 for dinner. Once I found out that there weren't going to be any kids here, my plans for Easter baskets and Bakerella's cake pops sort of vanished.

So, instead of the cute, crafty Easter I planned, we had a nice quiet--ok, not so quiet, it was my sister after all-we don't do "quiet"---day.



I made some of RetroMama's fabric eggs. I made some yoyo chicks and bunnies from ThriftyFun. And I made some pom pom chicks and bunnies to fit inside plastic eggs. There are tutorials all over the net for these, but I've been making them for years, way before regular people had the internet. As I recall, I started making them for kids whose own kids are now hunting Easter eggs!

To top it off, I folded my napkins using the bunny fold found on the bloom.acious blog. Aren't they the cutest things?

A quiet day

At one point in time, I had about a dozen people coming to my house for Easter. I had plans, oh I had such plans.

What with one thing and another, we were 5 for dinner. Once I found out that there weren't going to be any kids here, my plans for Easter baskets and Bakerella's cake pops sort of vanished.

So, instead of the cute, crafty Easter I planned, we had a nice quiet--ok, not so quiet, it was my sister after all-we don't do "quiet"---day.



I made some of RetroMama's fabric eggs. I made some yoyo chicks and bunnies from ThriftyFun. And I made some pom pom chicks and bunnies to fit inside plastic eggs. There are tutorials all over the net for these, but I've been making them for years, way before regular people had the internet. As I recall, I started making them for kids whose own kids are now hunting Easter eggs!

To top it off, I folded my napkins using the bunny fold found on the bloom.acious blog. Aren't they the cutest things?

Easter things

I thought that some of my grandkids would be here for Easter, so I've been doing some sewing for their Easter baskets. That didn't work out, so now I have some free time.

I've been making fabric eggs, using this tutorial from Retro Mama, and the secret pockets egg from Sew, Mama, Sew! They are really lovely, but I decided that I would like some larger eggs. I am sending some eggs to an adorable set of twins for their first Easter, so I wanted them to be large enough to play with and not stuff in their mouths.

With permission from the lovely Retro Mama, I started to enlarge. This might be a good time to say that I have no spatial sense, and I still haven't figured out how that odd shaped template ends up an egg. But, surely it couldn't be too hard to enlarge it. Let's just say that it was a good way to shrink the stash, because there were lots and lots of odd looking stuffed creations that didn't resemble any egg I've ever seen! I've grown hard-shelled gourds that had some resemblance though!

Anyway, first I pasted the template into Print Artist, and keeping the proportions the same, I just enlarged it.

Oops! Just a little wide in the hips aren't you Ms Egg? I feel your pain.











So, I took my little apple-y egg template and narrowed it, keeping the height.
Oh dear, what is this thing?


At this point, I abandoned the whole idea of just dragging some arrows to enlarge it and grabbed some printer paper.








Using RetroMama's templated, I just added ¼" all the way around. Then I added another ¼", and in the end, I came up with an egg that was the perfect size.











I''ll make a few more this week to top off the bowl, or maybe I won't. I'll use this as a centerpiece on the table on Sunday.

I love fabric eggs!

Easter things

I thought that some of my grandkids would be here for Easter, so I've been doing some sewing for their Easter baskets. That didn't work out, so now I have some free time.

I've been making fabric eggs, using this tutorial from Retro Mama, and the secret pockets egg from Sew, Mama, Sew! They are really lovely, but I decided that I would like some larger eggs. I am sending some eggs to an adorable set of twins for their first Easter, so I wanted them to be large enough to play with and not stuff in their mouths.

With permission from the lovely Retro Mama, I started to enlarge. This might be a good time to say that I have no spatial sense, and I still haven't figured out how that odd shaped template ends up an egg. But, surely it couldn't be too hard to enlarge it. Let's just say that it was a good way to shrink the stash, because there were lots and lots of odd looking stuffed creations that didn't resemble any egg I've ever seen! I've grown hard-shelled gourds that had some resemblance though!

Anyway, first I pasted the template into Print Artist, and keeping the proportions the same, I just enlarged it.

Oops! Just a little wide in the hips aren't you Ms Egg? I feel your pain.











So, I took my little apple-y egg template and narrowed it, keeping the height.
Oh dear, what is this thing?


At this point, I abandoned the whole idea of just dragging some arrows to enlarge it and grabbed some printer paper.








Using RetroMama's templated, I just added ¼" all the way around. Then I added another ¼", and in the end, I came up with an egg that was the perfect size.











I''ll make a few more this week to top off the bowl, or maybe I won't. I'll use this as a centerpiece on the table on Sunday.

I love fabric eggs!

Easter things

I thought that some of my grandkids would be here for Easter, so I've been doing some sewing for their Easter baskets. That didn't work out, so now I have some free time.

I've been making fabric eggs, using this tutorial from Retro Mama, and the secret pockets egg from Sew, Mama, Sew! They are really lovely, but I decided that I would like some larger eggs. I am sending some eggs to an adorable set of twins for their first Easter, so I wanted them to be large enough to play with and not stuff in their mouths.

With permission from the lovely Retro Mama, I started to enlarge. This might be a good time to say that I have no spatial sense, and I still haven't figured out how that odd shaped template ends up an egg. But, surely it couldn't be too hard to enlarge it. Let's just say that it was a good way to shrink the stash, because there were lots and lots of odd looking stuffed creations that didn't resemble any egg I've ever seen! I've grown hard-shelled gourds that had some resemblance though!

Anyway, first I pasted the template into Print Artist, and keeping the proportions the same, I just enlarged it.

Oops! Just a little wide in the hips aren't you Ms Egg? I feel your pain.











So, I took my little apple-y egg template and narrowed it, keeping the height.
Oh dear, what is this thing?


At this point, I abandoned the whole idea of just dragging some arrows to enlarge it and grabbed some printer paper.








Using RetroMama's templated, I just added ¼" all the way around. Then I added another ¼", and in the end, I came up with an egg that was the perfect size.











I''ll make a few more this week to top off the bowl, or maybe I won't. I'll use this as a centerpiece on the table on Sunday.

I love fabric eggs!