do. Good Stitches January blossom block

This month (January) I am in charge of designing and assembling the Empower Circle's quilt for the do. Good Stitches charity quilting bee. It is exciting, yes, but to be honest, I am suffering from a bit of stage fright. Oh well, here goes! Above is a picture of the blocks we will be making. I was inspired by this quilt, which I can't stop thinking about! She made it using all solids, but this month we will be using prints in deep purples and pinks, with accents of gray and gold:



I couldn't find a tutorial for this block anywhere so I just figured it out, taking pictures as I went along (this required MATH. hm.) I'd love to give credit where credit is due, and figure out what this is actually called, so if you know, please tell me! I'll call it a blossom block for now, since that's what it reminds me of. Here is what you need to cut out:



4 large 6.5" squares in your chosen prints
8 small 3.5" squares in Kona coal (for bee friends; everyone else, use the same fabric you will be sashing with)
2 small 1" x 6.5" strips in Kona coal
1 large 1" x 13.25" strip in Kona coal

Lay a small square on the upper left hand corner of one of the large squares and mark your sewing line:



Since I am lazy and don't like to get up and down from my sewing machine, I like to do both corners at once, like so:



Sew your seams, then cut the extra fabric and save it for another fun project. Things should now look something like this:



When your seams are ironed, it will look like this. You have your first petal!



Repeat with the three remaining petals. Now you can finish your block using the strips you cut out. Here is the layout:



And now you're done! The end result should measure about 12.5" square. Feel free to mix it up as far as the petal part of the block goes (that's the large squares). Solids, prints, even pieced petals would look awesome if you had the time and felt like it.



I'm really looking forward to seeing how all the different blocks turn out!

Needlebook Tutorial a la Nana Company

Today Amy at Nana Company posted a tutorial to make the darling needle books of hers that I've been coveting. Hooray! I think I might be making one of these to put in my OWN Christmas stocking this year... If you haven't already, you must stop by her blog if for no other reason than to drool over her gorgeous photography and the cuteness she is constantly turning out!

Something for me (or you)

Yesterday I got the urge to make something for myself (which happens quite rarely) and found, miraculously, that I had a bit of time to do it. So I made these dryer sachets, which I have already used to death (coincidentally, yesterday was laundry day). What makes these so great is that they can be used instead of dryer sheets to lightly scent your laundry WITHOUT irritating sensitive skin. I thought I was doomed to a lifetime of clean laundry that smelled like ... nothing. But now my kids can smell lovely without breaking out in a rash. Yes! Plus, they are reusable, making them both budget and earth friendly.
These are super easy to make - basically the same idea as the bean bags but without the beans. Cut out two 5" x 5" squares of fabric (or, if you've misplaced your ruler, just trace around one of the square children's books lying around the house), and pin them together with right sides facing each other. Sew around the perimeter leaving a small opening for turning and stuffing. Turn 'em right-side-out, iron them, then stuff with something lovely. I made four, and stuffed three with lavender (which I bought here). I filled the fourth with whole cloves and two cinnamon sticks as an experiment, and it turned out awesome. Moses requested that I make more of those because it makes his pants "smell like ginger cookies." A feat indeed. I'm so happy I made these - it made laundry day a whole lot more fun. :)

I should have been a pioneer

These scraps fell out of the scrap basket in a big heap and I immediately realized that they had to be sewn together into ... something. They were really tiny scraps - I can never bring myself to throw even the smallest scrap of fabric away. I always start thinking about the Little House on the Prairie books, where the women would remake their dresses inside-out to mask the wearing out of the "calico" and then, after the other side of the fabric wore out, would make the old dress into a quilt. Fabric is precious!
So I did a lot of cutting, sewing, and ironing, and this is what those scraps turned into:

They smell so good!!! I just finished listing them in the shop.

Also, if you are looking for a quick and fantastic sewing project, hop on over to sewmommysew's blog for a great maternity skirt tutorial. I definitely plan on making one of these for myself... I'm in major need of some cute warm-weather maternity clothes!