Appleton Dance

by Linda Theil Zo-zo got her own picture book for Christmas this year: Dances with Toads , a compendium of photos taken by her mom and dad during 2020. I used the Blurb BookWright software to produce a print-on-demand hardcover, and a free ebook download available on my Blurb bookstore . You can preview Dances with Toads by clicking on the Book Preview link below: Dances with Toads August & Septe... By Linda Theil Book Preview

by Linda Theil I wanted to make a holiday version of the "Spencer Ogg Cosmetics Pod" that I wrote  about here in September 2020. I love the pattern because it is quick and easy and very clever; and it makes up into a cute pouch that would be good to fill with candy or other treats for an inexpensive, but thoughtful and personal holiday gift. The gift pod could be cut in any pretty holiday fabric, but I had a piece of the "Novelty Gnome Stripe" from Shelly Comiskey's "Timber Gnomies" line for Henry Glass & Co., Inc. that I thought would be cute made up as a gift pod. Using the stripe posed an interesting challenge because the pattern is one-piece, so to make a one-way design work, you have to piece the fabric so that when you fold the pouch into shape all the design elements are right side up in relation to the constructed pod. If you didn't cut and piece the fabric, the design would be upside down on either the front or the back. This is not ...

 by Alisa Last year I inaugurated my new sewing machine with an advent calendar project detailed here .  This year I was inspired by Misty Doan of Missouri Star Quilt Company to pickup another Makower UK panel to make a calendar for my mom.   The panel Misty demonstrated was sold out on MQC and Fabric.com. In October! So I turned to Etsy and picked the panel up from GardeniaFabrics. I started by cutting out the individual pockets and ironing the seam allowance under. I topstitched the upper edge of each and then sewed each pocket to the panel in its assigned spot. Once the pockets had been applied I cut the back from a coordinating fabric --  Andover/Makower UK Scandi 2020 Trees in red -- and ironed the back onto the front with Hobbs fusible batting . I did a little bit of quilting on the piece, outlining the sections for each day. Then I bound it with Kona Cotton yardage in iron . I used cuttings from my binding to add three loops to the top of the calend...