Hello Everyone! I hope I'm not interrupting and interfering with your own stamina building! :) But I just had a quick post about our sta...

I have been using a lot of this Colour Variation Floss in the last couple of weeks, including some in my new 'Abel, the Stitch Explorer' pattern. I actually used a ridiculous number of different colours in that pattern as you will find out if you decide to purchase it. (Still working out the details but I'm aiming at launching it next week!) Some of these variation threads have more than one colour in a skein, other skeins have different tones of one colour. The colours are very soft and the changes in colour (or tone) very subtle. Anyway these Colour Varation Flosses, or any other variegated floss for that matter, obviously are best used in a bit of your embroidery (or cross stitch) where the change of colours can be seen. Having said that, I also sometimes use small bits of variegated floss for a detail just because it's the right colour! (or so I think). I think (cross)stitching lettering with variegated floss could give lovely results too. Where do you use variegated threads for? If you follow the &Stitches blog (or Facebook page or Twitter) you will probably already have seen a couple peeks of projects from our next issue. The second issue of &Stitches is all about books and reading. Our featured artist is the very lovely and talented Cate Anevski! This is the pattern I designed... "Books&Stitches" is available from the 17th of April.

Instead of getting rid of a pair of jeans that is too small in the waist, make them comfortable again by altering the waistband to fit.

I never made a quiet book for my kids... I thought it would be too hard... huh... Well, I got the bright idea of making a quiet book for my sister-in-law's Dr. Seuss baby shower. I ended up making most of it myself and it was kind of fun... but it was a LOT of work! I got the idea for the cover from Serving Pink Lemonade. I made it fairly similar. I used eyelets to make the holes in the book and used rings to hold it together. I have the flap close with a large button. I thought it would be fun to have the cover a little different, so I just appliquéd the letters "shhh" on the front rather than having it say "quiet book." I didn't do a ton of pages... there are only 3 front and back. But I figure my sister in law can add more if she wants. I made the pages out of Pellon as was suggested by Serving Pink Lemonade. I think it was a wise decision. I glued everything to the page first with a felt glue, then I sewed everything with clear thread. I thought that would be easier than changing colors all the time. It worked out great. The first page is the art paint pallet. I got this pattern from Serving Pink Lemonade as well. I did make a slight change. I thought it would be fun to have the colors come off and on with a button. (It was very difficult for me to figure out how to sew the button hole exactly where I wanted it to go, so I finally got smart and sewed the button hole in the felt first before I cut out the paint swatch.) The car page also came from Serving Pink Lemonade. She had cute signs on hers, but I didn't quite get to that part... I think it's okay without them. I also got the tree idea from Serving Pink Lemonade. I changed it just a bit. I thought a less detailed tree would be easier. There are flowers, fall leaves and summer leaves that snap on and off. My favorite page is the tent page... my family are big campers. I loved the idea of having a barn with animal finger puppets from Serving Pink Lemonade, but I really liked the tent idea on Laura Thoughts. So I combined the two ideas and created my tent. When you open the tent zipper, there are forest animal finger puppets inside. Aren't they cute??? I created a pdf file with the template for the tent and finger puppets. You can download it here. (I'm not sure the best way to share files, so let me know if the link does not work) I got the shoe template from Made by Me... Shared with you. Her's was a lot more detailed and way cuter, but I think mine looks okay:) It turned out great and I'm excited for my little nephew to be able to use it... he finally came into this world on Oct. 2nd... but I'm sure it will be awhile until he's old enough to enjoy his quiet book!

RJ is getting another Build-A-Bear for Christmas (shhhh, don't tell her!). This time it is a bunny! However, rather than buying clothes for the bunny, I wanted to make her a dress. So I did! I had an idea in my mind and it turned out just like I pictured! Don't you love when that happens?! And since I love to give, I am going to give you the pattern and instructions on how to make this simple halter sundress for any 18" bear, Build-A-Bear or not, for free! This is really very simple to make, requiring only straight stitching and very little time. I actually made this entire thing in front of the girls but they had no idea what I was making! :) Free Sewing Pattern for 18" Build-A-Bear - Halter SundressSupplies Needed: 1 - 18"x4" rectangle of fabric 1 - 36"x6" rectangle of fabric 2 - 9"x2" rectangles of fabric 36" piece of lace 1" piece of Velcro matching thread sewing machine iron pins, scissors, etc. 1. Take your 18"x4" rectangle and fold it in half lengthwise, wrong sides together. Press. You now have an 18"x2" rectangle. Open the folds you just made. Take the raw lengthwise edges (the 18" sides) and fold them in 3/4"; press. On the ends (the 4" ends) fold in 1/2"; press. Fold your rectangle in the middle again (the very first fold you made) and you now have a rectangle about 1 1/4" wide by 17" long; press well. We will refer to this piece as the band. Set it aside. 2. Take your 36"x6" piece and turn under a 1/4" on the bottom 36" edge. Press. Turn under 1/4" again; press. Stitch. You have just made the hem at the bottom of the dress. We will refer to this piece as the skirt. On each of the 6" sides, fold under 1/2"; press. Fold under 1/2" again; press again. Stitch. On the raw top 36" edge, sew a gathering stitch along the top of the piece, close to the edge. If you don't have a gathering stitch, set your stitch length to long then make two rows of stitching close to the edge. Make sure the rows do not cross over each other. Gently pull up the bobbin thread on these two stitch lines you just made. You will gather this edge of the skirt. Gather until it matches the length of the band you previously made. 3. Once you have the skirt gathered, you will attach it to your band. Place your band with the open long edge at the bottom and the folded long edge at the top. Take your gathered skirt and place it inside the band, a bit more than 1/4" in. Pin in place. Stitch across the band catching the skirt as you go. Once you have finished that first row of stitching, do another row right close to the first row you just made. Then stitch close to the upper edge of the band, across the whole band. You should now have the band and the skirt attached to each other. You are getting close to being done! Take the 36" piece of lace and attach it to the bottom of the skirt. If you do not want to use lace, I would make the skirt about 1" longer. 4. Take your 2 - 9"x2" rectangles and fold them in half lengthwise, wrong sides together. Press. Open up the fold. Fold the long 9" raw edges in until they meet in the middle; press. Take the short 2" ends and fold in 1/2"; press. Fold the rectangle in the middle again so that your finished size is 8"x1". These are your straps. 5. Take your dress and fold it in half to find the midway point. Place a pin here on the band to show you the middle. Measure 1 1/2" out on both sides from this middle point and mark with a pin again. These second pin marks are where you will place your straps. Sew your straps in place. They will tie in a knot behind the bear's head after you put the dress on the bear. 6. Take your piece of velcro and sew it on the back of the dress, where the ends of the band would meet. 7. Add any embellishments to the dress as desired. 8. YOU ARE DONE! Congratulations! Obviously this can be modified to make a sundress with spaghetti straps instead of halter straps or shorten the dress and omit the straps and you have yourself a skirt. I am sure that little girl will enjoy this dress on her bear just as much as you enjoyed making it. If anything is unclear or needs further clarification, please let me know!

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French knot embroidery stitches are a versatile and beautiful option for hand embroidery. Whether you’re a seasoned embroidery artist or just starting out, the French knot is an easy stitch t…

Well hello everyone! I have a couple of fun zipper pouches to share with you today but I also wanted to let you know that I've been busy working behind the scenes on some other things, including some new quilt tutorials. They'll be heading your way soon! These two pretty zipper pouches were made using the Open Wide Zippered Pouch tutorial from Noodlehead. There are three sizes available with the tutorial - I made the medium and large sizes. I wanted to make these pouches for my mom's birthday and I had a few prints from the new fabric line by Sedef Imer (Down Grapevine Lane) called Summer Blush. They were perfect! You can find Summer Blush fabrics here from the Fat Quarter Shop. Such pretty prints! I've used the Open Wide pouch tutorial before and it's one of my favorites. The tutorial is easy to follow - even for someone like me who only sews zippers a few times each year. I like to customize my pouches - you can do pretty much anything to the outside of the pouch. Just make sure the outer bag piece measures what the tutorial asks for! You can make them as scrappy as you'd like, or use a favorite small quilt block on one side. I did a thin flange (a thin strip folded in half and sewn between the top and bottom halves) for the small pouch and it added a nice separation between the two green prints. For more information about my source for zippers and what interfacing I recommend, check out this post about my favorite zipper pouch tutorials! You can also find more zipper pouch tutorials here on my Bags & Pouches Pinterest Board: Happy sewing everyone! --Andy

post contains affiliate links This weekend Milo is having a very belated birthday party (his actual birthday was back in May, but we waited until now for the party for assorted reasons too boring to get into). He just turned eleven so, naturally, he’s having a Harry Potter party. Next week I’ll be back with a full recap of the … Continue reading →

Over 150 patterns and tutorials to make your own, adorable felt food.

About a year and a half ago, I was looking around at quiet books for my daughter. I wasn't really thrilled with any of the ones you can buy...

For Christmas this year I decided to make Christmas ornaments for my kids' teachers and friends of mine. The ornaments turned out to be quick and easy to make! In fact I made extras for unexpected guests that visit me over the holidays. This way no one leaves empty handed. I don't have a tree yet to hang them on; however, they do sit nicely on my shelf. I also like them without the Christmas bling. This one could be a year around decoration. Here's how I made the ornaments... Materials Bird template (link) Festive paper for making the bird. For the fabric birds, I glued plaid fabric to card stock (another option). Spray adhesive glue (I used craft bond). Floral wire that looks natural. I purchased mine at Michaels for under $4.00. Embroidery floss or string that matches the floral wire. Thread for hanging the bird. I used nylon thread (not pictured) because it is clear. Safety pin or something sharp for poking a hole into the paper. Embellishments such as: glitter, berries, bells or flowers. Lets begin! 1. Glue the non-printed side of the festive paper together. To do so, fold the festive paper in half so that the printed side is visible on both the front and back of the paper. Unfold the paper and spray the wrong side (non printed side) of the festive paper with the spray adhesive glue and glue the wrong sides together. You should now have the print on both the front and back of the festive paper. Fabric bird option - For fabric birds, cut 2 pieces of fabric the size of the card stock paper. Spray the adhesive glue to one side of the card stock and glue the fabric to the paper. Once the glue is dry, turn the paper over and glue the fabric to the reverse side of the paper. 2. Print out the bird template on plain paper to use as a tracing template or print the template directly on the festive paper. If you are using it as a tracing template, trace the bird and wings image onto the festive paper or fabric. 3. Cut out the bird and wings from the festive paper or fabric/paper. Cut the slits as indicated on the template. 4. With a safety pin, poke a hole into the tips of each wing. 5. Slide the wing's slit into the bird's slit. 6. Fold the wings upward (along slit line) to create some dimension. Set the bird aside until step 11. 7. To make the base, coil the floral wire until it is about 3" to 3 1/2" in diameter. Cut off the excess wire. A 3" circle is included with the bird template to help reference the size. Using the embroidery floss or string, tie the end of the floral wire to the wire next to it (shown in the photo below). It's OK if the base is uneven or "wonky" as I like to put it. However, if there is extreme wonkiness to the base you may want to tie down some of the wires that are causing the problem to the wires that are more stable. 8. From the floral wire, cut 2 wires that are 11" in length. 9. Wrap one end of a wire around the outside wire of the base. You only have to wrap the wire once to secure it. Next, arch the wire to the opposite side and wrap the opposite end to the base. 10. Repeat step 9 with the second wire. With the embroidery floss or string, tie the wires together at the top of the cage. 11. Thread the thread through the holes on each side of the wings. Tie the ends of the thread to the top of the cage. 12. Measure the circumference of the cage. Cut a wire that is approximately 1 3/4" longer than the measured circumference. Make a circle with the wire and overlap the ends by 1". Twist the ends together. 13. Place the wire over the cage and slide it down to the middle of the cage. The wire should be snug. Optional - You can secure the wire in place by tying the circular wire to the cage where the circular wire and cage wires intersect. 14. Coil a piece of wire and leave one end straight for wrapping around the top of the cage. 15. Wrap the straight end of the coiled wire around the top of the cage. 16. Embellish the cage to your hearts desire! You can spray the cage with adhesive glue and sprinkle glitter on it, or you can wrap Christmas berries around the wires. A few more options are bells, dried flowers, or you can leave it a la naturale. Enjoy! Jamie

I have been pinning quiet book stuff for months, I bought all the stuff I needed at Easter, and finally started in the middle of July. I did so well. Planned out all the pages, sorted fabric, and c…

If you're looking for a couples costume, some squad costumes to coordinate with your best friend, or just need a fun idea for yourself so you can be the life of the Halloween party, a pun costume can say a lot about you and your humor. Check out 25 of our favorite funny pun Halloween costume ideas and try not to laugh.