Becka’s Project Journal

What you will need:  scraps of fabric about 4 inches square (almost anything will work), scrap of batting , pencil, buttons, sewing needle, thread, sewing machine, iron, blank cards, scraps of colored card stock, double-stick tape or glue stick.

Start with your fabric (a piece for the front and a piece for the back) and batting.  I have a plain tiger print (left) and I made a quick little piece of crazy patchwork by pulling some scraps out of my bin and stitching them together (middle) and a piece of cotton quilt batting (right).  Felt or a scrap of polar fleece would work fine for batting too.  (The photo doesn’t show the backing pieces.)

Draw and cut out a heart from scrap paper to make yourself a pattern.  If you like slightly lop-sided hearts like I do, get your favorite kid or husband to draw it for you.   Size depends on how big the card is that you are making.  My hearts are about 3 inches tall.   Put the pattern on the wrong side of your back fabric piece and trace with a pencil.

Stack up your fabric pieces in this order from top to bottom:

• Back fabric (wrong side/traced side up)
• Front fabric (right side/pretty side up)
• Batting

Stitch all the way around the heart, following your pencil line.  (I hear you.  Somebody said, “But you need to leave an opening to turn it right side out.”  Nope.  Just trust me, we get to that next.)

Trim away the extra fabric, leaving about a 1/8 inch seam allowance.  Clip the dip at the top of the heart and trim off a little at the tip, to help it turn a little neater.  You can clip the curves too if you want to.

Now, how to turn it right side out?

Pinch the layers with your fingertips and pull them apart so that you have just the center of the backing fabric.  With a sharp pair of little scissors or a seam ripper, make a little slash through just that backing fabric. Don’t go all the way to the stitching line but keep it in the center.

Why not leave an opening in the stitching?  I like how this way you get a really nice smooth stitched edge all the way around (no hand sewing), plus this backing part of your heart will be stitched to the card, so it doesn’t show.

Use the slash you made to turn the heart right side out.  With a chopstick, gently smooth it out then bring your heart over to the ironing board and give it a good dose of steam.  (We’re looking at the back in this photo.)

Now, quilt it!  Stitch about 1/4 inch from the edge all the way around the heart.  Do a second border of stitching or some doodles in the center of you like.  I like to press it again after this step.

Now it’s time to assemble the cards.  Choose a quilted heart, a button and a scrap of card stock.  I used some recycled card stock from a holiday project.  Using embroidery thread, stitch through the heart and button to attach them to the card stock scrap. I like to make mine off-centered. Tie a knot on the back to hold everything in place.

There are two quilted hearts stitched to their card stock scraps.  Now to finish them up.  Use double-stick tape or glue to attach your quilted heart/colored card to a plain card.  Write a message if you want to or leave it blank.

Happy sewing!

Holiday gift making is in full swing around here, which gives me nothing to tell you about because then I would ruin the surprise.  So, here’s a little project for you that I thought it was time to post again.

The original purple cow christmas tree ornament came from a 1970′s church bazaar and was purchased by my Grandma.  It is the favorite ornament of my youngest sister but sadly the original had a run-in with a mischievous puppy.  So this is my reproduction of the Purple Cow.  Download a free pattern and instructions for your own cow.

Welcome to Blog Giveaway Day.  I am participating, along with eleventy-seven other bloggers, to give away fun handmade and crafty stuff via the Sew,Mama,Sew blog.

Here’s what you need to do to enter.

1.  Make a comment on this post answering this question:  What is your favorite handmade object?

(Don’t worry if your comment doesn’t show up right away.  I have to approve it first.  I will do that whenever I can throughout the day.)

2.  Make sure I can contact you. Enter your email address in the comment form.  There’s a place for it.  It will not be published, so no one but me will see it.  I will not send you spam.  But I do need a way to contact you if you are a winner.

What is my favorite handmade object?  My collection of handmade Christmas ornaments.  I have ones made by my mom, sisters, aunts, neighbors, me, my husband, nieces & nephews and friends.  Every one has a story.  Every one is different.

What can you win?

Three random winners will get a custom alphabet ornament. You tell me the letter you would like and your favorite color.  I will make it custom for you.  (Those in the picture are keytags, I will put a long ribbon loop on your ornament.)

One random winner will get a copy of the new book, One Yard Wonders! I am a contributor to the book, so I am already a big fan and I have an extra copy.  See my post from a few days ago for a tour of the book and my projects.  I will sign it for you if you want me to.

The small print.

If you don’t answer the question in your comment or I can’t contact you, your entry is disqualified.

I will ship internationally.

Contest is open until Sunday December 6 at midnight CST.  Anybody who comments before then is entered.

Comments are now closed.  Thanks for entering.  I will announce winners soon!

The official release of the book is today!  For anyone that missed me talking about it before, I have 2 projects in the book: a laptop sleeve with a dog applique and a bear-shaped pillow.  To celebrate the release of the book and to celebrate Halloween, I have a freebie for you!

My laptop bag has a dog applique that you can add on.  Rather than trace and enlarge the pattern from the book, I made it easy for you.  Click on the graphic above and download a printable version of my little daschund with bonus costumes!  You can put him on other things too!  Make a weiner dog t-shirt!  When I was making the sample project for the book, I had this great fabric with airplanes on it to use for the sample.  I kept thinking of Snoopy and the Red Baron and really I wanted to give the dog some aviator sunglasses.  Now you can!

For your crafting delight, I decided to put together a pattern for my Snaggle Tooth onesie.  With a nephew getting his first teeth in and a very grown up friend who is losing his baby teeth already, I decided there are plenty of reasons to celebrate snaggle teeth.  Click on the cute dino above for a .pdf of the pattern and some ideas about how to use it to make your own snaggle tooth fashions.

This week I am giving away a free “Animal Outlines Pattern” with any purchase from my etsy shop. This is a special set of Winter Animals: polar bear, reindeer, snowy owl, cardinal, snowshoe hare and dove.

Thank you to everyone who participated in my blog roundup through the comments or email! Now it is time to award the prizes! Drawing names out of a hat…

Boogie Woogie Shimmering Sheep Pin goes to…. dale-harriet!

and Fiber Fiend Magnet Set goes to… trek!

(Sorry for the delay – images weren’t working on blogger.)

Hi Readers;

I have 2 favors to ask. First, if you subscribe to this blog with a blog reader, can you let me know if I have broken anything. I am putting together a class all about how to start a blog and I was double checking all of my settings and I want to make sure I didn’t break anything.

And then, please send me your favorite links! I need examples of blogs used in many different ways – used as a journal, a shop, a portfolio, a tool – anything really! I would like to have several good examples of specific ways blogs can be used to do different things.

AND, by way of a bribe to encourage your assistance, if you leave a link in the comments or email it to me by the end of the day Saturday March 8, I will put your names in a hat and draw some fibery art prizes and give them to you! (note: I edited this to extend the deadline because Chris @ Stumbling Over Chaos is going to help spread the word.)

Love, Becka

I made these fun handmade valentines ideas last year and I forgot about posting them this year! So I have put them together in a slide show for you, so you can have all 10 ideas at once. Happy Hearts Day!

This ornament is a reproduction of a beloved one from mom & dad’s Christmas tree. Their dog and cat had a little tree-tipping-rodeo last year and the original purple cow got a little chewed. He was brought to me for rescue/reincarnation as he is a favorite of my youngest sister. Purple Cow was purchased at a church bazaar in the 1960/1970s and sent to my dad as a gift from my grandma. He has been on the tree for as long as I can remember. My new and improved version uses the rhinestone eyes from the original. Since I was making a new Purple Cow, I decided to make a pattern and share it with all of you. You can make your own Purple Cow for your tree with this purple cow pattern.