Crafty Kids

I haven’t been working on any projects that I can show you now, but my kids have. My 9-year-old got a Bebichhichi doll from the Japan store when we were in Epcot a couple of weeks ago, so she made a house for the doll. Remember Monchhichi? Oh, these little versions are so cute. I think this is the beginning of a collection. Just what we need. Anyway, my daughter is having fun working on the house and furniture.

And my seven-year-old is learning to sew! She was so eager to learn and I knew she’d have more fun learning from someone else, so I signed her up for classes at Whipstitch, where she learned to make this too cute kitty. Looks like she picked out some of Rashida’s fabric for her project! And I’ve discovered if you hate turning fabric tubes, let your kids do it! Their tiny little fingers do it much faster.

1, 2, 3 Quilt

Exciting news! I’m working on a follow-up to 1, 2, 3 Sew. The new book will be called 1, 2, 3 Quilt and — you guessed it — it will be all about quilts, including quilted and patchwork projects! I’m excited to be working with Chronicle Books again. This book will be geared towards beginning quilters and those with more experience who are looking to try new designs and techniques.

I just finally finished up a couple of quilts I’ve been working on for a while (not for the book). One is the Crossed Quilt Block that I wrote about last spring and another is a baby quilt. On the crossed quilt, I made the quilting in a wonky pattern just like the crosses. I’ve got a new free motion machine that I’ve enjoyed working with and am loving the handmade look it creates and am enjoying the quilting process, but still not a fan of binding quilts. But I love the puckered look of a freshly washed quilt.

The book will include some very finished, manicured looking quilts as well as those with a more handmade aesthetic. So I’m curious — what kind of quilts do you like? What would you like to make? Modern, traditional — a mix? What techniques do you most want to learn? What are you afraid to try? I’d love to hear your thoughts and suggestions as I’m working on the book. The book will be available in Fall 2013!

Top 100 Tutorials of 2011

There was lots going on in the craft world this year. So much that I can hardly keep up anymore, but I’ve tried to round up 100 of  my favorite craft and sewing tutorials of the year from around the internet. In the sewing category, I’ve included the free projects available from my book 1, 2, 3 Sew. Looks like I actually have a few more than 100 projects listed here. Go make some stuff this year! The projects pictured above are marked with an asterisk.

 

Sewing Projects

Quilting

Paper Crafts

Crafts

Be sure to check out my tutorial round-ups from 2010, 2009 and 2008.