the simple yo-yo...

... is there anything else that reminds you more of grandma's house? Those summer throws on her big comfy bed with a colorful garden of fabric blooming all over it. Running your finger over each one and reminiscing where all the little circles came from...this one a dress she made for you last summer and that one an old pillowcase you used to sleep on. I've said before that I love their old-fashioned quaintness.

Makes you remember quieter days, doesn't it?

Although when you say yo-yo, my mind always pictures a quilt, there are many talented sewers who have come up with all kinds of ways to use them. But first, we have to learn how to make one. Follow step by step with Heather Bailey...

...then start with a simple flower pin from Michaels. These have needlefelted centers.







Make some more and stitch them on a handtowel from Creative Needle. The pdf file is here. I love how the yo-yo flowers match the flowers in the fabric.


Embellish with some beads and ribbons, add a little quilting and you have the sweetest little wall hanging. From Quamut.












Soule Mama shows you how to add some rick-rack and create a festive garland. This one reminds me of Christmas...



...while Debbie Mumm made pumpkins for fall!




Or just hang them from ribbon to make breezy summer curtains. This pdf file from Clover shows you how to let the sunshine in! They have more patterns from wine sacks to little trees to hair ornaments. After all, they are the creators of the yo-yo maker.




Penny Sanford makes tiny hearts...






...while Family Corner makes tiny angels.





Take a peek at all the inspiration from Clover in Japan. It's written in Japanese but there's pdf files for all the projects and I'm sure you can figure it out from those. I love this tea cozy .



There are dozens of quilt patterns that use yo-yo's, but I couldn't close this post without sharing one of my favorites. Oodles of Poodles created by Elizabeth Creed can be purchased at Sew Thankful. How cute is this? Enjoy!

"I loved Grandma's home. Everything smelled older, worn but safe; the food aroma had baked itself into the furniture." ~Susan Strasberg

a tisket a tasket...

For those of you who love to quilt, Anne Sutton of Bunny Hill Designs has started a free Block of the Month with a basket theme.



This is the January block...






...and February's






...and the newest one...March!








She posts them on her blog on the 5th of every month and at the end of the year - you'll have a new quilt! Read the instructions and download the pdf files here.

You may be interested in knowing that Anne also designs fabric for Henry Glass Fabrics. She currently has three lines: Angel Houses (my favorite, it has polka dots :), Chelsea Manor and Lollipop Lane.

needles and ribbons and packets of pins...

"Needles and ribbons and packets of pins,
Prints and chintz and odd bod-a-kins
They'd never mind whether
You laid them together

Or one from the other in packets and tins.

But packets of pins and ribbons and needles,
And odd bod-a-kins, and chintz and prints,
Being birds of a feather
Would huddle together
Like minnows on billows or pennies in mints."

Odd little English nursery rhyme isn't it? But ribbons make me think in an old fashioned way. From baby bonnets to victorian tussie mussies, ribbons have been used for embellishment for many years. Anything made with ribbons has a feminine feel. Admit it, don't you feel prettier with just a simple ribbon tied in your hair? So using old techniques and some new ones too, here are projects made with ribbons...

If you'd like to try the ribbon roses pictured above, Save-On-Crafts has the instructions. Or these tiny rosebuds from Instructables.

Learn how to make a woven ribbon headband at Hair-Hardware. They have lots of projects and videos to make all kinds of ribbon hair accessories.

How adorable are these Little Bug Bows from The Ribbon Retreat? I love the dragonflies! Wish I had a little girl to make these for...hmmm my chihuahua is a girl...wonder how she would look with a ladybug on her head? Available to download on a pdf file.

Woven ribbon bracelets from Cut Out & Keep. I bet a teenager would like to learn how to do these. Reminds me of those friendship bracelets

made from embroidery floss.

Speaking of embroidery, have you ever wanted to try it using ribbons? Wonder How-To has 16 videos showing you various stitches.

Need something really unique for a special occasion? Martha Stewart shows you how to emboss velvet ribbon using an iron and rubber stamps and then how to apply it to a photo album or scrapbook. Wouldn't this be perfect for newlyweds? Especially if you used the colors from their wedding...

I was thrilled when I came across this idea from Ink Sell. They show you how to personalize your own ribbon using your computer. Think of all the possibilities with this one... Me personally, I want to print my business name on mine for packaging. I looked into having this professionally made a while back and it's quite expensive to have done. And now I can do it myself!

If you're like me, you have stacks of ribbon spools sitting on shelves. Not a very attractive way to keep them and lots of them end up getting smooshed. Another project from Martha Stewart is this ribbon organizer. Using card files and grommets, find the instructions here. Oh how I love that Martha...she thinks of everything, doesn't she?

Or how about storing them in mason jars like WJTrout did on Flickr? What a wonderful way to display them for sale at craft shows...couldn't you see a row of them with all those juicy colors inside lined up on a table or shelf?

So what do you do with your empty ribbon spools? I usually just toss them out but I'm going to start saving them for this idea from Polly McMillan's photostream on Flickr. Who would've thought to stack them and make a birthday cake...or a bridal shower cake...or any other occasion that I can think of. A perfect centerpiece.

I realized as I was proofreading this post that I may have dated myself talking about tussie mussies. For those of you who are not quite as dusty as me :) tussie mussies or nosegays, as some call them, are cones made of fabric or paper to hold small bouquets of flowers. Created in the Victorian era, find directions to make your own from Seasonal Delights. They are beautiful with embroidered ribbon posies on them. Enjoy!

the amen of nature is always a flower...

Even though it's snowing a bit here in Virginia, my mind is dreaming of spring. I've been thinking about different ways to embellish and found some fabric flowers to share with you.

These rolled roses come from Portabellopixie. For those of you who don't know, it's fabric designer Sandi Henderson's blog. Find the pdf file here.

I love Sandi's Ginger Blossoms line - here's a purse I made from it in Blush.

A fluffy flower from Artsy-Crafty Babe. I made this one and put it on a strip purse made with Denyse Schmidt's Katie Jump Rope line.

From The Artful Crafter...not too crazy about the fabric choice here, but the tutorial is clearly written with lots of pictures and I'm going to try one. On second thought, it is bright and happy looking, isn't it?

Burda Style has one with separate folded petals. I want to try it with different fabrics for each one.

A good way to use up your scraps are these little daisy pins from Instructables.

I found a wonderful video for creating Kanzashi flowers. For those of you who don't know, these flowers are traditionally used on hairpieces, but I have made them before for embellishing my purses. The only difference is I didn't use glue like the video does, I stitched mine. But either way, the fold is the same. Try them, they're easy to make and the results are beautiful...

If you want to see how to stitch the kanzashi petals instead of gluing them...Spangle has the technique in both photos and video here.

Although she doesn't give directions, I wanted to show you this flower posted on CraftStylish and made by Felt Like Knitting. I love the use of buttons and seed beads and of course, her fabric choices...

My favorites are these fabric headbands rolled up into flowers. You Can Make This shows you how to sew the bands and how to roll them into the most adorable arrangement. What a perfect gift idea... Enjoy!

button, button, whose got buttons?

If you're a sewer, like me, I bet you have tons of them... When I'm out shopping I just buy them because someday I might need them (you know what I'm talking about, right?) and now I could never use all I have. I just can't resist all of those juicy colors! So, here are a few projects I found to use up some of my stash...

Make button stamps by gluing them onto corks. Found at Martha Stewart, I never would've thought of this. Looking at mine, I do have quite a few that would make pretty ones. By the way, if anyone in my family♥ is reading this, I have a whole bag of corks if you need some. Not that anyone who knew me would know that I'm a collector of small useless objects or anything like that! I think I just like to own stuff. :)


Little Bird Handmade made tiny wreaths with them. Wouldn't they be cute hanging on doorknobs? I love the red - to me it's such a cheerful color.

How About Orange has instructions on how to make button covered thumbtacks. Watch a video from Sacramento Bee on how to make a bulletin board to go with them!



Lollychops made these cute little button flowers...




... Artsy-Crafty Babe made these


and I Knew That made these with fabric leaves...


...but Kiddley made a whole bouquet of them!








Country Living has an idea for napkin holders like these...








...or these colorful ones made with bandannas.





Unique Re-tiques has yo-yo and button hang tags.



Cards with removable buttons come from CraftStylish. Thoughtful for a sewer's birthday...



Or sew a journal cover and embellish it with buttons...also from CraftStylish.







And for you serious sewers, proclaim who you are to the world with these rings from Ric Rac. How's that for button bling!



Don't have enough buttons that match? Watch this video from Crafty Goat on how to make button molds with polymer clay...




But I couldn't close this post without sharing my favorite and that's my little chihuahua whose name is Button! She'll hitch a ride to anywhere...in my son Matt's hoodie (he looks really happy about carrying the princess around, doesn't he? Hee Hee)

...or in my girl Laura's purse. By the way, check out the pretty purse Laura made for her upcoming trip to Hawaii! Lucky girl.... And lucky me for having such loving children in my life. I'm so blessed... Enjoy!