My little guy likes to fall asleep in the car from time to time and I always cringe when I see his soft little baby neck marred with the red line of his car seat strap. That can't be comfy! Using the quilt as you go method, I made a velcro wrap to cushion his head and neck from the straps of his car seat.



It's all made from bits of fabric scraps from Denyse Schmidt's Katie Jump Rope and some from Anna Maria Horner.  There are two layers of cotton batting quilted in the middle to ...

One skirt is never enough. There is a certain instant gratification that comes from sewing a skirt because it goes together so quickly and makes such a big colorful impact. It's hard to believe that a few strips of fabric like this:


Can so quickly turn into this:


I've been sitting on this Denyse Schmidt fabric for a long time. It's Katie Jump Rope from the Free Spirit line. When I found Dana's Market Skirt tutorial, I thought of this fabric right away. I love the greenness of it and the large pocket makes it perfect ...

When I saw Michael Miller's Goth Baby fabric, I knew I had to grab some of it for my pirate-loving daughter. Sweet ballet pink and skull and crossbones? The combination pretty much sums up my sensitive and kind but tough as nails and somewhat sassy little girl.


I used Dana's tutorial at MADE for a market skirt but lengthened it 3" for my almost six-year-old. (Hop over to her website if you're looking for some great patterns and tutorials.) For my version of the skirt, I added some ric rac, which I rarely use, but I couldn ...

With the great spring weather, I've been spending most of my spare time outdoors. The garden and grounds have needed lots of work around here and we've been planting raspberries, blueberries, strawberries and blackberries like crazy. Fortunately, the spring also brought a new surge of energy for me. There was a corner of my house that has been filled with stacked boxes and picture frames since we moved in. It was a little-used area but also an eyesore where dust bunnies liked to hang out. Finally I transformed it into a peaceful and useful nook, with a little ...

Lately my pirate-obsessed, karate loving, tree-climbing daughter has had a dress fetish. She decided to design a dress she liked based on this one hour sundress pattern. She helped select the fabric, the length of the dress, and where she wanted the ruffles.


I was surprised she wanted a dress so long but it's quite cute on her. She wore it today to play at the park with some capri leggings underneath and it held up without hindering her on the swings, slide or climbing wall. I will have to take in the shoulder straps though by about an ...

I recently purchased and installed a hammock. Really, what took me so long? This is a simple but important addition to our outdoor landscape and we'll enjoy many hours relaxing together in the hammock this spring and summer. I thought our hammock was missing something though, so I decided to make a pillow for it. The least expensive found online was about $40 but I could purchase a yard of all weather fabric for $13. When sewing for outdoor furniture, it's really important to choose one of the weather resistant fabrics. The fabric I chose is from Waverly ...

My neighbor gave me a copy of Louisa Harding's book Natural Knits for Babies and Moms and I fell in love with this sweet cabled baby sweater. I didn't have time to make it during the winter for my little guy so I'm knitting him a spring/summer weight sweater instead in Debbie Bliss cashmerino aran yarn. I chose this color because it is an exact match to his sweet baby blue eyes.



The sweater turned out well, even if it did take me more than a month to seam the pieces together!
 But don't take ...

I finished my first Army Baby Quilt. I think it turned out well and I'm really looking forward to submitting it so it can find a good home.


The center blocks are a traditional log cabin style. I had cut the fabric strips last year to make these into a square log cabin table topper for my sister-in-law's 40th birthday, but my husband insisted she wouldn't like or use it. I was glad to finally get the blocks together and add borders and sashing until I met the 40" by 40" requested size for the Army Baby ...

Just in case you're looking for a quick quilting project and a way to give back to some of America's families who are most in need of support, Roberta Cerniglia from NY state is collecting quilts to distribute to moms who have babies while their husbands are deployed in Iraq or Afghanistan. Quilts should be about 40" by 40" and in red, white and blue colors. More information can be found at Army Baby Quilts. 



I'm looking forward to contributing to this project. I like that the quilts are small for the babies, hence easy to make ...

We live in the part of the country that has been snowbound for a week now. During the Winter Olympics, I joined Raveolympics 2010 to try to complete the Kai Sweater for William from Louisa Harding's Natural Knits book.

The book was a gift from a neighbor while I was pregnant and I'm excited to finally have the chance to knit something from it. I decided to make the Kai sweater in a summer weight, but with all the snow, I've put William's lightweight sweater aside for the moment to complete a quick scarf he can ...

My daughter really needed a new scarf and after returning from the white sands of Florida to the white snows of upstate New York, it seemed especially important. Inspired by a small group of flamingos I saw flying off the coast of St. Pete's Beach in various shades of pink, this is her flamingo scarf.


It is knit with two strands held together, both from leftover skeins that needed to be used up. One yarn is 100% cotton from Lily Yarns, the Sugar 'n Cream in strawberry. This is a variegated yarn that reminds me of the color variations ...

How old do you think you have to be to learn how to quilt? My five-year-old daughter recently took a two morning class offered by a local quilter and learned to make her first quilt from a drawing she brought to class. What do you imagine a sweet girl of five would want to quilt - a flower, a heart, a pony, something for her dolls perhaps? Not my daughter.


She only wanted to quilt the Jolly Roger, a pirate's pride and joy to hoist the colors right before attacking another ship ripe for plunder...argh! She cut out the ...

Once was not enough. After ALL of my laundry was clean, I found two more white dishtowels that seemed naked after embellishing their sisters. So I used up some of my last blue scraps of china blue fabric getting these fit for my kitchen.

Up close this one is my favorite spots because by chance the scrap square matched the fabric below it exactly - the circle is complete. From far away, I still prefer the plain single fabric towel best.

I used to be one of those knitters who thought nothing could be so tedious as knitting socks, until I tried it and got hooked. After searching all winter for the perfect pair of socks for a baby - warm, soft, durable, and with a cuff long enough that we can pull it up his calf to keep that space between the ankle and pants warm or pull over his pants - and never finding it, I finally dusted off my knitting needles.


Honestly, I don't know what I was waiting for! I wish I had made this pair in December ...

A cork can come in handy for a variety of projects around the house but here's one suggestion.


I'm really attached to a pair of trivets or hot plates that I have because they are in my signature kitchen colors, china blue or willow blue and white. However, over time the original felt pads have worn off and now when I use the trivets, I risk ruining my table with the heat that is transferred right through the bottom. (I have been using oven mitts beneath my hot plates for months now to prevent any damage to my ...

I purchased this airplane fabric a while ago with the intention of making a duvet cover for William. He inherited his sister's petal pink crib-size down comforter, which is lovely and warm, but you know, pink.


I found the fabric on etsy from Whimsie Dots, a shop that specializes in fabrics from vintage sources and upcycled fabrics. This fabric is reclaimed from a flatsheet and was very easy to work with.


I liked the airplanes because the first time William saw an airplane it happened to be landing at the Albany airport. It flew right over us and he ...

I purchased a set of three white cotton kitchen towels from Williams Sonoma (I love the weave and texture of their cotton towels) a while back with the intention of embellishing them with my signature kitchen colors - china blue or willow blue and white. I finally completed this simple little project and am already enjoying the result.

Eventually my appliances will be replaced with stainless steel energy-efficient ones and I think my white and blue will look even better with the stainless steel. My husband is in charge of that endeavor but I am really looking forward to having an ...

Quilting is such a wonderful hobby because there is no limit as to what you can do. Every year you could make new quilt patterns and never run out of new styles and patterns and color combinations. Even though I tend to wear preppy drab colors (my faves are navy anything, all shades of brown, black, ivory, etc and I usually buy three of everything I like, so not much diversity there) I have an inner color-loving child who is slowly emerging and painting the world brighter. Quilting gives me one outlet for color and creativity.

Here's a New ...

William, like most babies, loves textures and tags. He likes to sit beneath my sewing table, we call it his fort, while I'm sewing and touch all the bits of thread and fabric that fall under the table. For Christmas this year one of his homemade gifts was a texture blanket with ribbons. It's a quilted nine patch with a log cabin style center patch. The front face of it has ribbons as well as the edges and the back is a soft fleece in navy.


When I finished quilting the top of it I dropped it beneath ...

I haven't made anything special for Savannah in a long time and wanted to make her an early Christmas gift that she could try on now but save until our winter trip to Florida to enjoy wearing on the beach with a T-shirt or tank top.


She picked out some Alexander Henry fabric in my stash called Kilo. It's from his 2005 collection.  She said she liked the print because it made her think of Hawaii. I paired it with some basic black cotton and lined it with the black cotton as well. I much prefer lined skirts ...