Drunkard’s Path Circle Mini Quilt
I mentioned this mini quilt in a post a few weeks ago: Apartment Decorating on a Budget. I’ve been enjoying making mini quilts quite a bit lately, and I love the little pop of color and softness they add to a room. When I made plans to spend a weekend helping my oldest daughter decorate her new apartment, I knew that a mini quilt would be the perfect house-warming gift!
Continue reading
Mini Polaroid-Inspired Magnets ~ A Tutorial
Valentine’s Day is only a week away! These cute little mini Polaroid-inspired magnets are a great personalized gift, and they’re really simple to make. I made two sets as Christmas gifts this year – one for my mom and one for my mother-in-law, and they were well-received by both!
I’m including two different templates – one with fun Valentine’s Day sayings and one plain one that you can leave as is or add your own little love notes!
Continue reading
Armstrong the Elephant
Late on Christmas morning, my almost 8-year-old Jamie, curled up next to me and asked, “You didn’t make us new stuffies for Christmas this year?” He was so sad that I hadn’t followed through with my normal holiday tradition of sewing new stuffed animals for him and his brother! Of course, since he has a birthday just three weeks after Christmas, I promised that I would rectify my lack of cute, cuddly sewing with whatever stuffed friend he wanted!
His specific request? A stuffed elephant WITH tusks! Sounds easy enough, right? But, I was so surprised at how hard it was to find a pattern that didn’t leave off the tusks. A Pinterest search led me to the Funky Friends Factory Ellie Elephant pattern, and I knew it was the perfect choice.
Continue reading
Apartment Decorating on a Budget
My oldest daughter and her husband moved into a new place last month. Our son-in-law is going back to school, and they were able to rent a small apartment on campus … a small apartment with giant blank white walls! Because the two of them have worked as house parents at a group home for the last few years, and they’ve not really had a place of their own, they didn’t have much in the way of home decor. So, I asked if I could drive up for a long weekend to help decorate, and they accepted! My younger daughter came along, and we had so much fun – shopping, eating, building, decorating and just enjoying each other’s company, and we put together a cozy, welcoming space, AND we did it on a really tight budget!
Continue reading
January Sewing Giveaway!!
Happy Sunday Morning!! I’ve joined with a few of my friends and fellow sewing bloggers this month for a wonderful giveaway full of sewing patterns, fabric and notions! There are several prizes to win, totaling almost $200 in value:
$50 to spend at the Imagine Gnats Shop
$44 girls’ PDF pattern bundle from Pattern Revolution & Bundle Up
Continue reading
The Simple Quilted Blanket ~ A Tutorial
Ready for another simple handmade home project? One of the things on my to-do list in preparing for our foster family homestudy was getting beds ready. Foster families rarely know what age children are going to be coming into their home, so having beds and bedding in every size from crib to toddler to twin is a necessity! Add to that, the fact that you’ll need bedding sets for boys and for girls, and the cost for comforters or quilts can really add up. (Experienced foster parents will tell you, too, that you quickly become a master at rearranging every bedroom in the house in a few hours!)
I had a terrible time when I started my hunt for toddler bedding. Cute, quality, non-character toddler bedding is really hard to find at a reasonable cost. So, I went to work making a couple of simple quilted blankets using measurements to fit a toddler bed, and I snapped some pictures along the way to write up a tutorial for you!
Continue reading
Things to Finish in 2015 ~ Part 1
What motivates you to get things done? I’m one of those people who is motivated by lists! There’s just something about a notation on a list just waiting to be crossed off that makes me want to get it done, and the feeling that comes with scratching off another list item … well, there’s just nothing quite like it. The Finish Along, hosted by Adrianne from On the Windy Side this year, is the perfect challenge for those like me who need a list to keep you focused! You can find all the details by clicking on the button below, but basically, you create a list of unfinished projects at the beginning of each quarter, work on your projects throughout the quarter and share as you go along. Oh, and there are prizes, too!
The Jungle Jalopy Zippered Pouch ~ Free Pattern & Tutorial
The Jungle Jalopy Zippered Pouch tutorial was originally shared at Skip to My Lou during last November’s Bake, Craft & Sew-along. I’m re-sharing it at home now, and I’ve added a downloadable easy-to-print PDF version that you can grab over on Craftsy,too!
A New Year Begins
The beginning of a new year always seems to be a great time for change … a fresh start. I’ve been mulling over how the last year has gone for my family and for my business. Actually, my husband and I and our kids have been doing a lot of chatting and praying about what changes should and need to be made. Because I work from home at all hours, my family and my business are intertwined.
I’ve been doing a lot of reflection over the last few days, as well. What kind of legacy do I want to leave behind? Surely, one of hard work and dedication, but I don’t want to miss out on life to have a successful business. With that in mind, some things will be changing for Fishsticks and for this blog.
Little Embroidered Hoop Ornaments ~ A Tutorial
This is my favorite of the projects that I completed this Christmas because these ornaments hold such special meaning for our family! I’m so excited to share it with you! A little over eleven years ago, my husband and I attended an orientation meeting for prospective foster parents here in Florida. We had four children at the time, ranging in age from 13 to 4. Since Florida only allows foster families to have a total of five children in their homes, we wondered if we really could make a difference. We felt like God was calling us to do this, though, so we began the process to become a foster family. We were licensed in June of 2004, and our first placement – a newborn baby girl, straight from the hospital – arrived a day later. That little one stayed with us just a few months, but she became a forever part of our family’s history. She was followed by twelve more little ones, all age 6 and under who came into our home for long and short periods of time, each one finding a forever place in our hearts as we poured ourselves into their lives and their families’ lives while working together to support them through reunification or placement with relatives. In November of 2006, we said good-bye to our last foster daughter, just weeks before we left for a new job in Texas.
