When Rae released the pattern for her Ruby Top and Dress, I was on itlike white on rice. I had been wanting to make it from the moment I sawit. Additionally, I've been wanting to make more clothes, to get overthe fear of fitting, to sew more for myself. This seemed like a goodplace to start.

And it was.

I made my first Ruby on a Saturday afternoon two weeks ago. I had taped the pattern together earlier in the week and cut out the pieces on Friday. I used a Tula Pink voile that had been sitting in my stash as the fabric for my "muslin." I figured that it would be better to get a good idea of the fit with a fabric that would drape well and I was willing to sacrifice this voile as I don't wear red that often (I bought it for Jane originally). I reasoned that if it fit well, it would be wearable under a cardigan this fall/winter and on its own next summer.

The sewing part went smoothly and it is a fast and easy top to put together if you have gathered something before. The trickiest part is the bias on the arm hole and neck, but that isn't very difficult if you take your time. And, that my friends, is where I diverged from the written instructions. Instead of applying the bias over the raw edge (like you would on a quilt), I folded it towards the inside on the neck and arm edges and top stitched it down (like in this Cal Patch tutorial). I forgot to add the extra 1/4" that doing the bias in this method requires which made for a slightly smaller bodice. The fit? I made a size large based on my upper bust measurement. And it fits, but with some puckering at the bust line. It's not horrible, especially if I wear an unlined bra, so I will still wear it as a layering piece. Also, it's important to note that I did not have enough length to give it a proper hem, so I used bias tape around the bottom as well. I am long in the torso and almost always have to add length to tops and dresses, but I kind of forgot to do that in the excitement of getting this top cut out. Oops.

After finishing the first top, I immediately set forth on making a second one with a few changes. And when I say immediately, I mean that same afternoon. This fabric came from my stash as well - the yoke was cut out scraps leftover from my Love of Liberty quilt and the body is an Anna Maria Horner Field Study voile. (As an aside, I am completely in love with the color palette of this print. In. Love. And there is no green. Huh.). This time, I cut two front and back yokes, adding 1/4" to the neck and arm edges so I could self-line the yoke using Rae's video. I adore how nice this looks! It was a joy to sew and there weren't as many seams to finish - win! I also added 1/4" to the arm edge on the body pieces so I could fold the bias binding to the inside.

To solve the issue with the tightness/puckering at the bust, I added 1" of width to the front body piece of the size L instead of going up to the XL. I laid the front piece 1/2" in from the fold when I cut it and it worked very well. It fits a whole lot better than my first attempt - full enough, but not too full. I can wear a lined bra which is key with a sheer, light colored fabric like this one. I also added 2" to the length so I could make a proper hem on this version. It hangs much nicer that way. I wore this one out at night on the day I finished it. It seems to have been our last hot, summer-like evening of the season, but I am also excited to wear it under a cardigan in the coming cooler months.

As I look at these photos, I do think that I like the way the neck/arm looks on me in the first version better than in the second. For the next one, I think I will line it without adding the 1/4" on the neck and arm edges, but still adding the width in the front body piece. I would also like to make the dress version. I think it will look super cute belted, with tights and boots.

I'd highly recommend this pattern for any seamstress. Rae does a wonderful job of guiding you through all the steps, making this a good pattern for beginners. If you have more experience sewing garments, you will love how fast and easy this one comes together. I mean, c'mon - how often can you make two tops in one afternoon?

Also...I'm super excited about Josephine. And the Washi extension pack. That Rae is one busy girl.

I love putting fabrics together. On Friday, I pulled this stack for a quilt idea I've had since the middle of the summer. I haven't been able to get it out of my head so I'm going to dive in and see what happens. I am especially excited about this color palette. The Juliana Horner fabrics set the tone and I just built around those prints. Yes, there is a lot of green, but it is also a little out of my comfort zone with the yellow and the acid tones. I wonder it appeals to me so much because I typically don't gravitate towards some of these colors. Something to think about, at least.

I just listed bags of my smallest scraps in the shop. Just like the large scraps, I am offering these in warm colors, cool colors and mixed colors. Each bag of scraps has at least 40 small pieces which are perfect for one of my favorite gifts: scrappy log cabin potholders.

To make these fun potholders you will need:

- A variety small scraps in different lengths, anything over 1" wide will work. For this tutorial, I used a bag of mixed color small scraps from my shop.

- Fabric to frame the log cabin. The amount you need will depend on how big your finished log cabin is. An 1/8" of a yard should be sufficient, but I find that using scraps work well here, too. In fact, I used a very small part of a large bag of white scraps from my shop.

- Two pieces of batting, each 9" square. I use one layer of insulated batting (such as Insul-brite) and one layer of cotton batting, but you can use two layers of cotton or poly/cotton batting as well.

- Sewing machine, walking foot, thread, pins, scissors, knitting needle or chopstick, rotary cutter and ruler

Start by separating your scraps roughly by size. You want to start building your log cabin with the smallest scraps first.

Begin building the log cabin by sewing the scraps around the center piece one at a time, using a 1/4" seam. Trim off excess fabric as necessary. If you like a slightly wonky look, don't square up your edges. Also, you can always cut larger scraps into smaller pieces if you want to.

Once you have completed one ring around the center, add a second ring in the same manner.

For an even scrappier look, I start adding my second ring of pieces in a different spot. The first ring started with the yellow print and went counter clockwise. The second ring was started on the opposite side (the orange and pink print). I think this gives the log cabin a little more movement, but you can piece it however you like.

Once the second ring is finished, add the frame fabric on two opposite sides. The amount of fabric you need will depend on the size of your log cabin. The square should measure 9" with the frame fabric. Take a quick measurement of your block (mine was about 5") and see what you need (I needed at least 2 1/2" on each side). When calculating, don't forget about seam allowances! It is better to err on the larger size and trim the block later.

Next add framing fabric to the two remaining sides and trim the block to 9" square. Note that my log cabin is off center - again, I like that look, but do whatever you desire.

Make the hanging loop: Take a small rectangle of fabric (at least 1.5" wide and 3.5" long) and press it in half, making a crease down the length as shown.

Press the raw edges in so they meet the crease. Fold the strip in half along the crease, enclosing the raw edges and pin closed. Stitch along the edges of both long sides.

Fold the hanging loop in half so that the short ends meet. Place the loop about 1.5" inches in from the side of the front of the potholder. Line up the raw edges with the raw edge of the top front of the potholder and pin in place.

Assemble the pot holder by stacking your pieces on top of each other in the following order: two layers of backing, potholder front right side up, potholder back right side down. Pin around all four sides. Using a walking foot, sew the layers together with a 1/2" seam starting on the bottom edge and finishing 4" from where you started to leave a hole for turning.

Clip the corners and trim the seams to 1/4" except at the opening as shown. Turn the potholder right side out, using a knitting needle or chopstick to help poke out the corners. Press the entire potholder turning the seam allowances at the opening to the inside. Pin the opening shut.

Using a walking foot, stitch around the entire potholder 1/8" from the edge, closing the opening as you sew.

At this point, you can add some quilting to the potholder if you desire. On this one, I free motion quilted a little flower type motif on the log cabin. On others I have made in the past, I have quilted the entire potholder in a grid, made loopy designs from end to end, sewed concentric squares across the entire potholder or just over the log cabin. The options are endless! Of course, you could leave it as is without quilting and it would look just as adorable.

Another idea for a small scrap potholder is to do a improvisationally pieced one like this.  Piece scraps together until you have a 9" square and assemble as above. You can substitute a ribbon for the loop if you like.

Small scrap bags are in the shop - shipping is free!

I wanted to pop in and share this fun craft that Jane and I worked on over the weekend. She had a birthday party for two friends to attend and I suggested that wemake shoelaces for the girls to go along with the gift cards webought them. I used this tutorial by Liesl Gibsonfound on the Lisette blog (she also shows how to make them onCreativebug). They were super straight forward to make, easy and fast. Win, win, win! The aglets (that's the word for the little ends on shoelaces) were made with washi tape and nail polish. In Liesl's tutorial, she used clear polish, but Jane wanted to add a little bling, so we went metallic. Jane asked me to make a pair for her, too. That girl has some goodtaste...she specifically asked if I had any Liberty florals she couldchoose from. Uh, yes, I do.

A couple of notes if you make these:

- 48" is a good length for adult sized Converse low tops, and 54" is what you need for most high tops. For kid sized shoes, it's probably best to measure the lace that comes with the shoe.

- You need to use a lightweight fabric. Quilting cotton is a good option, but so is voile and lawn. Small prints look the best.

- You will have to piece your fabric if you are using traditional quilting cotton (40" to 44" in width). For the pairs we gave as gifts (not shown), I pieced 3 widths of fabric together, did the sewing, and then cut the laces to 48" from the one longer strip. With Jane's Liberty laces, one 54" width trimmed to 48" was sufficient for each lace.

- I found cutting the fabric with my rotary cutter and ruler left me fewer strings to deal with than tearing the fabric did.

- I found it easiest to sew the laces shut when I moved the sewing machine needle all the way to the left and sewed along the right edge of the lace. This placed the shoelace right over the feed dogs and kept it under the presser foot.

- We put 3 coats of nail polish on each tip to make sure that the tape would stay put and to ensure a nice hard finish.

I bet I will be making a lot more shoelaces soon...I'm thinking birthday party favors, stocking stuffers, etc. I think they would also make super cute "ribbon" to tie on a present.

I spent a great chunk of last weekend happily piecing my lastest fabric acquisition into a pile of 96 flying geese blocks. They have since been sewn into a quilt top that, with any luck and some free hours, will get basted and quilted this weekend. My favorite part of making a quilt is undoubtedly piecing. I get in a rhythm when sewing 1/4" seams in rapid succession. I love it when I can get in that groove and sew a bunch of pieces together in a short time. For these flying geese, I used a great method for making multiple blocks that was fast and fun so I thought I'd share how I did it with you.

Flying geese blocks are rectangular with the finished height being 1/2 the measurement of the finished width, or said differently, their measurments have a ratio of 1 to 2. The blocks I made for the purpose of this demonstration finish at 3.5" x 7" (with the seam allowances they measure 4" x 7.5"), but you can easily adjust this formula to make the blocks any size you desire. It's easy. Another bonus to this method, is that there is no fabric waste when you piece flying geese this way.

This method produces 4 identical blocks. You'll need:

- 1 square of fabric cut 1 1/4" larger than the desired finished width. (For my block that is 7" long when finished, I cut my square to 8 1/4").

- 4 squares of fabric cut 7/8" larger than the desired finished height (For my block that is 3 1/2" high when finished, I cut my square to 4 3/8").

- a marking pen or pencil, straight pins, sewing machine and thread, a rotary cutter and ruler

1. With you marking pen and ruler, draw a diagonal line from corner to corner across all four of the small squares.

2. Place 1 small square on the corner of the large fabric square with the diagonal line starting at the corner. Make sure that the fabrics' right sides are together with the edges lined up.

3. Place a second small square on the opposite corner. The diagonal lines should meet and the squares will overlap by a 1/2".  Pin the small squares in place.

4. Sew a 1/4" seam on each side of the drawn line. This is a great time to use a 1/4" piecing foot if you have one.

5. With your ruler against the drawn line, cut the square into two triangles.

6. Press the seams towards the small pieces as shown. You now have two pieces that are somewhat heart-shaped.

7. Take another small fabric square and pin it to the point of the heart shape so that the drawn line runs from the point to between the top triangles.

8. Sew seams a 1/4" on each side of the drawn line. Once the seams are sewn, cut on the line just like you did in step 5.

9. Repeat steps 7 and 8 for the second heart.

10. Press seams towards the small triangles. Ta da! You now have 4 flying geese blocks.

I hope you all have a great weekend. I plan on sewing!

but then I did. Buy more fabric, that is.

I don't need it, but I wanted it. And now that the camera straps are all finished, I'm going to attack that pile with the rotary cutter and then sew it back together again. Which, if you were wondering, is exactly my idea of fun.

In a somewhat spur of the moment decision on Friday night, I started pulling fabrics for a new batch of camera straps. It's been a very long time since I've made any, mostly because I was busy writing a book and then recuperating from writing said book. And so now seemed like as good of a time as any to jump back in. The girls are back in school. I am finished traveling for a couple of months. I don't have a big project on my plate at the moment. So, there you have it: camera straps coming soon.

I've chosen fabrics for four colorways and am thinking of adding a fifth one. Any requests for color combinations? I'm all ears.

In other news, a large box of books arrived here this week! I cannot tell you how surreal it is to know that QuiltEssential is out in the world. I am thrilled with how QuiltEssential came together and hope you will enjoy it, too. I'll be adding those to the shop soon as well and will be happy to sign them however you want me to - for you, for someone else, whatever you desire. There should be some scrap bags and some bundles of destashed fabrics for sale in the near future, too. I don't think there will be one huge shop restock, but rather, I'll add things as I finish them. At least, that's my plan. Regardless, I will let you know before anything I list anything. Sound good?

Crazy, but so good, right?

I met my friend Suzanne when her daughter and Jane were in the same 3 year old preschool class. That was over 10 years ago. Our girls were fast friends (still are) and their friendship, like many between small people, led to a friendship between the big people. One day, when picking Jane up from a playdate, Suzanne was filling bags with different crafts. When I asked what she was doing, she chimed in with, "Are you crafty?" Yes, I am. That's how I joined the craft swap.

Joining the craft swap was just the beginning. Our kids played, we hung out together at the pool during the summer, Fatty rode bikes with Suzanne and her husband, we met for coffee, had birthday lunches and swapped lots of different crafts. We shared knitting patterns, Suzanne taught herself to sew. Our kids even swapped crafts a few times. I have a lot of different things made by Suzanne and when I see them around my house, I smile.

Suzanne and her family just moved across the country. I thought it would be appropriate to make one more thing for her. A little souvenir, so to speak - something that will remind her of the place they called home for many years.

Godspeed, friend. I'll miss you.

(Pillow details - linen ground with machine appliqued Kentucky and matching binding in a Liberty of London Lifestyle print, from the Bloomsbury Garden collection. Hand embroidered by me).