Three Cheers for Debs, Hip, Hip, Hooray!

I have just seen the wonderful news that Debs from Make, Do & Mend Quilts has her AlphaDots quilt and pattern featured in Sew Hip magazine this month!  

You might remember that it was one of Deb's gorgeous quilt kits that sparked my new found passion for quilting so I am really pleased that these refreshingly modern and uncomplicated quilt designs are being celebrated by others too.

If you feel inspired to try and make one of these AlphaDots quilts yourself click here to get the complete kit!

image source: make do and mend quilts

Fabric Basket Tutorial

I've been getting organised this past week as my fabric stash has been growing rapidly since I started quilting!   

I found a tutorial to make these lovely fabric boxes over on a new favourite blog of mine, The Sometimes Crafter. They are really simple to put together and are perfect for keeping my fabric neat, tidy and accessible.

I hate rummaging through a whole stack of fabric so I love that I can see what I have at a glance now. I'm also really happy that I found a good use for this heavier weight Kawii fabric I got recently.

So what do you think, are you going to run up a few of these to get your stash in order? You can find Christina's tutorial for the fabric baskets here...

Printable Monkey Tags By Ishtar Olivera

 

If you read Decor8 you've probably already heard all about Ishtar Olivera's blog this week as she was Holly's blog of the week! Ishtar's blog is not only full of her beautifully styled photos and illustrations but she writes the sweetest, thoughtful posts. You should definitely find some time to browse her archives with a cup tea in hand.

As a thank you to all the new fans commenting on her posts this week Ishrar has kindly designed these cute monkey tags that you can download and print over on her blog today. Isnt that a lovely thing to do! 

Click here to download your printable monkey tags :) 

Image Souce: ishtarolivera.com/blog

Lovely Design Pattern Downloads

Ok, so it's been a bit quiet round here and I admit, the no. 1 reason is probably because I've been procrastinating. I decided the only thing to do was to gave myself a kick up the bum and just jump right in and post something, anything to break the cycle.

I am now really glad that I did because I'm really please with these little note books I knocked up and am excited to share this Lovely Design blog find with you all.

You have probably heard of Sharilyn and her company Lovely Design before as she sells probably the most coveted address files on the blog circuit. What you might not know is that Sharilyn has a blog of her own with some really lovely projects and tutorials that I'm sure will inspire you just like me.

Here I have used some of the pattern downloads I found on the Lovely Design sidebar to make these sweet little jotters and some mini envelopes.

For the envelopes I used a template from the Designers Tool Box and added a little label I had previously downloaded from Givers Log.

To put the note books together I printed the patterns onto off white card stock which I then cut in half to get the right size cover. I used some Muji paper I had to hand for the pages which was lined on one side and plain on the other so I could sketch and take notes. The Muji paper was also quite thin which made it a good choice as I wanted to sew my book instead of stapling. Once cut to size I folded the pages and cover to create a book and used a couple of pegs to hold it all together while I stitched with my machine down the fold line and finally rounded the corners with a craft punch.

I have also been thinking of printing these patterns on to card stock and using as an alternative cover for the mini travel journals I made for Simple Blueprint recently. They could also be used to make really cute calling cards if you add your name and no. in Photoshop....oh the possibilities are endless aren't they!

You will find some really thoughtful and creative ideas at Lovely Design so I hope you have fun browsing the achieve over there! You can let me know what ideas you have for these gorgeous patterns by leaving a comment below.