The soft pastels look so pretty with the tan accent fabric.

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A lot of the fabric is from Garden Party by Poppie Cotton, but I also used a bunch from my stash. I used Kona White for the background and Kona Ivory for the tan accent pieces. They have a nice contrast, without being overwhelming.

Leah requested butterflies for the quilting, so we chose this pretty pantograph, called Ginger Flight. Sterling from Sterling Quilt Company did the longarm quilting, and it’s absolutely perfect!

Leah also wanted it backed in minky, so we used this icy blue. I love how cozy and heavy minky-backed quilts are!

I’m so happy that she loves it! Next up is Austin. His has been finished for a while now, and I can’t wait to show you. I’ve just been procrastinating buying backing and sending it to the longarmer. I think he wants minky as well, so I need to get on that.

Head over to my shop to get the pattern. It comes as a download with a booklet and a full page version, so you can choose which one you want. Hope you like it!

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The first one was so bad I even attempted to rip out all of the stitching, which contributed to a horrible case of tendonitis that I have been dealing with for over a year. The treatment: exercises, stretches, and… do nothing repetitive with my dominant hand/arm until it’s better. Translation: no. more. embroidery. GUYS!!!! HOW?!?!?! It’s been a rough one, and I still have to make sure I don’t overdo it, but I think it’s finally mostly healed. Hoping to get working on some embroidery projects soon.

Anyway, to counteract some of the cursed-ness of this quilt, I decided to fill it with some positive energy and give the pattern away for free. Shall we see if it works?

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I won’t even show you what the first quilt looked like. This second time around the quilting wasn’t too bad, but definitely not what I asked for. It was originally long diamonds, and I attempted to make it look better by stitching straight lines to turn them into triangles.

To make it more fun, I used colored thread in a rainbow pattern! You can’t see it from far away, but up-close it’s a pretty cute detail.

I had fun choosing all of the different color prints for this low volume quilt pattern. The white flowers look so sweet and dainty against the beige background. I used Moda Crossweave Sand for the background. I don’t think they make it in that color anymore, but I was able to find an online shop selling some. The crossweave frayed like crazy, but I like the different texture it gives. You could also do a light background with colored flowers.

I love a bias stripe binding! This pink was so perfect. It’s Riley Blake Hibiscus Stripes – Blush.

And this white fabric with little blue birds is my new favorite print. I used it for the backing and got extra to use in future projects. It’s Riley Blake Hush Hush 4 – For the Birds. I always love their Hush Hush collections, and I used a few others from them in this quilt. I like Cute Little Fabric Shop because she lets you buy eighths of yards online. Perfect for this quilt since you can do a layer cake or eighths.

What do you think? Was it worth all the hassle? Let me know if you decide to make it so I can feel a little better about it all.

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It’s made of 20 blocks and uses 20 different prints for the main blocks. If you use fat eighths, it utilizes them perfectly. Otherwise, you have to scale up to quarter yards for yardage cuts.

Most of the fussy cuts are from various Tasha Noel fabric lines. She really knows how to make some cute fabric! Others are just random low volume prints that I had on hand or hunted down. If there’s a specific one you love, leave a comment, and I might be able to remember which one it was. Of course, you don’t have to use fussy cuts, but it does add quite a bit of cuteness.

I used Kona White for the background, Kona Seaglass for the sashing, and Kona Azure for the cornerstones.

The binding is Riley Blake Dainty Daisy Jade and the backing is this adorable print from Riley Blake with old jam and canning recipes on it. It’s called Farm Girl Vintage Canning in Denim. Longarm quilting was done by Sterling Quilt Company using the Ginger Spring pantograph. She always does a great job!

The quilt is River approved, so you know it’s good. JK, she just likes to get in the middle of anything I’m doing, especially if it involves a quilt spread out on the floor.

This is definitely one of my favorite quilts that I’ll be keeping for myself forever. It’s currently draped over the back of a chair in my craft room, and I fold it different ways to show off the different blocks from time to time.

Head over to my Etsy shop to get the Weathervane Whimsy fussy cut quilt pattern.

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The best part is all of the little fussy cut fabrics in the windows. I searched all over the internet (mostly Etsy) for these low volume Halloween fabrics, and it definitely paid off. Just look at all of the Halloween cuteness!

I pulled from a few different fabric collections for the house. Beggar’s Night from Riley Blake, Eerie from Art Gallery, and Good Spirits from Ruby Star to name a few.

The little ghost has a very subtle white on white pattern, and so does the cloud. I used Ghost White Daisies from Moda for the ghost and Hey Boo from Moda for the cloud.

The bats have a subtle night sky pattern with “In the Dark” from the Eerie collection from Art Gallery.

Each star is a different pattern. I used 3 dark orange fabrics, 3 medium orange fabrics, and 3 yellow/cream fabrics. You could easily pull from your fabric stash to make these really scrappy.

And here’s a closeup of the binding and backing. I love both of these fabrics from the Eerie collection from Art Gallery. The binding is “Spooky Trails” and the backing is “Boneyard Nocturnal”.

I had it quilted by a local lady, Quilted by Tonja. I pulled the quilt top out in her studio, and we both had the same thought… it needed spider webs. It turned out perfectly!

As you can imagine, this Halloween quilt pattern is a big one. I think it ended up being like 26 pages since every block is different. It looks intense, but it’s actually a pretty easy quilt to make. I did a good job spelling everything out, and I even included labels for all of the different background pieces. Head over to my shop to get it here.

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I love the scrappy vintage look that this fabric gives the quilt! It was a 30s bundle from my friend Alli at Woodberry Way. She always puts together the cutest fabric combos, and this one had all of the colors I’d already chosen for this quilt design.

I used Kona White for the background, Moda Frost for the diamonds and border, Moda Summer Sky for the binding, and Riley Blake Flea Market Applique Coral for the backing.

It was quilted by Emilee Hathaway using the pantograph “Propel”. She did such a beautiful job! I love how it looks like little flower petals all over the quilt.

Jessica from Blue Sky Modern Craft did pattern editing for me, so you know it’s accurate.

And of course River approves! She was so good about striking a pose for me.

Get the Flower Burst Quilt Pattern!

Head to my Etsy shop to download the pattern and have fun making it!

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The quilt has five different blocks and a pieced border, so I really went big with this one. Someday I plan to make another version that has my kids’ names embroidered on the stamp envelope blocks and do really cute fussy cuts on the stamps. I need to build up my fabric stash a little more first though.

Most of the fabric I used is from the Moda Lighthearted collection, except I replaced the greens with some grays. It’s hard to see, but the white background has little white hearts printed all over it, which I absolutely adore! I need to find somewhere to buy more of it. Longarm quilting was done by the fabulous Sterling Quilt Co.

I did some fussy cuts with low volumes from the same fabric line. Like I said before, you could really have fun with these.

I think my favorite detail is the scalloped pink border, and now I want to make scallops on every single quilt forever! The finished quilt measures 56″ x 72″, and I plan on making it the couch quilt for February. I think I’ll just keep switching them out depending on the month.

And one more photo because I risked getting it dirty to put on this bench for you. Haha!

Get the “Sealed with Love” Valentine’s day quilt pattern!

Head over to my Etsy shop to get the pattern. I hope you love it and have a great Valentine’s day!

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To make this Halloween cat embroidery pattern, you’ll need:

• free Halloween embroidery pattern (instructions to download are at the bottom of this post)
• 8 inch embroidery hoop
• gray fabric
• embroidery floss (colors listed on pattern)
• green, purple, and light brown cotton fabric
• paper-backed interfacing for appliqué pieces (Wonder Under – Pellon 805 or Heat ‘n Bond Lite)

Start by applying all of the appliqués pieces first, then embroider through them. You may need to adjust the sizes of the appliqué pieces depending on what brand hoop you are using to frame it and how stretchy your fabric is. I have instructions for how to appliqué by hand here.

Rather than embroidering actual lines on the pumpkin, I decided to just leave them as open space. You could also try a darker shade of orange instead.

The tree has some great texture created by the couching stitch. I’ve never filled an area with couching like this before, and it looks pretty cool. You could also use a long and short stitch, but I think it would take longer.

I also love the texture on the moon and clouds on this fun Halloween embroidery pattern. So cute!

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To make this easy DIY bug birthday cake, you’ll need:

• chocolate cake
• chocolate frosting
• crushed Oreo cookies with cream removed
• red, orange, green, and yellow m&ms
• gummy worms
• green sour punch bites
• laffy taffy
• marshmallow bits
• food pen

He was very specific on what bugs he wanted on his cake, and I tried my best to make it happen. I made a chocolate cake with chocolate frosting and topped it with crushed Oreo cookies for dirt (filling removed first). The tiny white marshmallows are bug eggs, and the little blobs are rolly polys (pill bugs). We made those mixing different colors of laffy taffy together.

I cut the tops of green sour straw bites and stuck them in the top to make it look like grass.

Then we had fun with a food pen and m&ms to make ladybugs, bees, and this little caterpillar. Just make sure to draw on the side that doesn’t have the m on it. And of course, added some gummy worms all around.

It looked like a mess, but he LOVED it! I loved that it was very easy to make and that all parts were edible and tasty.

My son is now 8 and is still obsessed with bugs. Not sure if it’s something he will grow out of at this point, so I might have a future entomologist on my hands.

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Here’s a link to the Swoon Sixteen pattern in case you’re interested in making one yourself. The quilt is 16 squares using 16 fat quarters, with each fabric being used once for each piece type. The way everything just flowed was magical, and I became obsessed with sewing the blocks together.

I didn’t know if I was going to like some of the color combos, but everything came together nicely in the end.

This was also my first time sending my quilt off to a longarmer. I used Sterling Quilt Co. and she did an amazing job. This was one of her monthly penny-ish specials, so the price was pretty reasonable too.

I used Kona Snow for the background and Kona Shell for the sashing. The fabric I chose for the binding was also one that was in Alli’s bundle, but I bought more for it. I love a bias stripe for binding. It looks so cute next to the floral backing.

I’m so happy to be able to share my finished Swoon Sixteen quilt with you today. I’m also already planning my next quilt and am taking a class for it at Garden of Quilts in Utah next month. Looking forward to that for sure! Anyone else going?

Now comes my next problem… What does one do with all of these quilts? Haha! Guess I better find some family members who would appreciate them as gifts.

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Watch the Video Tutorial

I’ve recorded all of these instructions in a video tutorial as well as written them up. Watch the video below.

How to Cross Stitch

Step 1: Gather Supplies for Cross Stitch

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Cross Stitch Supplies:

• fabric – Use Aida cloth for beginners or another evenweave fabric if you are more advanced
• embroidery floss – Color codes should be listed on your pattern. Usually DMC and/or Anchor brand are used. If you think you’ll need more than one of a single color, buy them all at the same time. That way you don’t have to deal with differences in color from different dye lots.
• cross stitch needles – Get a couple in case you lose one.
• embroidery scissors
• embroidery hoop or frame
• cross stitch pattern – I used this one made by Tiny Modernist.

Step 2: Prepare the Fabric

Step 3: Find the Middle of the Fabric

It’s important that you start a cross stitch pattern by marking the middle of your fabric. That way you know where to start stitching, and you are sure to have enough fabric to make the entire design.

To find the middle, fold the fabric in half one way and then fold it in half the other way. Mark the spot in the middle, where both folds cross, by sticking a pin through it.

Step 4: Put the Fabric in a Hoop

Use an embroidery hoop or frame to hold your fabric. Keep the needle you used to mark your center inserted while doing this part. Take the fabric out of the hoop when you are done stitching for the day so you don’t make permanent creases in the fabric.

How to put Aida Cloth in an Embroidery Hoop

1. Loosen the screw and separate the two piece of the embroidery hoop.
2. Put the inner circle of the embroidery hoop under the fabric, and the outer circle on top.
3. Tighten the top screw so you can just barely push the top circle over the inner circle. Your fabric should be tight, but make sure the squares created by the holes are not distorted.
4. Tighten the top screw by hand as much as you can.

Step 5: Thread the Needle

Use a cross stitch or tapestry needle. The end is blunt so the needle goes easily through the holes in the fabric instead of stabbing through somewhere else. Also a plus if you are prone to stabbing yourself while stitching!

1. Cut a piece of thread about the length from your finger tips to your elbow.
2. Separate out the number of threads you will use for stitching. Embroidery floss is a large thread made up of six smaller threads. You pull out one or two of those strands to stitch with. Your pattern should tell you how many, but for cross stitch, the number is usually two.
3. Push one end of the thread through the eye of a cross stitch or tapestry needle and pull it through about four inches. If you have difficulty threading the needle, it helps to wet the end of your thread or use a needle threader.

Step 6: Learn to Read a Cross Stitch Pattern

Cross stitch patterns are a grid made up of different-colored squares with symbols. Each square represents one cross stitch. Four holes in your Aida cloth are the four corners of each square.

1. Find the center of your pattern, just like you found the center of your fabric. Start stitching around there and work your way out.
2. Match the symbol with on the grid with the chart in the pattern instructions to find the color thread you need.

So you can see here, the blue arrow symbol uses a cross stitch, in DMC 807. We see below the chart that all cross stitches are done using two strands of embroidery floss.

Step 7: Learn to Cross Stitch

Making a Single Cross Stitch

Usually stitches will be done in groups or rows, but sometimes, you need to do a single stitch.

1. Bring the needle up at the bottom left corner. Leave a tail an inch or two long on the back.
2. Bring the needle down at the top right corner.
3. Bring the needle up at the bottom right corner, white stitching over the tail on the back to secure the thread.
4. Bring the needle down at the top left corner.

Making a Row of Cross Stitches

When you have rows of the same color, it is most efficient to stitch them in rows from left to right, top to bottom.

1. Bring the needle up at the bottom left corner. Leave a tail an inch or two long on the back.
2. Bring the needle down at the top right corner.
3. Bring the needle up at the bottom right corner, while stitching over the tail on the back to secure the thread.
4. Bring the needle down at the top right corner of the next X.
5. Bring the needle up at the bottom right corner of that square, while stitching over the tail again.
6. Continue making the first half of the X shapes until you reach the end of the row, stitching over the tail of the thread two or three times.
7. When you get to the last X, bring the needle up at the bottom right corner and down at the top left corner. Continue until all X’s are finished in that row.

Starting a New Row

You can start a new row just like the one before. Work from left to right, when you can. Sometimes it won’t make sense to do that, so it’s not a hard rule. Just make sure that the part of the X that goes from bottom left to top right is always under the one that goes from bottom right to top left.

Starting in a New Section

Make sure you don’t skip around to different parts of the pattern, leaving a large trail of thread on the back. Doing so will waste thread, and you also risk being able to see the thread through the fabric on the front. It’s best to just finish off that thread and start another in the new spot.

Step 8: Finishing Thread for Cross Stitch

To finish off a piece of thread, secure it by running your needle under three stitches on the back of your work. Snip off the excess thread.

Cross Stitch FAQ

You might also enjoy these 25+ Modern Cross-Stitch Kits! And when you’re done cross-stitching learn Hand Embroidery for Beginners.

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