After over six months of snow and cold ... including 8" last week ... I decided we needed to craft some bright and happy Spring projects. Today was our Spring Fling at the Cottage where everyone could come in ... sit at the crafting tables ... and just make stuff. So even though it's still chilly outside today, it put us all in a great mood!

Pretty Little Plant Pokes can be made by anyone and are perfect gifts for kids to make. All you need are tongue depressors, scrapbook paper, Chestnut Roan chalk ink, and UHO glue.

Cut 2" strips of paper with a scalloped rotary cutter, leaving one edge straight. Subcut into 2" segments. Ink the scalloped edge. Apply glue to one end of the tongue depressor and lay in the center of the back side of the paper. Bend the edges to the back and glue in place. Ink the edges. With a fine tip Sharpie marker, write the name of your plants. Easy! They'd be cute tied into a bundle for teacher's gifts.

Nothing makes me happier than a Pretty Little Pinwheel. They are so easy to make! You need a 4-1/4" square of scrapbook paper, a paper straw ... I found mine at Typo in the Mall of America ... a bugle bead, a washer or eyelet, and a brad with extra long prongs, and a UHO glue stick.

With a pencil, lightly draw a line from corner to corner on the back of the paper. Make a mark 1" away from the center on each line. With a scissors, cut on the line to the mark. Mark the center with a dot and erase any lines that show.

Working with the pointy corners of the paper square you cut, bring that corner to the center and glue in place. Work around the square to form a pinwheel and then hold in place for a few minutes until the glue holds. Use the mark you made to punch a hole in the center through all of the layers. I used one of those big Crop-A-Diles.

Flatten out the top end of the straw and punch a hole about 1/2" from the top. Working from the front, push the brad through the pinwheel hole, add the bugle bead, then the washer or eyelet, and finally going through the straw. Leave a little bit of slack so the pinwheel turns and then bend the prongs to hold in place. That's it!  They'd be so cute in flower pots for a party!

Pretty Little Posie Pins are so fast because we start with a premade flower. Attach them to your jacket, or a purse, or put them on a hair clip. You'll need a premade flower ... mine was from Pettaloo but I've also used the burlap ones from Maya Road ... a 2-1/2" or little bit larger burlap square, a 5/8" x 4" strip of scrapbook paper, a 2" diameter scalloped circle cut from an old book, 1-1/4"x12" piece of tulle, hot glue, Chestnut Roan chalk ink.

Cut a V in the ends of the paper strip and ink the edges. Ink the scalloped circle too. Glue the strip through the center of the circle and then glue to the burlap. Fold the tulle into thirds ... apply glue to the back of the flower and then lay it over the tulle and glue to the paper unit. Ink the flower and tulle. Attach a pin back. All done!

Everyone needs a Pretty Little Bookmark to mark their place. I opened up my Word program and printed out inspirational words in a font I liked and sized it so it was 1" tall. You can make it any size. I have ribbon at the store with the stitching along the side but you could use any 1-1/2" ribbon and stitch the edges yourself. The only other supplies you need are a stash of embroidery floss, a Frixxion marking pen, and a light box.

Cut your ribbon to 12". Center over your word and trace with a Frixxion pen. Back stitch the word with three strands of floss, knotting off after each letter. At the end ... or you could do the beginning ... of the word, make a Lazy Daisy flower. Add three smaller Lazy Daisy leaves in green. Make a French knot in the center. The flower is made with three strands of floss. Press the stitching to remove the ink. Notch the two ends into a V. A fast gift that you can make at the last minute!

You'll find these on my DIY Cuz It's Fun board on Pinterest. Repin them so your friends can make some too!

Follow our link to Craftsy's Mother's Day Sale and you can get half off on classes!

www.craftsy.com/RosebudsCottage_MothersDay

This weekend it's all about Mom so if you're looking for a unique gift for someone ... or for yourself ... we have the perfect idea! Our partnership with Craftsy allows us to offer fantastic prices on a huge variety of online classes.

When you purchase Craftsy classes through us, you directly support our store. To say thanks, you'll get a follow-up email with a $5 coupon you can redeem in-store for class supplies and tools.

We love to hear about the classes you're taking ... and don't forget, it you get stuck, we're here to help.

The Mother's Day Sale ends at midnight on Monday, May 13 so you have a little bit of time to decide. There are tons of classes to choose from! I just signed up for a photography class.  There's so much to learn. Browse through the catalog and find something that interests you!

Happy Mother's Day from us and Craftsy!

Spring flowers are starting to bloom, and so are the savings at Craftsy! Our shop is excited to be partnering with Craftsy to bring you terrific prices for online classes in quilting, sewing, knitting, crochet, and even more of your favorite crafts. Enjoy your interactive video class any time, over and over—access never expires, and comes with Craftsy’s money–back guarantee.

Follow this LINK to Craftsy to get your discounted classes during their special sale. And as a thank you for buying it from us, you'll receive a $5 coupon that you can use back at the Cottage.

And don't forget ... we want you to be successful with the classes you sign up for so if you ever get stuck or have a question, just come in and we'll be happy to help you figure it out.

On April 12 and 13, we're opening our classroom to any of you who have purchased a Craftsy class from us.  Bring in your supplies and work on your projects. We want you to learn your lessons and the best way to do that is to have dedicated time to work on them. Our classroom is a wi-fi zone so just bring your tablet or laptop. Please pre-register by Tuesday April 9.

Craftsy's sales ends on  Monday, April 8, 2013 at midnight, MST so don't wait too long.

What a relief that the quilters on the Moda cruise were finally rescued from the island! Everyone should be safely on their way home by now. But really ... how bad can it be if you're stranded with every kind of quilting gadget at your fingertips? And fabric, too!

Now if you haven't been following along ... you'll need to go back here to the beginning of the story. You'll find out what really happened and as you read through each post, you'll see tons of tools that quilters in the industry love.  And you're going to want them all!

One of my favorites are the EZ Brand acrylic mini templates by Simplicity.  I love their tiny size, the built in seam allowance, as well as the blunt edges to get rid of dog ears.

The Fat Cat template fit perfectly on a 2" charm pack I picked up at Quilt Con.

The Fat Cat and the 30 degree triangle work together to make a row. I could have cut a 2" strip and turned the template up and down to cut a bunch from the same fabric if I wasn't working with the charms. OLFA's rotating cutting mat would have been the perfect addition to this photo.

I made a cute little pincushion!

I would never leave home without the Folded Corner Clipper by Prairie Sky Quilting!

I never can get corner flips to turn out exactly right but with this tool, you line up the grid with the size of your square ... trim and sew. The seam allowance is built in to the tool. It is so slick! But ... I've found another use for it that I love, too!

You know how hard it is to get your binding strips sewn together, right? Half the time I have the line going in the wrong direction or the strips don't line up correctly when I sew. Ugh! But with the Corner Clipper you can cut the angles on your strips and then sew them ...  just right each time. To do this you lay both of your binding strips right sides up. Trim the corner.

Turn the top one over and lay it against the bottom strip with the right sides together like in the photo and then sew. So easy! Its a genius product and the package has even more uses. But these are my two favorite because they make my life easier. 

And then there's the new tool that just came on the scene ... OLFA's Splash rotary cutter. You have to love it if for no other reason than the color. Isn't the aqua shade perfect for being stuck on an island? I loved that it perfectly matched the colors of the fabric in Ticklish and Glamping by Moda. It has features that I like too ... specifically the quick blade change so you don't have to fumble with the little screw thingy. And boy ... is it nice to cut with a sharp blade! Need to buy some new ones.

And finally there's the Lollipop Tool! My friend Melisa from Sweet Home Quilt Co gave us these at a retreat I attended. Who knew a Tootsie Roll has so many uses ... plus that chocolate center when you just have to have something sweet! You'll want to put one in  your sewing kit for any kind of emergency.

Tools ... don't you love them all???

I'm so excited to present my next project for Fabri-Quilt's blog ... Inspired by Fabric ... my pillow that I'm calling Mirror Mirror. I was sent fabric from the Fashionista line to work with ... all red and black and gray and white ... favorites!! You can download the directions at Inspired by Fabric .

I have to admit ... when the fabric first arrived, I had a hard time thinking about what to do with it. Bags seem so over done ... I didn't need another wall hanging ... but gee ... I sure do love pillows! When the mirror idea bounced into my head, I pulled out a little sketch pad and drew out a rough idea. I'm no artist! But generally once I 'see' something in my head, I can get it out into some tangible form.

Once I had that figured out, I drew the dimensions on jumbo graph paper ... then chose where everything should go. I knew I wanted the faces in the mirror because that's what we'd see if we were looking into one. It's all very literal for me! I liked the contrast of the red and the lipstick fabric ... all the rest dropped into place from there and I was off to slice and dice and sew!

The lipstick fabric was directional so when I cut my quarter-square triangles, I put them together like this. If you haven't sewn triangles like this very often, you sew the the two short sides first, press to the dark, then sew them into a square. I like to trim off dog ears as I go. Pin the triangles together before you head to the sewing machine in order to keep them in the right position. It's too easy to get mixed up.

Don't worry if you don't feel comfortable about blanket stitching your mirror in place ... either by machine or hand. I'm a big fan of raw edges showing and I love to stitch with random rows of straight stitching around the edge. I sort of wish I'd done one more row. I love how they criss cross over each other. Lengthen your stitches a bit. And because I'm lazy ... I left on my 1/4" foot!!

I'm not great at machine quilting either but you don't need to be an expert! I like to use the left edge of my presser foot and run it along the seam. When I did the section around the mirror, I did three rows of stitching around the outer seam ... then I began to echo the mirror. It was fun!!

Fold the bulk of the pillow top into a neat bundle while you quilt ... it will be smoother and easier to work with it that way. See how my presser foot is following along the previous row of stitching?

I love to look at the back! I used Aurifil thread to stitch and quilt ... they have a light gray 50 wt variegated thread that was perfect for on top of the shoe fabric! Great for piecing with, too.

To save on confusion for when you're doing the pillow back ... this is the first piece of the pillow back ... the second piece will have the raw edges aligning to the left and covering the first section. I like having a lot of turn under for my pillows ... it keeps them from gapping and showing the pillow form inside. Nice and neat!

Ok ... are you ready to sew? Head over to Fabri-Quilt's blog to download the pattern. And ... they're giving away a prize for some lucky winner! Follow these directions to enter the contest.

Join us for another behind-the-scenes peek at an inspirational crafting retailer that we’ve had the pleasure to meet through Craftsy Connect. This week we were lucky to talk with Rosebud’s Cottage owner Roseann Kermes, about the challenges and triumphs of her non-traditional quilt shop in Minnesota, as well as the challenges she faces, changes she’s made since opening, and her fun quilt retreats!

via www.craftsy.com