Each year, I seem to kind of flip back and forth between wanting to make all the holiday gift items and decorations and just selecting a few small projects to work on. Regardless of which end of the cycle you might be in this year, quick, small handmade projects are always a fun way to sneak in a little special holiday sewing, and I’ve got several on the site that are just perfect for that.

Happy season of giving! I don’t know about you, but I’m deep in the midst of present gathering for family, friends, teachers, and service workers. While I love a personal gift full of meaning, there’s always a time and a place for a good ol’ gift card. But that doesn’t mean you can’t add a personal, handmade touch with a delightful fabric gift card sleeve.

Hello, November Quilt Block Mania-ers! It’s been a few months since I participated in Quilt Block Mania, but I thought this month’s camping theme was too endearing to skip. Let me introduce you to my Night Camper block!

Hello, November Quilt Block Mania-ers! It’s been a few months since I participated in Quilt Block Mania, but I thought this month’s camping theme was too endearing to skip. Let me introduce you to my Night Camper block!

Halloween's almost here, but I've got one more "spooky" project to share with you. I made the 18.5" sample block for the One Scrappy Witch pattern with one thing in mind -- a spot on my living room couch.

Last year, I shared the free Boo Blocks pattern on the Havel’s Sewing blog, and while I made up some cute sample blocks, I never managed to get around to turning them into something more useful — that is, until now! The first project in my month of Halloween sewing was turning those blocks into coasters!

After seeing a few other scrappy spooky-themed blocks pop up in addition to my One Scrappy Witch block pattern and One Scrappy Pumpkin block tutorial, I started brainstorming my own scrappy sampler Halloween quilt. Here’s everything you need to know to make the cutest Halloween throw quilt around.

I’m back with another free Halloween block tutorial for you! This simple scrappy pumpkin combines squares and HSTs to create a super-size 18.5” block. Like the One Scrappy Witch block, this pumpkin is perfect for inserting into all your Halloween quilts, pillows, or wall hangings.

Earlier this week, I released the free One Scrappy Witch block pattern, and I hope you’re already loving it! The pattern includes two versions of the fun, scrappy block: 12.5” and 18.5”. You can, of course, use the blocks for any number of crafts, but it turns out the 12.5” block is perfect for a candy tote for trick-or-treating, and today I’m here to show you how to make your own!

There are so many cute Halloween fabrics available these days, and I wanted to create a pattern that would let me use as many of them as possible. Scrappy witches have yet to have their day in the sun, so I decided to put an end to that, and the result is the One Scrappy Witch block, a simple and fun addition to your Halloween sewing repertoire.

Happy Fabric Palette Friday! I’ve had Halloween on the brain recently, and when I grabbed this fabulous gum print from Ruby Star Society’s Spooky Darlings fabric collection, I found myself pulling a whole palette of colors and textures to play along with it. I wouldn’t call it Halloween exactly, but it’s a delightful rainbow of fabric goodness that’s just right for this transitional time from summer to fall.

Did you see the blog post that went up on the Modern Service Quilts blog this week with all the info on the solids version of Strip Dash we made for this month’s collaboration? It provides a lot of fabulous eye candy and inspiration if you’re looking to make your own service-quilt version of the pattern. But if you’ve been following along on IG or this blog this month, you know I’ve also been working on another scrappy version, and I’m excited to share the finished top!

Today’s National Sew a Jelly Roll Day, so I’m here to share some great jelly-roll patterns so you can join in the quilting fun today, too!

Tomorrow is National Sew a Jelly Roll Day, which I couldn’t have planned better myself since we’re still in the midst of my second collaboration with Modern Service Quilts, and the pattern of the month is my jelly-roll friendly Strip Dash! Check out all the jelly inspiration I have in store for you.

The kids are back in school, and things are starting to resume their normal flow, which means you’ll be seeing lots more of me — and trust me, I’ve got lots to show you — starting with the reveal of my second collaboration with Modern Service Quilts, an organization founded by me and two friends that’s devoted to getting more modern honor quilts into the hands of veterans and service members. Meet the newest version of Strip Dash!

Happy Fabric Palette Friday! This week’s palette is just plain sweet, and I’m all here for it. Rifle Paper Co. creates the best inspiration prints because they frequently have unique color schemes, they include a lot of colors, and the print scale is often small, which means the inspiration print itself is easier to incorporate in the final product. This time, I started with the Rifle Paper Co. tea-party print from their Alice in Wonderland-inspired collection.

It's been a while since I've gotten the chance to do a new quilt reveal! Things had been oh-so-busy around here on the tech-editing side of things (a good problem to have), but it's meant less time for my own sewing. Top that off with general summer craziness, and well, you know how it is. So I'm all the more excited to finally be sharing this finished bright, happy scrappy baby version of the Strip Dash quilt!

Happy Fabric Palette Friday! This week, I tried to take the palette in a new direction, stretching beyond some of my normal go-to colors. I started with the pink and green Rifle Paper Co. floral as my inspiration print. I love the unusual greens in the print and tried to pull some of them out.

Happy Fabric Palette Friday! With the Fourth of July holiday coming up this weekend in the U.S., I thought I’d reach back a bit to a palette that makes me think of my favorite blue jeans mixed with just a hint of patriotism and vintage Americana.

If you’ve been around for awhile, you surely know about my love of big-stitch binding. I already have a tutorial for adding sweet hearts to your binding stitches, but why leave good enough alone? While binding a recent baby quilt finish, I started playing around and came up with another stitch option that I couldn’t wait to share. I’m calling it “stick and stitch,” ha! It basically adds a vertical bar stitch in between the standard running stitch typically used for big-stitch binding. It’s super simple but a fun change of pace.