DIY Game Day Pillows for Football Fans

The DIY Game Day Pillows are the perfect afternoon project to be ready for Thanksgiving Weekend football...or get a jump start on a Christmas gift for your favorite football fan.  Special thanks to Shannon Fabrics and Fairfield World for providing me with product and to Fairfield World for compensating me for this post.

R2-K9 Star Wars Themed DIY Dog Bed

The Star Wars dog-parent in your life is definitely going to want one of these.  Although a dog bed like this can be made for any theme.  Thanks to Shannon Fabrics, Dritz, and Fairfield World for providing me with product for this dog bed and to Fairfield World for compensating me for this post.  All opinions, ideas, enthusiasm and complete geekiness is 100% my own. This post contains affiliate links.

R2-K9 get it?!?  Although K-9SO could make a great dog bed too.  A friend of mine recently became pet-parent to a rescue dog and he wanted a comfy place for his dog to sleep.  Since he is such a Star Wars fan, I thought a punny Star Wars dog joke was in order.  (Free Pattern for Star Wars Quilt-in-a-Day in photos can be found here.)

And because he wanted an extra cover for when the first was in the wash, I made a second with some
Luxe Cuddle® Weave in Silver Heather to match the dog's beautiful coat to minimize visible pet hair.

Materials to make your own:

Zippered Shield Foam Protector

Foam is an amazing material for so many things...but it can be spendy, so you want to protect it regardless of the use.  When I recently made a pet bed for a friend, I wanted it to have an easily removed cover for routine washing that still left the foam protected with a separate cover that could still be removed if a deep clean of the cover was in order.  Fairfield World and Dritz have provided me with product for this project and Fairfield has compensated me for this post.  All opinions, ideas, and enthusiasm are 100% my own.

And I wanted to show you how to make your own zippered Shield Foam Protector, perfect for pet beds, protection under softa cushions and much more.

Cuddle® Squares Quilt - Quilts Kids Can Sew

If you're looking to for a quilt your child can succeed with, this is a Cuddle® Squares Quilt is a great one.  My daughter is a reluctant seamstress, but she REALLY love Cuddle® fabrics, so the right choice in fabric was a huge motivation for her.  Thanks so much to Shannon Fabrics for sending us their amazing Cuddle® fabrics to try and to Fairfield World for supplying the batting and compensating me for this post.  This post contains affiliate links.

Asymmetrical Body Pillow with Cuddle® Fabric - Free Pattern

This asymmetrical body pillow is hip and classic all at once.  You can make your own in under an hour.  Many thanks to Shannon Fabrics for providing me with fabric and to Fairfield World for providing me with product and compensating me for this post.  All ideas, opinions, and enthusiasm are 100% my own.  This post contains affiliate links.

Besides offering support while you sleep, body pillows make great floor pillows, sofa accents, and can work almost like a headboard for beds.  Add some Cuddle® fabric from Shannon Fabrics and you've got your family's new favorite pillow.

The only way to up the awesomeness from there is to add a coordinating Cuddle Quilt.  You can find the free pattern for this Disappearing Nine-Patch Cuddle Quilt on the Shannon Fabrics site here.

Materials:

Anne of Green Gables Christmas Quilt - Free Pattern

This Anne of Green Gables Quilt is as simple and timeless as the beloved books by L.M. Montgomery.  Make your own with this free pattern.  Big thanks to Riley Blake Designs for sending me fabric from their Anne of Green Gables Christmas collection by Penny Rose Fabrics that's just hitting stores in the last month or so.  And as always, thanks to Fairfield World for providing me with batting and compensating me for this post.  All ideas, opinions, and enthusiasm are 100% my own.  This post contains affiliate links to help support my work.

I know it's a bit early for working on Christmas projects...but let's be serious.  Starting now, is the only way I get Christmas sewing done before the mad rush.

Anne of Green Gables was one of my favorite book series in middle school, and Gilbert Blythe from the first two Anne of Green Gables movies was my first celebrity crush.  So I was SUPER excited to hear about this year's Anne of Green Gables Christmas fabric collection, and new I needed to make a quilt...but not just any quilt...a quilt worthy of Anne herself and one that I could imagine on her bed at Green Gables or in her cozy House of Dreams.

After looking through some vintage quilt inspiration, I came across this quilt made by Jane Austen and the other women in her family.  I thought even though Anne herself did not like patchwork...she might have been willing to make a quilt fashioned after a pioneer of English women's literature.

Dementor Attack Emergency Pouch - Happy Harry Potter 2017

We all have days when we can feel the dementors lurking...And for those days having a Dementor Attack Emergency Pouch at the ready is just what Madam Pomfrey ordered.  (I'm sharing this as part of Happy Harry Potter at Raegun Ramblings.  Click over to Raegun Ramblings for more Harry Potter inspired projects and read to the end of the post to enter to win some awesome prizes.)  This post contains affiliate links to help support my blog. I used product given by Fairfield World in this post.  all opinions, ideas, and enthusiasm are my own.

These also make great gifts for any friends or loved ones who may struggle with dementors as well.

Jumbo Zipper Pouch Tutorial

This easy Jumbo Zipper Pouch is the perfect pencil case to send your kids back to school with.  (I don't know about you...but the little ones they sell at the store never seem to fit the huge list of supplies the kids are asked to bring.)

They also make great gifts for teacher and if you choose the right novelty fabric they can be personalized to anyone's taste.  Disclaimer: Thanks as always to Fairfield World for providing the support foam and batting as well as compensating me for this project.  All opinions, ideas, and enthusiasm are 100% my own.  This post also contains affiliate links to help support my blog.

We also love to use these as Thank You gifts for our kids' teachers at the end of the year.  A good zipper pouch is a universally appreciated gift if you choose the right fabric and colors.

And once you get the hang of them, they are SO fast and easy.

Stair Step Quilt - Cuddle Quilt-in-a-Day - Men's Quilt - Teen Quilt

It's about time I shared a men's quilt.  This is the perfect fast quilt to whip up in time for a Father's Day quilt or as a graduation quilt for the favorite teen boy in your life.  Big thanks to Fairfield World for providing me with product and compensating me for this post as well as to Shannon Fabrics for providing me with the fabric.  This pattern was designed using EQ7.  All opinions, ideas, an enthusiasm are 100% my own.  This post may contain affiliate links to help support my blog and bring you more fun projects.

Of course this pattern can work just as well for girls and women if you choose fabrics to their interest and taste.

Dad's appreciate soft snuggly blankets as much as the rest of us even if they're a bit too manly to let us know.  My husband's favorite use for blankets is to keep warm on chilly nights out star-gazing.  (He has as many telescopes as I have sewing machines...and this one is his smallest by far.)  He's even been known to fall asleep in the yard on occasion while watching the stars. (You'll have to forgive us for the daytime shot...night-time pics just can't show off the quilt well.)  Even summer nights can get chilly.

And the Vintage Automobile Cuddle from Shannon Fabrics is the perfect print to include fort he car enthusiast.

Simple Zipper Pouch Tutorial

Zipper Pouches make really fun gifts are so easy to personalize to the recipient depending on your fabric choice and embellishments.

There are about as many ways to make a zipper pouch out there as there are sewists, so I thought I'd share my favorite method.  Thank you so much to Fairfield World for supporting my creativity by providing me with products to try and compensating me for blogging for them.  All thoughts, ideas, opinions, and enthusiasm are 100% my own.  This post contains affiliate links.

My favorite pouches are lined and have some support material (batting or foam).  You'll want to choose will depend on how much support you want the sides to have an what you want your quilting to look like.  My favorite is using Support Soft Foam Stabilizer, but my husband prefers the batting.

You can also make pouches in just about any size depending on your wants and needs.  The photos in this post show two different size pouches with two different support materials.  I love the support foam filler because it gives a bit more protective padding to the contents and makes the pouch less floppy, but both will work well.

The small pouch measures approx. 5" by 8 1/4", finished.  The large pouch measures approx. 5" by 10" finished with the inner dimensions of each just slightly smaller.  You can choose any dimensions you like.

Here's what you'll need to make your own:

January Skies Quilt - Free Half-Square Triangle Quilt Pattern - Queen-Sized

Even though I designed this quilt over the summer, I'm sharing it now because it makes me think of January Skies...all sorts of shades of grey, with some yellow sunshine peaking through...with the light sometimes fractured through ice crystals on the window panes.  Through the grey there's lots of promise of a new year starting.

Many thanks to Fairfield World for providing me with their amazing batting and compensating me for this post to bring you all a bit of sunshine.  This pattern was designed using EQ7.  All ideas, opinions, enthusiasm and fabric used in this post are 100% provided by me.  This post contains affiliate links to support my creatively and allow me to bring you more projects.

Christmas is over and I'm ready for Spring to come...but we still have a few months until she shows her face...sigh...

How to Make Newt Scamander's Magical Case

Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them came out yesterday, and we went to see it, with our very own  Newt's Magical Case in hand.  My husband got stopped carrying it into the theater, and then when he opened it up to show the lady...several of them got loose...for real...he fumbled the case a bit and some of them fell out.  Thanks to Fairfield World for helping out with several of the supplies and compensating me for this post.  And thanks to Shannon Fabrics for providing the Cuddle fabric.  All thoughts, ideas, opinions, and enthusiasm are 100% my own.  This post contains affiliate links to help support my blog and bring you other fun projects.

Being as Harry Potter crazy at our house as we are, our whole family has been looking forward to Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them coming out, so I used some of that pent up enthusiasm to make our own magical case.  Of course it needed a Muggle-Worthy setting that would only show clothes, and another option for (almost) safely holding all sorts of fantastic beasts.  I can't absolutely promise that one won't escape by accident.  (I've gotten lots of questions from friends about child appropriateness of the movie now that I've seen it...this cute guy in the picture will be playing with his magical beasts at HOME and will not be seeing the movie in the theater.)

Not knowing exactly what beasts would make an appearance in the movie, I did my best to find realistic looking figures that were as close to possible as creatures from the Harry Potter series.  These were ordered from Safari Ltd.  They all look amazing...but none of these specific creatures show up in the movie.  It seems that they made a deliberate decision to only include beasts of Rowling's own invention in this movie, so unless you're crafting your own creatures, you may need to stick to some of these more traditional ones.  I used:

• Phoenix
• Dragon (I used the Forest Dragon, but there are lots of dragon varieties to choose from.)
• Thestral (It's actually marketed as "Midnight Pegasus" but for me it's a thestral.)
• Griffin
• Hippogriff
• Unicorn.  (Not too happy about the flowers on it...but it was the best I could find.
• If you're looking for smaller versions or some stocking stuffer fantastic beasts, you can also buy a TOOB of tiny creatures similar to these.

DIY Astronaut Boots with Aluminor - Silver Moon Boots

Need some cool silver moon boots to go with your astronaut costume?  We've got you covered.  These are easy to make. Note: This post contains affiliate links.

Our boys have an outerspace themed room and my youngest says he wants to be an astronaut when he grows up...so when we saw astronaut costumes as Costco we couldn't resist.  (This is a similar astronaut costume on Amazon.) The costume didn't come with any kind of footwear though, so we thought we'd make our own Astronaut boots.

All you need is some Aluminor ™ cushioned material, some old snow boots, and a glue gun and in less than half an hour, you'll have your own cool silver moon boots.

You can get my full tutorial with step-by-step photos on the Fairfield World site here.

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DIY Weighted Vests for Anxiety, ADHD, Autism, Sensory Issues & More

With Back-to-School, that means many of us are looking for new ways to help our kids deal with challenges brought on by anxiety, ADHD, autism, sensory issues and more.  In our family, we have one child with a severe form of social anxiety called selective mutism and another child with ADHD.  As we've been working with professionals over the last year to help each of them, I've been struck by how many strategies can help both of them.

First of all, though, a few disclaimers.  Please don't take anything I say as medical advice.  If your child is struggling with any of these issues, please make sure you're working with a professional(s) and check with them before starting new therapies.  Fairfield World providing me with Poly-Pellets and compensated me for writing this post, but all ideas and opinions are 100% my own.  This post contains affiliate links that help support my blog and keep bringing you new ideas.

My 7-year-old struggles a lot with social anxiety at school.  Last year, there were quite a few days when she insisted on wearing her winter jacket through her whole school day.  It would get hot and the sleeves were bulky and could get in the way, but it helped her feel safe.  I wanted to find a way to help her get the same feeling without all the bulk.  I've been considering trying weighted vests for my kiddos for a while, and this month when Fairfield asked us to use their weighted Poly-Pellets in a challenge project, I decided it was time to make them a reality...and they're surprisingly easy to make.

DIY Harry Potter Themed Election 2016 Shirts - Happy Harry Potter

I'm usually not one to get too passionate about politics, but some tickets are just so perfect, you have to get excited (or too awful to ignore.)  If you're as disgusted as I am with this election cycle and the candidate options, you'll probably be excited with some rumored third-party tickets that may be entering the race at any time.  (This post contains affiliate links to help support my blog.  I have not be compensated in any way for writing this post and all ideas are 100% my own.)

Who wouldn't love to vote for Harry Potter and Ron Weasley as President and Vice...

Or is that Ginny Potter and Hermione Weasley (that's how my 7-year-old is reading it.)

Or if you're looking for a ticket with progressive minds and creative thinking, you might find yourself supporting Hermione and Luna for a run for the White House.

Yeah, I know all the characters are English...but at this point I'm willing to consider anyone who is not Trump or Clinton, and we're sure you'll like these logos more than the recently retired logo from the Trump campaign.

And you can have your very own shirt to, because I'm sharing the files to make your own as my contribution to the Happy Harry Potter series on Raegun Ramblings.  (Seriously...my favorite blog event of the whole year.)  You'll want to head over to Raegun Ramblings and check out all the cool tutorials each day.

Easy Half-Square Blocks Quilt - Easy Pre-Cut Cuddle Cake and Layer Cake Pattern

This easy Half-Square Blocks quilt is a great choice for beginners and is the perfect choice if you're working with 10-in precut fabric squares.  The look of the quilt will be completely different depending on the fabrics you choose.  We love how it looks with the Seeing Spots Cuddle Cakes fabric pack from Shannon Fabrics.  This post is part of a Fairfield Master Makers challenge and I was provided with the cuddle fabrics by Shannon Fabrics.  Fairfield World provided me with product and compensated me for this post.  This post also contains affiliate links.

Time:
Start to finish can be done in a day.

Skill Level:
Beginner

Materials:

• 1 Cuddle Cake from Shannon Fabrics.  I used Seeing Spots, but any of their Cuddle Cake packs would work great, or you can make from yardage.  If you're using yardage, you'd would need 4-10 10" cuts of cuddle fabric depending on how much variety you want.  You need 20 10-in squares total.
• 1 1/4 yards Cuddle 3 fabric in Kiwi for backing and applique
• 1/3 yard Cuddle 3 fabric in Midnight Blue for the binding
• Scraps of coordinating cuddle fabric for head, feet, and spots of turtle.  I used Cuddle 3 fabric in Olive.
• 1 package Nature-Fil™ Bamboo Blend Batting 36″ X 45″
• 1/2 Yard paper-backed fusible web
• Basting Spray (505 is my favorite brand, but other brands work too.)
• Coodinating Thread

Supplies:

• Sewing Machine
• Lots of Pins - My favorite are these Extra Long Pins from Dritz
• 12" Square Quilting ruler, cutting mat, and rotary cutter
• Walking Foot for your sewing machine (optional)

Instructions:

Scrappy Heart Pillows - Quilted Pillow with Cuddle Backing

My kids have gotten rather addicted to cuddle fabrics on our throw pillows, so I knew when I sewed these quilted I-Spy Hearts, I wanted to put Cuddle on the back of them, so one side would be super soft.  (Thanks to Fairfield World for providing me with the pillow inserts and compensating me for writing this post and to Shannon Fabrics for providing me with the cuddle fabric.  All opinions are 100% my own.

This tutorial will work to turn any quilted pillow front into a pillow with cuddle backing.

For instructions for sewing the Scrappy Heart Block together, you can see my tutorial here.

Time: 30 minutes to 1 Hour

Level: Beginner

Materials:

• Quilted Pillow Front
• 2/3 Yard of Cuddle 3 or Soft Cuddle from Shannon Fabrics in your chosen color.  (I used Soft Cuddle in Scarlet.)  This is enough for 2-3 pillows because it comes 60" wide.
• 1 - Home Elegance® Pillow (I used a 20" Home Elegance® Pillow with a pillow cover that was 19" finished because I like my pillows extra full.)
• Zipper 4-5" shorter than the width of your quilt block.  For mine, that was a 16" zipper.
• Rotary Cutter and Mat or scissors
• Quilting Ruler or Tape Measure
• Lots of Pins
• Coordinating Thread

Directions: