Make It Up: Penpal Comic Book

We are on Buzzmills today with a guest post for the Make It Up series!

Make It Up is all about the stories our kids tell -- and that we tell with them -- along with the crafts and projects we create to accompany the stories. We thought the penpal project Angel and I have been working on with our boys would be the perfect thing to share!

Ben and Ian are now penpals, sending each other mail from Seattle to Nashville and back. Along with letters, they are working on a comic book. Go read our post HERE, and come back next week to see the following installment in The Adventures of Ben and Ian!



While you're on Buzzmills, make sure to check out all the other super posts in the Make It Up series, along with Jane's never ending fabulous and inspiring projects.

Thanks for having us, Jane!

Make It Up: Stories and Stuff (by Kids and Their Parents)

Happy Monday!

We're excited to be participating in a wonderful series organized by Jane of Buzzmills called Make It Up: Stories and Stuff (by kids and their parents)! The point of this event is to encourage story telling within families, with the added fun of making something with or for your child to go along with it.

If you and your kids enjoy creating and telling stories, and inventing a world to go with them, this is a series for you! Angel and I have a little something in the works with our boys and we will be sharing it on October 23. You can see the rest of the fabulous line-up below, and how to participate yourself.





Make It Up schedule:

10/15  -- Jane

10/16  -- Mari of Inspired by Family Magazine

10/17  -- Carla of Small and Friendly  

10/18  -- Kim of Little Stories

10/19  -- Stacy of Kids, Stuff, World 

10/22  -- Brad (Jane's husband)

10/23  -- Angel and Jenny of Stumbles & Stitches 

10/24  -- Celina of Petit a Petit & family and Let's Do Sew

10/25  -- Laura of Craftstorming  

10/26 -- Linky party opens

10/29 -- winner announced and wrap up


You can read more about Make It Up here and get some inspiration tips here. And here are a few more details from Jane, plus a button you can grab for your blog.

On the 26th I will open a little linky so YOU can share your stories and creations!  I want everyone to be able to join in the fun and share their stories, whether they have a blog or not.  So, if you don't have a blog, post your picture either in the Buzzmills Flickr Group or in your own Flickr account, give us an idea of what your story is in the description and link to that.  

Won't it be fun and inspiring to see what everyone else comes up with?!

After you've all shared your stories over the weekend, I have a little giveaway to offer on Monday (10/29) which I will pick at random.  It's the new book Show Me A Story: 40 Craft Projects and Activities to Spark Children’s Storytelling.  This book is filled with so many great ways to help create stories in your family.  Check out a little sneak peak of the book here!

This is going to be fun so please join in, sit down with your families and Make it Up!  

Please grab a button and share! :)  Thanks! 

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Thank you Jane for inviting us to participate, we're excited! Story-making and -telling with kids is so much fun. They are so incredibly creative. I bet this series is going to be super inspiring.


Who else is excited to Make It Up? I can't wait to see what everyone comes up with.

In case you didn't see it last week, Jane guest-posted on Stumbles & Stitches with some amazing botanical sun-prints as part of our Inspired by Nature series. You can see her post here.

Guest Post: Nature and The Creative Process

We're on Whip Up this morning! You can see our guest post here. (And welcome, Whip Up readers!!)

Kathreen asked us to participate in her guest series on creativity and we wrote about how Nature influences our creative process. It was such an interesting exercise to analyze and describe how the natural world weaves itself into our projects.



We also loved discovering more about each other's creative process -- we both learned something about the other! I hadn't grasped how important the animal world was to Angel and how meaningful sketching is for her; she liked understanding the inspiration behind my fabric and texture choices. We hope you enjoy reading the post!



This post about Nature and the creative process officially launches our Inspired by Nature series. You can read more about it here. We look forward to sharing more nature-inspired projects with you all very soon!



Thank you so much to Kathreen and Whip Up for featuring us today!

Guest Tutorial: Pin-Tuck Pleated Pillow

We're so psyched to welcome our dear friend Rachael from Imagine Gnats today with a super-duper awesome tutorial for a pin-tuck pleated pillow. I think both Angel and I said "wow!" out loud when we saw the photo of her finished project. We are so impressed -- and so excited that she is willing to dish about her sewing process here!

We hope you'll pay Rachael a visit on her blog Imagine Gnats where she's constantly sharing her latest crafty adventures. Trust me when I say, the girl never stops and she is talented! You can also find Rachael on Facebook, Etsy and Pinterest. Without further ado, I'll let her take it away!

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Hi! I'm Rachael, from imagine gnats, and I'm here today to share a tutorial for making this pin-tuck pleated pillow cover. The pillows on our couch were in desperate need of a makeover and Feather Your Nest was just the thing to inspire me to recover, well, one of them :) The other five are still on the to-do list...

Guest Tutorial: Envelope Back Throw Pillow

Happy Monday! We have yet another lovely guest tutorial for you today!! Welcome our friend Melanie from A Sewing Journal with the simplest, most perfect way to Feather Your Nest: easy-peasy envelope back throw pillows. Look how gorgeous hers turned out!

If you are not familiar with Melanie's blog, please do yourself a favor and go peruse A Sewing Journal, you'll find beautifully curated inspiration galore. Melanie's shop on Etsy is Alice & Dorothy. You can also find her on Facebook, Pinterest and Flickr. Oh and I can't forget the awesome Sewing Trends column she writes for Sew Mama Sew! You can probably understand why we asked Melanie to be one of our judges for Feather Your Nest!

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A really fast and really easy way to spruce up your home is by making simple covers for your throw pillows out of your favorite fabric. Choosing stunning fabrics (like the Soul Blossoms fabrics I'm using) changes the mood of a room in a big way. And, you can whip out four of them (or more, if you choose) lickety-split!

I re-used the boring, micro-fiber pillows that came with our couch (or that I picked up over time from here or there). 

Guest Tutorial: Flying Geese Coasters

We're so excited to welcome Ellen Luckett Baker of The Long Thread today to share a quick and easy tutorial for coasters. Coasters are perfect for Feather Your Nest, a simple yet very practical project to spruce up your home. Ellen is the author of 1, 2, 3, Sew for Chronicle Books, and her first fabric collection called Quilt Blocks for Moda (featured in this tutorial!) just became available for purchase! You can find Ellen on her wonderful blog The Long Thread, as well as on Facebook, Twitter and Pinterest.

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These coasters were made with the same technique used for the Spring Pieced Coasters (featured on The Long Thread here), but cut from the Flying Geese fabric from the Quilt Blocks collection for Moda.



This is a quick tutorial for string-pieced coasters. It seems that I do a lot of coaster tutorials on The Long Thread, but I’m a fan of quick, easy and useful things. And this is a great project for fabric scraps or striped fabric.

Supplies (for 4 coasters):

Fabric scraps: min. 24″ length
Backing fabric: 5 1/2″ x 22″
Quilt batting: 5 1/2″ x 22″
Matching thread



1. Cut fabric scraps with minimum 24″ length. If you're using fabric with a striped design like the Flying Geese print, carefully cut along the stripes accounting for seam allowance.

2. Sew right sides together until you have a width of 6″ or more. Press. Cut off sides and top to form a rectangle 5 1/2″ x 22.

3. Cut out tops, batting and backing fabric in 5 1/2″ squares.

4. Sew around, leaving an opening to turn right sides out. Opening should be on a side with one continuous piece. Clip off the corners.

5. Turn right sides out, press and top-stitch around the coasters, thereby closing the opening.



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Huge thanks to Ellen for sharing this fabulous little project with us. If you need some additional inspiration for Feather Your Nest, check out The Long Thread's page of tutorials for the home. And be sure and take a look at Quilt Blocks. We're so excited about this new fabric collection and can't wait to get our hands on some!


Feather Your Nest is a month-long series here on Stumbles & Stitches focused on making things for our own homes. Along with featuring patterns, projects and guest posts, we're also having a sew/stitch-along and contest with amazing prizes! Make something for your own nest and get a chance to win. Check out all the details and sign up HERE. Sign-up deadline is April 22, entries must be submitted by April 29. We'd love to have you join us!

Featured Nest: Maureen Cracknell of Maureen Cracknell Handmade

Happy Monday! We're so excited to launch our Featured Nest series today. As part of Feather Your Nest, some inspiring bloggers, designers and artists are inviting us into their homes for a little tour. We've asked them to share photos and thoughts of what "handmade" and "re-purposed" means to them at home.

First up is lovely Maureen Cracknell! We're huge fans of her blog Maureen Cracknell Handmade, always brimming with colorful and crisp projects and photos. Maureen is incredibly talented, boldly creative and the sweetest person ever. We're thrilled to welcome her here today. You can find her on Etsy, Pinterest and Facebook. And please check the end of this post for an *awesome* giveaway!

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Right away when I began sewing in March of 2010, I started by making pillows. Lots and lots of pillows! Besides the kitchen and the bathrooms, every room in our house has at least one handmade pillow. I have been lucky to have my own work studio from the very beginning, which is always bursting with both supplies and my handmade items, but I realized quickly the importance of having my handmade items scattered throughout our house. More than anything, it just makes me feel good. I can see the things I make being used and how they add something unique and creative to each room, and I find it very inspiring.

Guest Tutorial: Upcycled Book Pocket

Let's say a big welcome to our friend Jennet from Feathered Nest Studio who is sharing an original tutorial with us today. Jennet is an artist, crafter and mama. She is going to show us how to make a hanging pocket to store books, by repurposing a pillowcase. Perfect for Feather Your Nest and organizing those messy kids' rooms!

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I am so delighted to be guest blogging (and a Feather Your Nest judge!) on Stumbles & Stitches' blog! I simply adore all their projects and handmade goodies, so it is an honor.

Guest Post on Whip Up!

I'm so excited to be featured on Whip Up today with a guest post: a tutorial for making your own birdie burlap wall art!

I know, I know, it's all about the burlap art for me lately with the launch of my Etsy shop. What can I say? I'm a little obsessed. But isn't it pretty? I love how this project turned out!


This burlap art is made from an upcycled coffee bag and a mix of colorful fabric scraps. It features two birdies having a conversation across the woods at sunset. It was inspired by my neighbors, who found each other and fell in love despite hailing from Alaska and Mexico respectively. They told me their story in our backyard in Seattle on a lovely day at sunset.

Guest Post: Lunchbox Napkins (Tutorial)

Today we have a fun back-to-school tutorial brought to you by our friend Blair. Blair is a crafty mama, avid knitter and sewist. She is also an archaeologist who went to school with my husband. When we moved to Nashville 5 years ago, she introduced me to a group of mom friends through which I met Angel. You could say Blair is the reason Stumbles & Stitches exists!


When my son Ben started preschool earlier this year, Blair made him a set of awesome lunchbox napkins. They are smaller than regular napkins and feature an appliqued initial. I thought they rocked, and so did Ben and his teachers.


I asked Blair if she would write a little tutorial for us. And here it is!

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Tutorial: Lunchbox Napkins
by Blair Henley Wardwell

Guest Post: Rainbow Mobile

We have a fun guest post today: a tutorial for a Rainbow Mobile to make with your kid(s), written by our friend Jennifer. Jen is a print editor and the fact that she is a Stumbles & Stitches reader keeps us dotting our i's and crossing our t's, very literally. All kidding aside, Jen is also a busy, creative and crafty mama of two. When she shared this project with our circle of mom friends, we knew it would make a great guest post. Enjoy!

RAINBOW MOBILE
by Jennifer Goode Stevens

My daughter colors rainbows. All the time. On everything. One day she took a piece of lined notebook paper and colored each line a different rainbow color, ending up with a whole page of rainbow stripes. It stuck in my head, and a few days later this idea popped in. You could use any colors, or any simple picture, really, but the rainbow turns out really pretty.

Guest Post: ShisoMama's child sized apron tutorial!

Readers, we are so lucky today: Mimi from ShisoMama just sent us a fabulous guest post, a tutorial for a child's apron!  This is a perfect last minute Christmas gift idea, especially if you have some experience sewing and have the supplies on hand already.  If you aren't familiar with her blog (and I am sure that lots of you out there already are!) be sure to check it out, as well as her wonderful shop.

My son just started kindergarten this year, and there has been a
steady onslaught of birthday parties! I usually try to make something
for his friends instead of buying something, and I've been making
these aprons/art smocks as gifts. I guess it shows my own biases, but I figure every kid likes to cook or make art every once in a while,
right? After a few different designs, I've decided I like this one
the best, because you can adjust it to fit a variety of sizes (it
works well for my 2 year old and my almost-5 year old). It's so fast
and easy you can even try to make one as a last minute Christmas
present! I use coated cotton - it's water-resistant and there are so
many great designs out there now for boys and girls (I just saw some
great Echino today at the fabric store that would make such a cute
apron!)

Here's what you need:
2/3 yard of fabric will make at least 2, depending on the width of your fabric
2 yards of 3/4" twill tape - did you know it came in all kinds of
exciting colors now?
1" single fold bias tape
1/4" double fold bias tape (optional, for your pocket)