sachets + a friday link round-up

For gift giving this past Christmas, I made a pile of lavender flower sachets (pictured above) using this excellent Purl Bee tutorial. Purl Soho carries the prettiest stacks of wool felt, and I opted to use the Spice colorway for my sachets. The final product was super fragrant and really beautiful; I highly recommend the tutorial!

What are your plans for the weekend? I'm hoping to sew (of course!) and fit in a couple of runs. In the meantime, here a few of my favorite things from around the web lately to take you into the weekend:

Season Evans makes stunning quilts, and this spotlight on her work is killer.

Etsy also did a feature on another fellow quilter, Btaylor Quilts.

My friend Kait bought a fabric shop!

Umbrella Prints launched their new Flowers Collection, and the color palette is spot on. (Pieces from their past collections can still be found in the Salty Oat shop.)

Apartment Therapy has some great tips on how to clean quilts.

Lee over at May Chappell is hosting a fun block swap featuring Carolyn Friedlander's new Outhouse quilt pattern; I've already signed up!

This video of a putter (a scissor maker) at work is so cool.

I hope you all have a wonderful weekend!

pincushion swap: what i sent + new giveaway winner

In March, I took part in a pincushion swap organized by Claire over at Claire's Crafty Blog. For my swap partner Ina (who lives in the Netherlands--my first international swap!), I made this succulent pincushion out of felt.

The pattern is taken from this excellent tutorial for an appliqued succulent sachet, created by Laura of Bugs and Fishes (I love Laura's blog and felt projects!). All of the elements are handsewn, and the pincushion is stuffed with leftover quilt batting.

In other news, I never heard from Kristin, the gal who won my giveaway day pinback buttons (sorry, Kristin!), so I've gone ahead and drawn another winner.

Congratulations, Kitten Delicious! I'll be contacting you to get your address so that I can get the buttons out in the mail to you ASAP. Thanks again to everyone who entered!

diy fabric flowers

As I've mentioned in previous posts, I really love fabric and felt flowers--both making them and wearing them. In December, I used this tutorial by Heart of Light to make myself a ruffly headband from a black grosgrain ribbon and cream lining fabric.

skunkboy creatures swap

Last month, I participated in a crafty swap hosted by Katie of Skunkboy Creatures (a very cute blog!). For my swap partner Laura, I made a pair of felt flower brooches in yellow and gray, her two favorite colors (and colors for her upcoming wedding!). 

In return, Laura sent me an excellent assortment of scrapbooking and crafty supplies (I  love the doilies). 

felt flower brooch

From one of my Christmas crafting sessions with my mom:

a green felt flower brooch.