The heart and soul of Shiny Happy World is in the archives. There are hundreds of free patterns and tutorials and it’s easy to be overwhelmed by all the information. Every Friday I share just a manageable sliver – a peek at what was happening during the same week of every year since the start of Shiny Happy World. This is Week 30.
How to tie off the tail on the back of your embroidery without using a knot.
2012
Sometimes the best way to add a small detail to a crocheted stuffed animal is by adding a bit of felt.
2013
Back when I did a lot of freezer paper applique, my folds instantly coming unfolded in the North Carolina humidity would drive me bonkers. Starch is the magic answer! And it makes fabric behave in other situations too. Read for all the details.
2014
Perfect for shaggy manes, fluffy eyebrows, fuzzy caterpillars, soft flower centers, and more.
2015
***Included in Week 30 Sale***
Make a cute stuffed beaver with silly buck teeth and a flat, quilted tail.
2016
***Included in Week 30 Sale***
Crochet a teeny tiny crab!
2017
I use them in all my stuffed animals – both sewn and crocheted. I’ve even used them in occasional applique projects – I just snap the excess shank off the back with a pair of wire cutters after I put the washer on.
2018
***Included in Week 30 Sale***
Make a sea creatures quilt – perfect for beach houses and ocean-loving kids!
2019
***Included in Week 30 Sale***
Wait a minute! Weren’t these guys in the Week 29 archives post? They were indeed! In Week 29 of 2018 my Mix & Match Monsters applique class on Craftsy (featuring this pattern) launched. In Week 30 of 2019 I made the pattern available without needing to purchase the class from Craftsy. 🙂
2020
More parrots for my 100 Days project. This time it’s a cute cockatiel. I just love those pink cheeks!
2021
Experimenting with some simple animation on my iPad. Click through to see!
2022
I designed a new free alphabet pattern – this one is skinnier so you can fit more letters in a block! Add all kinds of words to your quilts and other projects! The post shows a quote added to a quilt, and also animal sounds added. You can add a child’s name and birthdate, a special message – really anything you can imagine!
2023
***Included in Week 30 Sale***
Experimenting with creating clip art from some of my designs.
The heart and soul of Shiny Happy World is in the archives. There are hundreds of free patterns and tutorials and it’s easy to be overwhelmed by all the information. Every Friday I share just a manageable sliver – a peek at what was happening during the same week of every year since the start of Shiny Happy World. This is Week 29.
I get this question a LOT. There’s no single answer to this – you hold you yarn however it feels comfortable to you! But this post explains how I do it, which will give you a good starting place.
2013
In this post I show you how to use the legs from a pair of cut-offs and the free Dress Up Bunch shorts pattern to make cute doll-sized shorts with all those great denim details.
2014
I almost always use whipstitch when I applique felt. This video shows how!
2015
***Included in Week 29 Sale***
The Dress Up Bunch dolls are going to a birthday party! This fun collection includes patterns for the dress, party hat, and gift bag.
2016
***Included in Week 29 Sale***
One of my most popular patterns! You get TONS of templates for bodies, eyes, mouths, fins, feathers, hands, antennae, tentacles, toe nails, stripes, spots, and more – enough to make a kajillion different monsters!
2017
A photo and video post showing you the different between crocheting through the back loop and crocheting through both loops.
2018
This post has a video showing how I quilt a broken grid layout – like when you have double-wide or double-tall blocks that interrupt the lines of the grid.
2019
***Included in Week 29 Sale***
A sweet dragon applique pattern – with optional flames!!!
2020
For one chunk of my 100 Day Drawing Project in 2020 I drew parrots – including this sulfur-crested cockatoo. I still need to make these parrots into an applique pattern – they’re so pretty!
2021
***Included in Week 29 Sale***
My daughter found the perfect yarn to make this giant squid! I think she ended up making seven or eight of them for friends. 😂
2022
One of my most popular fabric collections!
2023
Juicy strawberries! I really want to make myself an apron with this fabric.
The heart and soul of Shiny Happy World is in the archives. There are hundreds of free patterns and tutorials and it’s easy to be overwhelmed by all the information. Every Friday I share just a manageable sliver – a peek at what was happening during the same week of every year since the start of Shiny Happy World. This is Week 28.
In my many-years-long avoidance of zippers, one of the things I latched on to was hammer-on snaps. They look really clean and nice and they’re WAY easier to work with than sew-on snaps, which I always fumble. I LOVE using them for doll clothes, because they’re relatively easy for small fingers to manipulate. This tutorial shows how to use them.
2012
I’ve been making curtains in this style for YEARS and I still love them.
2013
***Included in Week 28 Sale***
One of the Dress Up Bunch rag dolls. I show them here in just their collar, but they can wear all the clothes in the collection. 🥰
2014
Got batting scraps that are too small? Don’t throw them away – or save them in an endlessly growing pile. You can piece them together! In this post I show you how.
2015
A free pattern for some cute and cozy bear coasters – but it also includes instructions for adapting ANY of my applique pattern to make felt coasters. It’s a great way to get extra use out of your patterns!
2016
***Included in Week 28 Sale***
This fun pattern collection for the Dress Up Bunch dolls includes a hospital gown that ties on in the back, cute panties (you can’t wear a hospital gown without panties), a cast that attaches with hook & loop tape, and a sling.
2017
A free pattern for a tablet cover, with instructions to customize it to fit any size tablet. If you click through to the post you’ll also see examples of one I made with some of my applique patterns. 😁
2018
An easy peasy crochet project that’s also a great way to use up scraps.
2019
***Included in Week 28 Sale***
This was SUCH a fun project! You get templates for all the bears and the hills, and video tutorials teaching how to do all the embroidery inside the hills without doing any marking.
2020
***Included in Week 28 Sale***
I just love this silly guy, with his big googly eyes and his suction-cup toes. 😁
2021
***Included in Week 28 Sale***
A cute dragonfly with a happy smile. 😃
2022
***Included in Week 28 Sale***
One of my favorite things I’ve ever drawn! This is available as downloadable art in three different skin tones and tons of different sizes so you can use it to make prints, cards, stickers, and more. This isn’t what I look like, but it’s what I feel like inside, so I think of it as a self-portrait. 😁
2023
In this post I share a quick, easy and FREE tool that makes it really easy to squish two animals into one block.
2024
I made a new sample of Ian Iguana for an ABC quilt I’m working on. I love these colors!
The heart and soul of Shiny Happy World is in the archives. There are hundreds of free patterns and tutorials and it’s easy to be overwhelmed by all the information. Every Friday I share just a manageable sliver – a peek at what was happening during the same week of every year since the start of Shiny Happy World. This is Week 27.
I designed this owl to be especially easy to make. My daughter (age 8 at the time) made the one you see on the cover!
2012
***Included in Week 27 Sale***
Happy chemistry! A fun embroidery pattern – especially for mad scientists! 😁
2013
***Included in Week 27 Sale***
A Dress Up Bunch rag doll – I just love her purple curls!
2014
A handy skill. I use it most often to make tote bags with a little depth to them, but it’s also handy for boxed pillows and the bases of some stuffed animals.
2015
I get a lot of questions about where to start stitching when you’re outlining your applique. This post is my detailed answer. 🙂
2016
An almost-freestyle mandala sun. I didn’t use a pattern for this, but I DID use a grid to guide my stitching. The post gives you all the details.
The heart and soul of Shiny Happy World is in the archives. There are hundreds of free patterns and tutorials and it’s easy to be overwhelmed by all the information. Every Friday I share just a manageable sliver – a peek at what was happening during the same week of every year since the start of Shiny Happy World. This is Week 26.
I used to teach kids summer sewing camps – this post has all my best tips for teaching kids to sew.
2012
More sewing with kids!
2013
***Included in Week 26 Sale***
One of the very first Dress Up Bunch dolls! Spot is shown here in just his collar, but he can wear all the outfits that the other rag dolls can wear.
2014
***Included in Week 26 Sale***
One of the Party Animals! These little felt softies look complicated to make, but they’re actually really easy.
2015
***Included in Week 26 Sale***
An outfit for the Dress Up Bunch dolls! This set includes patterns for the pajamas, the quilt, the pillow, and the pillowcase. And they’ll all fit Spot the Dog from 2013. 🙂
2016
In Denver, filming my second Craftsy class and wearing makeup. 😂
2017
***Included in Week 26 Sale***
This silly little stingray is super fun to stitch!
2018
I redesigned the free Burnie Bee pattern. Such a cutie!
2019
I just love monsters with underbites! I do this with a lot of my monster quilt patterns too. 😁
2020
I drew this orangutan as part of my 100 Day project. I love this guy – but I still need to turn him into an applique pattern!
2021
I’ve been designing free wallpapers for computers and mobile devices every month for years! I finally pulled them all together into one post so you can easily find and download the older designs.
2022
***Included in Week 26 Sale***
Bellamy Bee! You can make this one with or without the little crown. (And you can use the crown in other blocks!)
2023
***Included in Week 26 Sale***
Make an adorable little bison.
2024
I’m showing you Landyn Lizard here, but you can use this pattern to make lizards, newts, salamanders, geckos, and more!
The heart and soul of Shiny Happy World is in the archives. There are hundreds of free patterns and tutorials and it’s easy to be overwhelmed by all the information. Every Friday I share just a manageable sliver – a peek at what was happening during the same week of every year since the start of Shiny Happy World. This is Week 25.
For years I was afraid of zippers and buttons, so I only made clothing with elastic openings. I still like to use it for doll clothes, so there are no frustrating fasteners for little fingers. In this post I show you everything you need to know – what kind of elastic to use, how to pre-stretch it, and more.
2012
***Included in Week 25 Sale***
One of my favorite embroidery patterns. 😂
2013
One of my free felt bird patterns. She’s so pretty!
2014
Everything you need to know (and all your questions answered) about one of my very favorite tools. I use this for almost all my embroidery AND felt projects.
2015
I reviewed this terrific book about English Paper Piecing. Nutshell version: It’s perfect.
2016
***Included in Week 25 Sale***
A sweet little gardening outfit for the Dress Up Bunch dolls! The pattern includes the dress (with an optional belt), apron, and “straw” hat.
2017
Have you ever tried to learn how to make amigurumi and gave up because the very first step (usually a magic ring) was so dang complicated? I hear you! The sloppy slip knot is an absolute game changer. When I learned how to do it I thought I must be doing it wrong because it was just so easy. Nope!
2018
***Included in Week 25 Sale***
One of my favorite patterns for baby showers – quick and easy enough to make in an afternoon.
2019
One of my favorite setting variations for my quilts. It adds such a playful touch!
2020
I drew this Asian elephant as part of my 100 Day project – and loved her so much that she became the Ellen Elephant applique pattern.
2021
When I started making SVG files for my patterns, it changed the way I needed to design my template pieces – which changed how they were cut out and assembled. This post has a SUPER detailed video showing every detail of my new process. There’s a time stamp guide so you can skip to the parts you need most.
2022
***Included in Week 25 Sale***
The Wild Flowers pattern! This is one of my very earliest patterns, and in 2022 I updated it to include SVG files and made a brand new sample.
2023
I was playing around with ditsy flower patterns for fabric and decided to make some chunky bees. I love these guys!
2024
One pattern to make many mustelids – ermines, ferrets, mink, weasels, stoats, fishers, and more!
The heart and soul of Shiny Happy World is in the archives. There are hundreds of free patterns and tutorials and it’s easy to be overwhelmed by all the information. Every Friday I share just a manageable sliver – a peek at what was happening during the same week of every year since the start of Shiny Happy World. This is Week 24.
In this post I show two different ways to gather fabric – one that’s great for short bits and one that works really well for long pieces.
2012
I was so intimidated by changing colors when I started crocheting amigurumi – but it’s actually really easy. And I love making striped critters!
2013
To illustrate what the grainline is (and what impact it can have on your finished stuffed animals) I made two elephants – one with the pieces cut on the indicated grainline, and one cut with the grainline going in the opposite direction. It’s so interesting to see the difference!
2014
***Included in Week 24 Sale***
I love this little guy with his spots and his silly tongue hanging out. 🙂
2015
***Included in Week 24 Sale***
Another exceedingly huggable stuffed animal. This beaver is perfect for pairing up with a Woodland Critters quilt!
2016
***Included in Week 24 Sale***
Remember the GIANT cat and flowers project I shared in last week’s archives? This is the embroidery pattern I used for all those flowers. It’s a seamless repeat, so you can stitch an area of any size! Plus there are a couple of grids that are VERY handy.
2017
***Included in Week 24 Sale***
This is my easiest monster quilt pattern – and it’s so much fun to make! I especially love recommending monsters for beginners. Nobody can tell you that you made the horns curve the wrong way, or the nose the wrong shape, or the eyes crooked – your monster is YOUR creation!
2018
I put a fussy-cut unicorn behind that door. 🙂 This is such a fun technique – and you’re not limited to just using it with blocks with doors! Hide a bird or squirrel in a treetop! Or the sun behind a cloud! Or a critter inside a car or truck!
2019
***Included in Week 24 Sale***
This silly frog makes me smile every time. 🙂
2020
***Included in Week 24 Sale***
Such a shaggy fellow – good for his arctic environment.
2021
***Included in Week 24 Sale***
One of my very favorite patterns ever – especially when made with striped fabric like this version! Someday I will make a chameleon quilt with every block a different color.
2022
***Included in Week 24 Sale***
Mix and matchable templates to make AT LEAST 21 different breeds of dog. This was SUCH a fun pattern to design!
2023
A post all about how to work with digital clip art.
2024
Everything you need to know about my fabric collections, including info on all the different color palettes – useful whether you’re shopping at Shiny Happy World or your local fabric store.
Back when I sold fabric bundles, I created several color palettes that I used over and over again. When particular fabrics went out of print (which they did with annoying frequency) I found new fabrics in those same palettes, so that even when the specific fabrics changed, you (and I) could still get a pretty consistent palette of colors.
Now all the fabrics I use come from Spoonflower (and they’re my designs, so they don’t go out of print!) but I still use the same approach to creating color palettes. I create a palette that really works well, and then use it in lots of different projects.
The only problem is that Spoonflower’s search engine is abysmal at shopping for blenders. If you’re looking for fabric with raccoons (or rockets, or popsicles, or any other easily identifiable motifs), Spoonflower’s search engine has you covered. But if you’re searching for wiggly stripes in a very specific color, their search engine just isn’t designed for that. 🙁
So I’ve created the links that you need here in my Shiny Happy World!
If you go to the fabric section of my shop (the pink menu in the banner) you’ll find the following options:
In this post I’m going to break down each of those categories and tell you how best to use them. But first a quick note! When you find something you like in my shop, the button takes you to the fabric or that collection in Spoonflower. You will actually make your purchase through Spoonflower – not through me – so you’ll need to use Spoonflower coupons or sales. They’re almost always having a sale of some kind!
Also – you can always use my palettes as a guide to shop at your own local fabric store! Just go to the Fabric by Color Palette section and pick the palette you like, then print out the main image (the one that shows all the colors lined up) and use it as a guide to pick your own tone on tone blenders.
Fabric by Color
Fabric by Color is the most straightforward. It’s where you’ll find all my blenders, sorted by color. Here’s one of my favorites.
The link takes you to a collection on Spoonflower of every blender I have using all the shades from light to dark of that particular hue of eggplant purple, so if you shop within that collection you know you’re getting colors that work perfectly together.
The colors on the Fabric by Color page are not alphabetical. Instead they’re grouped by color collection, so all the Farmers Market blenders are together, all the Animal Kingdom blenders are together, etc. Which brings me to. . .
Fabric by Color Palette
Fabric by Color Palette where you can find links to take you to collections for each color palette. Here’s the Farmers Market collection where you’ll find those eggplant blenders.
All of the colors in that collection are named for things that make sense for the collection. These are the color collections I have so far:
Farmers Market (colors inspired by and named for fruits and vegetables)
Animal Kingdom (colors inspired by and named for animals)
Classic Rainbow (bright, saturated primary and secondary colors, named for those colors)
Gemstones (bright, saturated tertiary colors named for gemstones)
Sea Breeze (soft, weathered colors inspired by and named for the beach)
I’ll be doing additional posts with more information about each color collection – including lots and lots of photos showing how I’ve used it in various quilts, because nothing is more helpful than seeing it in actual use. For now just know that these are very large collections because they have every single blender in every single color of that palette. It adds up to a lot, and can easily be overwhelming, which is why I also have Fabric by Color and Fabric by Design options.
Fabric by Design
Fabric by Design is where you go if you know exactly what kind of pattern you’re looking for. For example, you know you want those swirly small polka dots I use in so many of my samples. I call that print Soda Pop.
If you click on that link, you’ll go to a collection on Spoonflower of every version of the Soda Pop print I have, from every color collection. How do you know which ones coordinate? That’s when you look at the color names. So if you know you’re using the Famers Market color palette for all your appliques, and you want those tiny dots, go to that collection and pick the ones named Strawberry, Cantaloupe, Corn, Avocado, Blueberry and Eggplant. They will all coordinate beautifully together.
So that’s the blenders – what I use most often. But I also have a few other ways to shop for fabric.
These collections usually include blenders, but they also include other fabrics.
Cheater Quilts
Cheater Quilts is where you’ll find large-scale designs that work great for cheater quilts, pillows, duvet covers, and more. My favorite thing to do with these prints is buy a few yards and then hand-quilt with big stitches around each motif, like I did here.
I don’t have much in the Cut & Sew section yet, but there will be more. Right now it’s just a few holiday projects.
More Shopping Details
I LOVE Spoonflower, but I’l be the first to admit that the all the fabric choices can be a little overwhelming. I’m going to give you a little bit of info here, but know that in every single fabric listing on my site, there are tabs with tons of additional info about how to order, and how much fabric you’ll need.
In a nutshell, my favorite fabric for quilts is the Organic Cotton Sateen. No contest. The colors are very bright and crisp – and stay bright and crisp through multiple washings. It’s a lightweight, very tight weave so there’s almost no fraying on raw-edge applique. And it gets softer with every wash! My bedsheets are this fabric from Spoonflower and I adore them.
For backing and binding I get full yards, but for applique I almost always get two yards of the Fill-a-Yard layout that can get you 48 different designs. I purchase two blocks of each color so I only get 24, but I’m getting very close to a fat eighth of each, and I love getting a wide variety prints in one go. I also love being able to pre-wash it as one piece of fabric (so no fraying) and then easily cut the pieces apart after washing.
Hope that helps with your fabric selection! More info (and loads of sample photos!) soon for each color collection.
Here are links to all the posts about choosing fabric.
The heart and soul of Shiny Happy World is in the archives. There are hundreds of free patterns and tutorials and it’s easy to be overwhelmed by all the information. Every Friday I share just a manageable sliver – a peek at what was happening during the same week of every year since the start of Shiny Happy World. This is Week 23.
Since needles have no heads, they can easily disappear into the center of a regular pincushion, never to be found again. I created this needle cushion to solve that problem!
2013
A very handy (and secure!) way to attach clothing, manes, prickles, and other bits to crocheted stuffed animals.
2014
A peek at the design process for a little stuffed mouse.
2015
I love adding my applique patterns to other projects – like this handy bag designed by Betz White. The link takes you to a detailed description of how I did it, along with a link to the original pattern.
2016
There’s that same cat popping up again a year later – this time in a GIANT applique/embroidery project. That’s a quilting frame – not an embroidery hoop. 😳
2017
Letters and numbers (and a few punctuation marks) designed especially to work with my applique patterns. Add a name, animal sounds, dates, and more. Have fun with them!
2018
Eyelash yarn adds the most amazing fuzzy texture to your stuffed animals – but it’s kind of a nightmare to work with it. I figured out a better way! (And it works with other specialty yarns too!)
2019
Colorful fabrics can show through any white fabric appliqued over them. Here’s how to prevent that if it bugs you. 😁
2020
Another desert animal with absolutely ENORMOUS ears! This is an antelope jackrabbit.
2021
***Included in Week 23 Sale***
You can use this pattern to make just about any songbird. It was super complicated to design – but I think it’s super easy for you to make. I’m super proud of this pattern!
2022
Pretty, pretty daisies. I made them with every background color under the sun and put them in the Bouncing Bunnies collection because they coordinate with all the bunnies.
2023
More daisies! (Am I obsessed with daisies every June?) I designed this print for a dollhouse wallpaper challenge and loved it so much that I made it in a larger scale as well.
2024
A cute papercut donkey with a big grin. 😁 I released this as a wallpaper with a June 2024 calendar – but you can still get it without the calendar – and it’s a free download.
The heart and soul of Shiny Happy World is in the archives. There are hundreds of free patterns and tutorials and it’s easy to be overwhelmed by all the information. Every Friday I share just a manageable sliver – a peek at what was happening during the same week of every year since the start of Shiny Happy World. This is Week 22.
Don’t fear zippers! This is a great first project if you’ve never sewn with them before.
2012
You don’t have to. I’m personally pro-knot! But sometimes you don’t want knots (or tails) and this is one way to do it.
2013
***Included in Week 22 Sale***
A pattern inspired not by actual space, but by Saturday morning cartoons set in someplace far more silly. 🙂
2014
It’s a simple little trick.
2015
***Included in Week 22 Sale***
A super fun little caterpillar with a magical trick to sew all those segments together.
2016
***Included in Week 22 Sale***
One of my bestselling quilt patterns.
2017
I used to teach kids sewing classes in the summer and these snakes were always a HUGE hit. In this post, my daughter (age 11 at the time) teaches kids how to use a sewing machine.
2018
Turn any quilt block into a fun wall hanging with a fancy frame and everything!
2019
One of my favorite extra things to do with a basic block pattern is to make it bust out of its frame – like a monster whose horns are too wide to fit, or this frog snatching a fly out of the neighboring horse’s block. This post shows how to do it!
2020
I had never heard of a fennec fox until I was researching desert animals for my 100 Day Project. I learn so many awesome things from my work!
2021
The drawing that inspired the 100 Birds Projects – and therefore the Backyard Birds quilt pattern.
