Ringo Rabbit Crochet Pattern Is Here!

September 19, 2018

Ringo Rabbit was the Ami Club pattern way back in the early spring.

Now he’s in the shop for everyone!

Get the pattern here.

This cutie is so much fun to make – I made him three times!

Once in spring green.

Once in Easter Egg-ish stripes. (There’s a video tutorial here showing how to crochet stripes with almost no jog.)

And once (maybe my favorite) in Caron Simply Soft Tweeds in a warm and woodsy taupe.

I can’t wait to see the colors you all make!

Get the Ringo Rabbit crochet pattern here.

Happy stitching!

Best,
Wendi

Peekaboo Mouse Pattern

September 17, 2018

A lot of people have pulled the little mouse from the Noisy Farm quilt pattern to use in other quilts – but not everyone wants to buy a pattern with twelve different farm animals just for the little mouse!

I’ve been getting a lot of requests lately for the mouse as his own little pattern.

He’s finally here!

You can use it on its own – that mouse would be adorable peeking out of a pocket. Or you can use it combined with other quilt patterns, as shown in the image above.

Important note – the pattern only includes the mouse – not the cat. The cat is just there to show the two ways you can use the mouse pattern in your quilt blocks.

I didn’t just write up the pattern – I also recorded some new video tutorials especially for this little guy!

This is the first pattern I’ve ever done where I also include a link to download an SVG file of the pattern pieces – for those who have cutting machines like Cricut and Silhouette.

This video shows what to do with that file (for a Cricut Maker) once you’ve downloaded it. Heads up – it’s a long one.

If you don’t use a cutting machine, that’s fine. The pattern includes the regular pattern pieces for printing or tracing and cutting by hand.

Once you’ve got all your pieces cut, here’s how to assemble the little guy. I show how to put him on the edge of the block, and also how to make him peek out from behind another applique critter.

Finally – there’s the outlining. I know a lot of people will see that face and think NO WAY. I don’t like hand-stitching and that’s too small to do on the machine.

Not so!

Of course you can stitch the face by hand, but you can do every bit of it on the machine – no fancy embroidery features needed. Here’s how I do it on mine, just using regular straight stitch.

That’s it!

Get the pattern here and start adding adorable little mice to all your projects. 🙂

Happy stitching!

Best,
Wendi

Bears in the Hills – WIP

September 13, 2018

I don’t usually do all caps but. . .

I AM SO EXCITED WITH HOW THIS IS TURNING OUT!

Seriously! I can’t wait to get these guys in a frame to start stitching. You’re going to have to pry me out of my couch for the next few weeks. 🙂

And that’s not all!

I want you guys to stitch with me!

I decided the best way to make this a pattern is to actually make it a video workshop. I’ve shot video already showing how to position all the pieces and my little tricks for securing them in place while I stitch.

This was my studio today, with those fancy new lights in action.

Look at that awesome even lighting! 🙂

The next step is going to be whipstitching the edges down with matching thread (not embroidery thread – I want these stitches to disappear) and then I’ll jump into fancy stitching!

My plan is to get all the kind-of-boring-to-most-people-but-I-really-love-it whipstitching done, and then start recording videos showing how I freehand stitch the hills. Maybe one new video a week?

But I’ll make the class available before I get all those videos recorded.

You’ll be able to download the pattern and cut out your bears. (The class will include patterns you can print on freezer paper for hand-cutting, and also a link to the files on Cricut’s Design Space for those who have Cricut machines.)

You’ll be able to watch the videos showing how to lay out your hills and bears and whipstitch all the edges down.

And then we’ll be able to fancy stitch together! I’ll add new technique videos showing the fancy stitching as I make them. Since it will be an online class you’ll just find the new videos in the “classroom” when I load them up – without having to constantly download new files or anything like that.

I hope that sounds like fun to you! It sure does to me. I’ve got new episodes of Call the Midwife and Poldark waiting for some couch time. 🙂

Happy stitching!

Best,
Wendi

Henrietta Hedgehog Amigurumi Pattern

September 12, 2018

Remember Henrietta Hedgehog?

She was the Ami Club pattern earlier this year – the first one where I used that no-tears surface crochet technique for eyelash yarn. 🙂

Well – it’s Woodland Critters month here at Shiny Happy World, so I needed to release sweet Henrietta as a stand-alone pattern so people can make her for the craft-along.

You can get the pattern here.

Remember – Ami Club members get patterns early – and at a discount! Join Ami Club here.

Happy stitching!

Best,
Wendi

Mandalas to Embroider – Starting my Project

September 11, 2018

I’m really excited to finally start my project from the book Mandalas to Embroider by Carina Envoldsen-Harris. I’ve admired her work for a long time and this book has been sitting in my pile for far too long. 🙂

I was going to stitch up one of the smaller designs – maybe into a pendant – but I couldn’t resist the paisleys.

I was going to do mine them rich autumn colors, but as soon as I got the purple hoop on, I really wanted to make it in cool colors – purples and blues and greens.

So that’s what I’m doing!

Ready to start stitching!

I’ll be back with a full review of the book as soon as I finish my project. 🙂

In the meantime – want to see another (very different) mandala I stitched?

Zen Stitching - How to Embroider a Mandala with No Pattern (Shiny Happy World)

I did this one without a pattern and it was so much fun! Get all the instructions here.

Happy stitching!

Best,
Wendi

New Colors for the Noisy Farm

September 10, 2018

I get a lot of emails from people asking for advice choosing quilt colors. I always point them to the Shiny Happy People group where they can see many, many different quilts made with my patterns – usually using different colors than what I used in my samples. Really – seeing a finished quilt is the very best way to imagine it in different colors!

So I’ll be making more of an effort to show my quilt patterns in new color combinations – just to show as many options as possible. 🙂

I recently remade the Noisy Farm quilt, using it as an example to how you can add sashing to any of my quilt patterns. While I was at it – I changed the colors too!

Here’s the original quilt in a crib size.

And here’s the new version.

In addition to adding the sashing – I used radically different colors!

I made the original sample before I had fabric bundles in my shop, so it’s not easy to say exactly what fabric packs they’d use now, but the Warm Neutrals would be the best choice for those natural-colored animals. The backgrounds are mostly greens and blues, so the closest match would be the Green Batiks and Blue Batiks.

The new version uses the Rainbow Sherbet bundle for the background blocks – pretty pale pastel solids. They really do look like soft sherbet colors. 🙂 They’re from the Cotton Couture collection from Michael Miller fabrics.

For the animals I went totally UNnatural with all kinds of fun colors and a wobbly, hand-painted gingham print. Here’s a close-up view of a silly pink sheep with a little turquoise mouse popping into the frame.

I love it!

That fabulous gingham print is called Gingham Play from Michael Miller fabrics. I sell fat quarter bundles of my favorite Gingham Play colors here.

For the sashing I used Hash Dot in linen, also Michael Miller Fabrics. I liked how it has a slightly barn-ish feel while still balancing nicely with the soft pastel background fabrics. Sorry – I don’t sell that one in my shop, but you can search for Linen Hash Dot and lots of online sellers will pop up.

So there you go! New colors and a new layout for a totally new look for a favorite quilt pattern.

Want to know how to add that sashing? Here are the posts you’ll need for that.

Happy stitching!

Best,
Wendi

Free Beaver Pencil Case Pattern

September 8, 2018

I’m participating in the Back to School Sewing Series with Sulky. You can make this fun pencil case!

That beaver can’t wait to chomp on all those colored pencils. 🙂

See a little sneak peek of that beaver design here – including a look at all the beaver designs I didn’t use. 🙂

Materials

Step 1

Download the embroidery pattern here.

Step 2

Print or trace the pattern out onto a sheet of Sulky Sticky Fabri-solvy at 100% size. The rectangle should be 4 x 9 inches.

Step 3

Peel off the paper backing and stick the pattern onto the fabric. Make sure you position it so that the whole image will fit in the hoop, with fabric all the way around.

Step 4

Choose your threads!

So many pretty colors. 🙂

Step 5

Embroider the design using two strands of Sulky 12 wt. thread. Stitch right through the stabilizer and the fabric.

I used backstitch for all the lines. Learn how to backstitch here.

I used satin stitch for the pencil leads. This video shows how I satin stitch pointy shapes.

Look closer!

I decided partway through stitching that I wanted a little more color on the barrels of the pencils – so I added some stripes running down them.

Your pattern has the added stripes. 🙂

That nose!

I wanted the nose to be solid, but instead of satin stitching I decided to applique it with a tiny scrap of black felt for a velvety soft texture.

At this point I just left it unstitched.

Step 6

Trim the fabric down to 1/2 inch outside the rectangle.

Make sure you do that now – once you soak away the stabilizer that handy line will disappear. 🙂

Step 7

Soak the piece in cold water for an hour or longer. I often leave mine to soak overnight with no problem. Rinse it in clean water, gently squeeze out the extra water, and iron it dry face down on a fluffy towel. This video shows how I iron my embroidery dry without smooshing the stitches.

Step 8

Whipstitch the nose in place using matching thread.

For a small piece like this I like to use a glue stick to hold the piece in place while I stitch it down.

Step 9

Stitching done!

The front piece for your pencil case is all fancied up. Now it’s time to sew it up into a pouch.

Cut a back piece from the main fabric 10 x 5 inches.

Cut two lining pieces, also 10 x 5 inches.

Step 10

Follow the instructions in this post to sew up your fancy lined zipper pouch. 🙂

Finished!

Now – go check out the rest of the series! It’s a fun group of free projects!

Happy stitching!

Best,
Wendi

Cutting Felt with My Cricut Maker

September 7, 2018

Well – I finally opened the box of my new Cricut Maker.

So exciting!

But I’ll be honest – we got off to a bit of a rocky start.

The Design Space app didn’t install automatically and the link to click to continue the installation was a dead end to a nonexistent page. Not a huge deal – I know how to find my files and install them myself, but it’s the kind of thing that really frustrates a person who’s not super comfortable with technology so I thought it was worth mentioning.

They include some materials for your first project (a card) which is great. It let me walk through all the steps of making (not designing) and actual thing.

Designing was TRICKY. That’s going to take some practice – but I managed to get my first project (those bears in the hills) all set up and ready to go.

Time to cut some felt!

Uh oh. That does NOT look good.

I cut it on the felt setting and this was actually the second try with increased pressure. The first try just roughed up the surface of the felt without actually cutting anything.

I decided to lie to the machine and tell it I was cutting heavy fabric like denim. That prompted me to change it to the teeny tiny rotary blade instead of the knife blade.

Much better!

Look how clean the cuts are! And see the eye markings? The machine did that too with the pen attachment. So handy!

After I got the settings figured out I was on a roll. 🙂

I cut all the pieces for my new Bears in the Hills in about an hour – while I was cleaning my studio. 🙂

Next week I’ll have a video showing you how to layer all these guys up and prep for stitching.

I can’t wait to try the Cricut on regular fabric for applique quilt blocks – that’ll be my next project with the machine.

Happy stitching!

Best,
Wendi

Meet Ruth the Red Fox – September’s Ami Club Pattern

September 5, 2018

Have you seen the new Ami Club pattern for September?

It’s Ruth the Red Fox and she’s a total sweetie – and lots of fun to stitch up. I finished mine completely on the drive from Charleston back to Asheville on that unexpected trip I took a couple of weeks ago. 🙂

Ruth was designed by the awesome Alyssa Voznak.

If you’re an Ami Club member – be sure to download and save your pattern before the end of the month.

If you’re not a member yet – join here! You’ll get access to the pattern right away.

Be sure to tag your finished foxes #RuthCAL when you post them in the Shiny Happy People group. There’s a crochet-along and we can’t wait to see what you make!

Happy stitching!

Best,
Wendi

Sneak Peek at a New Project: Which Beaver Is the Cutest?

September 4, 2018

I’m making a new project for the Back to School series at Sulky – and I needed a beaver.

Not a quilted beaver. . .

. . . and not a stuffed beaver. . .

. . . and not a crocheted beaver. . .

For the project I had in mind I needed to embroider a beaver – and I wanted to see him from head to toe.

I sat down to draw some sketches and then remembered that my husband had a whole page of adorable beaver drawings in his airplane sketchbook.

Perfect!

You might think it was hard to choose between all those sweet faces – but I had my favorite picked out with one glance. It’s the one down in the right corner.

Isn’t he a cutie?

Now for a much harder decision. . .

Choosing thread!

That lucky beaver has something colorful to chomp on, so I get to dip into the rainbow. 🙂 So many colors to choose from! And these are only about half of my stash of Sulky Petites 12 wt. thread. (You can read my review of this thread here.)

Final project coming Saturday! It’s going to be a free pattern. 🙂

Happy stitching!

Best,
Wendi