This past month, I’ve been happily busy in my sewing room, making patchwork tablecloths for our outdoor summer parties. This burst of creative energy came from two things: my excitement for summer entertaining and my decades-old stash of beautiful fabric. For me, excess fabric + outdoor gatherings = patchwork tablecloths!

I used to make quilts and had built up quite a large fabric stash. Over the years, I’ve tried to whittle it down by sewing napkins, doll clothes, and other small items. Still, much of it remained. Since I’ve recently decided that everything in my home must serve a purpose and not just take up space, I knew it was time to either use the fabric or donate it. I had already cut quite a bit into 6" squares, so I cut up a heap more and got to work on a tablecloth. I loved the process—and the result—so much that I made a second. Two were lovely, but I really needed three! With a few small fabric purchases to stretch my dwindling stash, I made a third. And then I thought—why stop there? I could use a rectangle cloth for the outdoor drinks table. One more trip to the fabric store later, and I had made a fourth. Phew!

Here's the how-to:

But first—a few more beauty shots! Most of my stash leaned pink, so I tried to highlight that color in the three square cloths I made for the round tables. I did use a rainbow of prints, but I grounded each cloth by making bright pink the dominant color. The mix of random, haphazard squares and bright, cheerful colors creates such visual excitement. I’m so happy with how they turned out!

You can see here how the sewn squares were attached and just had to snip the attaching threads with no thread waste.

Open one side of the bias tape and sew it to the FRONT side, that photo is two above. Next, fold the tape under to the back side. Finally, sew on the front side next to the seam, checking the underside to make sure you are catching the bias tape underneath.

You can see in this picture that I have the same fabrics near each other, but none next to each other.

Continuing my mission to make sure everything in the house is earning its keep, I found a few more things to declutter. As pretty as these pieces are, they’re just not being used—so it’s time to rehome them. I snapped this photo to send to family, but there were no takers. I may try Facebook Marketplace next, or just donate them.

Take the cake plate in the back right, for example—lovely, but I already have another one, and honestly, who needs two? I gave it one final use on Friday night when it was my turn to bring dessert for our Friday dinner group. I had a bag of coconut I’d meant to use at Christmas, then again at Easter, but never got around to it. I was determined to use it this time! I hadn’t made a layer cake in decades, but I still had the pans and gave it a go. I was so proud of how it turned out that I had a friend snap a photo of me grinning behind it.

The cake was delicious—rich, dense, and decadent. My husband loved it and would happily eat it again, but truthfully, it’s a lot of cake. Ina Garten’s Coconut Cake recipe says it serves 10–12, but don’t believe it! It easily serves 16–18. Here’s the recipe if you’d like to give it a try.

We ate poolside at our friends lovely home. Such a treat to begin summer's outdoor dining!

I don't want to go without shouting a Happy Father's Day to all the great fathers and grandfathers and wonderful supportive father figures. You are appreciated and loved! I'm so blessed to have had and have now, wonderful fathers in my life. Hugs and kisses to you all.

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I made such a fun project this week. I transformed corks into toadstools and revamped an ugly Target plastic tree stump into a wintry cake stand. I'll use this little tableau on the buffet during fall and winter to hold an appetizer or cookie plate. The tree log is still at my Target in the dollar section, and while you might first overlook it, take a second look! I'm so happy with the way it turned out. And the toadstools are nothing more than champagne and tequila corks. Let's get crafty!

The inspiration for my sweet angel congregation was a YouTube video I happened upon by accident; a factory tour of Wendt & Kuhn, the German company that makes charming, tiny painted wooden figures. I collect Wendt and Kuhn and am also strangely attracted to factories so finding this gem made my day. The documentary was in German and I understood not a word, but I was spellbound. When I saw the assembly line spending their gentle work day painting armies of tiny wooden angels I knew with certainty that I too would soon be painting an army of angels. Dream job! Perhaps the oddest thing is that I already had all the supplies in my craft room. (When I told this to my husband his eyes almost rolled out of his head.) So just like Wendt & Kuhn I gathered my supplies and set up an assembly line, but that's where the similarity between Wendt & Kuhn and me ends. My angels use supplies and a skill set that is more approachable to the average crafter. Creating these little gals lifted my spirits no end. I kept calling in my husband at every stage to admire their cuteness. I made them over two days then gave them a third day to make sure they were good and dry. I slipped them into our Christmas cards and the next few days my husband will drive me around to drop them off at our friend's mailboxes. We're hoping to make some fun outings of it and bundle into the top-down Corvette if it's not too cold. I made 60 and I think I'll be giving away every last one of them. They make a touching Christmas greeting that can be hung on the tree or tied to a gift.

Fun DIY below with shopping links at the end. 

The 2" wooden peg dolls are very inexpensive and easy to find. They are great to have on hand for little ones to create their favorite storybook friends. My grandson and I have made many storybook people such as The Big Bad Wolf and The Three Little Pigs. Before we can read the book we have to scramble around and find our little peg people. For this project, I left the face unpainted and with two coats of acrylic paint I gave the girls a short bob with a side sweep of bangs.

Use a toothpick dipped in paint to make eyes and a red mouth. Now they begin to take on some life.

To insert screw eye pins: Make a hole at top of head with a push pin. Push the tiny screw eye pin into this hole. Give one or two twists with your fingers and then insert a toothpick into the screw eye to use for leverage. Twist until fully screwed in.

Now it's time to add the glam! Paint bodies with white glue and sprinkle on fine glitter and let dry overnight. I used gold, silver, white and dark gray.

To make wings: cut a piece of wool felt approximately 2" long by 5/8" wide. Fold in half and snip a little wedge out, see above. Next cut a scallop and unfold.

Dot a bit of white glue to the wing center and attach to top back. I planned to be done at this point but I knew something was missing. The halos! I tried a dozen ideas with felt, pipe cleaners, and paper but liked nothing and almost gave up before a lightbulb went on. Button halo. Perfect.

Buttons were hot glued to the backs of the heads, and voila,  the angels are finished and angelic-adorable.

I love a project that can make use of my vintage button stash.

I slipped the angels into a small paper bag and put them in my cards. Unfortunately I couldn't seal them!

Is it too early to listen to Christmas music? Not for me; I've had it on since November 1st. It's my music to craft by. My husband has suggested we wait until after Thanksgiving before we turn on the Christmas full force, but everyone knows that crafters start Christmas early for heaven's sake. For the first time I actually feel like I'm ahead of the game: I've started wrapping presents (yay me, I'm early for once) and besides completing the one craft below, I have two other Christmas crafts going: one very big one (that honestly I'm not sure I'll finish this year) and one very small one that is finished and drying. I've also set up the Christmas ornament hospital. I am determined to repair and restore broken wings, bald glitter spots, chipped paint, literally every. single. thing that has bothered me over the years. If I cannot fix it, it's going to get tossed. Wish me luck friends. (I'm really glad you can't see my craft room now; it's a holy mess.)

But today I have a totally finished craft to share. I had so much fun making these Christmas night lights. It's an easy craft and I'll go through it step by step.  If you craft with younger people, this is a craft appropriate for an older child. I made the mistake of starting this with my 3 year old grandson. I gave up after a few minutes and we just played with the deer and smooshed the clay around. When he left, I went back to the craft room and got cracking. Here's the step by step:

Gather your supplies. For the greenery I cut up a small plastic Christmas tree I never really cared for. I gathered up little plastic figures and trims but ended up preferring to use only the deer and the mushrooms. I went through my mason jars to find six jars that did not have embossing all around. Most of mine had "Ball" or "Kerr" embossed on the front side but were plain on the back. You'll want your jars to have at least one plain, unmarked side for this craft. You'll also need the screw cap but not the lid, white air-dry clay, glue that dries clear, and a little bit of faux snow. Next you'll need one package Transform Mason LED Lighted Lid Insert per jar. This light comes with both a regular sized lid and wide mouth lid so you can use either size jar. Lastly you'll need 3 AAA batteries per jar. Shopping links are at the end.

Wash and dry the jars. They need to be sparkly clean.

Roll out the clay to approximately 3/8" thick. Cut rounds (I used a small jar) to make a base that will fit into the jars. While clay is still soft, dab a bit of glue on your greenery and figures and poke them into the clay. Let this air dry overnight. See the pictures below.

When your figurine base is dry, dab a bit of glue to the bottom and place it in the jar. Sprinkle a tiny bit of faux snow around the base. 

Insert batteries and affix the light to the lid as per package direction. Screw the light fixture onto the jar and push the on/off button. Voila! The light is just bright enough to illuminate the charming wintery scene.

I ended up making 6 total and am giving them as gifts with a note saying, "open me now" since they will be so pretty to have out at Christmastime even though I plan on having ours in our bedroom year 'round. They are adorable and I'm so happy with them.

Holy cow! After I wrote this post and was gathering my shopping links, I found that the LED light inserts are near impossible to find for a decent price. I bought mine for $7.50 each but they have now sold out. I found them on some other sites but they were closer to $20 and I don't think they are worth that! Perhaps you'll have better luck than I did with a search. Search "Transform Mason LED Lighted Lid Insert". Good luck and let me know how it goes. As an aside, I also have some solar fairy lights for mason jars that I was planning to use this summer. I wonder if they would work for this craft. They would not have an on/off button, but would be fun for an evening, you'd just have to recharge it the next day with sunshine--no batteries!

LINKS:

My favorite air dry clay is Delight. If you've never used lightweight air-dry clay, you are in for a treat. It's soft, clean and easy to use. 

These adorable little deer are identical to the ones I had in my stash.

These mushrooms look very similar to mine.

Transform Mason LED Lighted Lid Insert: This company is out of stock but they say that more are coming soon and you can get on their notify list. It's as good a price as you'll find. They also appear to be out of stock at Joanne's.

Since Carter is totally in love with Rudolph, I painted a red nose on the reindeer I am giving him.