OK, before I get to the meat of this post, here are some linky loves that I must pass along.  Tasha, of A Little Sweetness is giving away some of her personally designed fabric.  It is SO CUTE, and if you don’t win, you can always pick some up in her shop!  I think the Little Red Riding Hood on white is my favorite!

Also, if any of you are a Flea Market Fancy fans like myself (I still have a few pieces I’m hoarding!), go sign this petition to get Free Spirit to reprint the line (oh to dream!), and while you are there enter to win this selection of 29 FMF fat quarters and some great books.  If you win, will you share a  FQ with me?

Yesterday my daughter was invited to a birthday party of a girl from her preschool class.  I always have a hard time buying gifts for families/girls I don’t know very well.  Not everyone appreciates the homemade, and I don’t want to waste my efforts if they won’t be appreciated.  Soooo, off to the big box store we went for some plastic Princess crap.

After getting it all wrapped up I felt guilty for A. Shopping at Target & B. Not making something…then I remembered all of the great felt I bought from the HB booth at Blissfest (you can also buy it online) and whipped up a little flower.  Not only does it look great as part of the wrapping, but it’s a barrette for the little girls hair!

First, I strongly recommend that you use wool, or wool blend felt for this project.  The cheap craft felt you can get at most craft stores will pill and stretch and not give you the lasting look you are going to want.  Here is what you’ll need:

2 colors of felt
1 piece of green felt
1 metal snap barrette (or a pony tail holder)
1 coordinating button
thread/needle/scissors
any other trims that appeal to you

Here is the pdf with the pattern pieces I free handed for the above barrette.  Cut all your pieces out, for the front circle, I folded it in half and cut little triangles out of it to give it the fringed look.

Layer the pieces as you’d like them to be, place the button on the top and stitch through all the layers.  For the back, take the circle and cut 2 small slits in the back about an inch apart in the center, thread the pony tail holder through.

Attach the circle to the entire flower, stitching through all but the top layer.  It should look like this when you’re done.

To do a barrette back, you can do it 2 ways.

You can measure your clip and cut out a piece of felt the length of your barrette, be sure to cut a small slit in it for the metal arm to go through.  Then sew this to the back of your flower, sewing through all but the top layer.

Using the circle pattern provided for the back, you can cut a small slit for the barrette arm and then stitch the whole circle to the flower.  The barrette side goes against the flower, the metal arm is what you should see when your barrette is finished.

I made this one to match one of my daughters shirts!  Be creative, try different shapes, add embroidery, seed beads, ribbon anything that appeals to you!

AND, because you made it through this whole LONG post, I made a holiday poinsettia barrette to give away.  Just leave me a comment telling me you’d like to win, I’ll pick a winner on Monday Nov 29th.

Yesterday I took a break from “work sewing” to sew a little gift for (as my husband called it) an “internet friend”.  They live here in Arizona, where winter means 50degree days, so I made a light jacket.

100% cotton, lined in white flannel so it’s soft against baby’s skin!  I thought snaps would be easier to use than buttons, so I went that route.  Except I put one of the snaps on backwards!  Holy heck those things are hard to pry off!

I cut a small square of flannel and added binding around the edges to make this coordinating blanket.  It’s small, and meant to be used while the babe is in the car seat.  I appliqued the elephant (a pea pies design) in the jacket fabric to help tie the items together.  I’m worried his ear looks too much like a tennis ball though.

All in all, I think the little travel set ought to keep the sweet babe warm and looking adorable.  Thanks Lindsay for this opportunity!!  Oh- and each fabric is a Michael Miller print from a Pillow & Maxfield line.

**Now, be sure you come back tomorrow, I’m cooking (ha!) up some great ideas to keep our families well fed this winter with SIMPLE, INEXPENSIVE meals.  Be sure to come check it all out!!**

*update* comments are now closed, thank you to everyone who entered!  A winner will be posted later this afternoon!

Do you remember penny candy?  As a kid in rural Idaho the local grocer had a penny candy gumball machine.  After each shopping trip my mother would give my sister and I each a penny and let us buy some gum.  You got what you paid for; the flavor was usually gone by the time we walked across the parking lot to the car but we were happy!   I wish they still had them, I’d be happy to give my kids a penny for some cheap gum…seems most of the machines now want at least 50 cents for candy- I, of course, never have quarters on hand!

In anticipation of my new embroidery patterns (to be released later this week, I still have to prettify the pdf’s) I thought I would offer some penny candy!

I will send one lucky reader the whole pattern set (it will be 3 patterns) for a penny!  (ok, really the penny is symbolic, who wants to deal with paypal just for a penny?!).  The patterns were inspired by my work on the smeeks bucks.  The candy jar went through a few more edits before I finally came up with the above jar!

To enter the contest just leave me a comment telling me what your favorite candy as a kid was!  The comments will stay open until Wednesday, September 30, 7:00AM PST.

This morning I woke up at 5:30am because the sun was creeping in under my shades…  Call me crazy but I just don’t think 5:30am is an appropriate time to rise in the AM, in fact anything before 7am is a challenge for me.  Whilst laying in bed trying desperately to fall back asleep it occurred to me that a sleeping mask could prevent this problem.  Then I realized I have the skills to make such a thing….

So, I made a sleeping mask today, one for me and one for you.

That’s right, I made this pretty little number for one lucky blog reader!  It’s been WAY too long since I’ve had a giveaway.

Leave me a comment to enter; telling me what your trick is for falling back to sleep after being awakened before morning.  Again- extra points if you link this from your blog (no need to tell me, it will show up in my incoming links).  Comments will be open until Saturday (may 30th) Afternoon.

It’s no secret that my kids love classic Disney Cartoons, they adore watching mickey, pluto, goofy and donald in all their antics from the 30’s-50’s.  I don’t mind them watching because well…there are no mad scientists trying to destroy the world, very few if any guns, the colors are bright and cheerful (opposed to the dark color palette of a lot of modern cartoons).  They are full of a lot of slap stick physical comedy, the kind of stuff that my kids go nuts for…and your kids will too!

I’m giveing away a Classic Cartoon Favorites Vol 2, you can read all about the DVD here on amazon.  Leave me a comment and tell me what your favorite cartoon was growing up and you’ll be entered.  Comments open until Sunday 10pm PST.

Have a great weekend!

today over at Grosgrain, Kathleen posted about Strano Designs, a wonderful company that produces really great ribbons here in the USofA (i’m all about buying homegrown products these days).  While clicking around on their website I found these SUPER CUTE inspiration boards.   I’ve always had a thing for ribbon, I love using real ribbon for gift wrapping!  Grosgrain ribbon is the best for fun hems on little girl skirts, or sewn down the side seam of a pair of pants (a la tuxedo style).

If you’ve got some clicking time, go check out Grosgrain for all the current giveaways, personally I want to win this little number!  Oh, come back tomorrow, I’ll be having my own give-away!

Thank you to all 28 of you who entered the key-ring contest! It seems that the economy really is on everyone’s mind.  I heard a frightening statistic on NPR this afternoon, over 150,000 jobs have been cut…THIS MONTH ALONE.  I hope that we can bond together as neighbors and friends and help each other as needed. I thinking of doing a “month of thrift” for february, where everyone posts about their favorite way to stretch their dollar, or their meals, or their clothing, gas etc.  what do you think, would you want to be a part of it?

Now, today’s winner is Katherine:

While I picked just one winner, I’m happy to custom make one for you at $4 and free shipping.  Just email {heather-at-heatherhalesdesigns-dot-com} me if you are interested.

remember when I made these for my girlfriends last month?  I have an itching to make another one…for one lucky reader.

I’ll dig through my fabric stash and make a key ring with the initial of your choice.  Comments will be open until Friday (23rd) night about 10pm PST.

To enter just leave a comment and answer this question: “what issues are you most concerned with for 2009?”

While reading over at the Baby Gardner today, I was made aware of some new child product safety standards that will make it impossible for crafters to legally sell their wares.  It has to do with something called Consumer Product Safety Improvement Act.  Read more about how you can help here.

The thought of actually penning a letter to my congressman scares the pants off me.  I’m horrible at business writing and am sure that I would sound like a kindergartner saying, “hey, it’s not fair, I want to play too!”.  So, if someone out there would like to pen a letter and let the rest of us use it, please let me know!

On to more pleasant things, I did a little shop update today- some aprons and a bib.  AND, I decided it was time for a holiday give away!!  Simply leave me a comment telling me your favorite holiday dish and you will be entered to win this fun towel and pot holder set.  Comments are open until I go to bed Friday night (I have a date with the husband, so it should be late).  I’ll announce the winner Saturday morning!

If you’re new here, I like to hold a giveaway once a month, because sharing is nice.  This month I am giving away a Patchwork Pillow Case  (no pillow just the sham/case, you’ll have to supply your own 14×14 pillow, may I suggest using your 40% JoAnn’s coupon?- that’s where I get my pillows).

I was just really hankering to make something pretty- for fun.  I was inspired by Elizabeth’s paint box quilt and I’ve always loved the coin quilt pattern.  However, it is not without it’s flaws, as in seams not quite matching and quilting not spaced evenly…etc.  But, notice how eye catching it is?

I backed it in what is almost the last of the brown sheet I thrifted (so far I’ve made, 1 dress, 1 blanket and now a pillow from 1 sheet!).  The binding features the same fabrics that are featured on the front.  Everything is 100% cotton and already washed for that lovely crinkly look.  Quilted with my favorite all natural bamboo batting.

In the lower left I added a special cream patch with the word “laugh” hand embroidered by me.  With this many colors, you know it will look good somewhere in your house!

All you have to do to win this pillow is to leave me a comment, if you want an additional entry you can add this button to your blog.

Just copy/paste this code into your sidebar:

<a title=”patchwork pillow giveaway!” href=”http://heatherhalesdesigns.com/blog/patchwork-pillow-giveaway/”><img src=”http://www.heatherhalesdesigns.com/blog/images/sidebar_add.jpg” width=”200″ height=”300″ /></a>

**the code wasn’t working earlier, I’ve updated it and it is now working!**

Comments will be accepted until I go to bed on Friday October 24th.