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All posts by annwood

finishing the hundred day stitch book : suddenly a prawn appears

April 28, 2023

by annwood

day 99!

There was no plan for a prawn. He just turned up. He was immediately preceded by an octopus. That’s what I love about an improvisational process. Ideas. One thing really does lead to another if you let it. You get somewhere new by starting without knowing, make a mark (in this case a stitch, a patch etc.) and respond to it.

day 99 2023

These undersea friends in hats bubbled up from somewhere mysterious. They inhabit a world that is rich and expansive idea-wise. I’m going to spend time in that world. This is my favorite thing to do in life.

day 95 2023

Daily practice has a serious slog factor. It’s often hard to show up for. Days inevitably get weird and busy and difficult. I’m blown away by how many of you showed up for this. The community as well as instagram and facebook is filled with those efforts. Thousands of stitched pages. The last of the 100 days is tomorrow. Wherever you are in that process congratulations on showing up and thank you for sharing your one of a kind imagination.

Support the 100 day stitch book project and the always growing free pattern library.

Click here to add your support.

finishing the book

To finish your book start here.

None of what I’m about to say will make any sense to you unless you’ve reviewed the assembly pages linked above. I started putting my book together yesterday and I’m assembling a little differently this year. It’s going to take forever, tons of hand stitching.

The difference is leaving the page edges raw. I did this in a workshop in France last summer and liked the effect. You can check that out here. (PS if you’d like to join me for France 2024 please use the contact form to message me and I’ll hook you up with more info)

It’s easy to do but the hand stitching on all those pages takes a while. If you’d like raw edges just follow the book assembly instructions and at step 11 in the slot section you place the wrong sides of the pages together. And again for the tab section in step 9 you place the wrong sides together.

I put together my first two sections (according to the chart) yesterday. Checkout the demo below and then refer to the official instructions.

First you need to number the pages in the order you want them to appear in the book. 1 is the front cover and 20 is the back cover .

Then arrange the numbered pages according to the chart.

Sew the seams for the first two sets of pages (section 1 on the chart).

Press the seams open.

For the raw edge finish place the wrong sides together.

And hand or machine stitch around the edges. The tab and slot edges are not raw – they are folded in and should be whip stitched closed – just follow the directions here.

Just like last year I’m a little happy and a little sad this is over. Daily commitment is hard but once again It was so worth it. How about you? Are you assembling your book? Did you have a favorite page? Let us know in the comments.

first ever zoom workshop, fabric boats and the last 3 stitch book pages

April 14, 2023

by annwood

There’s a lot of news! The first ever zoom workshop, fabric boat progress, the next art work update, a new notecard, plus we are down to the last 3 stitch book pages and, by popular demand , the cardboard house measurements.

zoom workshop

Let’s start with the zoom. We’ll be making seedpods! The workshop is hosted online by my friends at French General. You can find all the details and sign up here.

The seedpod is one of my favorite classes to teach and I’ve done it in person many times here and in France. This will be my first zoom! With hopefully lots more to follow. You’ll learn a bunch about soft sculpture and the result is pretty spectacular.

click here for info and registration

Checkout some workshop seedpods below:

the cardboard house

The cardboard house was made without any real planning and not that much measuring… It’s wonky and a bit uneven. There will not be a tutorial or pattern for it but there is a post with building tips and because lots of people have asked I’ve added the approximate measurements below. I hope that helps and good luck with your cardboard house!

measurements are in inches:
across bottom – 11.5
ceiling/floor – 13.25
wall height – 9.5
roof – 13
and the depth is – 8.75

uppercase magazine

This week’s newsletter was sponsored by uppercase magazine. UPPERCASE is an always gorgeous quarterly print magazine for the creative and curious. The newest issue is all about surface pattern design, featuring the portfolios of 100 artists plus in-depth features with cover artist and fabric designer Anna Maria Horner as well as designers e bond, Kitty McCall, Mirth Studios and more. I’m a huge fan of Janine and uppercase was a contributor to the stitch illo volume.

* BECOME A NEWSLETTER SPONSOR

Do you have a product or service the more than 24000 readers of the ann wood handmade newsletter would be happy to hear about? One carefully curated sponsorship opportunity per newsletter is available. Email for more info.

the fabric sailboat sew-along

I haven’t made a fabric sailboat in quite a while and had to follow my own directions closely. I’m happy to report they are excellent. My parts are nearly assembled and the hull is taking shape. The hulls are made from fabric and batting over cereal box cardboard. I’m always amazed at what graceful shapes a simple cardboard armature can make.

While the mast is drying in place I’m working on sails and flags. Next week I’ll make a passenger. I’m leaning towards wobblers… The sweet boats below are made by readers – 1. Terry Wilson and 2. Lindsey Bass. So adorable! if you’re making a fabric sailboat please use #annwoodregatta to share.

: 1

: 2

a couple more studio notes

The next art update is 4/20 at noon eastern time, you can sign up for an email notification here. Lot’s of small paintings and depending on the kiln situation there might be a couple new story bottles. And there’s a new notecard available now – peaceful moon.

the last three stitch book pages

Only three left?! It’s day 85 today, 4/14. Lot’s of people have already started assembling their books. I’m waiting until the very end to decide my page order. I know what pages I want to display together but have not decided on the overall lay out. In the last stitch book blog post on 4/29 I’ll do a demo of the alternative page joining method (raw page edges exposed) but if you’re anxious to get started the short explanation is follow these steps until step 11 . Instead of right sides together place the wrong sides together and then stitch around the edge.

What’s on your work table this spring? Are you a fan of zoom workshops? Are you assembling your stitch book? Let us know in the comments and happy garden season!

exciting developments in tiny curtain hardware for the cardboard doll house

March 31, 2023

by annwood

What’s more luxurious than a little wood stove in your bedroom on a cold spring morning? #lifegoals There has been major work on the cardboard house for the tiny doll. Decisions have been made and actions have been taken.

miniature curtains

The big news is an exciting development in tiny curtain hardware, such a break through, let’s start with that. The original plan was to just tack up little bits of fabric and lace but the idea of hardware and removable rods would not leave me alone.

The twig solution is just right for a cardboard house and super easy to do. All you need are some twigs and hot glue. Snip off sections with a little limb and glue to the wall.

Stitch or tie on fabric or weave a little twig through the lace.

*this post contains an affiliate link highlighted and marked with an asterisk

bedroom walls and floor

The upstairs walls got one more coat of paint in warm white and a border with a carved rubber stamp. I made the downstairs and upstairs stamps with this easy block kit (*this is an affiliate link – meaning I get a small commission if you purchase through the link). It really is easy and I want to make lot’s more.

There is a closer look at the stamped downstairs walls here.

The bedroom floor needed to be super simple and playful in scale. The removable cardboard floor is painted a reddish brown and simple planks were added with darker colored pencil.

wood stove and hearth pad

The wood stove for the bedroom needed a hearth. It’s a matte board (on the wall) and a half circle of foam core for the floor. The stones are made using this tutorial. The little stove (made with this DIY) also got a roaring fire. Cut the door on three sides with an xacto knife and bend it open. I painted the inside black and orange and yellow tissue paper was added.

It’s the coziest room ever. I want to live in it.

Checkout the miss thistle society for more tiny world tutorials. Are there twig curtain brackets in your future? Are you working on a world for somebody tiny? Let us know in the comments.

the sailboat sew-along and the 100 day stitch book – homestretch

March 31, 2023

by annwood

April is regatta month! The sailboat sew-along begins tomorrow. Get the pattern here. To participate just make your boat in April and post your progress photos in the stitch club community, on instagram or the in facebook sew-along group using this hashtag: #annwoodregatta . There will be a blog post on the 14th. Shoot for having the boat pieces ready to be assembled by then. We’ll talk more about passengers and embellishments then too.

The little owl (smallest size) and merry wobblers make perfect passengers for the fabric boat.

the hundred day stitch book

Page 14! was finished on Thursday and we are on the first day of page 15 as of today (3/31) This is the homestretch.

A couple frequently asked questions:

Do I start my pages with a plan?

Mostly no. Occasionally there is a color combination or shape I want to work with but it is mostly an improvisational process, one thing leads to another. For me that’s the whole point – start without knowing, experiment, let go of outcome.

I just heard about the book. Can I start now?

Absolutely! And feel free to share your progress. Lot’s of people are working faster or slower or just getting started. You can find all the details for beginning here.

You can checkout pages from thousands of participants in the stitch club community, in the facebook sew-along group and on instagram #annwodstitchbook.

cardinals and other reader projects and the 17th anniversary of the blog

March 3, 2023

by annwood

A lot of what I do in life starts with “I wonder what happens if I do this…” That’s how this blog started 17 years ago and that’s what keeps it going. Curiosity, imagination and the joy in making things remain the driving forces here.

Some things that got invented in the 17th year of the blog experiment:

miss thistle’s house and plate rack
dancing bunnies
scrappy bunting
little chicks
mice went glamping
scrappy trees broke the internet – who knew… That project got picked up by the google newsletter and spread like crazy. The internet has gotten real weird and kinda dicey in 17 years but I do love that stuff like that can happen.
the stitch book project – now in its second year (another internet miracle – thousands of people showing up for 15 minutes of stitch experiments for 100 days)

sew-alongs and the winning cardinal

We had our first ever sew-along in October – the crow followed by the owl and currently the cardinal sew-along. The cardinals are made from the songbird sewing pattern with these alterations. Let’s start with the winner of the cardinal sew-along.

It was hard to choose! The cardinal sew-along winner is @flora.twigg (I’ll dm you regarding your prize- a bundle of fabulous scraps spanning continents and centuries!)

Check out more awesome cardinals and other projects made by readers below. I’ve added links to the maker wherever possible, you will find a pinterest level of rabbit hole fun exploring them. If you see your photo but I missed your link please let me know – I’m happy to add it.

This is not a real mushroom! Wow. It was made with the mushroom sewing pattern and stitched by @ana.montesdemiguel

1. @littlepostcards 2. Mary Kelly 3. and 4. annika. 5. @astitchwhimsy. 6. @peaceandcraft 7. Nancy 8. @Elisabew

crow by @jillthereckless

1. @kezwilson.3 2.@sarahblankstudios. 3.@revedesouris 4. @lucindawalkerart 5. @smith_cuts_sews 6. @tumblingblocks 7. @jo_broz

owl by Terry Wilson

community

The most significant milestone of the 17th year is the stitch club community. The glorious pink owl by Terry Wilson was posted in the owl sew-along. Currently over 3000 creative members are sharing their work, trying stuff and finding friends.

Thanks so much for showing up and happy anniversary!

PS – I’m rolling around ideas for an april sew-along – how about sailboats for a spring regatta? Let us know in the comments and a happy March to you!

organizing small scraps, stitch book progress and a cardinal sew along

February 17, 2023

by annwood

colorful tiny fabric scraps layered on white linen fabric

A new way of saving really tiny scraps happened by accident. And besides storing them it can provide a bunch of inspiration for stitch book pages. Last year all the little offcuts and tiny scraps saved for the book project were in a basket and everyday I would dump it out and sort through it.

Lately I’ve started laying them out on a piece of white-ish linen to get a better look at them. I wasn’t thinking about design but while randomly laying them on the fabric appealing shape and color combinations turned up, little places to start.

The linen has enough texture to hold them in place (I think any fabric with some texture would work) and If you put a piece of wax paper over the linen and scraps you can roll it up and all your tiny scraps are saved for next time- easy to see and mess around with, a textile white board for experiments.

day 28 2023

We are 4 weeks into the 100 day sketchbook challenge as of today (2/17) and tomorrow completes page 6. I’m trying something different this year and thinking about pages that will display together when the book is assembled as one composition. It’s definitely an experiment and we will see if it’s effective when the book is done.

cardinal sew-along

Use the songbird sewing pattern to make a cardinal. This is a quick, mini sew-along, it begins now and ends on March 1st.

What’s different about this sew-along: there will not be additional blog posts – the details for making the cardinal are already on the blog here plus in the other sew-along people pretty much worked at their own pace. I will be making a cardinal too and posting in the stitch club community as well as the facebook group and instagram. To participate use hashtag #cardinalsewalong on instagram, the stitch club community or in the facebook sew-along group to show us your progress. At the end of the sew-along a team of esteemed judges (really just me) will award a prize for the best cardinal. The prize will be a marvelous collection of scraps and your bird will be featured on the blog. The cardinal prize will be announced on Friday March third so please post your photo by the first of March.

And speaking of March, I’m already in full spring cleaning and organizing mode, especially in the sewing room. I haven’t seen this work surface in weeks.

Are you feeling spring cleany? How do you save your tiniest scraps? Will you join us in the cardinal sew-along? Let us know in the comments.

the 2023 international scrap festival : 8 ideas for your scraps

February 3, 2023

by annwood

small scrap fabric projects surrounding text text: 2023 international scrap festival

Welcome to the fifth annual international scrap festival! Each year as the days begin to get a little longer and spring seems like a legitimate possibility we take some time to reflect on the magnificent possibilities of fabric scraps.

You can find patterns and tutorials for everything in the photo above (plus lots more) on the free pattern page.

Plus a brand new free pattern – Scrap project idea #1 little chicks! I love them. They just kill me. Let’s make thousands. Find the tutorial right here.

more ideas for your fabric scraps

2. This festive scrap bunting was another new free tutorial here this summer – made with mini yoyo’s – find the tutorial here.

3. Also in the celebration/decoration department this super simple way to make a festive curtain or wall hanging sort of situation. The attachment method is simple and clever. 11 year old me wants this a lot.

4. For your bigger scraps this super clever sewing mat machine cover combo. I need a couple of these. My machines are old and don’t have covers. Machines don’t like dust.

5. Find inspiration and tips for managing your scraps here. I especially love the idea of cutting down all the weird shapes. I could spend hours ironing and trimming.

6. And turn them into a quilt with this Antique Four Patch Economy Block Tutorial. I love the way it looks. I’m doing it.

7. Bendable cake flags. So sweet and they would also be great on paper mache ships and cardboard castles. I’m definitely making them for some very nice mice.

8. Merit badges. everybody appreciates a little acknowledgment! I love this idea for big folks and little folks. I’m thinking we should have a merit badge contest in the community, what do you think? Find the tutorial for the badges here.

Stay tuned for more scrap festival news this month! And share your ideas, have you got a favorite project? What’s you preferred storage method? (mine is messy but sorted by color, pretty much). Let us know in the comments or join the ann wood handmade community.

little chicks : free sewing pattern

February 3, 2023

by annwood

Little chicks! Super quick and easy to make. And you can make little chicken families using the free chicken sewing pattern.

You just need fabric scraps and a few other things to get started.

download the pattern

You will also need:

fabric scraps – light cotton or linen
felt (I like wool felt)
embroidery thread
glue stick
stuffing
a basic sewing kit
pencil or disappearing marker

: chick 1

: chick 2

1. Pin the body pattern to 2 layers of fabric with the right sides together and cut out.

2. Mark the seam line, location for the beak and opening marks lightly in pencil or disappearing marker. Cut out the beak from felt. Pin the body pieces – right sides together – near the tail end.

: little chick 3

: little chick 4

3. Add a tiny bit of glue to just the back edge of the beak.

4. Fold back the top layer of fabric and place on the body fabric exactly as shown – point facing in. Use the guide lines on the wrong side of the fabric to check the placement.

5. Fold the top layer back down, pin and stitch the seam with very small, straight stitches. I got a much better result stitching these by hand. After stitching trim little triangles into the seam allowance being careful not to clip the seam.

Support free patterns like little chicks! And keep the awesome free projects flowing.

Click here to add your support.

: little chick 6

: little chick 7

6. Use your chopstick to turn the chick right side out. Push all the curves out with firm pressure.

7. Stuff with wool.

: little chick 8

: little chick 9

8. Fold in the opening of the edges and stitch closed.

9. You will find this method for hiding your knots helpful for embroidering the details. I added an X on each side for eyes using 2 strands of embroidery thread.

10. You can leave the beak as is or clip a little triangle out of the center.

: little chick 11

: little chick 12

11. For the legs use embroidery thread. Put the needle in the bottom seam as shown – coming out about 3/4 of an inch from where you inserted.

12. Pull the thread through so you have some length on each end and knot close to the fabric

13. Trim the legs. Use starch to give them a little stiffness (pro tip – hair gel works too)

You could also add a couple stitches on the side for a little wing detail and a hanging string (use this method again to hide the ends).

hello little chicks!

I hope you make lots of little chicks! If you do I’d love to see. Please use #annwoodpattern on instagram. Or share in the ann wood handmade community.

7 ideas for your 100 day stitchbook (#4 is my favorite)

January 20, 2023

by annwood

The 100 day stitch book challenge starts today! Please be sure to read these two pages completely before you start:

1 – Before you do anything else please read this page carefully.

2 – Find the tutorial for how to cut your pages and make the book here. We don’t assemble the book until the pages are done but it’s good to know where we are headed.

And it’s not mandatory but helpful : check out this blog post.

That’s it! And you’ve already done the hardest part – showing up. I’m so glad you’re here and I’ve got some tips to help make this daily commitment easy and productive for you.

1. Keep your materials easily accessible. Maybe you don’t have a permanently designated stitching area or table. I like to do my sewing and painting in the same sunny spot so I put all my stitch book supplies on a big tray so it can be whisked away when it’s time to paint. And when it’s time to stitch (usually in the morning) there is no significant obstacle to starting, just grab the tray.

2. Speaking of time to stitch, doing your 15 minutes at the same time each day can have a magical effect. Even if it’s not always possible, doing it most of the time can help get your subconscious on board. For me this benefit kicks in after a few weeks.

3. Invite the universe in. Find inspiration for shapes and marks in your day. Take a walk and see what you can see through the lens of your stitch book project. Invite happenstance, grab a scrap without looking for a place to start or splatter some paint or dye or your page before you stitch and see where that leads you.

4. Have a plan for the bad days. They are inevitable. I have lots of them. Decide ahead of time on a minimally acceptable effort for yourself. And keep a collection of inspiring/favorite scraps in reserve so if you’re stuck or super stretched for time you have an easy win. Trust me, keeping the daily commitment helps create and build momentum. It is much easier to keep going than to start. It’s also helpful to have a simple to-go kit. Last year a lot of my stitching happened while traveling.

5. Get the benefit of community. It’s so helpful. There are lots of ways you can do that. Share your pages on instagram using #annwoodstitchbook , join the stitch club community (lots of day 1 pages are already posted!) or team up with friends for group stitching.

6. There are no mistakes, only information. Having a healthy (and productive) attitude towards mistakes, failures and bad days is key to creative growth. Since I was a kid my process has begun with this direction to myself “start making your mistakes”. Mistakes and missteps are full of information and signposts towards work you end up liking.

7. The blank page can be scary and paralyzing. The idea of starting without any structure can be daunting. So give yourself a little structure but still preserve the spontaneity of the process. For example, decide to use one color – maybe just shades of red. It gives you a refreshed perspective on your stash and a place to start. You can do this with shapes too – what if you were limited to just circles for one page? I promise, circles will begin to present new possibilities to you.

We won’t assemble the book until after the 100 days of stitching but I did want to offer a possibility for an alternative way of finishing the book so you can have it in the back of your mind while you’re making your pages. I taught a stitch book class in France last summer, a sort of travel journal. The edges of the pages are left raw and showing instead of turned in. I’m leaning towards finishing my 100 day book this way. We can talk more about how to do that when it’s time to assemble.

2023 day 1

Good luck with your 100 days of stitching! Are you ready to get started? Let us know in the comments.

onward!

ann

support the stitchbook project

Support the 100 day stitch project and the always growing free pattern and tutorial library! The response to the stitch book project in particular has been astounding and resulted in significant additional server costs (it’s all about gigabytes and bandwidth…) Thanks so much to everybody who has already made a contribution! This would not be happening without you.

the shimmering space between

January 6, 2023

by annwood

materials, fabric and fabric scraps gathered on my worktable

When I began my first 100 day stitch book last year the plan was to be purely abstract. To commit to a “yes and” improvisational process, let go of outcome, be concerned only with making marks with stitches and responding to those marks. Create for the sake of creating.

On the first day there was a little pile of fabric scraps and a blank page. The scraps were odd and unintentional shapes – off cuts from other projects.

The vision of pure abstraction dissolved almost immediately, representation crept in, sometimes obviously (to me) and sometimes subtly. There were boats and trees and castles and mushrooms, vessels, and lots more. My first impulse was to work to banish those recognizable images. The problem was they snuck in on their own. I didn’t plan for them. And that really was the improvisational process I had committed to.

day 6 2022

So I let them come. Sometimes they took over and sometimes they shimmered in and out as I worked. The revelation was the images I ended up liking the best, the pages where I felt like I got out of my own way (the whole point of the exercise) shift between abstraction and figure.

Did I make the image or did it just appear?

It’s sort of like looking at clouds. Clouds don’t try to look like anything in particular but it happens all the time, we perceive an image. There is a word for it and everything – pareidolia

“ the tendency to perceive a specific, often meaningful image in a random or ambiguous visual pattern. “

That was the biggest revelation and lesson of last year’s 100 days. It pointed me towards a place that feels inspiring and creative and challenging, a good place to play. The ambiguity is freeing.

Let’s talk about another word- intuition

“the ability to understand something immediately, without the need for conscious reasoning.”

The point of this 100 day exercise is to listen to yourself, to learn to feel for and trust your intuition. Really listening, connecting to your intuition and expressing yourself is difficult. Daily practice helps. What might 100 days of showing up and listening reveal about your own work, process, imagination?

I’ll close this post with your warm up assignments :

Checkout the stitch book I made last year- starting at the bottom of the post you can see each page over the five days and you can see the book assembled here.

Gather some materials and put them in a box. Label the box 100 day stitch book. The hard part is over, you already started.

owl sew-along : week 4

December 16, 2022

by annwood

feet and finishing touches

Let’s talk about the talons for a minute, they’re not even in him yet and they’ve already got personality. This time before wrapping them with fabric I applied a dot of black nail polish to the tips. I like the shiny black ends peaking out and it makes them easier to wrap. The stitching on the feet seems like it’s going to take forever but it’s really pretty quick.

Installing his feet brings him to life. Posture and the position of his talons help create an attitude and body language that imply a history, a point of view, a world of his own.

Get the feet loosely installed and add stuffing around them to stabilize things a little before experimenting with their position. Find his balance and then fine tune the attitude. Sometimes this has been a quick process for me, he just falls into the perfect position, and sometimes it’s required a bunch of little adjustments. This guy required a bunch of adjustments.

Once he was on his feet he clearly needed a black heart and a lacey cravat.

Making an owl during the holiday rush was a challenge. But here he is. It was definitely a baby steps process, 15 – 30 minutes here and there. You can checkout lots of sew-along owls in the community. And I think the next sew-along (cardinal) will be mostly contained in the stitch club community (with a facebook group too).

owl sew-along : week one owl sew-along : week two owl sew-along : week three

Are you ready for talons? Does your owl need a cravat? Let us know in the comments.

the 2022 ornament round-up : little projects for the holidays

December 9, 2022

by annwood

Little projects for your tree or an extra on a gift or place setting. Easy and fun to make and give. This year my tree is a carefully chosen branch. Everything on it is made from my sewing patterns, some from the shop and some from the free pattern library. We’ll talk about that in a minute.

First let’s check out 5 free projects from the interwebs.

1. These victorian cones are such a classic! You can fill them with treats or treasures. The free DIY is by www.halfyardsewingclub.com. The design and tutorial are excellent. They’re super easy and you could sew up a bunch in a day – find the instructions here.

2. Fabric origami poinsettia ornaments – they’ re quick and clever.

3. 3D ornaments made from hexies! Simple, brilliant and easy. My stick tree needs a couple of these. Find the DIY at wild Olive. They would also be great as a garland.

4. Felt ginger bread ornaments – find a little house here and a felt gingerbread man here.

5. A village wreath! The paper houses are super sweet. There are templates for cutting machines or PDF templates you can cut out by hand. I love the forest village idea. You could also just make make the paper houses for a village or as ornaments. Find it all at deliacreates.com

There are some great holiday ideas in the stitch club community too, these trees are by Mary C. The pattern is the free scrappy tree pattern and she added the bead detail on the hanging string – perfect!

There are a couple scrappy trees on my branch too. The branch happened by accident – I stumbled upon an irresistible stick that would make perfect, simple tree just right for the things I made. And a bunch of tinsel.

I’ve got one very helpful suggestion if you decide to do a branch tree. Get some glue dots. You can find them in craft stores. The branch is pretty smooth and the dots keep the ornaments from sliding down. Also tinsel placement was crucial. I’m from the one strand at a time school of thought and I wanted tinsel to hang from the very tips of the branches – impossible without a glue dot.

That decorated stick is bringing me a lot of holiday joy, more than expected. Let’s talk about the ornaments. The afore mentioned scrappy trees, the also free sheep ornaments and lucky fish, and the mushroom is the mini size from the mushroom sewing pattern.

The wax paper snowflakes are made from this DIY (so fun and easy to make), the little paper snowflakes were cut by a friend. The star on top is also made from the wax paper ornament tutorial using foil and vintage paper. Find the little felt boat pattern in the shop here.

Thar she blows. I was so happy to see this guy, he’s one of my favorite ornaments and he’s been missing for a while. Love his lacy spout. He is made from the little whale pattern. And finally the minimalist chicken, find the free pattern here.

Are you making ornaments? Do you have a favorite holiday project? Are you a one strand of tinsel at a time sort of person? Let us know in the comments!

day 99!

Support the 100 day stitch book project and the always growing free pattern library.

finishing the book

The difference is leaving the page edges raw. I did this in a workshop in France last summer and liked the effect. You can check that out here. (PS if you’d like to join me for France 2024 please use the contact form to message me and I’ll hook you up with more info)

Just like last year I’m a little happy and a little sad this is over. Daily commitment is hard but once again It was so worth it. How about you? Are you assembling your book? Did you have a favorite page? Let us know in the comments.

zoom workshop

Checkout some workshop seedpods below:

the cardboard house

uppercase magazine

the fabric sailboat sew-along

a couple more studio notes

the last three stitch book pages

What’s on your work table this spring? Are you a fan of zoom workshops? Are you assembling your stitch book? Let us know in the comments and happy garden season!

miniature curtains

bedroom walls and floor

wood stove and hearth pad

Checkout the miss thistle society for more tiny world tutorials. Are there twig curtain brackets in your future? Are you working on a world for somebody tiny? Let us know in the comments.

the hundred day stitch book

A couple frequently asked questions:

Some things that got invented in the 17th year of the blog experiment:

sew-alongs and the winning cardinal

community

Thanks so much for showing up and happy anniversary!

PS – I’m rolling around ideas for an april sew-along – how about sailboats for a spring regatta? Let us know in the comments and a happy March to you!

cardinal sew-along

Are you feeling spring cleany? How do you save your tiniest scraps? Will you join us in the cardinal sew-along? Let us know in the comments.

more ideas for your fabric scraps

Stay tuned for more scrap festival news this month! And share your ideas, have you got a favorite project? What’s you preferred storage method? (mine is messy but sorted by color, pretty much). Let us know in the comments or join the ann wood handmade community.

Support free patterns like little chicks! And keep the awesome free projects flowing.

hello little chicks!

I hope you make lots of little chicks! If you do I’d love to see. Please use #annwoodpattern on instagram. Or share in the ann wood handmade community.

The 100 day stitch book challenge starts today! Please be sure to read these two pages completely before you start:

1 – Before you do anything else please read this page carefully.

2 – Find the tutorial for how to cut your pages and make the book here. We don’t assemble the book until the pages are done but it’s good to know where we are headed.

And it’s not mandatory but helpful : check out this blog post.

2023 day 1

Good luck with your 100 days of stitching! Are you ready to get started? Let us know in the comments.

onward!

ann

support the stitchbook project

feet and finishing touches

Are you ready for talons? Does your owl need a cravat? Let us know in the comments.

First let’s check out 5 free projects from the interwebs.

Are you making ornaments? Do you have a favorite holiday project? Are you a one strand of tinsel at a time sort of person? Let us know in the comments!

happy and merry to you,

ann