Around these parts, Summer and early Fall are prime time for outdoor concerts. Seating for these events is usually just the grassy slopes of a natural amphitheater. You gotta have something to sit on. A blanket is often too big and rather bulky to pack in. Instead, try this lightly padded, roll-up cushion in two great outdoor fabrics. It's filled with foam, which your bottom will like, and the outdoor fabric is weather and water resistant, which your pretty white summer pants will like.

When I was young, one of my favorite cartoon characters was Hanna-Barbera's Yogi Bear and his sidekick Boo-Boo Bear. In fact, my sister and I used to greet each other (okay... sometimes we still do) with the Yogi catchphrase, "Hey there, Boo Boo." I liked Yogi because he was always in search of pic-a-nic baskets, and I figured there must be yummy things in those baskets I would like to eat. So I was very happy when we decided to create a pic-a-nic blanket for some summer fun. As usual, we weren't satisfied with your av-er-age blanket (because we are not your av-er-age bears), so we made one side cotton sateen, the other side cotton laminate, and quilted them together with polyester batting sandwiched in between. Then, we created a clever carry wrap with shoulder straps. Fold and roll the blanket, wrap it up, Velcro® it closed, and you're good to go."Hello, Mr. Ranger, sir!"

Is your dad an ol' softee? Then he deserves the world's most amazingly soft napping pillow. When he finds out it's a handmade gift from the heart, he's going to love it even more. Don't you remember how much he loved that shoe shine kit you made out of a scrap of flannel when you were in 2nd grade? It never changes. From the bed to the couch to the floor, this big, cushy pillow is the perfect way for Dad to rest his weary bones after a busy day. Fabric.com has lots of great colors to choose from in the super soft sweatshirt knit fabric we selected. We used a preppy color palette, and the big, bold horizontal and diagonal stripes remind us of classic yachting flags... although Dad is not required to wear top-siders while relaxing. We also show you how to make the personalized fabric tag shown in the bottom corner that tells Dad he's priceless.

Is your dad an awesome chef or maybe a weekend warrior on the BBQ? Whether he's headed to the next Chili Cook-Off or just flippin' burgers for a family picnic, our cook's apron and hot mitt combo is sure to light his fire. The apron construction couldn't be simpler. You provide a simple rectangle of fabric; we provide a free downloadable template for the armhole cutout. Hem, attach the pockets and ties, add a grommet, and you're good to go. We chose two medium-weight cottons from the Lock Harbor Collection by Benartex Home, just one of the many designer lines available at Fabric.com. The mitt follows one of our favorite S4H tutorials. We rotated the direction of the fabric's stripes to go vertically on the apron's pocket and horizontally on the mitt.