As a little girl, I liked to watch my mother get dressed up to go someplace special. On the top shelf of her closet, she kept a round, paper-covered hatbox. Inside were a half dozen lovely millinery-quality flower pins, each carefully wrapped in tissue. The finishing touch was pinning a flower to her dress or the lapel of her jacket. My favorite was a big rose-colored peony flower made of woven fabric with several pale green, ribbon-wrapped stems.

Tomorrow is the first day of spring. Celebrate by wearing a flower on your jacket, in your hair, or pin one to your bag. Not only are they trendy, they brighten your day and help turn winter into spring.

The world of Modern Quilting is a "wonky" world. If something is "wonky" it means angles, sides and points are not necessarily straight and true. For years, "wonky" was the worst thing your quilt could be. It meant all those carefully cut squares and triangles and strips were not precise. But like coloring outside the lines, this imperfection is what gives a modern quilt its free-form creativity. "Cut until it fits" is a mantra followed by many a modern quilter. One of our favorite modern quilters is Heather Jones, who was our guest yesterday with a tutorial on Straight Line Quilting. Today, Heather's back with a Guest Project from the wonky world: the wonky log cabin block. Take it away, Heather!

It's time for another installment in one of our favorite series: ScrapBusters! This time, the scraps you need are a bit larger, but I'm bettin' you still have lots of fun fabrics from which to choose to create this cute clutch. We are normally very diligent about telling you exactly which fabrics we used for our samples, however, this time around, we found our pieces in what we fondly call our 'UFO' bin: Unidentified Fabric Options. My only direction for your choosing is to use a décor weight or better for both layers in order to get an appropriate crispness. And, a print for the outside with a coordinating solid for the inside is a classy combo. The finishing touch is a little bit of bling on the front as an accent over the magnetic clasp. Ours is a broken rhinestone earring, but a fancy button or rescued broach would also work well. You just need a couple open points on it to allow you to sew the bauble in place.

We ❤ Valentine's Day at Sew4Home! Secretly, I wish I had a little construction paper mailbox to hang on my desk. Perhaps I might still collect a few crumpled doilies festooned with candy hearts and felt-penned sentiments of love. Are there some sweethearts left on your Valentine's list? One of these Valentine's Day Classic Projects might be just the ticket. They're all fast and easy enough to finish by February 14th... as soon as you complete your paper mailbox!