Here's a romantic Valentine's story: a pretty patchwork quilt meets an old softie fleece; they fall in love and become inseparable. That's the true tale of today's beautiful lap blanket. The front is a patchwork of Layer Cake squares from the Kissing Booth collection by BasicGrey for Moda Fabrics. The back is a cuddly fleece so there's no need for batting. The blanket is bound around the edges and also tied. But, it's not just a traditional tied knot... oh no! There are sixteen 2½" cornerstone squares across the middle of the quilt, and each square is tied through with a little yarn bow, creating the look of sixteen pretty gift boxes. Wrap up your Valentine in this warm and wonderful blanket.

We're getting ready early for Valentine's Day with a series of four projects in the brand new Kissing Booth by BasicGrey for Moda Fabrics. We're big BasicGrey fans here at S4H, and so were anxious to work with their latest collection. The colors are traditional Valentine's favorites: plenty of reds, pinks, creams and browns, but we loved how the tones were richer and warmer than usual, and they sound so delicious: Cherry Cordial, Candy Pink, Crème Brûlée and Chocolate. The motifs have a softly vintage feel, as if you've discovered a treasure box of love letters tucked inside an ancient trunk. Yet there's nothing old-fashioned; the lines are clean and fresh. Today's elegant half apron features Dozen Roses in Cherry Cordial, a dense crush of watercolor roses with a textured lace overlay. We added jaunty oval pockets, pretty tucks and a rick rack hem. Pretty sweet style, don't you think?

Welcome to the first day of Winter 2012-2013 - the shortest day of the year! I don't know about your corner of the world, but here in the Pacific Northwest, we've already entered our gloomy gray days. The leaves have fallen from the trees (except for our famous Oregon evergreens) and the gardens are barren and wet. Today's cute cafe curtains are a wonderful way to cheer up your window treatments during the winter months. As half curtains that hang on a tension rod, they cover the bottom of the window, shielding those sometimes less-than-lovely vistas while still letting the pretty white winter light shine through above. The main vertical panels are made from split fat quarters. We used the cheery Flirt collection by Sandy Gervais for Moda Fabrics. 

Charm squares are just that: charming little chunks of fabric, 5" x 5" squares from all the patterns and colorways within a given fabric collection. Moda's standard charm pack comes with 42 pre-cut 5" x 5" squares. They're a real time-saver and can make patchworking projects a delight. We used a Charm Pack of Bonnie & Camille's Marmalade collection for Moda Fabrics in a unique way for this very quick and easy pillow. The pillow front and back is made with just three simple yardage cuts (though you could use fat quarters). Then, we stitched charm squares end-to-end to create the ruffle strip. Fast, fun, and with a fantastically colorful result.