Have you ever heard of a MOOC?

Massive Open Online Courses are a great way to expand your knowledge at little to no cost. Major universities such as MIT, Harvard, Berkeley, and Stanford all offer free online courses. Online...

Winners: Fancy Feet Sewing Challenge

I almost forgot! Everyone worked SO hard meeting the Fancy Feet Challenge, and I nearly forgot to post the winners of the poll. Shame on me. So here I am at work, hustling to post this before the...

Sorry to cancel May's sewing challenge

I hate to do it, but I just can't see me finding the time to organize May's sewing challenge. The morning's I used to spend blogging are now spent at my new job. I work in the library of an...

Vote: Fancy Feet Sewing Challenge

March's challenge asked the participants to learn how to use a new foot on their sewing machines. I tried to master my rolled hem foot without very much success. You can read about my own foot...

I Painted My Vinyl Floor

Can you paint a vinyl kitchen floor? Should you paint a kitchen floor? How do you paint a kitchen floor? Would painting the floor be worth the effort and time? I struggled with answering those...

Plaid Stencils and Folk Art Craft Paint Review

FolkArt stencils rock! Besides connecting with amazingly creative people from all over the world, the second best thing about being a blogger is getting opportunities to review craft products. This...

Scarf: Rolled Hem Foot

This month's sewing challenge is kicking my butt! The rolled hem foot I chose to work with is a tricky little thing that I can't seem to get a handle on. Plus, my photography skills...well please...

Gift Idea: Potted Tulip Bulbs

This is a Sponsored post written by me on behalf of iBulb for SocialSpark. All opinions are 100% mine. Spring does not come early in Montana. Here we are in March and there's not a crocus to be...

Winners: Curved Seams Challenge!

We spent the month of January working on projects that include curved flat seams. And we spent the month of February voting on our favorite projects. Please visit the voting page and check out the...

CLR Bath & Kitchen Cleaner Review

This is a Sponsored post written by me on behalf of CLR for SocialSpark. All opinions are 100% mine. The tap water where I live is very hard, leaving mineral deposits on everything from my dishes...

Mini Tudor Rose

It's been too long since I've posted! Truth be told, I've been looking for a job (besides wifing and momming and blogging) pretty diligently since the beginning of the year. I am pretty picky about...

Fancy Feet Sewing Challenge: March 2013

March's challenge is all about those tricky sewing machine feet that sit in our sewing boxes and never get used. Come on, you know you're guilty! Every machine comes with a variety of feet, but few...

Knee Patches for Girls!

Sometimes my mama-plans backfire on me. I purchased several pairs of jeans for my first grade daughter last fall. My mama-brain told me to buy the larger size so they would last the entire school...

Vote: Curved Seams Sewing Challenge!

Flat, curved seams ended up being trickier than I ever imagined. I read some tutorials, watched a video, practiced on my own, and STILL don't feel super confident sewing curved seams! I love the...

Pri's Curved Seams Challenge entry!

Guess who signed up for my Curved Seams Challenge on January 29th and finished the next day? Pri from Sri Lanka!!!! Congrats on meeting the challenge!!! Pri doesn't have blog, so I'm happy to host...

Mrs. Smith's Signature Deep Dish Pies

This is a Sponsored post written by me on behalf of Mrs. Smith's for SocialSpark. All opinions are 100% mine. I usually make the pies for the big holiday dinners, but I didn't get around to it last...

Quilted Tote Bag Tutorial

My Curved Seams Challenge project is finally done! I posted about the beginning stages of my project HERE. I used a great tutorial by Leanne at She Can Quilt. Leanne also includes a video--how nice...

Cleaning the dirtiest iron

How dirty is your iron? When was the last time you cleaned your iron? Yikes! This iron came with my husband who got it over a decade ago. As far as I know, I'm the first person to clean it. Sad,...

Curved Seams Challenge WIP Update

I gave myself the deadline of Jan. 15th to come up with a project for my Curved Seams Challenge. Yesterday, Jan. 14th (one whole day early!), I decided to make a quilted tote bag. I even finished...

Freezer Paper Printed Placemats

Way back last summer, I started some quilted placemats for our table. I started 8 placemats and finished 2 which I proudly gifted away to our dear cousins. I called the 2-sided mats Mullet Mats:...

Conquering my Fear of Tights and Leggings

This is a Sponsored post written by me on behalf of No nonsense for SocialSpark. All opinions are 100% mine. Every woman has body issues. I know I'm not alone. My biggest body peeve is my legs. I'm...

Winners: Ring Your Neck Scarf Challenge!

And the winners are...... November was a busy month for everyone, but that didn't stop 19 people from signing up for my challenge and giving it go. Sending big hugs and thank yous to everyone who...

A Holiday Gift to my Readers:

My kids are 6 and 8 now. They are very smart and creative and beautiful. They are goofy and silly and funny. They constantly remind me to be patient and kind and consistent. I recorded this video...

Scrappy Chenille Scarf

One of the participants from my scarf-making challenge made a chenille scarf that I really liked. Her name is Linda and she wrote a great tutorial for her scarf that you can find HERE. Linda's...

300,000 PAGEVIEWS!!!!

Big thanks to: all my 455 facebook fans! all my 581 twitter followers! all my 1685 pinterest followers! all my 289 google friend connect followers! all my feed subscribers! and everyone else who...

Curved Seams Sewing Challenge Jan 2013

Curved seams. I've never tried them before, but I've been wanting to ever since I first saw the popular drunkard's path quilt block. Here's a beautiful example of the drunkard's path block in...

A Christmas card & giveaway to my readers:

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year! Yes. This is the Christmas card I mailed out this year. I saw something similar somewhere online and had to give it a try. Those are my precious children under...

E-reader, Nook, ipad stand tutorial

Mr. Ricochet gave me a Nook e-reader for Christmas a couple years ago, and it's really been the best gift ever. I use it everyday, several times a day. Besides reading, I check my email, facebook,...

Blog Makeover!

Maybe you've noticed things are looking a little different around here? No? Well then you must be new! This is what my old header used to look like: And before that, I had this one: And I think...

var linkwithin_site_id = 756621; Before you click away, I'd like to invite you to join in my current sewing/craft challenge. Thanks so much for taking the time to read Ricochet and Away! I am so...