Lately, I have been obsessed with mug rugs, which are also called snack mats. They are adorable and fun. They use up your scraps and make lovely little pieces of art for your table. I made this I-Spy snack mat to make snack time even more fun… little people can play a game of "I Spy With My Little Eye" while they wait for their snack! I've made these mats 6x9inches which I think is a perfect size- you could really use more or fewer squares and go with whatever shape you like! What you need:
24 scraps of fabric at least 2 inches square, each with different interesting and easily recognizable items on them
1 6x9inch piece of fabric for the backing
1 6x9inch piece of cotton batting or flannel
wide bias tape

What to do:
1. Cut your 24 scraps into 2x2inch squares. You want these patterns to be small enough to fit about 1.5x1.5 inches and you might have to fussy cut them to get a recognizable object. 2. Sew all the squares into pairs with a 1/4inch seam allowance. Press the seams open. 3. Sew the pairs to other pairs until you get 4 strips with 6 squares each. 4. Sew your strips together to make a rectangle that is 6 squares across and 4 squares down. Remember to press seams open! This is the mat top.

5. Layer the backing, batting and mat top: backing with right side down, batting, mat top with right side up. Pin the layers together. 6. Quilt the mat as desired. I'm not anywhere near a quilting expert- I just kind of sewed lines and I think it turned out pretty darn well. 7. With your ruler and rotary cutter, trim all four sides so they are straight. 8. Apply the bias tape. I'm not much of a quilter, and I'm kind of lazy, so I'm going to direct you away for a tutorial on how to apply the bias tape. 9. Done! Enjoy your snack and see what you can find while you eat!

This is another I-Spy bag tutorial. This one is a little easier to get just right, but the cutting does need to be a little more exact.

What you need:
Piece of vinyl that is 3.5 x 3.5 inches
(A) 2 pieces that are 2 inches by 3.5 inches
(B) 2 pieces that are 2 inches x 6.5 inches
(C) 1 piece that is 6.5x6.5 inches
20 or so little items to seek and find in the bag
a list of said items on a piece of paper, then laminated and attached to a ribbon
poly pellets or rice for filler

For more info on how to find the items or about what to use as filler, see our Other Seek & Find Bag tutorial. Take the piece of vinyl and sew the 2x3.5 inch pieces of fabric (pieces A) to it on each side. To make the vinyl go through your machine easier, use a walking foot or just keep the vinyl on the bottom when you sew with it. Zig zag over the raw edges. This will keep the fabric from fraying inside the bag. Take the 2 pieces that are 2x6.5 inches (pieces B) and sew them with right sides together on either of the long sides of the vinyl/fabric combo. Zig zag over the edges. Top stitch the edges around the vinyl square. Place the 6.5x6.5 square (piece C) together with the vinyl/fabric square with right sides together. Pin together if desired. Insert the list of seek and find items connected to a ribbon into the bag, leaving the ribbon ends hanging out. Pin in place. Sew the two layers together around the edges, leaving one edge partially open. Zig zag around the edges. Clip corners. Turn right side out. (This one doesn't actually have a tag with the list of items.) Put your eye spy items into the bean bag. Using a funnel (and trust me, you want to use a funnel), pour in your poly pellets or rice. It takes about 3/4 cup to have enough in there. You don't want to over fill the bag. Sew the open edge closed. Be careful not to get poly pellets or rice under your needle!! And voila! You're finished! Enjoy your Seek and Find Bag!

Seek and Find Bags or I Spy Bags are such an awesome toy! I love search for little items to fill them with, especially things that are out of the ordinary! To make one, you will need:
2 - 6.5x6.5 inch fabric squares
1 - piece of clear vinyl about 4inches square
20 or so little items
a small piece of paper listing the items- you can laminate this with contact paper or a home laminator to make it last longer, punch a hole in one end
a small piece of ribbon
half a cup or so of filler To Find the Items:
Look for little things all around you- you can use ordinary things like nuts or bolts, coins, pencil erasers or paper clips. You can also try finding other fun things like shaped buttons, or shaped erasers, doll house accessories, jewelry charms or game pieces.

For Filler:
In my opinion the best filler is poly pellets. You can find these in any craft store. You can also use rice and I've heard of some people even using dried beans.

To Make the Bag:
Take your top square and fold it diagonally and mark 2 inches diagonally from the outside corner. Cut from this mark toward the folded edge of the square. Fold diagonally the other direction and repeat. You should have an X cut in the center of your square. With the right side down, fold the flaps of the X toward the outside and iron. Trim the corners off of the flaps. Layer the vinyl square under the wrong side of the square. Sew them together along the edges of the opening with a 1/8inch seam allowance. Trim the vinyl to about 1/4 inch around the edge of the opening. Round the corners. Thread the ribbon through the hole in the list of items. Fold the ribbon in half and lay it on the back square, raw edges together and toward the outside of the square. The ribbon should only be about one inch inside the square. Pin in place. Layer the square with the window on top with right side down. Sew the squares together with a 1/4 inch seam allowance. Leave one edge partially open. Zig zag stitch along the edges to keep them from fraying. Clip corners and turn right side out. First put in your i spy items. Then add about 1/2 or 3/4 cup of filler. I used a canning funnel so I didn't spill the pellets all over the place. I recommend using a measuring cup to scoop the pellets because they will stick to your hand and then fall off all over the place.

You only want the bag to be about half full or it will be hard to look for the items in the bag. Fold the open edge in and pin closed. Sew the open edge closed with a 1/8 inch seam allowance. Make sure that the poly pellets are out of the way and that you catch all the edges. And you're done! Have fun searching!!

P.S. Make sure you take any safety precautions that are necessary to keep kids safe from the small objects in this toy, including keeping away from children who are under 3 or still mouth things. I'm not responsible for your actions, so please remember that you are!

Mr. Man has no butt. Apparently he gets it from my dad. So, his rise is very short, but being a ginormous baby, he is normal around the waist and thighs for the rest of his size. So what that is meaning is that he still fits in smalls through the rise, but the waist and thighs are too small for him. And mediums are way too big still! Oops. Time to draft a new pattern. Or, with just a few cents worth of touchtape, we could make these handy dandy extend-a-tabs that would help with any touchtape or aplix pattern that needs a little extra through the waist to get us through for a while…

What you need:
3 inches of 1.5inch wide Touchtape LOOP side
1.5 inches of 1.5 inch wide Touchtape HOOK side It's pretty easy to do.

Put the hook and loop back to back, putting the hook on one half of the loop. With a wide zig zag stitch, sew the two pieces together right down the middle. Make sure you catch the edge of the hook! Now that they're secure together, round off the edge where the hook and loop are together. Sew around the edge of the extend-a-tab with your needle right up against the right side. Sew slowly around the rounded corners. Ok, it done!
With the inside of the cover facing you, apply the loop side of the tab to the hook side of the cover. And voila! You have a cover that will last you a while longer now! Way to make those covers last!