Forever Firefly Handcrafts and Sewing Solutions

09/03/2026

What a fun idea!

09/02/2026

I needed a quick pen/pencil holder. I made this one in about 10 minutes using a cleaned out food can. I printed out a design on sticker paper. Marked the top and bottom by rolling the can along the paper. I cut the overlap on the side a bit, took the backing paper off and stuck it on. I rolled the remainder of the paper, leaving the backing paper on, design facing in, and slipped it down into the can. To soften the clunk of dropping pens, I cut a circle of craft foam and put it at the bottom. I finished it up with a circle of sticky felt on the bottom.

09/01/2026

6 of 12 ready to stuff. Today is for spending time with #7 and thinking about my friend.
It's a chilly 62 degrees inside and out. Not cold enough for the pellet stove, just yet. I've got my favorite sweatshirt on and the YouTube worship music playing. Onward I go.

08/26/2026

08/21/2026

This poor little guy has had his head basted on 3 times today. I went down a rabbit hole fixing a very slight misalignment that I'm sure only I would have noticed. But, I had to take the stitches out and make it right. I basted his head on for the second time, turned him right side to check and discovered I had inadvertently unstitched one of his arms. So, take head off again and fix arm. Baste his head on for the 3rd time. Ah, that's better! 👌
After all of that undoing and redoing, he got a healthy dose of fray check around the seam. Rest easy now, Little Guy, until stuffing day comes 😊

08/19/2026

Back in the saddle after a bit of a break to spend time with the kiddos this summer. Got the YouTube Playlist going to keep me singing as I go.

07/25/2026

Well it took a few quiet weekends to get them designed and cut out, but 12 bears are ready for the next step. I am looking forward to seeing them come together.

07/06/2026

I needed to update the water stained curtains that were in our granddaughter's old room that we put up temporarily when we moved in.
I really like the look of white drop cloth curtains, but there are times when I need to block out more light. I also need to block out heat and cold as necessary. So, I purchased some thermal blackout liners to go behind my curtains. I had to hem both the curtains and the liners because the longer ones were less expensive than the shorter, for some reason. Since I had to hem them anyway, I opted to make a nice double folded 2 1/2 inch hem on the curtains. The liners got a simple 1/2 inch hem.
I didn't expect it to take all day, but I washed them first because they are cotton and I wanted to get the shrinking out of the way now, rather than have them shrink in the wash after they were hemmed. So they were washed, ironed, hemmed and ironed again before I put them up.
I made tie backs for the liners from the cut off material. I ordered these sweet crocheted lily of the valley tie backs for the curtains.
You can see the difference in the light blockage when the liner is added. I can configure them in several different ways, so I can let the light through or filter, or block it out completely.
It doesn't look juvenile any more, it looks polished.
A good day's accomplishment.
Back to the bears now. 😊

06/02/2026

I've started on a new labor of love today. I'll be spending the next little while with a good friend of mine. This is the second time I have had the honor of making bears to remember someone I love deeply. I consider it an extra special blessing to be able to spend time thinking about them while I plan and build. I could have started a couple of weeks ago, but honestly I needed to ready my heart. I'm there now, so here we go. Let the memories roll.

05/23/2026

Remembering those who fought to preserve our freedom and made the ultimate sacrifice in service to this great country.