New Patterns!

Popping in to announce that I'm working on a series of seasonal quilted pillow patterns! Spring and Summer are already available on Etsy or Craftsy. My Etsy shop is 30% off through the 14th with code SUMMERFUN. I'm so excited about the different designs of these two sets and can't wait to finish up the fall and winter versions. The fall one is going to use some lovely woven plaids.

Why pillows? I love a big ol' snuggly quilt, of course, but I am busy and want (need!) the satisfaction of finishing something. I know I'm not the only super busy quilter out there! Pillows are a great way to make a manageable quilt project. They come together quickly, don't require a ton of fabric, don't need to be sent out to be quilted, and still add a big punch to living spaces. I feel like we actually use our quilted pillows more than our throws anyway.

It's fun to make little changes with the seasons, without giving everything a full bore holiday look. Pillows are perfect to change out with a removable cover that makes them store flatly and not take up too much space.

Finally, A Productive Week

Last week I got so much done. After a crazy March and an April to recoup, it felt really good to get some things checked off the list. In case you want to know, in the past two months I have had to say goodbye to a much loved and missed cat who was pooping and throwing up on the floors daily (poor little guy had a tumor), two bad head colds, painful dental issues resulting in a root canal and crown, kids with colds including my now 6 month old, hubby out of town for work, a trip to see my family for a week, a big presentation to the FRMQG on color theory and did I mention I have an almost 6 month old? The time has flown by.

Anyway, enough of my rambling... here are the projects.

The first is a pillow for my daughter with hand appliqued hearts and wonky improv piecing. It was a lot of fun. She saw me come home with those hearts a few months back and loved them, asking if they were for her. (Of course they were, sweetie!) We had a guest speaker explain a few techniques on hand applique using this heart shape. I'm not sure I'll be doing more of that anytime soon, but it is very useful to know how. I didn't want the pillow to feel too formal or stuffy, so I got improv-y with the rest of the piecing to give it some personality. It was my first time trying that.

Best of all--she loves it! In fact, she loves it so much that she cried because she didn't know which pillow she loved more: her mushroom pillow (which I made her a couple years ago) or the new one. Seriously melts my heart. I love a girl who appreciates handmade things!

the much loved mushroom pillow (left)
 and the new heart pillow

The second set of projects completed are a gift to some friends of ours. Jenny loves batik fabrics so I went out of my comfort zone and used them for this pillow set and table runner. (They are a charm pack of Sunrise Sunset batiks from Moda.) They go perfectly in their earthy/modern house. The table runner is a funny story because I was again being improv-y and didn't like the initial results. I then used a glue stick and randomly stuck on 3/4" strips of fabric on top of what I had pieced. Then I stippled it, leaving the edges raw to fray and weather. I really like the look. It adds a lot of texture. I think both of them really liked it too. It was fun to see how it picked up on so many of the colors that they have in their house.

lots of fun texture with the raw edges

Quick, the kids are both napping!

After 4 months of my son being here, I'm still getting used to the idea of having kids, not just a kid. And it truly is lucky when they are both asleep for a nap at the same time. I hope to squeeze in this blog post before one of them wakes up.

 

The Front Range Modern Quilt Guild swapped our Madrona Road Challenge pillows on Saturday, and boy did I hit the jackpot! This beauty was masterfully made by Marti and is both foundation pieced AND hand quilted. Seriously awesome! Our guild had such a wonderful showing for the pillows. There was not a single pillow out of the whole bunch that was a dud. Of course Lyn will have delayed gratification of getting one of my pillows. Sorry, Lyn, but at least the pillow will come with a cool story!

I'm not going to win any awards for photo styling, but time is of the essence... I just made two adorable toddler/little girl aprons. The pattern is a freebie from Heather Mulder Peterson, just scroll waaaaay down. Each one only takes 3 fat quarters and they go together quickly. I can't wait for my daughter to wake up so I can give hers to her. The other is for my niece. My daughter loves to help in the kitchen and play with her food. (Thanks to Marti again, since 5 of the fat quarters I used were ones I won when she offered it up as a guild giveaway!)

I hear stirring upstairs...

Two cute (and quick!) pillows

Wow, finishing these two pillows feels monumental to me! I'm feeling motivated to sew again. This is because I'm starting to feel better after a couple months of nausea. But, it's the best reason in the world to feel drained and sick: I'm pregnant. Woo hoo for the beginning of the second trimester!

I'm happy to be giving these two pillows to my nephews later this week. I hope they like them. The blue/red/trains one is for my 7 year old nephew. The orange/greeen/robot one is for my 3 year old nephew. 

I found the tutorial for this pillow on Pinterest. Here is the direct link.

I'm going to be making more of these for sure.

Catching up

I've been working on a few things, slowly but surely.

For Aunt Gee Gee

The first one is a bit of a bomb as I didn't think it would turn out to be such frou frou pillow. It is for my great aunt who has just been moved to a nursing home. I wanted to make her something to cheer her up. She's a colorful gal who's a little loud, so I still think she'll like it. It should bring a little pop of color to her room, if nothing else. I consulted with my grandma, her sister, on the color scheme options and she picked this one for her.

first time free motion quilting on my Juki--love it!

I've also been working on a quilt for my soon-to-be-born niece. She'll be my first niece and I'm super excited for my brother and his wife. Confession: I hired a babysitter for this afternoon to get time to quilt it.

fabric is Fig Tree Buttercup

The last is a gift for my mom for her birthday. I hope she'll love it. A LQS closed its doors so I scored a ton of stuff for her (and me, too). There's some yummy Central Park, lots of books, a white and a graphite Sewline pencil and quilting gloves. Another confession: I'm having a hard time not keeping those fabrics for my stash! I picked up the cute basket at the thrift store. I love finding unique things to put gifts into, especially something that has some usefulness.