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

Valentines Tablerunner

Happy Valentine's Day, a little early!

My unofficial resolution is to use my stash this year. I say unofficial because I know I won't be able to completely keep to that. I'm sure some of you understand. ;-)

In that spirit, I decided this Valentine's charm pack I had sitting around, along with a bit of yardage, needed to get out of my stash. It turned out pretty cute! Our family will enjoy Valentine's dinner in a more festive way this year.

Small projects like this are giving me a sense of accomplishment right now, but I do have to keep working on my Swoon quilt and the one for my almost 4 month old son. I also have plans for two throw pillows for friends of mine. I *may* need to go do a major clean of my sewing/laundry room, too. On to the next project!

The details...

Pattern: Geo Stars Tablerunner (free!)

Fabric: Candy Kisses by Sandy Gervais for Moda charm pack, classic dots in latte from Connecting Threads, border is another Valentine's line from Sandy Gervais by Moda (but I don't remember which one and the selvedge is now gone)