Fabric Tuesday

This year my daughter’s teachers will be getting homemade Christmas presents.  I actually sent in a little questionnaire to find out their tastes and  decided to make them each a pillow.  One teacher’s favorite color is yellow and her favorite season is summer, so I stitched up a snowball block with some yellow and and a summery feel (as I type this, I realize that perhaps snowball wasn’t the most aptly named block to choose!).

 

I didn’t use any batting, just placed it atop white muslin and quilted a simple grid pattern with the assistance of painter’s tape.  I made two actually, an extra one for my mom for her birthday in December.  No worries, it will still be a surprise since she doesn’t read my blog.  She doesn’t even have an email address!  I am going to make an envelope style back with the yellow check fabric.

I really, really like how they turned out.  They measure exactly 16.5 x 16.5, so they will be perfectly sized for the couch.

My daughter’s other teacher’s favorite color is moss green, which is not a color I really have on hand that much.  It worked out great that I made a few blocks for the Charmed Prints Quilt Along that came up just short of the 5” needed for the quilt, so I used 4 of the 5 that were duds to make this pillow cover.

I am going to use the DS Quilts print for the back.  The pillow cover is okay, but I really need to work on not cutting off triangle points.

I’m not sure what my major malfunction is, but sometimes the points turn out perfectly, and other times they have disappeared in the seam allowance.  The white sashing didn’t look quite right without a border, so I added a 1.25 inch striped border which finishes it nicely I think.  This pillow measures 17 x 17 so it will be slightly bigger, but once I’ve inserted a cushion they will be roughly identical sizes. 

I recently bought some Alexander Henry starling fabric

  

and some Kate Spain Flurry birds

so if I get a chance, I might make them a quick Christmas pillow cover, too.  Can you tell I love cardinals?  I am a total bird lover…swans, hummingbirds, and cardinals are my favorites.

I also asked the teachers if they prefer Starbucks or Dunkin Donuts, and they all said Starbucks????!!!!!  I’m a Dunkin Donuts gal myself.  In fact, before their stores became so prolific, I would order two five pound bags of beans online every 6 weeks.  I had my own coffee grinder and had to have real cream in mine.  I don’t drink coffee any longer.  My first daughter had a heart murmur and I had to cut out all caffeine when she was in utero.  It was tough, but I did it.  She turned out just fine with no heart problems at all, but after that experience, I abstained from all caffeine during my other two pregnancies.  And after I had Veronica last year, I made my husband stop at the grocery store on our way home from the hospital in a huge SNOWSTORM to buy cream for my first cup of post pregnancy coffee.  But it tasted terrible to me, and now I’m a Tazo black tea gal and haven’t touched a coffee in almost two years.  But if I had to choose between a Starbucks or Dunkin Donuts gift card, I’d still go with DD because I love me a Bavarian creme donut!

How about you?  Starbucks or Dunkin Donuts?

I’m linking up my almost-complete pillow covers to Fabric Tuesday at Quilt Story.