Potluck Squares Christmas Pillow

Crazy Mom Quilts posted a really cute pillow last week.  As luck would have it, I had picked up a charm pack of that line a few weeks ago at the LQS and had to try making my own version right away!

At first I tried to include black in the red & green color scheme, but I had a hard time with the layout and decided to omit the black.

I wasn’t feelin’ the love with the scrappy layout either.

So I ended up going with diagonals of the same fabric alternating red & green.  (I had a charm pack of Pezzy Prints I included too.)

I quilted the front of the pillow with straight lines about 3/8” apart with white Aurifil thread.  The binding I copied from my friend Svetlana’s Autumn Penny Patch Quilt.  They say imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, right? 

The back is envelope style with 3 buttons to hold the closure in place.  I didn’t think through the buttons though, and need to add room for the bulk of the cushion insert next time by placing the buttonholes closer to the edge of the flap.  The back is just solid Kona ash.

I think it’s a nice addition to our growing pillow collection on our family room couch.  Can you tell a quilter lives here?

I hope you have a wonderful weekend!

I’m drinking a Sprite…

…which only means one thing.  I’m sick!  I don’t drink soda.  Ever.  Except two or three times a year when I have a cold.  And this is one of those times.  Luckily, my husband just finished up a real bender at work and will be home today and tomorrow.  Do you ever feel like your body “knows” when it can get sick, so it makes it to the very point where you’re about the get a rest and then shuts down?  Like vacation right after college exams. 

Anyway, that means when my medicine head wears off, I can head to the sewing room for some RNR of a different sort.  I just finished up my STASH BEE block to send to Sam.  (Confession:  I totally forgot about SB because I never added the blog to my Reader for some reason.  Thank God I saw someone else’s block on their blog or I would have been an absentee bee this month.)

This is a pineapple block and I had a little trouble with getting it the right size.  Sometimes I feel woefully inadequate when it comes to my sewing skills.  Things go right most of the time, but when there are so many pieces in the block, things tend to go wrong.

This beauty was my first block, but it weighed in at over an inch too big!  I will mail it anyway and maybe she can use it on the back.  The fabrics are some of the first ones I bought when I started quilting.  I know lots of people make the mistake of buying too much fabric before they figure out their “style.”  Guilty!  I do like them, but they don’t go with my house too well.

Both blocks are made with fabric from Blank Quilting, and the smaller block also has some Moda American Jane in it.

A new pincushion

The first thing my one year old does when she goes into the sewing room is head straight for my pincushion.  She loves to pull the pins out and put them back in, and it doesn’t help that I tell her “no” and try to take it away,  making it all the more desirable. 

For the past few weeks I have been organizing my sewing room and painting the walls.  It’s been a major switcheroo—moving stuff from one side and back so I can move bookcases out from the walls and get behind them.  In the process, I put the pincushion somewhere that Ronnie couldn’t find it, and I lost it for good.  Haven’t seen it in at least 2 weeks.  So, I decided to make a new one following Svetlana’s super easy tutorial at SOTAK Handmade.

It was really pretty simple and I loved how her trick using Heat n Bond Lite really kept the small squares together perfectly.  I even did a little hand stitching around the perimeter with a dark green embroidery floss I had on hand.  The fabric is mostly leftover scraps from Punctuation by American Jane.

You can see the miniscule little pin holes in the fabric because I didn’t get a chance to take a photo of it and this is what it looks like when it’s in daily use:

Thanks for such a great tutorial, Svetlana!

I have been making a dress for my daughter for Read Across America.  It is Dr. Seuss themed and here is a little sneak peek of the body of the dress.

I just finished it up completely and it’s hanging on a hanger waiting to be tried on by Bea.  I do believe it will fit just fine.  I used a directional print with words on it for the sleeves, and they are not quite right (one is turned one way, and the other is turned upside down—but when viewed from the back one is going the right way and the other is upside down, so we are going to live with it).   Otherwise, I am pretty thrilled with the results and am definitely going to learn how to use my secondhand serger before I attempt to make another one.  It would make finishing the seams so much faster.

Also, we got a new addition to our family yesterday.

Our older Siamese cat, Mickey, has been losing weight for no medical reason, but I think he’s lonely since he’s always had his brother (from the same litter) and two other cat friends, all who have passed away in the past 5 years from various ailments.  So we got him a friend and her name is Oreo.  Good thing she likes sewing!  She fits right in.