Spring Pillows and New Shoes

Over the weekend we finished up another Shamrock Pillow. 

One of the pillows is for us, and the other we gave to my great aunt this morning along with the yellow flower and caramels as an early St. Patrick’s Day gift.  My great aunt happens to be very Irish and proud of it, so she loved the pillow!

If you want to make your own, you can get the template from the Fort Worth Fabric Blog and resize the larger shamrock to 200%.  We appliqued it to a 12.5” block and added 2.25” borders around, so the cover fit a 16” pillow form perfectly.  The envelope back was made with two 16” x 20” panels hemmed on one edge by folding the fabric back about .5” twice.

Esther picked this nice springy fabric for the back.  It’s the perfect compliment to the linen on the front.  Now I just wish the weather would feel like spring already!

I was so enamored of these pillows that I had to start another project with them.  Here’s a little sneak peek. 

Miraculously I got all the hand stitching done in the waiting room at gymnastics this morning so as soon as the rain stops and the sun comes out I hope to get some photos of it finished.

Over the weekend we planted some lettuces and strawberries in repurposed containers and put them on this cool A-Frame plant stand I bought on clearance at an online shop called Gardener’s Supply Company. 

I was actually on there ordering the most awesome wellies for myself for the spring.  I’ve never owned a pair of rubber boots, but my kids always wear them in the spring and summer, so I thought I’d treat myself to a pair.  The nice thing is I won’t outgrow these and need a new pair every year!

No, I don’t have backyard chickens, but I wish I did!  I got my mom a pair for Mother’s Day because she does have chickens.  Don’t worry, she doesn’t read my blog, so no spoiler alert.

And while I’m on the topic of shoes, I also got a pair of custom painted Tom’s for the summer from Anna See.  She has an online store and I happened to see these shoes while I was buying some bird prints for our bedroom when we were redecorating.  I never buy shoes full price or probably more than $15 a pair, but these were too amazing to pass up.

She custom painted peacock feathers on them.  It took a few weeks for her to make them, but it was well worth the wait!  I’ve been rocking them all over town the past few days and I have to say, Toms are some comfortable shoes. 

Hope you are having a good start to the week!

No Instructions Needed

Parenting is full of judgment calls.   When I was a newbie mom, I only had one rule.  “No rules, just right” was my mantra.  I am not kidding.  Over the years though I have realized that sometimes rules can be a good thing (duh!).  But I’ve never had any rules about creativity.  The kids have an art center in the house and can paint, draw, stamp, cut, glue, make projects from recycled materials, whatever really, to their heart’s content.  Sure, they’ve all cut their hair in not the most flattering styles and accidentally burned themselves with the glue gun, and last week Veronica cut my Pantone challenge pattern into a million tiny specks of paper as I was shoveling snow outside, but for the most part, I think the freedom and access has been worth it.

Just yesterday Esther, Veronica, and I made this pillow together while Bea was at school.

I helped, of course.  But Esther sewed the hem on the envelope closure flaps and around the pillow perimeter all by herself.  It was a major milestone in her sewing journey.   When she turned the pillow right side out and saw what she’d made, her smile was pure joy.  I think her dad was even a little impressed!

Then tonight Bea surprised me by asking if she could make a quilt.  Especially since we’re losing an hour of sleep tonight I wasn’t really thrilled to get another project going at 7pm, but no rules, remember?  Then she told me she didn’t want any help on this quilt—she was going to make it all by herself.  I was a little nervous, but I shouldn’t have been.

The only thing I did was trim up the block she made to 12.5 inches and cut the batting and backing for her (I still don’t let her use the rotary cutter).  She made the faux binding herself.  She couldn’t remember how to do it at first, but then she took a shower and when she came out she had miraculously remembered and went back downstairs and finished it up all by herself.  She took it off the machine and said, “See, no instructions needed.”

Today I went to DC to see Laura Gunn do a presentation about color.  One thing she said that resonated with me is that everyone has the gift of creativity, but you need to practice, practice, practice to get good at whatever you do.  Hopefully these kids will grow up to be great quilters!

Have a wonderful rest of your weekend!