Echino Scooter Pillow

Folks, I'm getting real creative with my post titles these days, in case you weren't aware.

After I made the Nursery Versery Pillow, I decided I needed yet another pillow to go on my couch.  Friday morning, I cranked out a very simple quilted pillow.  I just used this Echino Scooter fabric for both sides, quilted each side in different ways, and added a zipper.  I'm pretty happy with it!  Those quick and easy projects are always so satisfying!

And stay tuned for the final result of this little project...

I found this chair on Craigslist a few months ago for my sewing room, and bought it with the intent of repainting it and replacing the seat, but just haven't gotten around to it yet.  I live in the Florida Panhandle, and we're expecting Isaac to hit us in the next couple of days.  So I'm anticipating a power outage, which means I need something to do that doesn't require electricity, which means now is the time to get this baby fixed up.  Right after I took this picture, I painted it (because you can't really paint outside during a hurricane), and if the electricity does go out, I'll be using this tutorial I found, using fabric to weave a seat.  We'll see how it turns out!

Nursery Versery Pillow

When I first saw Heather Ross' new fabric line, Nursery Versery, I immediately fell in love with it (which usually goes without saying, when it comes to her fabric), but I didn't need to buy it - I'm trying to be better about buying fabric, and only buying what I absolutely need.  Trying being the key word.

But when I heard about the Nursery Versery contest that Rachel over at Stitched in Color is hosting, I finally had needed to buy it!

As far as which print to pick - it was a hard one.  I love "The Itsy Bitsy Spider", but currently, I'm singing a lot of "This Little Piggy" to Tucker, who's 6 months old, because I can't resist his little laugh at the "Wee wee wee" part.  It's just too cute.  So I went with those little pigs and the patchwork print in the yellow and gray colorway, and made this pillow.

I fussy cut each pig, and made two strips out of them along with this gold linen blend I found at Joann's, in kind of a wonky, improv style.

For the middle section, I used Yarn-Dyed Essex Linen in Black, and quilted "This little piggy..." and just left it at that.  I thought I would quilt more all over the pillow, but I liked it just the way it was.

For the back, I used both prints, and put in a hidden zipper.

I have to give a huge shout out to my mom for this pillow even happening!  Along with trying to be better about not buying fabric, I'm also trying to really stick to my "must-do" list...and it's a long one!  I'm still new at this three-kids thing, and I'm finding that my sewing time is not that often.  I cut the fabric on Monday, started piecing it on Tuesday (but only got one of those piggy strips done), and finished the whole thing yesterday, while my mom was here, watching the kids.  I could not have done it without her!

I was so proud of actually finishing something quickly and before a deadline (the contest ends this Sunday)!  You know that high you get?  Well, right after I stuffed the pillow form into the cover, I showed it to my oldest daughter, Kendall.  And that's when I felt like I got punched right in the gut.  I was explaining that the fabrics used in the pillow were designed after the nursery rhyme, and I started saying it to her while pointing to the pigs.  I said, "This little piggy went to market, this little piggy stayed....oh."  I realized that I put one of the pigs in the wrong order.  Not once, but twice!  I kinda felt like that last little piggy.

To say I was disappointed is an understatement!  However, Kendall assured me that it was still really beautiful, my husband said it could be a statement on post-modernism (he was being funny), and my dear friend Melissa encouraged me to use this as an example to my girls (who are showing an interest in sewing) that mistakes happen, and it's okay!  Isn't she wise?

So, I'm okay with this mistake!  At least that's what I keep telling myself.

Hope over to Rachel's blog to see the other entries in this contest!

Pillow Talk {Swap} 8 Finished!

With just a few days before the mail date, I finished my pillow for the Pillow Talk {Swap}!  I'll be sending it off to my partner today.

I used Summersville by Lucie Summers for Moda.  I thought about adding in some solids, but I really liked how well this line worked altogether, and I ended up using the black prints as kind of an anchor - when I was making the HSTs, I just sewed a black print onto another color.

This is a two-sided quilted pillow.  One side has a little embroidery on it.

The other doesn't.

This pillow also has an invisible zipper.  I've never done an invisible zipper before, and it's not perfect, but it's good enough.  I definitely want to make some of these for my own couch!  I used this tutorial from Sew Katie Did.

I hope my partner likes it!

Pillow Talk {Swap} - Done!

I've been wanting to join in the Pillow Talk {Swap} ever since I first discovered it, which was maybe around Round 3 or so.  This is Round 6, and even though I had so much going on (moving, travelling, etc.), I just couldn't resist joining in.

I really like the partner I was assigned to, but also a little intimidated.  She's great.  Her mosaics were awesome.  And I was scared. 

I wasn't able to start on the pillow right away, because we were still living at my mom's house, in the middle of closing on our house, and there was just too much going on.  But that doesn't mean I wasn't thinking about it.  I'm glad my situation didn't allow me to start right away, though, because I was able to take the time to really figure out what I wanted to do. 

Like so many of us right now, I'm kind of addicted to Pinterest.  And I wasn't even looking for inspiration this one particular day, when it slapped me right in the face!  I found this picture of a painting...

Photo courtesy of jeffdepner.com

My partner likes zig zags, and I thought this was a cool, different take on a zig zag.  Alissa commented on this when I pinned it and called it a "messed up zig zag." 

But could I execute it?  That's always my fear.

I sketched and sketched and sketched until I finally figured it out how I could do it.

Once we moved into our new house, and I got a little bit of time to work, I cranked out the top of the pillow.  It actually came together quicker than I thought it would!

Then it was quilted...

Then we went on vacation, so it had to wait until we got back.  Then I really needed to finish my bee blocks, so those came first when I came back from vacation. 

Last night I was finally able to finish it, so here it is!

The back features a block (which is actually designed by Bek) that my partner happens to like, so it's just a little something extra.  For this blog - again - I had to do some serious sketching.  I actually gave up a few times on this one, but finally figured it out, which is so rewarding!

So that's it!  I'm sending it off today and I hope my partner likes it.

Orange You Glad I Made This?

Okay, that's a really cheesy title, but I couldn't think of anything more clever.

Do you ever fall asleep on the couch while watching TV at night with your hubby?  Please tell me I'm not the only one that does this.  Anyways, a couple of weeks ago, that was happening...and in the middle of my almost sleep state, I looked over at my husband who was reading the paper.  A picture caught my eye, and I drowsily said, "Save that paper for me."  He thought I was sleep-talking, I'm sure.  So he asked why, and I told him that even though I was half-asleep, I was getting inspired by that picture.  You just never know when or where inspiration will hit!

Since it's a new month, which means it's a new round of the Blogger's Pillow Party, I thought, Why not?  I'll go 3 for 3 (here's my January and February entries) and use this inspiration to make a pillow.

I'm calling it "Orange Slice," and I used Amanda Jean's Ticker Tape tutorial.  Here's a picture of the pillow with the inspirational newspaper.

I really wanted to try something I've never done before, so I added a binding to it, and I love the extra little something it brings to the pillow.

Close up of the ticker tape and quilting.

And my oldest daughter posing with it.



I used a 12x16 pillow form, Robert Kaufman Kona in Medium Gray, the binding is a Kaffe Fassett shot cotton that I had leftover from this quilt, and the scraps are just random things I had.  I've really been wanting to work with this color combination for a while, and I'm glad I did!  This was a fun little project.

The Valentine's Pair

I decided that one Valentine's Day Pillow just wouldn't do, and that My Scrappy Valentine (that's what I'm calling the first one I made) was lonely, and needed a partner.

Conveniently, my friend Melissa just co-wrote a pattern for a cross pillow, so I took the opportunity (especially since I didn't have any other ideas) to test out their pattern for the coordinating pillow.  I used my bigger scraps for this one, and I like that more of the fabrics are shown as opposed to Scrappy.

I have to say, I've seen these cross pillows on Flickr, and they kind of intimidated me.  But the instructions were super easy, and it came together rather quickly!  I did more of the heart quilting - mainly to tie the two pillows together, but also because it really is a fun way to quilt something, and I don't know what else I would ever make that would call for it. 

So can you guess what I'm calling this one?

It's obvious, I think...

Cross My Heart!

Cute, huh?

Okay, so here's the pair together.  Don't they look cozy and happy?

Create! A Project a Day - February 1, 2 & 3

Another Kelly, over at Thinking Out Loud, started a Flickr group dedicated to doing something crafty every day in February.  It sounded good to me, so I signed up!

On the 1st, I made a new camera strap.

Um, this was supposed to be for someone else, but after I took these pictures, I put it on my own strap to see how it fit, and it was S-N-U-G!  I was wrestling with it, and pulling it, and tugging, and finally I thought, "Hey, maybe I'll just keep this one, and make a duplicate!"  After all, the camera strap I made almost a year ago is great and all, but I never really felt it was "me."  This one is much more me than that one was!  So I checked out the VW fabric and realized that my little scrap of it was not going to be enough to make an exact duplicate.   But I'm keeping this one anyway. 

Oops! 

It really is stuck. 

The only way it's coming off is if I cut it off!

Really...I promise!!

Okay, let's just move on...

On the 2nd, I began a pillow cover.  I really wanted something that was for Valentine's Day that I could put on our couch, but I didn't want to spend any money.  So I raided my scraps, for the first time ever!  It was challenging for me - kind of like a really hard jigsaw puzzle.  But at the same time, it was kind of cool.  Some pieces fit perfectly together.  Others needed to be trimmed to the smaller piece I was sewing it to.  All in all, it turned out to be a great use of scraps, and it was a really good experience for me.  Now I want to see what else I can come up with strictly scraps! 

Oh, and the linen?  That's completely and totally scrimped and scrapped and pieced so it just fit the size I needed it to.  I couldn't believe it.  I literally do not have one scrap of that linen left!  If I was making this for someone else, I wouldn't have pieced the linen as much as I did...but since it's for us and our couch, I figured there was no harm in that.

Today, the 3rd, I began the quilting on the pillow cover.  At first, I didn't know what kind of quilting I wanted to do.  And then it came to me - HEARTS!  But me and my free motion skills weren't exactly on speaking terms.  So I practiced, and messed around with the tension on my machine until I found where it should be.  When I started the quilting on it, I couldn't stop!  I was having so much fun with these little hearts!  So I decided to quilt the hearts in off-white within the red and pink pieced part, and then use pink thread for the hearts on the linen.  I did each heart three times to give it more of a sketchy look.

So I took advantage of every spare second I had today, and worked on this thing until I finished it!  I just have to say that I really LOVE the way this turned out!

I also added a little applique heart on the back.  I used fusible batting so it puffs out a little.

So, that's me catching up for this month's daily craftiness.  I probably won't post every day, but I do plan on doing something crafty everyday, and then just catching it all up in one post like this every few days.  You should play along, too! 

I call this pillow "My Scrappy Valentine."

Oh, and I might as well do the Blogger's Pillow Party again!  I didn't foresee myself making another pillow anytime soon, but I guess the timing is good!