A Pure Pillow

My brother's birthday was last week. So when I started thinking of gift ideas, I asked Addy if she'd like to make him a pillow. I happened to have an extra charm pack of Pure, which is perfect for a guy!

She chose her favorite charm squares and we sewed the top in a simple 9-patch:

 The back has a simple envelope closure made up of 2 flaps, each made up of 6 charms:

 And in the upper right corner on the back I added a little label. Usually I would program my machine to stitch out the words, but Addy was really antsy to finish the pillow. So we hurried through the final steps and I added the label later:

The front of the pillow is quilted in a random straight line style. You can see the quilting details in the first picture.
Addy really loves giving her handmade gifts, and my brother loved the colors! Maybe we will use up the rest of that charm pack making him a few more pillows to coordinate. :)
Happy (slightly late now) birthday, Robbie!

PS Over the next few weeks we will be traveling about and settling down in Seattle (which is also why I've been extra quiet around here recently). After we settle down, I have TWO new quilts to share! I love them both, which is making it very hard to gift them. :)

Happy Easter!

I made this cute little Easter buckets from the March label crew over at Sweetwater. They came together fast, and I just love the flag garland that runs around the bucket.

I filled 2 of them with a little bit of candy and gave them to my mom and mother in law. The 3rd one was meant for me, but I put Addy's Easter treats in it.

I hope you have a great holiday!

More birds

Lots of packing (and complaining) around here lately. I've packed most of my sewing room, and I'm waiting on more fabric for the quilt that I need to finish before we move.
So at night I've been crocheting! I still have 2 sets of these left to finish, but they are coming together a bit faster now.

These guys are smaller than the first set that I made, because I did a better job of keeping a tighter tension on my yarn. I like them better this way.
And now these are off to a friend. She's gifting them to her Angry Bird-loving guy for his birthday!

Quilt Race

I have a finished quilt that I'm dying to share. But I haven't taken good pics yet, and I think I'm going to wait until after the move. That will ensure that it's safely in the arms of it's new owner without ruining the surprise. I did some new-to-me piecing and quilting on this one, and boy do I love it!

Now about that quilt race... A few days ago I ordered some fabric from Pink Chalk Fabrics, and it arrived at my doorstep on Friday.

 Aviary 2 by Joel Dewberry

I've been playing with layout ideas in my head ever since I ordered this fabric. I need to have the quilt pieced, quilted, and partially bound by the end of April. Once my house is packed we will be staying with a friend for a few days, so I should have a little bit of time to hand sew the binding. Did I mention that in addition to working on this quilt, I need to finish packing up my house? And then load it into those moving cube thingies? Stay tuned for more details on the quilt. Maybe I'll even post about my "design" process for this quilt. Hmm....

This fabric found it's way into my shopping cart, too. I love those dots, they scream 1989 to me. And since I can never limit myself to buying just one fabric in a line, I went with my second favorite print as a coordinate. For now, these guys are "look but don't touch". After the move I think they are destined to be a grocery bag. Fabric line is Sugar Pop by Liz Scott.

*drool*

 I actually squealed when I opened a package from Spoonflower this week.

It's no surprise that I love everything that Heather Ross creates, but I think this might be my favorite. The colors, the little girls in overalls, the freckles...

The only thing I would change about it is the manufacturer. I love the concept of spoonflower, but I haven't been thrilled with the quality. A friend and I have been splitting 1 yard cuts of these cute prints because while I love them, the quality of the fabric isn't worth buying yards and yards. But hey, half a yard is fun to play with. :)

Custom Multitasker

A friend of mine asked me to make her a custom diaper bag. She came over to shift through my patterns, and ultimately decided on the Multi Tasker Tote by Anna Maria Hoerner. Last year I made her a small clutch from a few Love prints, and she wanted this bag to match.

I love sewing this pattern, because it has such a unique construction to it. It's not hard at all, and the result is a fun, unique tote!

 The 4 exterior pockets are great for things like sippy cups, keys, cell phone, etc.

 A detail shot, including the flower pin that she requested.

 Interior pockets. One side is larger than the other, to accommodate her son's epipen kit.

On the opposite side, she requested a large pocket with an elastic top. I experimented with some fold over elastic, and I think it did just the trick! To counteract the gathered top of the pocket, I included small pleats at the bottom of the pocket. Lots of room for the little stuff that you always need to have on hand!

This was my friend's birthday gift, and her hubby even came to pick it up so that she wouldn't see it before the big day! I hope she loves it, I had a lot of fun working on it!

Happy Birthday, Deanna!