A Lush Pillow Gift

A few weeks ago I made this quilted pillow cover for my good friend Julie's birthday. She's actually my boss at Sewn and she's pretty awesome and she's the sort of person who probably hates that I'm even mentioning such things, but I'm doing it anyway. I always like to make her something for her birthday because she doesn't get to sew for herself very much. She is usually too busy teaching the whole city of Cincinnati to sew. Last year I made her this pouch to celebrate our shared love of Arrested Development, and the year before I made her a pretty sewing machine cover. 

The piecing here is simple, just a great print with a couple borders. The deer and the woodgrain are from the line Lush Uptown by Erin Michaels, which I ordered from Pink Castle Fabrics. (I always feel like I need to use fabrics that Julie couldn't just pull off the shelves at Sewn herself to make something with. Foreign ingredients I guess.) The first border is just a Bella solid that I thought made the prints pop, but I don't remember the name of it.

The quilting is my current favorite as you've seen here and here- spiral quilting! Especially easy and satisfying on something only 20" square. I kind of just randomly chose the middle of the tree to begin the spiral, and it wasn't until I got done that I realized it was a good thing I didn't start on the deer. Julie's not really a big hunter.

THE BACK. 

I was scurrying to take a few pictures on my phone before rushing out to her birthday lunch and I didn't even have the time to put it on a pillow form. But the good news is that it looks great as a pillow and she liked it a lot.


Julie, I think it's safe to say you are the only person who has ever gotten handmade birthday gifts from me three years in a row. Including my kids. I don't know what that means... 

Pillow Talk Swap 10 (Let's talk about fabric.)

I think most of us have a fabric comfort zone right? Most of it has to do with taste, but some of it has to do with confidence. Like sometimes, you might really like a certain type of fabric but you fear you might not have the skill to do it justice. Like it's too unfamiliar to wield it's power. 

I think this project was out of my comfort zone for both of those reasons. If you aren't familiar, the Pillow Talk Swap happens on Flickr between about 100 quilters and sewists from all over the world. Being in its tenth round, it's gained a certain level of expectation. If you join that swap, you do not want to be the one that makes a clunker of a pillow. (Round 9 was my first time joining, you can see the pillow I made last time here.)

So my partner likes things that are light and girly and pink and vintagey. I appreciate that a lot, but it's not my zone. I need edge and angles and contrast and some black in there somewhere. But that is what makes these things fun and stretching right? 

Before I whine too much about these fabrics not being my style, I should say that I really do love them at the same time. Is that weird? I do, I think they are gorgeous. They are mostly from Liberty Lifestyle's Bloomsbury Gardens line and I picked them up at Sewn Studio.  If you didn't know, I work at Sewn and it's a really beautiful modern fabric shop. Here's the thing that's happened to me since working there- I just love every fabric we have. Yes, I still have my tastes and I definitely can't buy and use all of it, but nearly every bolt that comes in the door makes me think about what I would do with it. And even if I kinda "hate" the style of it, I still love it because it's pretty fabric. If we had not got this Liberty stuff in at the shop, I never would have even considered buying it online or anything. I wouldn't have paid any attention. But then you see it in person, and it's just PRETTY. And then you touch it... case closed. I may complain about it's girly-ness, but if I'm being honest I needed an excuse to buy it. (And it was actually my second time buying it, so what does that tell you? Who am I?) 

The pillow is made up of 16 little 4 inch "tea plate" blocks. At least I think that's what they are called. I saw them in a random quilt block book at the store one day and thought they had a great vintage look that would go with my fabric pull. Plus they seemed like they would lend themselves to playing with low-ish volumes and a bit of linen. I don't normally go for something involving appliqué anything, but it really wasn't that painful. I added one linen border and quilted with close together straight lines on the di-ag. That quilting is definitely my zone. I had to hang on to one shred of stubbornness here.

So although this was one of those projects that had me wondering if my choices would actually work out the whole way through, I think most of them did. I'm happy that I made something I like even though it isn't something I ever would have made for myself. But most importantly, I think my partner might love it and I really hope she does. It's on its way now!

This is the new project I'm working on now. Simple block, scrappy, all circles and geometrics, with a limited color scheme involving brights with some gray and black. That is totally my zone. It's funny because someone commented on this IG picture (I'm @alittlegressica there) that they were "glad to see me back" because that pillow cover I had been posting had them a little worried. I kind of love that, because it means to them I have a certain style. Sometimes it's hard to see that in yourself, but I'm seeing it now. I don't think that person was being mean about the pillow, it's just not something they expected from me. It's a very nice compliment. 

So just to make sure I'm not a crazy person, could you tell me about your fabric zone? And what's the type/line/substrate/designer of fabric you might like, but are also slightly afraid of being clumsy with?

Field Study Pillow (and Winners!)

 Last month was my buddy Kristin's birthday and I wanted to make her something she'd love. You probably know her for being my partner in crime for Film Petit and an all-around genius seamstress, but she also listens to all kinds of craziness from me and some days keeps me going sewing wise. So the pressure was on to make something that would impress even the best of sewists.

The design is a granny square made like this tutorial, except I started the squares at 3.5" instead of 2.5" and added a 3.5" sashing. I also used beautiful Anna Maria Horner Field Study fabric from Sewn Studio that I knew Kristin liked.

Then I decided to just try something crazy I'd never done before. Great potential to completely screw up something beautiful that you just made= weird sewing rush. I don't know, maybe that's just me?

So I outlined the seams of the squares with straight lines and then did dense pebble quilting all around the white part. I have done some loopy free motion quilting a few times before, but it still doesn't come easy to me. This kind was stressful. It took a long time. It used a gigantoid amount of thread. When I was done, my shoulders ached and I pretty much hated the way it looked. I shoulda had some wine to relax while I was doing it. But after I put the back on and finished the pillow up with a zipper, it magically became better. I loved it. I wanted to keep it, which is a great feeling to have when you've made a gift for a sewing friend. (I liked it so much, I actually made the pillow top up again exactly the same way for our own couch! That probably won't get finished up until after Christmas though...)

These are both pictures Kristin took of the pillow on her bed. It looks pretty great in her room! You can read more on what she thinks here. Thank goodness for good sewing and blogging friends.






I haven't forgotten about the winners of last week's giveaway! The winner of one full set of my hand stitched Charlie Brown Christmas ornaments is...

#64 Bree!

"ack!!! Those ornaments are seriously to die for!!!!!
My favorite tv special was Emmitt Otter's Jugband Christmas. It was actually a tv special before I was born, and my mom recorded it on vhs. I totally wore the VHS out! My favorite christmas movies are the tim allen Santa Clause trio now, but those were never a tv special :) I can go on alllllll day about Christmas movies!"


The winner of one yard of Jay McCarroll's Habitat fabric is...

#58 Sara!

"I love the charlie brown christmas actually, especially the music. Can't believe you have the drop cloth fabric - awesome!"


I'm so glad to know they are enthusiastic about their prizes! I'll be emailing you both, congrats. 

Holiday Handmades and Going Viral

The ice cream truck must have been driving by or something.... in November... twice. 

The week before Thanksgiving I decided the kids needed some new thankful duds. Hendrix got a shirt that was already cut out and waiting in the pile of KCWC leftovers. (You remember, the one where I planned like 18 garments and actually sewed 2.)

It's the Easy Linen Shirt pattern from Sewing For Boys. I liked it because it's a somewhat structured woven shirt, but without the real collar and placket. So it was a really quick sew. I used a gray striped linen from Joann. 

And Elsie got her first ever dress sewn from an Oliver & S pattern. For some reason this was momentous to me. Maybe I've just been waiting so long to make one just for her, since I've made two as shop samples. 

And the pattern did not disappoint. It's the Family Reunion Dress, size 18-24 months, made up in AMH Field Study and Michael Miller's mirror ball dots on the contrast. Both are from Sewn Studio. I just love how sweet this design is, especially on a younger girl. All the pin tucks remind me of vintage children's clothing, and it has the most perfect gathered sleeve. 

As if shimmery fabric and glittery shoes weren't enough, I really went for the holiday glam with these glass buttons. They are a little tarnished because they're from the vintage collection my mom gave me, but they are still very sparkly in person. I love them A LOT on this dress. 

Today I also wanted to show you this absolutely gorgeous pillow I received in the flickr Pillow Talk Swap.  It was made by Jenn and she really got me. I love the soft colors, the gray and yellow together, and the great straight line quilting. She used several of my current favorite fabrics, and the pop of aqua in the binding is perfect. We are loving it in the living room!

One last thing! Have you guys seen these guys around lately? It's kind of crazy to me where my little felt Peanuts ornaments are popping up. After they got pinned by a few of the right people, they were featured on Makezine. Then yesterday they were on Huffpost Home (What?!) and today they are on Buzzfeed.

Is reaching Buzzfeed the standard for going viral? Probably not, but it's fun.

Pillow Talk Process

Today I sent off my pillow cover for the Pillow Talk Swap on Flickr, just in under the deadline. This one was hard to send away. I really love it and hope it's what my partner was looking for. To me it totally feels like something you would find in Anthropologie, which is hopefully a good thing. 

Originally I had a much different design in mind, but then I saw this photo on flickr and was instantly intrigued. I've never seen that kind of design in modern quilting before. I sketched out some ideas and decided to construct mine in long strips rather than blocks like this, so that it could have a scrappier look. 

So each strip is made of five pieces joined together on the bias, and alternating between high and low value. Once all the strips were together, I staggered them by one inch to get the wavy zigzag look and joined them. They finish at 1" for an 18" pillow cover. It's so unlike me to not use any solids at all in a project like this, but I loved playing with the values here. 

Here's a close up of my quilting as I was working on it. The diagonal lines 1/4" apart switch directions a couple times. I love dense quilting on a pillow like this. Crazy cozy. 

On the back I used a bright yellow print from Indi, which looks so fun against the fairly neutral front. I put a zipper in the side seam using the great instructions in the new Modern Designs for Classic Quilts book. (You can still enter my giveaway for the book here!) The Indi collection by Pat Bravo was one thing that my partner said she loved a lot, so I started with a few of those prints and picked the rest from my stash. I'm so glad I got to work with this collection because I don't think it's something I would have bought otherwise, but the colors are so rich and pretty. 

It's on it's way now and I can't wait for it to get to it's new owner! Also can't wait to see what might be on it's way to me. There are always so many super beautiful pillows that come out of this swap, I was a little intimidated to sign up for the first time. But I'm glad I did. It's things like this that push you to do things you wouldn't have thought of otherwise, and just become a better sewist. I love when that happens. 

Christmas Planning and Cindy's Pillow

Something really fun is coming next week! Meredith has invited Jacey, Debbie, and myself to participate in the Holiday Craft Bash with her and I'm getting so excited about all the projects we are going to share.

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Each Monday thru Friday for the next few weeks, a different one of us will be sharing a Christmas project and how-to. I love the idea of this set-up because we all four have such different strengths and styles. Jacey is just brilliant at putting together colors and fabrics, Meredith does amazing embroidery and handwork, and Debbie does such modern appliqué and piecing. 
And me? Big surprise, I've decided to go with a movie theme for all my projects. I can hear your gasps. But who doesn't love Christmas movies? Here's my list of holiday flicks I'll be using in my creations- 

• Home Alone
• Christmas Vacation
• A Christmas Story
• Elf
• Rudolph

Should be fun. And we are starting early so that Christmas doesn't sneak up on us before we have a chance to make some new decs. Happens to me EVERY YEAR. 

So you will get blasted with holiday inspiration thru the week, and then on Fridays we will have prizes for those of you who sew along with any of the projects. Really good fabrics and stuff from Sewn Studio, Stash Fabrics and more. All you have to do is add your work to the Holiday Craft Bash flickr group to be entered to win. 

Next Monday I'll be kicking off with my stocking project. Get. Excited. 

And before I spend the rest of the week sharing clothes for KCWC, I wanted to blog about this pillow I've been meaning to share forever. 

You may remember a while back I had some fun with a spammer and a comment contest. Pretty sure the spammer didn't actually see the comments, but I said that whoever wrote my favorite would get a custom pillow cover made by me. 

The very talented Cindy of Siestas and Sewing wrote my favorite comment and she asked for chilled out blues to match her home's beachy vibes. She also said her yellow kitchen was visible from the living room, so I threw the yellows in too. Totally sunny and beachy.

My couch pillows are a little smaller than Cindy's, so the pillow looks slouchy, but I think it filled out well for her. I used all scraps and fusible quilter's grid to get all those seams matching up exactly right. I love that stuff, because my seams would never look that good without it. Maybe I'll try to work it into one of my holiday tutorials for you?

Ok, I really have to get sewing on those clothes. I have no kids for the week, no husband for the night, no excuses! 

On Fat Quarterly Today

Yesterday we had the most lovely time celebrating Hendrix's third birthday with just the family. That kid is one awesome three year old.


Today it's "back to work" for me, but in the meantime you can find me on Fat Quarterly sharing a simple stack and slash tutorial for how to make something like this wonky curves pillow cover. It uses Jenny Pedigo's quick curve ruler, which is awesome.

Hope everyone has a fantastic Easter weekend!