Pillow finishes

I couldn't write about these finishes before Christmas as they were gifts for the daughters-in-law. First the backstory: I made a pillow for our living room like one I saw on Pinterest, and they all said how much they liked it. So, I put that on the to-do list and finished just before Christmas. In fact, it was so close that, except for a photo shoot, they didn't make it off the worktable. 

Rich just took them from the studio and handed them out. Unwrapped. Unceremoniously. "Here you go. DeeDee made these." Well, at least I got credit. 

 These closeups were originally meant to help you see the quilting. 

 Each pillow is made specifically for its family. The colors are meant to coordinate with their living room decor. The addresses are their actual addresses. I removed some information on the pictures to protect their privacy. Ha! Yes, I really did, but two things: I did a botched up job with the pictures and who has privacy these days? 

Now the actual story: I used only fabric from my stash, though I got lucky with one. I had chosen fabric and then won a fat quarter that works even better. Yay! Also I cut the letters using Stacey's Silhouette Cameo machine and got all three pillows prepped for quilting. After I loaded backing and batting on the long-arm, I just placed the pillow tops side-by-side and quilted. I played with some graffiti quilting motifs moving from one to the next.  

And just like that the tops were quilted. I added a small strip of the lettering fabric on the edges to give them more color and used the front fabric for the backs also. I considered quilting the backs also but felt that it might make the pillows too stiff. Each one is stuffed, though I considered using pillow forms. However, there are kiddos who might pull pillow forms out and annoy their moms. Sewn it is. And voila! a personalized gift from my hands.

Retired! the gifts (pt 2)

My family gave me such thoughtful retirement gifts that I thought I'd share them with you. The little Scentsy pot above came from Rory and Meggan. I wish this funky design came in fabric. :)

This pretty fabric is from one of my cousins. She and her mom are both quilters, and Shelly was on a shop hop of sorts. Her vacation took her from Texas to Arkansas to Louisiana. She probably visited every quilt shop along the way and picked these up especially for my retirement. 

This old dictionary (1939 copyright) is from the sisters. Sid picked it up on a recent antiquing haunt. She loves antique shopping, even when there is nothing on her shopping list, so when she ran across this Twenthieth Century Dictionary, she immediately thought of my retirement. Are you ready for the best part?

It's unabridged! Huge! Mammoth! Even bigger than I've seen in some libraries. It must be one for large public libraries or perhaps a college campus. I can't imagine that smaller libraries could have afforded this. (I know all about those budgets.) I should weigh it. Measure it. Count the words.

A typical page--look at the tiny size of the font! Never mind on the counting words. 

Added to the dictionary is this beautiful little painting. The moment I opened the package I asked if it's to remember how much I loved my students. The smile on Sid's face said it all. Angie kept giving Sid credit but they were in this together. Sid texted pictures of her great "finds" to Angie for approval. They could not have chosen better. 

 I wish everyone had sisters who were as loving as these two. 

Scraps into Buckets...double-dipped finishes

I didn't have as much time this week for sewing as I had hoped, but on Wednesday I played hookey from school, which helped very much. Last week I started work on a new project using the blue scraps and left over scraps from other projects. 

I really should not post these but they are so cute, and I'm desperate for something to write about. Aww, it'll be okay. 

But, I can't tell you anything about what they are for, of course.  I thought you might enjoy the eye candy though. I guess it's okay to call these eye candy...I plan to use the smallest one to hold candy so there's that. 

 There are many. Lots. A whole lot. Seven right now. But I still have some of the quilted fabric. So guess what? Yes indeed. There will be more. We'll see how many. And what sizes. 

The thing is I've been double-dipping, of sorts. First I sewed the scraps together, then I quilted it, then I turned the quilted fabric into baskets. Second, one of the "patterns" that I'm using requires that I cut the corners off the fabric. Those corners, it turns out, can be sewn together. And if sewn together correctly, five of them will make a small basket.

But wait! There's more! (Sounds like an "As Seen On TV" ad, doesn't it?)  Two of the corners make the bottom of a long basket. So I'm using scraps to make scrap baskets; then I'm using the scraps from the baskets to make more baskets. 

How cool is it that by the time I'm done, I'll have created and used every scrap of the fabric I made from scraps? 

          Linking up with these favorites:

Crazy Mom Quilts

My Quilt Infatuation

Busy Hands Quilts

Confessions of a Fabric Addict

Brag About It @ My Husband Has Too Many Hobbies

Building the Stash?

I know! Mother's Day was just a few weeks ago (already?) and to my surprise (shocked, I know) the kids gave me a gift certificate. 

To Hancock Fabrics, purchased before the closure announcement. The kids were terribly concerned that the store would not honor the certificate, but I assured them that I'd spend it quickly. And that is just what I did. Without problems, I should add.

I also got 40-50% off of the regular price because of the closing. It didn't take long to figure out that, since I had to purchase two yards anyway, I could choose bolts carefully and get the extra 10% off, even if there were fewer than two yards.

I picked up some Kona solids and, in the case of the Kona black, bought almost an entire bolt.  I also found a few modern prints that I especially liked, so those went into the pile and, before I was ready, I'd spent the entire gift certificate. Richard found a pack of rotary blades and tossed those in. "They won't go bad," he said. I think he was just trying to finish the shopping and get out of there!

Do I need it all? Definitely not, but I am not one to "look a gift horse in the mouth" (as my mom loved to say), and I also didn't need anything else. My studio is well stocked! 

 I'm still kind of shocked that I was able to get all of this at almost half price. Surprise, I've already cut into some of it! And the rest? Well, in some cases there's enough yardage to make tops or shorts for the grands, and I can always make another quilt, right?

The real problem: I'm not sure how to account for these at the end of the month since they shouldn't count as purchases--technically they are gifts-- but they are definitely additions. I'm open to suggestions...how do you handle gifted additions in your stash report?

I HEART My Crafty Friends

I have the best crafty friends! Remember that some time ago I wrote about retreat plans at Fountainbleu State Park? I was very excited and counting down the days. 


Until the days got close. That's when I had to face reality. I do not heart reality. We were in the middle of testing season and I was testing middle schoolers. And I was swamped. 

the group tee shirt (designed by Kelly) and Erica's
sweet card expressing sorrow that I could't come

I could not (though I tried very, very hard) wrap up testing. Oh, I had great plans to do just that. But even great plans can go awry. Middle schoolers do not help things run smoothly. Best laid plans. Blah, blah, blah. 

a closeup of the tee design

I finally gave in. Reality won. And I lost. Big. 


In the end I had to admit defeat and tell my crafty retreaters that I could not retreat with them. I wanted to run away (Fountainbleu sounded like a nice run-away-to place) but no. I stayed. And worked. And cried (just a little, but there were tears). 

a shopping bag, which I will use to pack
sewing supplies for our upcoming vacation

Well, retreaters to the rescue! They had each brought along a little something. 

And they made lots of little somethings. 

And they gathered them up and.... MAILED the somethings to me! I just got them. In a pretty box. And inside the box...somethings for me! Sorry no pictures of the box. I came home from work today (my last day) and found the box sitting pretty on the bench outside my door with mail piled on top. 



Really, I thought it was for Richard, but I brought it all in anyway. And my name was on top of the box. As soon as I saw Erica's name I knew what a lovely, thoughtful crafty friend I have. I do <3 crafty="" don="" font="" friends="" my="" t="" them="" too="" you="">

all the goodies posing in one pretty picture

I immediately opened said box! Do you see all the pretties? I <3 admit="" crafty="" do="" friends.="" it="" my="" span="" too="" you="">

darling scrap booking items and some wooden button love

a personal dry erase board and pen - which will
sit right beside the machine for sewing notes

a personalized mug and mug rug

 
Aren't they the best? And don't you <3 do="" font="" know="" them="" too="" you="">

What surprise box have you gotten recently?