Furniture and a finish

We finally purchased new furniture several weeks ago. I thought it would motivate me to "decorate" the living room. I can't seem to pull it together to accomplish that, but I did finish two pillows. And took pictures of them. In place. On the sofa. Amazing, right?

These are small Norman Rockwell panels that I bought ages ago. I always intended to make pillows but that just didn't happen. They sing on the new deep gray leather. Because the pictures are of boys doing boy things, I just couldn't resist. I also love Rockwell's work thanks to my mom who appreciated his work so much that she had a book of his prints. We would look at the pictures and talk about the joy and simplicity of American life during her youth.


This one of the boys fishing on the river is sweet. Boys are at their best when they are sleeping, after all.  I quilted around the bodies, on the planks of the raft, and around the umbrella. Then I ghost quilted in some clouds and rippling water. It was helpful that there are a few little lines indicating the water. I was on my own for the clouds though. 

The second one has four boys tumbling after a football. I had only three boys, but this scene could have been in my yard any day of the week from the time they were about nine until about age 30--when knees and ankles and backs and other body parts fight the unnecessary rough stuff. It was easy enough to quilt the boys' bodies but the ghost quilting stumped me for a minute. Finally I quilted in some weedy grass and sky. 

The fabric has the look of a fine burlap (oxymoron, if anything is) and I wanted the pillows to coordinate with the quilt that I made for Richard a while ago. It's a favorite because it's large enough to cover up with but not so big that it's too heavy for TV watching. To that end, I added this navy/beige plaid that matches fairly well. 

I like them, but just as importantly, Richard really likes them. I figure they won't last long with all the little ones around, but then the panels were only about 50 cents when I bought them on clearance. I'm guessing the entire cost was a couple of dollars and my time. Not a bad investment for something that brings back fond memories and nostalgia of our boys in their younger years, don't you think? What about you? Do you have quick projects languishing in your sewing room, waiting to get done?

Back to LINK UPS!

Alycia Quilts - Quiltygirl blog for Finished Or Not Fridays 

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.

One pillow or two?

As promise earlier in the week, I want to show you the pillow I made for a customer. Her sister lost a child recently and she had a couple of his favorite tee shirts, which I quilted and made into one pillow. 


I used the backs of the shirts because both had beautiful wing motifs and challenged myself to use the wings for the quilting.  

The backing is this green/beige knit that was in my stash. It worked quite well and didn't pucker at all despite having a good bit of stretch to it.


The background has a simple but small stipple so that the wings and crosses would be the focus. I started out by quilting the entire back of the shirt and, once that was done, measured the usable quilted area so she could decide what size pillow she wanted--20" square. 

So the red shirt became one side of the pillow and the black shirt became the opposite side, giving her a pillow with two usable sides.

The red shirt was much easier to quilt since much of it had stippling and the wings and cross were less intricate. Following the lines was not as difficult as I'd feared. I wish you could see or feel the texture of the wings, especially on the red shirt. I found myself just rubbing my fingertips up and down the wings. Very textural and soft. 

Now the black shirt was another story altogether. Look at the intricate detail of that Celtic cross and those gray wings were difficult to distinguish from each other. There was no get-in-the-zone-and-go kind of quilting! I had to go slow and steady always looking for the next turn or corner and trying to not stop. Stitches lose their pretty, even lengths every time I stop, so the key is to just not stop. Once I did one area, I had to go slow enough on the next to replicate the design. I couldn't quilt every line because that would have messed up the texture. So slow, and steady, and slower it was.

But the end result is stunning! Considering that the end result went to a grieving mother, I am honored to have been the one asked to undertake such a special job. 


What have you done lately that was extra-special?

Pin It Weekly #234

What's happening in your Pinterest world? Are you getting any pinning done? If so, what's pinning? 


I don't know why, but I've been all over the map pinning stuff that just strikes my fancy. One day I pinned baby animals--I saw a few and jumped into the fray. Another day I pinned more quilts into my "scrap, quilts" board. I've ignored that board for such a long time, avoiding moving everything into "heart, quilts." Now I have more to move. What? Why? 

After taking Jolie to buy new pointe shoes, I went on a "ballet, dance" binge. It's time to move on, Mary!

Whatever shows up in my feed gets pinned, unless I get sidetracked by something especially interesting. If I begin a new board, I almost need an intervention to get back on track. Here are some things that are appearing on my feed. If you binge pin, don't blame me. I'm leaving this warning right here!

Did I not tell you? Is this not a crazy mishmash of pins? It just gets crazier every week. I wonder if I follow too many people...

How to Make Decorator Corners on Pillows Tutorial

Yesterday I promised to write a tutorial on how to create pillow corners so that the corners look square. They really aren't, but you'll see that in a moment. I'll assume that you've already sandwiched and quilted the front panel of your pillow cover and are ready to make the back and sew everything together.

Cutting the back panels
First determine the size you will need for the envelope backing.  Let's say you are making a 14" square pillow cover. Your back will need to be 14" in length. To determine the width, take that number (14") and divide by two (now you have 7") then add four inches (for a total of 11"). Cut two pieces of fabric 11" X 14". 

Let's do another one just for fun using 18" for the square pillow.
18 / 2 = 9 add the 4" overlap 9 + 4 = 13 so your backing panels will be 13" X 18".

Tip: You can use the same equation for any size pillow--just substitute the very first number (18 in this case).

Tip: I find that adding four inches works well, but you can make adjustments if you want more or less overlap. Keep in mind that more overlap makes getting the pillow form into the cover difficult. Less overlap will distort your pillow.

Hem the panels
Fold and press one long side to form a small ¼ inch hem, then fold and press again so the raw edge is completely enclosed. Sew your hem and repeat on the other 11" X 14" panel. In this next picture you can see how the panels are hemmed (blue arrow) and then placed on the pillow top.

Layer the pieces (RST)
You're ready to layer the pieces. Start with the quilted front of the pillow cover. Lay it down on your work surface, right side up. Place your back pieces so that the finished sides of seams are facing down and are in the center of the panel. In the picture above you can see how the sewn edges overlap each other in the center of the pillow cover. 

Mark the corners
Before you sew, you'll need to mark the pieces so that you can cut off a bit of each corner. A better way to explain this is to show you the outcome.

Notice how the purple and gold pillow has "bat ears" sticking out? The other pillow looks square. That's because I trimmed the corners to give it the illusion that it's square.


The way to achieve this look is actually quite easy. Begin at one corner of the pillow and measure ½ inch from the corner. Using a fabric pen, make a small dot. Now draw a line from the dot to about ¼ of the way toward the center edge like in the drawing. Draw lines on all four corners. Look at the photo below (yes, it's the same as above). You can see the drawn lines on each corner. Notice that I didn't draw lines all the way around the pillow. That's because I will use my normal seam allowance and don't really need lines. (Or maybe because I'm lazy.)

Sew
Sew all the way around the pillow cover, using the drawn lines as necessary in the corners. Just keep a ¼ inch allowance where you don't have lines.  Easy peasy! Tip: If you are using your home sewing machine, you should zigzag close to the straight seam to prevent raveling.

Trim
Once the seam is complete, trim the seam allowance to ¼ inch in the corners to make turning easier. Tip: Be careful that you don't cut the zigzag stitches.  

Turn and Press
All that's left is to turn the pillow cover right side out through the overlapped back. Be sure to push the corners out to get a nice, sharp point. A good steam pressing should do the trick to keep the seams nice and crisp.

Extra Tips!
When pressing the seams, try not to push down on the center of the pillow so the quilting will stay nice and puffy. 

This method also works for pincushions. Just be careful to adjust how much of the corner to trim down. Small corners mean less to cut off!

I sometimes sew and cut the corners just a hair more than ½ inch. It will bring the corners down and make them more square. Be careful, though, too much will give the corners a rounded look. This purple and gold one is a good example of that. 

Now it's your turn! Tell me about this tutorial. Is it detailed enough? Did you understand each part or is something about it confusing? Seriously, let me know if you would use it when making pillow covers. I've been thinking of writing a few more tutorials now that I have a little more time, so your feedback is important.

Pretty Pillows ~~ finishes

I spent most of this afternoon quilting up a couple of pillows for a customer who plans to give them as Christmas gifts. 

Fun quilting! I mean really fun! My customer requested that I quilt the two new pillows like I quilted the cream part of this tricolor one.

I put the original pillow near the long-arm so I could easily refer to it when I needed inspiration. Of course, I added some new motifs. One of them was a mistake. lol So I made the mistake a couple more times. Plus, I had a few ideas that I decided to try out. 

They worked out quite well, so I've taken lots of close-up photographs. It's an easy way to remember what I did this time. Since the pillows will be gone in a two or three days, I won't have them as reference points.

The overall idea was simple: fill up the space with small, repetitive motifs. I used leaves, circles, flowers, tear-drops, feathers, scrolls, tiny stippling, and some things that I don't even have a name for.

If I had any sense, I'd try to draw them out in a notebook, but I haven't exhibited any attempts or sense. Maybe after I get the last of my Christmas sewing done. 

I plan to write a tutorial on how I sewed the pillows together. I especially want to explain how to get square, decorator corners, instead of pokey, pointy ones. Come back tomorrow or Sunday for that tutorial.

Linking Up with These Fun Parties!

My Quilt Infatuation (Needle & Thread)

Busy Hands Quilts (Finished or Not Friday)

Confessions of a Fabric Addict (Can I get a Whoop! Whoop!)

Crazy Mom Quilts (Finish It Up Friday) 

And because the quilting is very improv, I'm adding a link to AHIQ
with Ann of Fret Not Yourself
and Kaja of Sew Slowly

Pin It Weekly #214

How are things in your Pinterest? My little corner of Pinterest has a follower by the name of Blinking Cat who has many boards that you may well enjoy.  These few come from his/her tatting board, but there are boards for knitting, sewing, crafting, quilting, kids, blogging and, oh, so many more. It's just easier if you go there.

I have been pinning some fun pillow covers...

And some fine art readers...

The Library ~ Elizabeth Shippen Green (1905)

Louise Catherine Breslau (Swiss, 1856-1927) - Reading, c. 1889

Sunday Afternoon by Malcolm_Liepke (367×559)

And one of my favorite painters...

The old mill - Vincent van Gogh - 1888 

Place of Creation: Arles, France

And finally some button diy crafts...

Have you been pinning lately? Leave a comment with the link to one of your boards so the rest of us can enjoy your work.