Father's Day

As soon as I saw this design, I knew I had to make it for my dad, who lovingly introduced me to John Lennon (and the Beatles) early in my life. I stitched it on some beautiful lightweight denim and made a pillow as a Father's Day gift for his new music studio, which is a really impressive space! Peace.

"Imagine all the people sharing all the world..."

NB: This is Secret Gift Thing #2 (#3 on my list of goals for the Q2 Finish-along).

Pillow extravaganza

I have been scavenging through my bins and shelves of half-finished projects and interesting bits, making pillows, ornaments, tableware, and little bits of loveliness. Recently I found a small embroidered Pi that was cut off-center in a hexagon, but with enough margin to become a circle.

I put some Dresden wedges together and appliqued the pi into the center, but at that point I couldn't decide if I wanted to make a pillow or a table mat (pumpkin pie season is nigh, after all!). The Facebook consensus was pillow, and my friend Liz suggested a braid-edged box-edged cushion...challenge accepted.

Simple radiating quilting inside the wedge seams.

I had the perfect coordinating shade of maroon cord for the corners so after I did a little quilting on the top I basted the cord along the edges of the circle.

Cord basted along the edges 

I fused some DecoBond to a nice coordinating stripe for the back and basted more cording along those edges. I was operating without a specific pattern or tutorial, so I'm not sure if this is the most elegant way to make a side panel, but I started by edging a 20" zipper with some of the same fabric that the wedges were cut from. I then added length with the rest of that same stripe. (Geometry review: Circumference = Pi x Diameter.)

Zipper for the side panel

Many pins were pressed into service when it was time to stitch the side panel to the top. Many, many pins.

Pinning the side panel on

There must surely be a more elegant way to stitch such a seam, but my wrangling did the trick in the end, and I was very encouraged by how the first seam looked.

Side attached to the top panel -- halfway there....

Stitching the bottom on was a little anticlimactic (if you try this at home, don't forget to unzip the zipper before finishing the second seam) and the finished cushion came out terrific!

Finished cushion, fig in the background

Back of cushion

Zipper for cover removal

Pi cushion

Pi cushion, approx. 17.5" x 3"

Pillowcases for Sandy Hook

A local quilt shop is collecting pillowcases to give to the children of Sandy Hook elementary school when they return after the winter break. I am tired of sewing for victims of violence, but maybe this project will help a few traumatized children recognize that most of the world isn't bad guys.

New pillows!

'nuff said:

This matches nothing in my home, but I don't care.

This selvedge bolster matches EVERYTHING in my home!

It even has a zipper.

Brrrr

Everyone in my family loves winter, so we were happy about how cold it was today. We were hoping for a little more snow, but we rest assured that it will be here soon. I've been having fun with my embroidery machine (I really should make a monthly date to set this thing up!), and I stitched out another lovely little Urban Threads design. I had some lovely coordinating snowman batik and a medium blue with tiny sparkly stars for borders. I used the Waffle Time pattern again to make a sweet little number that I'm going to finish as a pillow for our family room. We have the most awful collection of ratty old pillows; it's time to spruce up our space with some prettier textiles. What I love about this particular design is that it doesn't have to go away after the new year...it remains perfectly relevant until the last March blizzards melt away!

Tomorrow is my last (and favorite) lecture of the semester, so I'm feeling especially happy and hygge-filled on this frosty tonight. Stay warm, my friends!