Envelope Pillow Tutorial

 

I love to make pillows- its so easy and so much more economical.  Its easier to find the colors you want to go with your decor as well.  I made these for my brother and sister in law for Christmas.  They sometimes "fight" over the pillow that they have on the couch.  My Mom actually came up with the idea.  Perfect!  I didn't know for sure how they would go with the couch but I figured I could recover them if I needed to.  The chevron green one was the one I was most worried about. I was in luck, she said it went well.  Yahoo!

Envelope Style Pillow

pillow form
yardage of your choice


1.  Cut a piece of fabric to fit your pillow plus extra for folding over.  So, if your pillow is 14 x 14 then you will cut your fabric 15 x 36.

2.  Zig zag the edges on both the long sides.  On the short sides press 1/2 inch over then half inch again and stitch close to the edge.  Then another top stitch close to the other edge.

3.  Close so that one end overlaps the other by about four inches. Your pillow should be right sides together at this point.

4.  Stitch the ends closed on top and bottom.

Your done.  I sometimes put a button on these pillows when I make them.  It keeps them closed but its really for decoration as these pillows stay closed anyhow. 

Scrapitude Reveal

Some of you may already know what the Scrapitude conclusion is by what kind of pieces you had in the last part.  In case you didnt, here is how the Scrapitude Mystery Quilt ends.  It's a beautiful Saw Tooth Quilt.

Here is Charlotte's quilt- above.  Charlotte on the right.

 

Remember the sashing you cut way in the beginning?  Pull it out is time to put it together. To prepare the four corners.  Take out a bit of sashing and add to each end those triangles you reserved from the beginning.  Sew them onto the ends of the sashing, going in the same direction.  Press them open. 

 Attach them onto the smaller triangles you made from the last part. Set aside.

 Now, sew a sashing on to each saw tooth star.

Then piece them together in rows with one of the large triangles at each end.  First row, one star, second row 3 stars, third row 5 stars, middle row 7 stars, then you start reducing down again to one.  Once you have those rows pieced together, then you sew the sashing together with some 2 1/2 squares you have left.  Eh hem, I had none.  I got a little over zealous with my four patches.  Never to fear, I have a boatload of 2 1/2 inch squares.

Then sew those sashing rows onto the larger rows.

Goals of 2014

With wintry days a plenty, i'ts a good time to stay home and get 'er done.

Here are my goals in the Craft Room for these cold, cold days.

1. Organize. Started this early in January but more must be done.  Its an ongoing process isn't it?

2. Quilt the 1000 Pyramid Quilt.  It took me so long to piece this quilt. I feel like it is always a WIP.  But now it is time to bring it from WIP to Finish.

3. Quilt the Craftsy 2012, Sampler.

4.  Quilt the Kaffe block quilt.

5.  Quilt the two lap blankets.

6.  Finish piecing the pinwheel quilt.

7.  Finish piecing the Farmers Quilt.
 
8.  Finish piecing the 30's Quilt

9.  Quilt the String Quilt.
 
10.  Quilt the Bonnie Hunter Quilt.


Notice how so many of these say finish.  Why do I have a ton of quilt tops done and I have not quilted them?  I think there are many answers to that question.  Knowing how to quilt it for one.  Finding the right backing. Having the time. Not totally happy with the end result. But 2014 is the year to press on and Get 'Er Done!

Another Monster

Okay, a few more monsters might be in order.  Me and my daughter, on a snowy, cold weekend, sewed a monster.  She had great plans for the weekend to sew a bunch of monsters.  Just like her Mom.  Expecting to get a ton done and, well, you know the rest, just not the time you thought you had.

Nevertheless, she managed to get one crazy, cute, delicious monster completed and nearly all by herself.  I was pretty impressed with how straight she sewed her lines.  I must admit she is a better sewer than I was at her age.  Wait, I wasn't a sewer at her age.  High school.  Okay, she is a better sewer than I was in high school. 

I'm a proud mama.

Scrapitude- Saw Tooth Stars

Scrapitude partial reveal.  Well, we know what the blocks are- they are Saw Tooth Stars. Oh, so deliciously scrappy.  Love it! Not sure how the sashing will come into play- we will find that out in February.

Until then plenty to do with putting these blocks together.

25 Saw Tooth Block squares- measuring 12.5 when completed as above.

12 of the larger set triangles.

4 of the smaller triangles.

These are because the quilt is set "on point".

Charlotte's handout how to's are on the right.

Monster Love

I have been totally inspired by these amazing kids.  These two young boys design and make monsters.  They are sold for 30 dollars.  One you get and one is then donated to kids in need. It's called A Monster To Love. Great job boys (and their wonderfully supportive parents- I am quite sure).  Click here to go to their site and buy a monster.

If you make some monsters, like I did, be very careful.  They are incredibly addictive.

My monsters were made for my kids.  Well, and one extra.  Maybe for me.  In order from left to right, Charlamaine, Reynauldo, and Adrometer.  Reynauldo was my first monster and my one daughter was kind of jealous that the other daughter got him.  Reynauldo was named after a client that I once had.  He certainly was not a monster.  When he had a temper- yeah, but most of the time he would hide in corners and peak out at me when I came to see him.  A shy kinda guy but coquette at the same time.  I just loved him.

Mini Duffle Bag

I have a thing for cosmetic /travel bags.  I love them.  I can't get enough of them.  Two years ago my friend gave me one for Christmas that she made.  I loved it and have been wanting to make a few ever since.

I had borrowed this book- Sewing the Seasons by Sandi Henderson; Wiley from the library and in it were instructions for this bag.  I decided to make the medium sized one, Its about 9 inches long, 4 inches high 6 inches wide. The book dimensions seem off to me- though it could be me.  Another thing I didn't like about the book and wondered if there was a page missing, is that the whole part about what do after you cut the corners, seemed to be totally missing. Luckily I searched the Internet for a similar pattern and found out how to do the corners.

Having said that there are a lot of cute things in the book.  I haven't tried any of the other patterns yet. There is a cute little tote in there but really I am on tote overload.

I love how the bag turned out. I didnt make it reversible as the pattern said.  I much prefer it one sided.  Seems like a lot of trouble for something I would not particularly use.

Never even noticed the 'Bring Me' printing on the bag until just now.