flannel for your head

Posted on January 26, 2010

flannel-pillowcase

My sister doesn’t sew, but she loves all things Anna Maria Horner. Apparently she’s also a very big fan of flannel pillowcases (who knew?!). So it was no surprise that when she found out that Anna Maria also had a line of flannel, she was totally sold. (Not to the point to learn how to sew up her own pillowcase, but sold enough to buy some so that I could make her a new pillowcase).

flannel-pillowcase2

She picked out this lovely print, and I added in a little pink trim for her (this is the Anna Maria solid pink voile, which matches this print perfectly). I’m pretty happy with this – not only is the flannel fabric super soft, and just perfect for a pillowcase – but it all came together really quickly and easily. I think I see one of these in my future…

flannel-pillowcase3

Oh, and Whit… Morgan seems pretty sold on this one and even tried to use it last night. You might want to stop over soon to pick it up!

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Note: I didn’t use a pattern for this – just based it on a pillowcase we had here that I liked the size of. If there’s enough interest, I’d be happy to put together a tutorial.

Posted in Household Goods | Tagged , , , , | 53 Comments

red and aqua stars

Posted on January 25, 2010

red-aqua-stars-quilt

Hope everyone had nice weekends! Since it was still pretty chilly here, I didn’t feel too bad spending some quality time on the couch handsewing the binding on this new little quilt. I really enjoy sewing the binding on quilts. Part of it is that I get to start seeing, bit by bit, what the final quilt will really look like. The other part, the majority, probably, is that I get to lounge on the couch and watch mindless TV. Sometimes you need a little mindless TV, don’t you think?

I’ll be the first to admit that red and aqua isn’t a combo I usually gravitate towards. I always admire those who use red and aqua and make it look so good (like here, here and here, for example), but it just never really felt like me. In going through my scraps though, I realized that I actually did have a fair amount of red and aqua scraps, so I decided to go ahead with a little mini red and aqua quilt. And you know what… I love it!

red-and-aqua-stars

In order to use up some of my smaller scraps, I went with scrappy, wonky maverick stars in a few sizes paired with a whole lot of white. (You can find a tutorial for maverick stars here.) I rearranged these stars a bit before I came up with a layout I liked… finally ending up with just the one red star at the bottom with a sprinkling of blue stars.

red-aqua-stars-back

The backing is a solid blue, with one white star in the upper corner. I quilted it with random straight lines again and bound it with this great Lizzy House stripe in aqua. It measures about 34.5″ x 36.5″ and makes a fabulous little quilt for a new baby, or I think it would make a great wall hanging for any red/aqua lover! For sale in the shop.

red-aqua-star-back

Posted in [search] Liberated Quilts, [search] Wonky/Improv Quilts, 2010 Finished Quilts, Finished Quilts, Posts about Quilts, Quilts | Tagged , , , , , , | 21 Comments

patchwork pillows

Posted on January 21, 2010

pillows4

I’m so pleased to welcome Scarlet Fig as a new sponsor! You all remember Laurie, right? She designs some of my favorite fabrics, and a couple months ago I had the opportunity to create the Animal Sherbet Squares quilt for her out of some of those fabulous fabrics. Well, Laurie’s done it again, and has just added two new collections to her line, as well as a new colorway of the Animal Sherbet line, now called Urban Circus. (you can read all the details on Laurie’s blog)

I snagged a few of Laurie’s photos so you could have a peek –

This new collection is called Modern Whimsy, and comes in the Park or Citrus colorway –

modern whimsy - parkmodern whimsy - citrus

I’m loving those swans, and the little pink rabbit… oh, and that little lamb! So perfect!

And here is the new colorway of the Urban Circus, in Grass… (ah, springtime!)

urban circus - grass

And then you must take a look at this new collection of three prints. I gasped out loud when I first saw those donkeys in rainboots… Wouldn’t this make a fabulous baby blanket or quilt?

donkeys in wellies

All of these fabrics are currently available through Laurie’s shop!

Speaking of Laurie and her wonderful fabrics, I had a few scraps left from her quilt, and since I’ve been trying to use up my scraps, I decided to make up a couple of pillows for a couch which has always been pillow-less.

pillows

I paired Laurie’s fabrics with some solids, and some other scraps, including a few of the purple and orange prints from Denyse Schmidt’s Hope Valley line. On the first pillow I made up some simple squares, and on the second, I pieced together some of the smaller strips and then cut them into squares.

pillows2

I quilted the front of each pillow with a few simple straight lines, and since I didn’t have any zippers on hand, I went for an envelope closure on the back. To jazz them up a bit, I even added piping! It’s kind of funny how impressed I am with myself when I make piping. I really think it adds the perfect finishing touch, and I’m always pleasantly surprised at how easy it actually is! I followed the section on piping in this tutorial.

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If you’re interested, Laurie still has this colorway of the Urban Circus listed in her shop!

Posted in Fabric, Household Goods | Tagged , , , , , , | 24 Comments