Quick Quilted Pillow

Tonight I made this pillow! I had fun picking out whimsical fabrics from my collection of fat quarters. I love the yellow print especially, it looks like it was inspired by Mary Blair. I tried to pick out coordinating fabrics that also looked like they could belong in a Mary Blair painting.


To make this 8"x12" pillow, I cut out stripes of fabric 9" long and of different widths from the five fabrics. After sewing them together with half-inch seam allowances, I cut out a 9"x13" piece of fabric for the back and two duplicates of a plain yellow fabric (which I had leftover from a Gryffindor Quidditch robe), and then I sandwiched quilting batting between the nice fabric and the plain fabric. I quilted the layers together by hand-sewing with three strands of embroidery threads in vertical lines one inch apart, alternating between two lines of orange and two lines of lime green thread.


After quilting both the front and back, I put the two quilted pieces together back-to-back and sewed the edges (except for 4 inches on the bottom), clipped the corners, then turned it right-side out and pressed. I stuffed it with polyester fill and hand-sewed it closed. Ta-da!

Schnazzy [Push Pins]

I saw these on Etsy and decided I wanted to make my own! I found some old tacks in a bag of stuff from my elementary school days and I had glass stones leftover from my wedding centerpieces so I didn't need to buy anything at all. I cut out little circles from some scrapbooking carstock, glued them to the back of the stones with Mod Podge, then (because I couldn't find any better glue) used white glue to attach the stone to the tacks. With some other paper and a piece of cardboard I made a coordinating board to stick them on so they would be easy transport to work without poking myself.

Happy Easter!

Bunnies and eggs are for kids! I decided to stick with a spring floral theme for these Easter cards. Pastels and bright colors helped bring Spring to the cloudy gray rainy Sunday.

Crafting [Silk Wedding Bouquet] x5

My bridal party includes my Maid of Honor and three Bridesmaids, for a total of five bouquets. I love blue and green hydrangeas, but they seem to be more of a Spring-Summer flower so it may be difficult to get them in the Fall. They also like to change color if they aren't stored at the right temperature with the correct amount of water. I've never done flower arrangements before, but it doesn't seem too difficult to make what I want out of silk flowers, especially since I will have all summer to make them rather than just two or three days prior to the wedding.

I found some gorgeous flowers in the perfect colors at Michael's, and they were on sale because they were from the Spring selection (it's almost Summer now!). I got some lilies, peonies and blue roses to go with the hydrangeas as well. So far I have started preparing the stems, gathering them in bunches and wrapping them with green floral tape. The next step is to trim the excess length off the stem since the stems are almost a yard long.

The last step will be to add a handle to cover the ugly plastic green stems. I bought some white dupioni silk which was on sale at JoAnn's (didn't even have to use the 40% off coupon!) that I will use to wrap the stem, and then I plan to add pearl buttons for accents to finish it off!




FLOWER SYMBOLISM:

Hydrangea - Heart-felt.
White Lily - hope of everlasting life, virginity, purity, majesty, abundance.
Blue Roses - someone is mysterious.
Peony - Happy life, happy marriage.
Rosebud - Beauty, youth.


3/24/09 Post-Wedding Update - The finished bouquets turned out to be fabulous!

photo by Siang of Lightphoria - www.lightphoria.com