Happy Holidays Christmas Pillow and Buntings

A few weeks before Christmas my daughter sent me a link to a Christmas pillow on Amazon and mentioned she would love a seasonal Christmas pillow like her Thanksgiving pillow. She gave me creative license, and away I went!

Using a combination of different designs from Gail Pan (inspired by Christine) and Maggie Robertson Design, I fashioned a Christmas pillow with embroidery and a bit of rudimentary applique.

I used a bit of glittery embroidery thread for the garland hanging off the house and simple embroidery stitches for the pillow.

I added a kitty and bird for my cat and birdie-loving daughter!

The back is from Riley Blake's Postcards for Santa collection and was my daughter's favorite of the fabric photos I sent her.

A few days after her pillow request, she also asked for a bunting for her fireplace as well as a smaller bunting to hang above her daughter's crib.

For the fireplace bunting I used the same pattern as for her nursery bunting and fabrics primarily from Postcards for Santa.

The baby's bunting was composed of Christmas fabric from my stash and white felt with buttons purchased at Hobby Lobby. I am particularly fond of the Frosty Fun by Clothworks fabric (upper left and lower right). Oh I might as well as admit it - I am fond of most ALL Christmas fabric!


Now I already have my eye on a Christmas pillow to make for her next year.

Happy Holidays everyone!

Debbie's Prayer Quilt

The prayer quilt for my niece is finally finished! My niece is a strong Christian, and I positioned the three magenta and violet crosses to serve as a remembrance of the three crosses of Calvary - I think she will like the significance.

Pattern illustration

As I mentioned when I blogged about it (almost 3 weeks ago!) I used Plus Quilt pattern by Jeliquilts.

I pieced the back with some leftover cuts from the fabrics (listed below)

I particularly love this bird fabric and the bit of whimsy it adds. And it was very gratifying to audition it and see it contained the colors from the other fabrics.

I made a few errors and had to rip seams a few times, even with the binding! The Kona magenta fabric I originally intended for the binding raveled too much after all the chaos, so I looked to my purple stash to find something that would work. Lo and behold I had a 1/2 yard print that was perfect!

I stitched crosses in each corner

The quilting was mostly straight line, with some wavy lines on the border.

Last time I talked to my niece, she was feeling stressed about her upcoming treatments following her mastectomy, so my wish is that this prayer quilt will give her some comfort.

Quilt Details:
Finished size: 45"x45"

Quilt Front:
Collage Bird Dot Cream by Carrie Bloomston for Windham
Bohemia Teal Dots by Julie Paschkis for In The Beginning
Kona: Snow, Ash, Violet, and Magenta
On a String in Lime by Valentina Ramos for Robert Kaufman
Unknown dark eggplant fabric Made in Japan

Binding: Mosaic Purple by Pat Bravo for Art Gallery
Backing: Collage Bird Dot Cream by Carrie Bloomston for Windham, Kona Ash

Thread used:
Superior Threads So Fine Genoa Gray

Baby Girl Pillow

With a few scraps left over from the baby quilt and bunting for our soon-to-be-born granddaughter (anticipated date April 11, I decided to make a last minute pillow the night before my daughter's baby shower!

I had nothing more than an idea for a fussy-cut center block, so I just put it together using fabrics from the original quilt.

My son-in-law painted the nursery a soft gray, so I thought the Simply Simple Silver (Art Gallery "Littlest" collection) would make a nice background to the fussy-cut block.

I had almost enough Ditsy Radiance (NouvElle collection by Pat Bravo)for the backing, so I supplemented with a Grunge Basic and made a simple envelope-style back. You can tell by the gap it is really stuffed!

Quilting was stitch-in-the-ditch for the fussy-cut block and following the "waves" and straight vertical stitching for the remainder. (Why do I only notice the loose threads when I'm posting the photo?)

All the "Grandma handmades" prior to wrapping.

I got it all stuffed into one bag

Gifts to our daughter and son-in-law from Mom and Dad

I made a little card for the top of one gift with more fussy-cuts and a square antique lace doily

My daughter and me at the shower

There was a "name reveal" during the shower, and I look forward to sharing that with you! Now I can make the label for the quilt and sew it on while I am staying with my daughter after Baby Girl is born.

Linking to Oh Scrap! at Quilting Is More Fun Than Housework

Baby Girl Bunting

My granddaughter is due in April, and my daughter and son-in-law have been working to get everything ready! She requested a "bunting" to hang across a little ceiling alcove in the room they are converting to a nursery. She sent me a photo of an Etsy bunting she liked and the measurements of the alcove and away I went!

Armed with a Whitney Sews You Tube video and Whitney's free pattern, I created a bunting that I think will serve the purpose!

I adjusted Whitney's template to a larger size and used leftover fabric from baby girl quilt. I like Whitney's pattern because the seam is in the back of the "flag", rather than on the sides like many other bunting patterns I found.

I cut a 2-inch wide piece of gray and white diagonal striped fabric (it is lighter than it appears in the photos) for the "stringer", sewed it on like quilt binding, and made a small loop on either end, for hanging.

I sewed the stringer around cord to give it a little weight.

Now I've got my fingers crossed it fits the space!

A Mug Mat for My DIY Guy

After I made myself a mug rug, I decided to surprise my DIY Guy with one. "Mug Rug" didn't sound quite manly enough, so his is a Mug Mat.

His favorite "OU Sooners" coffee mug is crimson, so shades of red, black, and gray will compliment it!

This time I did regular straight-line quilting instead of quilt-as-you-go. After taking my usual long time choosing fabric, I finished it all up in less than an hour - almost instant gratification!

The back is solid red. Although it appears blue in the photo, the binding is a Kona gray.

I'm linking to Cynthia's Oh Scrap!

First Finish of 2016 - QAYG Mug Rug

Taking inspiration from Diann's tutorial on Little Penguin Quilts, I not only made my first mug rug but also my first quilt-as-you-go project! Diann's beautiful mug rug was featured as a guest post on Cyndy's Oh Scrap! back in February, but I didn't see it until I read Diann's Best of 2015 post.

Last year I had every intention of making a mug rug like Christine's and even downloaded the pattern from Craftsy but I forgot about my plans as the year progressed. I loved the look and simplicity of Diann's so I decided to try it first.

I used scraps for the front and for the binding and pulled a larger piece from my stash for the back. The amount of time I spent picking out scraps to use was ridiculous - I had a lot of trouble deciding, so maybe that's a sign I need to make more! Although I had many stops and starts removing stitches and re-positioning fabric, I finally got the hang of things and finished in about two hours.

I followed Diann's example and quilted diagonal lines

I finished it yesterday evening, and loved having it on my sewing table waiting for me this morning! I'm linking to Cyndy's Oh Scrap!

Don't forget to enter my End of Year Giveaway!