Pillow Talk

I made a t-shirt for last Christmas for my sweetie.  It read “I geek banjos”, the phrase was explained in this post, when I was still working on it.  Sadly, after one washing, the t-shirt was too small to be comfortable wearing.  I spent a long time stenciling that shirt, I wasn’t about to throw it in the donation pile!  So this Christmas it is being gifted to him, again, as a throw pillow:

Yes, I believe you can give the same gift twice, if it’s altered in between, right?!?  He’s getting a Kindle, too, so he isn’t exactly deprived…  The border and backing are this, BeBop by P & B Textiles: 

Appropriate fabric, given that he owns and plays quitars, banjos and mandolins.  It was a day for sewing pillows, I guess, made a pillowcase for a Christmas gift as well, out of some sassy cowgirl fabric that was gifted to me a last year:

 

Not too many handmade gifts this year, but it was a relief not to feel the pressure of getting a bunch of items made by Christmas!  Maybe next year, I’ll start early and make something for everyone on the list.  Then again…

A Fairy Tale For Nettie

My December, One Block Over bee block…  I had SO much fun making this last night…loved all the little scraps with fussy-cut potential…  I hope it is wonky enough, Nettie!  My focus print was Snow White and the seven dwarfs, but only four of them ended up in the center square, so I used another scrap to add these three little characters (a BLUE frog, a puppy, and a panda!) in the upstairs window: 

And this little mouse is lurking around outside the door, probably interested in those half-eaten apples discarded on the floor:

And the wise old owl is watching the scene from his perch up high.  (See the Moon fabric?  Isn’t that awesome?)  Nettie has fabulous scraps!

Enjoy, Nettie…can’t wait to see what you make with all these blocks…

Merry Christmas all,
Doris

Back to the sewing table…

Finally!  I truly dislike those “forced” sewing breaks, you know, when life gets too crazy, you can’t even find five minutes to get to your sewing machine?  Much less find time to write a blog post.  Sunday, I rectified the situation by spending a day sewing.  Quilting, actually.

I made this top on a retreat to MN in JUNE… finally quilted it, since I will see the little babe in person next week.  She lives a few states away from me, and I met her in August for the first time, and I thought it was high time she got her quilt.  She is seven months old, and I always allow myself until the first birthday to get a baby quilt finished and gifted. 

I fell in love with this puppy fabric (Riley Blake, I think), and it was kind of boyish, but I decided I could make a girly quilt out of it.  What do you think?  Did I accomplish it?

(FYI, the quilt isn’t that crooked, it’s a weird camera angle, I guess…)  Used a bunch of aquas, pink and white florals, and dotty fabrics to pull out the girly colors in the puppy fabric.  Added the applique flower to make it just a tad more feminine…

Pink variegated thread (Superior Threads) used to quilt it…and this adorable Cosmo Cricket Alphabet fabric used for the back:

I love this quilt.  Hopefully my grand-niece and her Mommy do, too!

Swap Meet Satisfaction

This summer, I had the pleasure of getting to know and befriend Amanda Jean in person.  We sewed next to each other for three days sharing all kinds of talk about families, funny kid stories, food, sewing, being practical & frugal Midwest gals, etc.  During the course of conversation, we decided to do a swap, after I shared that I had a few unsatisfactory swaps (as in receiving nothing in return, TWICE) and therefore was a little gun-shy when it came to joining big swaps like Pillow Talk, Doll Quilt Swaps, etc. 

So, in November, I made this pillow for Amanda Jean, using Kona Stone, and some favorite scraps:

 It is an original applique design I came up with for one of Victoria’s Block Gathers.

And, then, I made her this cute little mug rug, also from my scrap bin:

 Even the binding was a scrap of leftover binding I had saved, just the right size for this little rug!

Then, on the Wednesday before Thanksgiving, I open my mailbox to find an envelope from her, with this red & aqua LOVE wrapped in it:

That’s a cute little card she stitched up, in that bottom left photo with my mug rug…very cute gift accessory.  The pillow matches my Grandma’s bed perfectly, and looks pretty darned good with those aqua walls, too!  Thanks a million, Amanda!  You made my day-week-month!!

A very satisfactory swap, indeed.  And a friend I’m so glad to have met, truly.

hugs,
Doris

Go, Diego, Go!

Hi reader, happy December!  I can’t believe we are almost to the end of another calendar year.  That means another round of holiday gatherings, and in our family, more birthday celebrations.  You might recall the post I did about my nephews Curious George birthday party last year, and the shirts I made for them.  Well, this year, it is all Diego, all the time.  Big Brother was even Diego for Halloween this year…Baby jaguar, magic backpack, and flashlight included:

 

My sister, their talented mommy, made this awesome Diego and Dora cake for them:

 And Aunt Doris made them “magic Diego birthday shirts”:

 I’ll let you in on a little secret…  there is no licensed Diego fabric on the market, so I bought a package of Diego underwear (called “unders” in Big Brother’s world) at Target, used Heat-n-Bond Lite to stabilize the fabric before cutting the numbers out of them, and satin-stitched around the edges after heat-setting them to the shirts:

Not bad, huh?   I can only imagine what next year’s pop culture obsession will be.  Here’s Little Brother in his shirt, lest anyone be left out….