Pillowcases for the Guys

Before Jen left to go back to school we made a trip to the quilt shop so she could get fabric for a few projects.  While we were there she saw this moose fabric and wanted to make a pillowcase for her boyfriend from it.  She ran out of time so I ended up making it.



We also found some “anatomy” fabric at the quilt shop and I couldn’t resist buying it to make a pillowcase for Bryan.  Being a med school student I’m sure he already sees skeletons in his sleep so this fabric is perfect because the bones glow in the dark! 



Over the years I’ve made a bunch of pillowcases but this one was a challenge.  The fabric is directional so I needed twice as much as usual to make it.  Then I realized that if I only used one seam in the body the print would be upside down on the back.  So there is a seam on both the top and bottom.  I had also selected a stripe to use for a contrasting flange and IT went in the wrong direction.  It would be a really expensive pillowcase to buy 1-1/4 yards of fabric to get a 2” strip going in the right direction so I just skipped it.  I made this more as a joke than anything else so I couldn’t justify any more time and expense.  I hope Bryan thinks it's funny!

I should be spending all day today sewing but I’m just not feeling inspired.  I have a couple of tablerunners cut out and ready to sew and maybe piecing them will get the mojo going again.  I sure hate to waste a free day!

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DWM-Another Shop Sample

I didn’t get much piecing done on my projects this past week but I have the blocks sewn and hope to get the rows put together before work this morning on this shop sample.

The pattern for this is Wistful from Villa Rosa Designs and I used a jelly roll from the Moda line S’more Love by Eric and Julie Comstock. It was a really easy quilt to make.  I was even able to get quite a bit of piecing finished between customers at the shop the past couple of weeks.  This would be a good stash buster for all the 2-1/2” strips I’ve accumulated.  It finishes about 57” x 72” so it would be a good donation size.  Once all the pieces are cut it would be a GREAT leader and ender project.  Hmm…I think there’s another one of these in my future!

For a good dose of inspiration check out other design wall links at  Patchwork Times.  While you’re browsing, be sure to brighten someone’s day by leaving a comment!

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Week 34, 2013 Stash Report and Recap

The Ohio Star quilt is finished.  In the end I didn’t quilt the stars on the longarm.  I just wasn’t happy with how the continuous curves looked.  I really like this quilt and when it came down to it I didn’t want it to look like a practice piece.  So I took it off the frame and finished it on the Juki.  It’s not perfect but I’m happy with the results.

Here is a close-up of the quilting.

Many of the quilts I’ve made recently have a more modern look and are made from contemporary fabrics but when I finish one of these old UFO’s I love the richness of the colors.  It’s fun to work with both!

This was the only thing I finished this week.  I’m still working on the Double Nine Patch and a couple of other projects.  Hopefully I’ll have a lot of sewing time this week so I can finish August with a lot of fabric used!

My weekly stats:
Used this week:  20 yards (Ohio Star)
Used year to date:  265 yards
Purchased this week:  0
Purchased year to date: 88 yards
Net year to date:  177 yards used

Click on the links at Patchwork Times to see more stash reports.

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DWM: Quilting Ohio Stars

This isn’t on my design wall, but it’s on the quilting frame and I’m trying to come up with a nice design to quilt in the Ohio Star blocks.  This is a UFO I recently found and it’s big--close to 100” square.  I quilted overall swirly ribbons in the sashing strips and cornerstone blocks.  Only the star blocks remain and I’d like to do a little custom quilting in them.  When I was quilting on my DSM, I would quilt continuous curves on blocks like these but I’m not sure my skills are good enough to do that on the big machine.  I need to come up with something that’s a little more forgiving. Haha!



I spent a little time with the whiteboard and I think I’ll try this (fortunately I can quilt better than I can draw!!).  It looks like it should be pretty easy and will carry out the ribbon theme that’s in the sashing.  I think it will really add a lot if I do continuous curves in the hourglass units so maybe I’ll give it a try.  There’s only one way to get better.



For more inspiration be sure to check out the other design wall links at Patchwork Times.

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