Modern pillow pattern

Quick modern pillow – pattern available

 

This fab pillow is made using 5 fat quarters of Terra Australis 2 fabric from Ella Blue (due in stores in September). Of course you can use any fabric you like. But seriously, don’t you this fabric is amazing?

The pillow pattern available. It’s a great project for a beginning quilter or home sewist. The cutting and piecing is very basic. It’s a slip-cover, so no zippers or buttonholes required!

The pillow top is quilted in straight lines – easy peasy!

I’m setting up my Etsy store, so for now, just shoot me an email if you want a hard copy or downloadable PDF.

For those of you in the Bay Area, I’ll be teaching this class at Intrepid Thread in Milpitas, CA , October 3rd.

If you haven’t discovered Intrepid Thread yet, I promise that you will LOVE it! Julie carries modern quilt fabrics at great prices. All of the inventory is online, so you don’t need to be in the Bay Area to indulge yourself.

Don’t you love projects that give you instant gratification?

Tassel Keychain or Decor

Here is my latest tassel keychain. This one is about 10″ long and is very full. It’s made with strips of fine cotton batiks, threads, floss, charms and beads. I’ve added a couple closeups so you can see the dangling beads as well as the beads around the neck of the keychain and the wired beads where the tassel attaches to the sterling silver plated split keyring.

Blue tassel – look closely for the beads hanging near the bottom of the tassel

Close up of wired beads and beads around the tassel neck

As I mentioned in my previous post, these tassels make great key rings, purse dangles and curtain tie-backs. You can also hang them from a lamp or use them to decorate the base of a tall candlestick.

Of course I had to include photos of my staff, who help with all stages of production and like to get in every photo.

Rusty, our Tibetan Terrier who didn’t want to look at the camera

Jackie the Jack Russell Terrier

 

Anti-perfectionism creations

Lately I’ve been into what I think of as “instant gratification creations”. I just do whatever is quick and easy, rather than obsessing about doing it “right”.

So I needed a quick label for my skyline quilt. I used a pencil to sketch a skyline and added my name and contact info, then copied it onto fabric. I touched up the fabric copy with an ultra-fine Sharpie pen. That’s it!

You know what? I like it more than any quilt label I’ve ever done.

An easy way to create a custom label for your quilt

Holidays craziness vs creative passions

Every year I struggle during the holidays to find a peaceful balance between all the things I want to do to celebrate the joys of Christmas with all the things I must do in my everyday life.

This year I did 2 smart things. First of all, I asked for help with a project. My friend Nancy came through in a big way. The added bonus was how much fun we had doing it together. 🙂 🙂

The second thing I did was to admit defeat with one of the big items on my every day TO DO list. I have two Tibetan Terriers. One has fabulous, easy-to-care-for hair. (I know it’s technically “fur” but it’s so long and gorgeous that it’s difficult to think of it as dog hair.) the other dog’s fur gets badly matted if I don’t brush it every day. Seriously, who has time for that?? So I took her to the groomer so they could shave it off. Here is her ‘before’ picture. I’ll post the ‘after’ picture shortly.

Quilts for Boston

Please join me and make a quilt block to help the people impacted by the Boston Marathon bombings.

The Boston Modern Quilt Guild is looking for block donations by May 24th. Go to their blog to read the guidelines. Bostonmqg.blogspot.com/2013/04/quilts-for-Boston.html.

Or join the Flickr group, post your block pictures and see photos of other blocks donated in this worthy effort. http://www.flickr.com/groups/quiltsfor boston/

Work gets messy

I am a freelance editor of sewing, quilting and craft books and I work from home. Most of the work is done electronically, but at times I have to organize reams of text, photos, samples and illustrations. I have a system to track it all, but I work on more than one book at once so the volume can be daunting. It’s important to know where everything is so I keep as much of it in files as I can.

I know what’s in the pile in this photo, but I need to work with it again today, so it isn’t filed yet.

I like to embrace my messy side and don’t “get” other people’s obsession with organization. However, I admit that ‘Messy’ becomes ‘Stressy’ if I can’t find something I need.