autumn "emergency scarves" and a patchwork pillow
The tall maple just down the street is fully red now. The curbs are lined with brown leaves. I am pretty sad to see the end of summer. I do love fall but man -- that snow. It's coming. It gets tougher every year to face it!
This morning the temperature was icy -- about 5 or 6 degrees!. The kids are still wearing summer jackets. So I pulled out some soft baby fleece, cut a couple strips, zig-zagged the edges with thread colours chosen by the children, and made some "scarves". I usually knit scarves for the winter (that's about all I knit!) but I was pleased with these emergency scarves that were soft, warm, cuddly, and as my son said, NOT ITCHY. Ahem. Yes. note to self. No itchy wool.
The other day I was inspired to create a little autumn patchwork pillow. It's still in progress but I thought I'd post it.
Here's a glimpse of my sewing area.
I'm very lucky to have a room surrounded by windows - even if it is bloody cold in winter and boiling in summer. There's the old workhorse (my machine, I mean). I'm looking for a zipper foot and a walking foot for it, so I can quilt and put in zippers again. I put one in the other day with a regular foot and let's just say it was a challenge.
I recently got this machine through Craigslist after my ancient Kenmore kacked out. I have to say, I LOVE this old Husqvarna.
Anyhoo.
My crazy curtains are Ikea fabric...I needed tons to cover all the windows and at something like 3 bucks a yard I had to take it. I know they're rather alarming...but something about them reminds me of 45 records! One day I'll make linen curtains. Maybe.
Okay, so here the front of the patchwork pillow -- the beginning, anyway. I took ages to cut the pieces according to a little instruction I found on line. (That's it, printed out on the desk, above.) But once I started sewing, it was fast. Very fun.
And, uh, there's the messy, stringy back. I am really not that exacting when it comes to seam allowances but I am trying to improve. My last quilting experience was much more wonky. So I got that going for me.
Later, after kids in bed, I added strips to make it about 17" x 17". The orange around the outside is rough silk -- and I'm not sure about it. I love the fabric...but it weakened the orange bits inside...But my guy said he thought the orange would look good and I was in the mood to be easygoing...lassez faire, if you will. (I had to expand the thing otherwise I'd end up with a dinky little 12" pillow. That's no good. You gotta be able to LOUNGE on the thing, right? Yup.) The pale orange strip is a piece of his old shirt. I like that...using old clothes. The real spirit of quilting. Or maybe I'd romaticized the whole thing because I'm hormonal. Who knows.
I'll post finished pics soon, I hope. I'm doing the quilting by hand with red thread. Almost done, actually. The debates in the US and Canada last night were easy to sew to.
Have a lovely weekend.
xo
ella
This morning the temperature was icy -- about 5 or 6 degrees!. The kids are still wearing summer jackets. So I pulled out some soft baby fleece, cut a couple strips, zig-zagged the edges with thread colours chosen by the children, and made some "scarves". I usually knit scarves for the winter (that's about all I knit!) but I was pleased with these emergency scarves that were soft, warm, cuddly, and as my son said, NOT ITCHY. Ahem. Yes. note to self. No itchy wool.
The other day I was inspired to create a little autumn patchwork pillow. It's still in progress but I thought I'd post it.
Here's a glimpse of my sewing area.
I'm very lucky to have a room surrounded by windows - even if it is bloody cold in winter and boiling in summer. There's the old workhorse (my machine, I mean). I'm looking for a zipper foot and a walking foot for it, so I can quilt and put in zippers again. I put one in the other day with a regular foot and let's just say it was a challenge.
I recently got this machine through Craigslist after my ancient Kenmore kacked out. I have to say, I LOVE this old Husqvarna.
Anyhoo.
My crazy curtains are Ikea fabric...I needed tons to cover all the windows and at something like 3 bucks a yard I had to take it. I know they're rather alarming...but something about them reminds me of 45 records! One day I'll make linen curtains. Maybe.
Okay, so here the front of the patchwork pillow -- the beginning, anyway. I took ages to cut the pieces according to a little instruction I found on line. (That's it, printed out on the desk, above.) But once I started sewing, it was fast. Very fun.
And, uh, there's the messy, stringy back. I am really not that exacting when it comes to seam allowances but I am trying to improve. My last quilting experience was much more wonky. So I got that going for me.
Later, after kids in bed, I added strips to make it about 17" x 17". The orange around the outside is rough silk -- and I'm not sure about it. I love the fabric...but it weakened the orange bits inside...But my guy said he thought the orange would look good and I was in the mood to be easygoing...lassez faire, if you will. (I had to expand the thing otherwise I'd end up with a dinky little 12" pillow. That's no good. You gotta be able to LOUNGE on the thing, right? Yup.) The pale orange strip is a piece of his old shirt. I like that...using old clothes. The real spirit of quilting. Or maybe I'd romaticized the whole thing because I'm hormonal. Who knows.
I'll post finished pics soon, I hope. I'm doing the quilting by hand with red thread. Almost done, actually. The debates in the US and Canada last night were easy to sew to.
Have a lovely weekend.
xo
ella
Comments