Travel Pillow

I made a little pillow for my grand daughter Kennedy when she was younger.  I originally made the pillow for her doll.

Kennedy liked the pillow so much that she shared it with her doll.

I bought the pillow form at JoAnn's, it is 12" X 16".  I use a fat quarter for one side and a fat quarter for the other side.

I choose a third fabric for the ruffle. Using three different fabrics lets me have the thrill (lol!) of coordinating and matching!!!

I made another pillow to match a baby quilt.

The baby quilt was made of Lila Tueller fabric also.

I was starting to be envious of these little pillows, I wanted one!  My daughter Rebecca and grand daughter Maisie and I took the red eye to New York City last summer.  The thought came to me to make us each a pillow for the plane ride.  

I have so many beautiful fat quarters, that it was really hard to choose which one I wanted to use.  I don't know if you can see the little "Bambi" on the ruffle.  I love that fabric but now I don't have anymore of it.  It came in yellow and blue and brown and I really wish I had some more of it.

The pillow was so handy on the airplane. The armrests are so hard on the planes, and resting my arm on the pillow felt so good. When Maisie was sleeping, it was nice to have the extra cushioning that the pillow gave.  Now I take the pillow with me when I fly and go on  road trips.  I often put the pillow against my lower back for support.  The pillow is very lightweight too.
I decided to make a "manly" pillow for my son who would be flying to Brazil.  

This fabric was about as "manly" as my stash allowed!  It is by Tina Givens and looks like an African print.  Instead of sewing a "girly" ruffle along the edge, I just sewed a trim, so easy!  The above side is a little more masculine than the one below...

My son loved the pillow and stuffed it into his back pack for his trip.  I'm sure he will find it very useful during his two year mission.
I hope you will get the bug and make one for yourself or someone you love.

Thanksgiving Dinner quilt

This is one of my favorite quilts, it is so much fun to hang it on the wall every Thanksgiving, through the Christmas holidays.

This quilt was designed by Lori Holt from Bee in my Bonnet.

Notice how the border looks like turkey feathers :)

It comes complete with the turkey and all the fixings.

The quilt is all applique and embroidery.  It took a while to applique the letters!

I cut off the mashed potatoes in the photo, but you can see the potato masher, the cranberry jelly and Grammie's gravy.  My mom made the best gravy from scratch with the turkey neck and some of the insides.  I can barely stand to look at those things, let alone touch them!

The pies, oh the pies!!!  Jordan makes a killer pecan pie tart and sweet potato pie.  Kim's favorite is pumpkin pie.  Rebecca's favorite is harvest fruit nut pie.  Lindsay makes a different specialty every year.  Our family loves key lime pie, but not usually for Thanksgiving.  I really like the traditional French Canadian sugar pie, and another Canadian favorite, rhubarb.  Vanessa made her first pie ever last Thanksgiving and it was a difficult one, Harvest Fruit Nut.  It was superb!

I think that Lindsay made the two pies on the left, Jordan made the one on the top right, and I made the pecan one on the bottom right.

I could go on and on about the pies....Jordan made the pecan pie with the crushed pecan tart shell on the left, Lindsay made the pumpkin pie covered in whipped cream with the cinnamon swirl crust pictured on top, Vanessa's first pie, the Harvest Fruit Nut on the top right even with a pastry heart!  Jordan also made the sweet potato pie with the meringue top, on the bottom.

Do you see the cinnamon swirls on Lindsay's pie crust?

What Thanksgiving dinner isn't complete without homemade stuffing in a vintage pyrex dish with pink embroidery :)

All of our Thanksgiving dinners include our favorite family recipe, Mushroom turnovers.  For those of you who don't like mushrooms, they don't even taste like mushrooms, they are just plain rich and delicious.

I didn't get a photo of the rolls block, but you can see it on the quilt.    The rolls are on the blue pedestal.

Oh, the turkey!!!  La piece de resistance!  This turkey is appliqued with basil leaves and cranberry buttons!!!  

Jordan is the expert "deep fryer turkey cook" in our family.  I think this turkey was Rebecca's specialty......marinated in brine for 12 hours and then baked the traditional way. Both methods result in such a moist turkey.

Thanksgiving is my favorite holiday, especially when it is spent with those you love ♥

Journey of a Quilter

When Material Girls quilt shop first opened, they had a block of the month class.  There were 10 blocks (patterns), and the class met once a month.  The name of the pattern was "Journey of a Quilter" by Leanne Beasley, an Australian designer.

The quilt is small, about 40" X 40", and was meant to be a wall quilt.  There were little pieces in the blocks and lots and lots of embroidery which really appealed to me.  My friend Marianne took the class with me, and I met Betty in the class who became a good friend as well. 

Betty, me and Marianne

 Therein is the quote in the middle of the quilt.

I have stitched, formed friendships,laughed,

shared secrets, eased burdens, and learnt lessons.

For this I can be grateful.

This is the journey of a quilter.

The colors I chose were very similar to the designer's choices.

Marianne chose jewel tones for her quilt and put sashing between her blocks.  Betty's was very striking with blacks and rich tones.

On all four corners of the quilt, was this block with the embroidered bouquet of flowers.  Lots of embroideries of buttons and accents of flowers here and there.  

See the embroidered scissors and the needle and thread?  This embroidered design is in different areas on the quilt.

Besides the main quote in the center of the quilt, there are others.

the seam of friendship 

is joined one stitch at a time

there's nothing more enjoyable than

the journey of making a quilt

sisters by stitches

enjoy the journey

Some of the words found in the quilt are reflect laugh be happy enjoy stitch by stitch share remember celebrate give thanks

Look at the "remember" block.  Do you see the embroidered straight pins and spool of thread?

I remember how painstakingly I chose each and every fabric, matching them, laying them side by side.  Even though the pieces are really small, I made sure I was pleased with each and every one.

I enjoyed appliqueing the little purple hearts.  That was before I learned Lori Holt's method of applique :)

I loved embroidering the three daisies, they are outlined in solid and dotted stitched lines.

I always looked forward to going to the block of the month class and seeing the other ladies in the class.  It was great fun to see the blocks they completed and the colors they chose.

Wouldn't it be fun to have a "reunion" of a specific quilt class?

  Has anyone ever done that before?

For the back, I chose an antique rose print that reminded me of the prints on the front.  I enjoyed sewing those skinny little rectangle pieces of fabric together so much that I sewed a strip onto the back.

My quilt hangs in my sewing room.  

I hope you have enjoyed "the journey of a quilter".

Fabric from the Other Side of the World

My son Addison, married a beautiful young woman (Mabulane) from Lesotho, a country surrounded by South Africa. They have a sweet little girl named Neo.  My son Sean is in the photo, just before he left for Brazil.

Majubere is Mabulane's sister, and she sent me some fabric that she bought in Maseru, Lesotho.

Here is Majubere with her niece (my grand daughter), Neo.

The fabric has a lot of sizing in it, making it very stiff.  Mabulane told me that when I wash it, it will be really soft.  I can't really tell what the fabric content is, if it's 100% cotton or a mix.  She sent me a yard of each of these prints.  I love the geometric designs!

There wasn't anything printed on the selvage, but the inside was had a stamp every 12" or so.

I only have 2 prints, so I think I'll make a nine patch.  Do you have any suggestions?

Fabric Memories

When  you make something with your quilting scraps, are you ever flooded with memories?  Loving memories of the people who are dear to you, and the quilts you made for them.
I made two really simple table runners out of a charm pack, Katie Jump Rope by Denyse Schmidt.

This table runner sits on a table behind the couch.

It was so simple to construct, and I love the straight, clean lines, accentuated by the jumbo rick rack on each side.  I wouldn't normally choose these colors, maybe that's one of the reasons I like it so much.

 I did the stiple quilting, it's really easy to do on small projects.

I was looking at the back of the table runner and it struck me that each and every one of the fabrics that I used reminded me of warm, sweet memories.  The red and green "swell" on the binding, is from a quilt I made for my daughter Vanessa.  Next to it, the pink and green, is from a baby quilt I helped my daughter Rebecca make.  The red polka dot is from my "grandmother's quilt".  The thin strip of gold fabric at the top with the multi colored dots, is from a baby wall hanging I made for my first grandchild, Bridger.  The next fabric with the yellow flowers and green leaves (Lila Tueller) is from the baby quilt I made for my grand daughter, Neo. On the next row, is the fabric that my daughter Lindsay chose to use as the backing for my "Comforts of Home" quilt. (I was living in Florida and didn't have access to a quilt shop that I liked) The white with the yellow stripe, is from a baby quilt I made for my grand daughter, Reagan.  The bottom row of fabric is the backing I used for my "Thanksgiving Dinner" quilt.  

This is the second table runner that I made for the guest bedroom, from the rest of the charm pack.

There aren't memories in these fabrics like there were in the previous table runner backing.  I did make my grand daughter Charlotte a dress from the bright flowered fabric to the right of the blue.

Quilting really is a labor of love and sometimes it can bring back waves of memories ♥