Finished Reading Pillow February 2, 2010

Yesterday’s mail brought with it the organic cotton fiberfil I have been waiting for…and I finished my Reading Pillow! Gift two sewn and given.  R. thoroughly enjoyed putting it to good use as soon as it was finished.  We will be taking a trip to Washington D.C. for her birthday this spring, ha ha most kids want a party but she wanted to go to the White House and to some museums (she is so my daughter!), so this pillow will be perfect for holding her book on the long car ride (how do kids read in the car and NOT get sick???)  We have never been to D.C. and are really excited about it.  We will be staying with my Aunt and Uncle and my Mom will be flying out with my Niece from California.  Do you think nine is to old to wear a birthday crown?  I love the crowns over at Frontier Dreams…I can see her now, a little birthday princess wondering the halls of the Smithsonian.

This completes gift 2 (not for any special occasion, it is a “just because” gift). My dining room is less one project…only six more W.I.P to go, all awaiting thread.  I dream of some day having my own sewing room with a wall filled with thread and another with fabric…

Have a great day!

Happy sewing,

Colette

Making Piping January 24, 2010

Do you have any sewing techniques that you are terrified to try?  For me, the big one was making piping.  Why was I so afraid of making piping do you ask?  Well it involved the scary task of cutting strips on the bias and using the zipper foot attachment for my sewing machine (the instructions in my Viking manual look so complicated) and I have never ever ever done either before.  Not to fear my friends, it was a piece of cake!  Ha, ha can you tell I was nervous by all of the pins in my fabric?

I am making a “Reading Pillow” (from a Sew Liberated pattern) for my daughter R.  I can picture her now…curled up on her purple bean bag in her book nook, using her reading pillow to hold that big heavy Hans Christian Anderson fairytale book, and reading away for hours…all the while I merrily sew away on my machine (undisturbed of course!) the two gifts I need to make next week.  A Mom is allowed to dream isn’t she?

We picked out two beautiful Heather Ross coordinating fabrics from her Medocino collection and purchased it from fabricworm‘s Etsy shop.  The fabric (pictured above) is “swim class” in sunset and will be used for the piping and accent pockets, and the main pillow fabric (below) is “underwater sisters” in fuchsia.  I can’t tell you how much I love her fabrics.  Not only are they colorful and whimsical, but they are incredibly soft, wash well, and are actually printed straight!

Also pictured here is my new Clover mini iron!  I’ve had my eye on it for a while (especially since I keep burning myself with my big iron!) but have been waiting for my $10 rewards certificate from A.C. Moore to purchase it.  It was $32.99 and I used a 40% off coupon on top of the $10 certificate so it ended up costing only $10.  I love a great deal!  I am going to be doing some appliqued gifts next week and thought it would be quite a luxury to use the mini iron on them.

Back to sewing … I will post a picture when the reading pillow is finished.

Happy crafting!