Last Minute Christmas Pillow

I had so much fun yesterday! As I was reading through my blog updates, I came across a free pattern from Tula Pink for an awesome, retro VW van pillow, made with the new Salt Water collection. I made a mental note to make that pillow some day.

Then, I ran across a post from My Go Go Life and Kim's great rendition of the Cruiser Pillow.  Quickly my mind went into overdrive and I thought, "That would be a kick to make that pillow for my sister-in-law for Christmas, particularly since she has an old VW Van."  My husband agreed, and so I began pulling fabrics from my stash to come up with a mod version of their maroon colored van.

Here's what I came up with.

Our last name is Neiwert, so I embroidered a big "N" on the front emblem.  Putting this together was so cool - I had this great black fabric with gold and silver stripes in it, so it looks just like tires. The colors and patterns are kinda funky - exactly the look I wanted.

I quilted the front with a paisley pattern in gold thread, just to give it that little psychedelic touch!  I did make one blunder in my quilting, and I'm always the first to point it out. I quilted the yellow background first, and then moved down on the right-hand side of the dark pink. I did about a fourth of it and couldn't see very well, so I stopped and went over to the left-hand side, moving back over to the right.  Oops. Should not have done that. I ended up with a crinkle in the fabric, down by the right tire.  Sigh. So glad that wasn't on a large quilt.  I eased the quilting into it as best I could, and have now learned a valuable lesson: don't do that again!

Here's the backside of the pillow. For that I just ran straight lines across it, mostly at half-inch increments, but I'd throw in a quarter-inch every now and then, just to mix it up a bit!

  

Here it is, started one day, finished the next, and now patiently sitting beneath the tree waiting to be boxed up and wrapped for my fantastic sister-in-law.  They can either use it in their van, or have a fun touch for their family room. Either way, I hope she gets as much of a kick out of it as I did making it!

Barb

Linking up with Link A Finish Friday by Richard and Tanya Quilts and Sew Darn Crafty Linky Party.