Pillow Pizzazz

My goodness. I am SO glad that we are nearing the end of November. It's a very hectic time of year for my Day Job and I'm always glad to see Thanksgiving on the horizon.

This year was a special treat because after I finished hosting my accounting seminars in Boise, I hopped on a plane and flew up to Seattle to spend a few days of quality Girl Time with my daughter.  And since I didn't want to go empty handed, and since her birthday is next week, I rushed around and whipped up a couple of pillows to add some color to her apartment.  Plus, I squeezed them into my carry-on bag so I wouldn't have to pay postage or checked bag fees. What a clever person I am, eh? Of course, my suitcase literally flew open when unzipped, but that just added to the surprise.

In June we were together in Redmond, Oregon, and so of course we had to make a trip up to Sisters to browse the quilt shop there. Jessica had recently moved into her new apartment and so we she picked out fabrics for some pillows.

I told her to pick out 6 of her favorite fabrics and I'd worry about patterns later (time was crucial as the boys were waiting outside for us).  OMG, this is what she came up with.  She designs fine jewelry and has a good eye for color, but this was such an eclectic array! How was I going to use all these prints, flannels and linens together?

I have wanted to make her something since forever, but she had that leariness about mom making things for her. So this is the first thing I've made for her. And with these colors/prints/designs to work with, I was stymied.  This stack of fabric has been sitting on my cutting table all summer and fall. Staring at me. Taunting me to come up with a plan. Finally, with her birthday coming up, I just dove in and created something.

And she loved them!  She has a bright pink couch, and so the colors in the fabrics tone it down some.  The first pillow I made was the Deer Pillow.  I found a pattern online at Sew Homegrown. It's inspired by a pillow the blogger saw at Anthropologie with an amazing price tag. Of course you can make your own for a fraction of the cost.

The background fabric is Gloxinia by Phillip Jacobs and I simply satin stitched the deer silhouette which was cut from a solid Kona fabric.  The envelope backing is a neutral linen. No quilting involved on this one!

For the second pillow, I pulled some fabric from my stash from the Pretty Potent line by Anna Marie Horner and blended it with some from Moonshine by Tula Pink. The arrow flannel on the side is a fabric she chose, as well as the other flannel on the back. I did some easy straight stitching on the side and top and bottom of the deer panel. To add the true Quilty feel that she was looking for, I loaded the pillow on my long arm, used a teal green thread and outline stitched the deer and filled it in with swirls and echoes.  You can't really see the quilting in this photo - taken with my cell phone camera on the fly!

All in all, a great visit.  Here's a pic of me without my sunglasses on as we were having breakfast one chilly morning at a nearby cafe.

And here's the most cutest, most adorable Grandkitty you will ever see, and she's all mine! She's a very animated kitty, and if you'd like to see more of her and her clever daily quips, she has her own Instagram account over at Copper_Kitty. She's a sweetheart!

So glad to be back and have some time to catch up with my quilting clients and to do some quilting of my own. Life is good!

Quilting again with a smile,
Barb

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