I'm trying to make December enjoyable.  Imagine that!  For me, that means cutting waaaaay back on my own expectations of myself and, in turn, I hope that will reduce the holiday stress.  To that end, I am making just one gift this year.  Shocking, but true.  I spent some time working on this one word proverbial quilt last night and this morning.  I really like how it's coming together.

Also coming together are the latest batch of camera straps.  The final shop update for 2010 will take place on Friday, December 3 at 2:00 pm EST.  Everything sold on Friday or over the weekend will ship on Monday, December 6th.  Anything sold after the weekend will ship within two business days.  I am happy to ship overseas, but I cannot guarantee Christmas delivery.  That said, in my experience, air mail to most places any other time of the year takes about 10 business days.  You might want to keep that in mind.

It's 50 degrees outside.  I'm going to take this opportunity to hang the garland.  It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas around here. And I am getting kind of giddy.

I'm trying to make December enjoyable.  Imagine that!  For me, that means cutting waaaaay back on my own expectations of myself and, in turn, I hope that will reduce the holiday stress.  To that end, I am making just one gift this year.  Shocking, but true.  I spent some time working on this one word proverbial quilt last night and this morning.  I really like how it's coming together.

Also coming together are the latest batch of camera straps.  The final shop update for 2010 will take place on Friday, December 3 at 2:00 pm EST.  Everything sold on Friday or over the weekend will ship on Monday, December 6th.  Anything sold after the weekend will ship within two business days.  I am happy to ship overseas, but I cannot guarantee Christmas delivery.  That said, in my experience, air mail to most places any other time of the year takes about 10 business days.  You might want to keep that in mind.

It's 50 degrees outside.  I'm going to take this opportunity to hang the garland.  It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas around here. And I am getting kind of giddy.

I sewed up this revesible cowl for a friend's birthday last week.  I used my own pattern from the current issue of Stitch, but switched out the fabrics.  Instead of velvet, I went with the very last bit of a lovely wool/cashmere blend from my stash.  I skipped the interlining because the wool ups the warmth and lined it with some Anna Maria Horner voile (Liberty of London Tana lawn would be nice, too).  It's completely reversible - both the wool and the voile are super soft against the skin.  This one is a bit narrower than the dimensions in the magazine - I only had a fat quarter of the voile which was 27" wide and it worked just fine.  I wouldn't go any small than this or it won't go over your head.  Bonus:  from start to finish, which includes some hand stitching, this took an hour.  It probably would have taken even less if I hadn't waffled on which print to line it with.  So it's great for gift making and giving.

I've received numerous emails about camera straps.  I'm aiming for a shop update somewhere around Decemer 1st.  That date is not set in stone - I'll be back on Monday with an exact date and time.  It's all dependent on just how much I get accomplished this weekend.  First things first: pie crust today, pies tomorrow.  My parents are here for Thanksgiving so I'm going to sign off to enjoy their company.

Happy Thanksgiving to all of you that are celebrating.  I, myself, am extremely grateful for this blog and all of you that read it.  The time you take to read, comment, cheer me on and sometimes commiserate is a great gift in my life. Thank you.

I said I'd be back Sunday and it's Tuesday. Life, you know.

I didn't manage any pillow action on Saturday as I was busy hosting a paper doll birthday party for Kate.  More details on that later.  But, back to the pillows... Sunday night I whipped up one more for the family room couch.  It's 18" square with piping and I'm kind of kicking myself for not buying more than 1 yard of this fabric because I really want to make one more just like it.  I probably could have made it work had I thought it through before I started cutting, but I didn't.  Oh well.

That brings the grand total for the week to 11 pillows - not too shabby, if I may say so myself.  I have two more I'd love to finish before our holiday guests (hi Mom and Dad!) arrive next week and I am going to try to fit those in between Fatty's birthday, dentist appointments, hair cuts, swim meets and the like.  I'd also like to make another dog bed, but I'm not counting on getting a chunk of time big enough for that endeavor. This is me trying to be realistic, you know.

I'd like to thank you all for following along and making pillows with me.  I know that it is not the most exciting of blogging topics, but I hope you maybe learned a little something.  I really enjoyed having a crafting focus and a reason to use all the pillow forms hanging around the sewing room.  And, bonus, my family room is looking pretty darn good at the moment.  Photos forthcoming. Pinky swear.

It's been a busy few days around here, but I've still been working on my pillows.  I cut and chain pieced the blades for these dresden plates on Wednesday.  Yesterday, I sewed them together and appliqued them to the pillow fronts.  This afternoon I put the zippers in and sewed the pillows.  The blue and white ticking is the same fabric as the chairs in the family room and the dresden plates are made entirely from scraps.  I tried to keep to blue/red/green/gold color palette, but it's loosely interpreted.  At 24" square, these pillows are going to be used as floor pillows.  The girls can scoot around on them, sit on them while they read and draw, and the rest of my new pillows will stay on the couch.  That is the goal anyways.

It's Kate's 9th birthday today and we have some celebrating to do.  Back on Sunday with a pillow week wrap up.  See you then.

I tackled Kate's pillows yesterday.  They are meant to be like Euro shams that you see in catalogs, but they measure 22" vs. the standard 26".  I just like the look of two pillows behind her monogrammed sham (which I did not make nor monogram myself) better and two 26" pillows is too much.  So 22" it is.  Kate has two twin beds in her room so I made four pillows.  They all have zippers and I pre-washed this seersucker fabric so they could be laundered without worrying about shrinkage.  The fabric is a match to her window seat and will look fantastic with her quilts if I ever finish them.

Again, I wanted to put piping on these pillows for some detail, but I ran out of fabric.  Instead, I did a small flange (I guess that's what you call it).  I cut the fabric to 23" square and sewed the front and back together with a 3/8" seam.  Once turned outside, I pressed the edges flat and then topstitched all the way around 5/8" from the edge.  It's kind of like a reverse french seam.  I like how it gives a little interest to the pillows without commanding too much attention.

That's eight pillows for the week.  I'm trying for two more tonight.  Back tomorrow with details on those.  In the meantime, check out the flickr group for some really great inspiration.

The video tutorials put me a day behind on my show and tell.  No big shakes, but I am going to keep posting what I did the day before so I can keep track.

I made two of these pillows for the family room couch.  They are 22" square and were supposed to have some of that red and white tassel trim shown in the photo a couple of posts down so I didn't add any piping.  I hated, really really hated, the way the tassel trim looked so I left it off.  I'm wishing I had put piping in, but I didn't have enough fabric anyhow so there was no turning back.  I do think they look good, especially with yesterday's pillows so yay!  I'm well on my way to a very spruced up family room.  And maybe a new Christmas tree skirt so I can use that trim after all.

Back tomorrow with Kate's pillows - I knocked out all four of those today!  Woot!

Not that kind of pillow talk. Sheesh.

I spent a great deal of time sewing this weekend.  Those scraps on the floor are just a small portion of the big pile left over.  Consequently, I have three new colorways of camera straps that will go in the shop on Thursday.  I'll update it at 1 p.m. EST.  Sound good?  I don't think there will be any scrap bags yet, but if all goes well, there may be something else.  I hate to be cryptic, but it's all about timing such. And speaking of timing, there will be one last shop update in late November.  So it's now or November to get a camera strap before the holidays.  Just so you know.

I took this photo last night with quilts on the brain.  Specifically, how I really want to make one or two, or five right now. Right. Now.  The more I look at it, though, the more I feel that my family room needs some new pillows.  I had those chairs slipcovered this summer and got stalled on the re-decorating front.  I have this crazy notion to make a pillow a day for a week.  At least that would give me something to blog about.  Until I manage to get to the quilts, that is.