Flying south

That's exactly what we did last week and it sure was nice to get away from the cold. Hubby and I plus one of our daughters and her husband went to visit a giant people trap built by a mouse. It was loads of fun and we all wanted to stay; we contemplated declaring our room as our embassy but we figured that probably wouldn't end up working out so well for us so, alas, we journeyed home, but a piece of our hearts remains at the Happiest Place on Earth and with the warm, sunny weather!

Back to reality. Yikes, it's cold! But, we are very thankful we have not been enduring the constant snow and frigid temperatures being experienced in so many parts of Canada and the US this year. My mind must have been thinking about the wisdom of the birds that take refuge in southern climes during the chilly months because I have had flying geese on the brain for awhile (that's not a medical condition, in case you are new to quilting and wondering!) and they continued to inspire me going into my most recent swap adventure. A few weeks back I was honoured to receive an invitation to the Skinny Pinny swap over on Flickr. Take a look at this pincushion; did anybody else do like I did and smack their hand against their forehead saying "how come I never thought of that?" I think it's brilliant and it is easier than pie to make (no, really, it is). I am constantly pulling out pins and laying them on the desk right in front of my sewing machine only to cringe when they (frequently) do a little jig as a result of the machine vibration and land squarely on the floor in front of me. When this swap is done I will have a proper place to keep them. Just for the record, I do have a magnet-pin-holding-doohickey, but I keep it off to the side because it's a bit bulky.

I checked out my partner's Flicker stream and blog and concluded she likes to use lots of colours together and that made me think of a rainbow. Then I wanted to come up with something else to include in the package and I thought "what sewist or quilter doesn't like receiving fabric?" so I made up a little rainbow of fat 16ths to go along with the pincushion. I also wanted to include a treat and Skittles - where you can "taste the rainbow" - seemed like a perfect match.

It's all wrapped up now, waiting to head south. Sure wish I could sneak myself along with it!

e.

WIP Wednesday - the (almost) wordless one with the terrible pictures

This photo...fails to inspire. Winter. Evening. No light. My sewing/laundry room floor. I promise, this is prettier in real life than it looks.

I don't need to explain what is terrible about this photo, do I?

Linking up with WIP Wednesday at Freshly Pieced.

e.

A Charley Harper pillow

Over the course of a couple evenings last week I made a pillow for my living room using a fun Charley Harper print I had purchased specifically for that purpose. I knew I wanted something very simple and I figured the print was interesting enough on it's own, so in the end, I did not piece anything, I just cut a square of fabric and called it good.

I wanted to make the top interesting, though, so I came up with a quilting design that mirrored the angle of the leaves in the print. I put my ruler down along one "line" of leaves and marked a straight line. From there, I just drew lines 3/4" apart in both directions until my square was covered. I like the denseness of the quilting; it adds a nice body to the project.

I wanted a zipper closure for the back which I hid under a flap of contrasting solid fabric.

It's sitting on the couch now, offering itself up, occasionally, as a throne for one rather indulged beagle. I like how it turned out although I am going to change out the pillow form inside. I have a preference for feather-filled pillow forms and since nobody in our house is allergic, I use them in all my pillows. As it happened, I didn't have one on hand but I plan to pick one up (and a couple extra) next time I make it to Ikea (they are a good price there).

Another project done early in the year. Yay!

e.