scrap happy pillow

Another day, another pillow. (Hee hee!)
This one is pieced much like my scrap happy purse.
I like it in pillow form very much!
It uses strips that start about 1" wide or so....
because I just can't seem to throw anything away.
(I guess that is a good and a bad thing.)
It measures about 20" square.
Luckily I have a brand new pillow form to stuff inside it. :)

This is scrap project #49/101.  (Yay!!!!)

one way to make a pillow form

I've decided that it is pillow week here at crazy mom quilts. All pillows, all week. Yes, I'm feeding my obsession. :)

I get a lot of questions about pillow forms, so I thought I would share an easy tutorial for them. I think the store bought ones are overpriced and kind of wimpy, so I like to make my own. It is easy, quick and you can make them any size you want. Plus, you will have a much better product in the end.

First, you need some heavy weight fabric. Decorator weight fabric, light weight canvas, heavy linen, or even denim works well. I'm not too picky about what I use. I usually watch for a sale and stock up at that time. Make sure that the fabric feels good. I don't use quilting cotton because it's just not sturdy enough.

Determine your pillow size, then add 1/2" to that measurement. I'm making a 20" finished pillow, and I'm using a 1/4" seam allowance, so I cut two squares at 20.5". (If you want to use a 1/2" seam allowance, add 1" to your finished size.)

Place the fabrics right sides together and pin all the way around. I like to double pin at the start and stop points, just to remind myself to leave an opening. (If you look at the photo above, I placed x's where I double pinned.) Leave a 5" opening.

Trim the corners.

Turn your piece right side out. Poke each corner out using a blunt tip scissors, the end of a paintbrush, a knitting needle...whatever you have available.

Now it's time to stuff. I use poly fiberfill because it's cheap and it works pretty well. All that poly gets hidden beneath layers of cotton anyway. Make sure to pull it apart into smaller pieces before you stuff it in.

For the corners, take a skinny string of leftover batting, ball it up and shove it far into the point. I tried this for the first time today and it worked very well! It seems like the poly fill likes to bounce right out of the corners, but the batting stayed snug. This gives the corners better form.

The key is to stuff it just enough. If you overfill it, the pillow will be hard. If you don't fill it enough the pillow will be flat. You want it just right, because picking out hand stitching and adjusting the amount of stuffing is a drag. (I know all too well.)

At this point I usually squish the pillow from the center of each side and wiggle it around a little bit to smooth out any lumps or bumps.

Fold in the raw edges, finger crease, then clip (or pin) it shut. I use clover wonder clips for this step. (If you don't have any wonder clips, get some. They will be a great addition to your sewing notions.) Hand stitch the opening closed.

And you are done!!! Super easy, right? I LOVE making these! When I make pillow covers, I make the finished size 20" as well, and it's a perfect fit every time.

Like I said, you can make them any size you want. I made a few pillow forms that were 36" square, for my kids' giant pillows. (These have quilted pillow covers on them, just to clarify.) I used the same technique for the pillow form above, but I cut two 36 1/2" squares for these. I filled them with poly batting, because my friend had given me a giant roll. You can read more about that in this post. I wouldn't recommend purchasing poly batting as a filler, but if you have any on hand that you want to use up, this may be the place to do so.

So, that's how I make my pillow forms. If you have any questions, I'll try to answer them in the comments.

I'm curious, do you make or buy your pillow forms?

Happy Monday to you!

A's abstract II

Welcome to finish it up Friday!

What a week it's been! Extreme cold, kids home from school and tax deadlines made for a crappy week. But....it's Friday and my tax stuff is DONE. Yippee!!! That totally counts as a finish.

I managed to finish a quilt top, too! My daughter (7) designed this quilt last July and it's been hanging out on the lower quadrant of my design wall ever since. Well, I decided I needed my design wall back, so I sewed it up. There's nothing like a deadline to motivate me to finish some unrelated and unimportant task. (I have a degree in procrastination. ha!)

Sewing it up was not as easy as it looks. I used some non-conventional piecing techniques and there were a few partial seams that had me puzzled. It was a fun challenge, though! I lost a little bit of the wonkiness on some of the pieces, but I did the best that I could without stressing too much.

I REALLY like it! Kids have such an intuitive sense of design. There is a great disregard to matching everything perfectly. It made me cringe a bit to put the dark teal next to the hot pink, but in the grand scheme of things, it works wonderfully. I love that there is just one little pop of orange, too. It's so interesting and I can't stop studying it. I'm glad that I am able to sew up and preserve a little bit of her artwork in this way. She is ecstatic and she's already talking about snuggling up in it. (That makes me so happy!)

It measures 66" x 62".

This is a follow up to her first abstract quilt, which she designed when she was 4. She's already talking about a 3rd quilt. That's my girl. :)

Now it's your turn! Please link up your finishes (and your finishes only)! I'd appreciate your cooperation in this...and so would the people linking through. Thank you!

Have a great weekend!

a little bit of random

Just a few random things to share today.....

While I think it's dandy, for some reason a couch full of pillows does NOT amuse my husband. He thinks we need to buy another couch so we have a place to sit. (I dare not tell him that I want to make 100 more!) I'm liking my little collection so far.

I've been cutting triangles for a new project and my ruler was slipping around like crazy. It was not only frustrating, but it was seriously compromising my accuracy. I didn't have any grippy thingies (technical term) on hand, so I had to get creative.

I got out the duct tape (of course!) and put a few pieces (sticky side facing the back) on the ruler so it wouldn't slip around. Much to my surprise, it worked like a charm! Plus, I get bonus points for being soooo classy! Right? :)

(If you think that's bad, you should see my mailbox. Think ratchet straps and bungee cords. Yep. We are those people. Just for a few weeks. Good times.)

Happy Wednesday! xo

Monday, Monday

It sure feels like a Monday here. Good gravy, I'm sick of this cold. Winter is starting to really wear on my nerves. It's too cold to go to school again, and in MN, that's saying something! No school tomorrow, either. We may have to go to school into July if things keep up in this vein.

Ok, on to happier things!

I finished this little Irish chain scrap quilt last week. It's made from the trimmings from this quilt. The 9 patches finish at 1 1/2"! I started making them to add to my mini nines quilt, but they looked so cute on their own, they became their own quilt. I hand quilted it, very primitively, I may add. I started quilting it at guild while I was listening to a lecture on what it takes to win a blue ribbon at a quilt show. Ha! The irony of that still makes me laugh. This quilt will win no ribbons, but I love it anyway! It measures 8.25" x 11.5". It's scrap project #47/101.

Last Friday I made another trip to SR Harris. I really shouldn't have gone (it's like an alcoholic walking into a bar, I tell ya'), but I went anyway. This was me showing restraint. (Are you laughing yet? I don't blame you!)

My daughter had a birthday party to go to on Saturday, so I sewed up a few little zip pouches for the occasion. I used this tutorial for the larger one (although I boxed out the corners with a 4" measurement instead of 2"). The little one is just a copy of a coin purse I made years ago. From what I hear, they were a hit. The little pouch was made from scraps, so it's #48. Almost half way to my goal of 101. Sweet!

Happy Monday to you!

winner

The winner of the book Quilt Improv is Kathy S!
Thanks to all of you who entered the giveaway!

a quilt for my brother

Welcome to finish it up Friday!

A few weeks ago my sister mentioned that my brother was in need of a twin sized quilt for his couch. About that time the economy blocks were everywhere on Instagram, and after seeing about 100 photos of them, they became somewhat irresistible. The final straw was seeing this photo. The muted color scheme really inspired me. Knowing that this quilt would serve two purposes, I gave myself permission to start something new. (New year, new quilt!) I used all stash fabrics, some that I had for over 3 years, so that felt pretty great!

I quilted it very simply, using (not so) straight lines, about 1/8" from each horizontal and vertical seam line. That didn't feel like quite enough quilting, so I did a single line of quilting on the diagonal lines. I didn't stress over perfection in the quilting. (That takes some effort for me!) In the end, it turned out to be a very soft and snuggly quilt.

I pieced the back, being certain to use up the 3 trial blocks I made when figuring out the measurements. No additional orphan blocks cluttering up the studio. Yay!

I machine bound it and that was FUN! I didn't have quite enough of the zig zag fabric to bind the whole quilt, so I added a strip of polka dots to fill the gap. Once again, polka dots save the day. :)

You can find the block measurements here.
It measures about 66" x 91".

I'm terrible at surprises, so when I saw my brother last weekend I showed him a photo of his quilt top. He seemed excited about. I also asked if he minded that there would be flowers on the back. (He doesn't mind at all.) I'm looking forward to giving him the finished quilt. I think he (and his kids) will use and love it. Just the way it should be!

Now it's your turn! Please link up your finishes for the week. Thanks for joining me for finish it up Friday!

a spiral (and oval) quilting tutorial

As requested, I'm going to share a tutorial on how to spiral quilt. (I'll talk a little bit about oval quilting, too.) I've done a few quilts in this fashion now and I've learned a few things along the way. Hopefully this tutorial will give you the confidence to try this technique!

The quilt I'm showing in the photos is my scrap vortex quilt, which you can see finished here. It is a king size! Smaller quilts are easier to spiral quilt, obviously, but it is feasible to do almost any size on your home machine. If your back can take it, that is! :)

First, find the center of your quilt. The polka dot was within 1" of the center, so I used it as the starting point. Close enough! It would have looked awkward to have the center just a bit displaced from such a natural focal point. I drew a circle and spiral with a water soluble marker. (I use the clover brand fine tip disappearing pen. It's a great one!) I tried quilting the very center with my walking foot on my Janome 3 different times, but it never was quite smooth enough. So, finally, I moved over to the JUKI and used my free motion foot.

That looked so much better! Bury your knots, as shown in this tutorial. It's a little bit of a pain, but it's soooooo tidy when you are done! I bury my knots as I go, so I don't have a bunch to deal with at the end.

At this point I switched over to my Janome and used the walking foot to quilt the rest of it. I use the width of the walking foot as a guide, so the quilting lines end up being about 1/2" apart. It's perfect spacing! I keep my needle in the center position.

Once in awhile the width of my lines waver. Here I was about 1/8" off or so. In the big scheme of things, that's ok! You really won't notice it in the end. Just try to keep the arcs as smooth as possible.

'What do you do about the bulk?'
That's a fair question, if you look at the photo above! The good news is that only 1/2 of the quilt (or less) will be in the throat of your machine at any time. It takes a lot of turning and shifting, but as you spiral your way outward, it gets easier. Work slowly, adjust often and most importantly...support the bulk of the quilt so it doesn't pull against the needle.

I used the dining room table when I was quilting the center. It was ideal because there was a lot of room to spread out the bulk of the quilt. (A cushion for your chair is a must, too. For real!) After my husband gave me too much grief for having half a basement to quilt in AND taking up the dining room table, I moved back down to my normal quilting quarters.

My table downstairs isn't very large, so I set up two tray tables right next to my work space to support the quilt. (An ironing board would work well, too.) It helps a bunch!

Once you get to the corners, just continue to echo the arcs, starting and stopping at the edges. (This is where one can really appreciate an auto thread cutter!) It's very common to breathe a big sigh of relief once you hit the final corner. But it's oh-to-satisfying to be able to quilt your own quilts. Even (or especially) the big ones!

For the oval quilting on the lipstick quilt I used the same technique, except I drew an oval (a very long oval) in the center. I used the stripe of the center block as a guideline. I used my walking foot for the center, but wasn't thrilled with it. After I finished quilting, I went back and ripped out the center lines that were bugging me and used my free motion foot to re-do the quilting. It took me 3 tries to make it look decent and in the end I had to forgive myself for a few wobbly lines. {Perfection is over-rated, right?}

I think I've learned my lesson and next time I will just start with my free motion foot for the center and hopefully I'll save myself some stitch ripping. It seems to work the best for me, anyway.

I would like to give a shout out to Marianne, who posted her great spiral quilting tutorial. It gave me the idea and the confidence to give spiral quilting a shot in the first place. Thanks, Marianne!

If you have any questions, I'll try to answer them in the comments. Happy spiral quilting!

quilt improv blog tour

I'm happy to be participating in the Quilt Improv book tour today.


(photo from Quilt Improv, used with permission)

This book, by Lucie Summers, grabbed me from the first page. I read it in one sitting, almost every word on every page. The photography alone is inspiring! The quilts are gorgeous. I love that they were inspired by everyday life. It's a really beautiful book.


(photo from Quilt Improv, used with permission)

I've done a fair amount of improv piecing, so I wanted to try my hand at something new-to-me. I chose the quarter circles block, which Lucie describes as a freehand version of the drunkard's path block. I was a little nervous to jump in, but I had a blast!

My quilted storage boxes provided the color inspiration for my project. I saw them stacked precariously upon one another and the color combo caught my eye from across the room. (That was probably over a year ago.) I knew that I would use this color scheme for something, someday.

This is what I came up with when I combined the two. I'm very happy with it! Notice that there are LOTS of polka dots. Always. I thought that the mis-matched curves would make me a little crazy, but I was able to embrace the improv. Yay! (You never know until you try it!)

 I quilted the patchwork with some honeycomb quilting, then turned it into a pillow cover.

 The backing is a fun and bright print by dear stella. (I'm dreaming of spring, apparently.)

The pillow cover is about 20" square. This was such a fun project to make! I'm glad that I branched out and I'm looking forward to revisiting the technique again, on a larger scale. So many possibilities!

(By the way, this is scrap project #46/101!)

F & W Media is kindly offering a giveaway of this fantastic book. If you would like to win a copy of your very own, please leave a comment in this post. In your comment, I'd love to hear what inspires YOU. Please, only one comment per person. Be sure I have a way of contacting you, should your name be drawn. Good luck!

edited to add: the giveaway is now closed.

Be sure to check out the other stops on the blog tour and the stitch, craft, create blog, too.

December:

Mon 16^th – Summersville
Wed 18^th – The Long Thread
Thur 19^th – A Stitch In Dye
Fri 20^th – Fresh Modern Quilts
Sun 29^th – Quiltville’s Quips & Snips
 

January:

Mon 6^th – Diary of a Quilter
Wed 8^th – Blueberry Park
Thur 9^th –  Sew Take a Hike
Fri 10^th – Very Kerry Berry
Mon 13^th – Sew Justine Sew
Wed 15^th – Lily’s Quilts
Thur 16th – Cut To Pieces 
Fri 17^th – Happy Zombie
Mon 20^th – Freshly Pieced
Tue 21^st – Fresh Lemons Quilts
Wed 22^nd – Crazy Mom Quilts
Thur 23^rd – Gen X Quilters
Fri 24^th – Handmade by Alissa
Mon 27^th – Don’t Call Me Betsy
Tue 28^th – I’m a Ginger Monkey
Wed 29^th – Sew Mama Sew

the lipstick quilt

Welcome to finish it up Friday!

This is probably the funkiest quilt I've ever made. I'm very happy with the results! It was challenging at some points, as all quilts are. It started with some mustard colored blocks from Dan's curves class last summer at Camp Stitch-a-lot. A few weeks later I came up with the setting. I love the non-traditional layout and the fact that there are 9 blocks, but it's still a rectangular quilt. (Square quilts are not my favorite.)

It's made up of mostly kona cottons and then just a few prints. I like how the two play together. I also like that one odd triangle.

To continue with the funky theme, I quilted it in one concentric oval. It took awhile and a lot of thread. One of the reasons that I chose that quilting design was because I didn't want the back to be all thread-y. (Pebbling was the runner up idea, but the back would have looked like a hot mess, probably. I didn't want that.)

The backing was a perfect match...an unbelievable match...found at SR Harris. I love how the quilting shows up on the print.

For binding I squeaked by with what I had in my stash. I didn't have enough fabric of either color, so I did a little of each. I would have matched the main color to the binding, if I had had enough, but this is a fun design element, too. I machine bound it. It's been awhile and I need more practice! (I need to let go of just a few imperfections. Sheesh!) But I love the quick finish that it produces. It's durable, too.

It's washed and dried already, so it's all crinkly. It measures 61" x 84".

Now it's your turn! Please link up your finishes (and your finishes ONLY, please). Thanks for joining me for finish it up Friday!