Winter's Lane {Quilted Throw Pillow Covers}

"Walking in a winter wonderland..."

My favorite fabric line to this date is quite possibly Winter's Lane.  Every time I see it being used by another quilter or sewist, I fall in love with it all over again. 

While constructing my second Winter's Lane quilt, Festive Flurries, I had several triangles that were left over from trimming in two different sizes.

It was out of character for me to chain piece them immediately after finishing the blocks, but I'm so glad I did.

I tucked them away for a bit and pulled them out last winter and trimmed and stitched them altogether when little man was sick home one day. 

I soon had two identical rectangle mini tops to quilt and "magically" make them pillows with panel scraps and leftover Fat Quarters I had saved from the line.

I had some leftover fabric from the extra leftover backing to use for the binding.

The leftover FQs were used to make the backings.  

I used a not-so-favorite fabric from my stash for the quilted backing part.  You don't see it until you unzip the hidden zipper to change the covers!

Quilt Stats:

Measures: 14" x 26"

Pattern: Multiple sized HSTs and squares

Fabric: Winter's Lane by Moda Fabrics, Kona Snow

Quilted: 1/4" seam on Babylock Symphony

Here you can see my tiny HSts and our Prancer girls tiny feet!!!  She occasionally gets involved in photoshoots!

I love that I can keep my Winter's Lane quilts around after I take down Christmas decorations.

It softens the blow.

Charlie's Whale Song {Quilt}

Yes.  I am talking about THE Charlie again.

 My friend was determined to make Charlie a whale blanket.  We hunted for tutorials and fabric.
Unfortunately, he landed in the hospital with chest tubes and other paraphenalia galore.

Which means she couldn't make it for him.
Which means I, of course, had to make it for him because he NEEDED it!

I.  Love.  This.  Quilt.  

Not because I made it but I will ALWAYS see mermaids and whales in my head when I think of Charlie.

Always!

 I can hear whales calling from afar when I think of him.  Calling me to listen.  Really listen and remember that sometimes things are out of our control and that we have to just float along in this world and see where the currents take us.

 

Jessica sent the Out to Sea fabric that we found online.

I pulled some stash. Some blues to say "boy".  I knew Jessica would be fine with purples and pinks, but I really wanted dark blue so the white whales would pop.

 Orange is one of her favorite colors.  I think it gives the quilt the unexpected pop and draws the eye to the mermaids hair and the fish.

 The blue gingham is part of Buttons stash from his nursery.

The memoirs text....well of course I had to include my scraps.
It talks about the sea, and princes, gypsies, and princesses...

Simple patchwork.  I don't actually think I have ever made one.  

I am not sure why, but will now rectify that situation from this day forward!

Love doodle pantograph quilting.

Love Doodle #1 by Sew Thankful

Love doodle says it all.   I loved how it had movement like water, but there is also a subtle heart pattern.  

There was enough of the Out to Sea for backing since I went with patchwork.  However,  I had to use minky.  I just can't resist minky for the little ones.   Especially the ones with dots!

Then I had a HORRIBLE problem.  Extra fabric.  What to do?

Two pillowcases.
I did two different bands of fabrics.  We have a running joke that I have everything matching in my house and she has no two pillowcases alike. So I couldn't have these two ENTIRELY matching, right?

I had just enough to make two throw pillows.

I have to admit, I wanted to keep the patchwork one.

Then I took a few scraps and made him a birthday hospital gown.

A simple t-shirt that I cut the back and made ties on.  I felt bad, however, because he was recently released from the hospital...so now I need to make him a full t-shirt!!!
A part of me hopes that he doesn't need a hospital gown again, but with his diagnosis, that certainly isn't a guarantee.

His auction is still running today until 10pm Eastern time.
I added my recent Christmas Star Quilt to be bid on.

It's not to late to help out the family with their expenses!!!

Stunned

 I honestly don't think I have ever made such progress in one week, like I have this past week!  I will try to be short and sweet with my comments because this is going to be a full post!

Finishes:

Teen Boy's Throw Pillows

His Marquette U. logo pillow that came with a big surprise on his birthday.

And the other boring *yawn* pillows.  

I have to admit...I like the four quadrant striped one!

Turtle Quilt

Finally done! 

The process took much longer than I wanted, but you can see all the details HERE finally made me happy.

In Progress:

Giant Vintage Star

Quilted it this weekend.

Binding is attached and on to hand sewing!

Rodeo Quilt

Cut my binding!

I opted for WOF cuts so that I could keep the diagonal stripe.  I just have to finish piecing the back and it is next on my list.

Primarily Sean's Quilt

Quilted swirls.

 However, a debacle.

Me.  Doubting my original measurements when I loaded it.

  Do you see that I am 4 inches short on my backing?!?!?  I now have to piece more backing to my already pieced backing.  I am a bit frustrated...so it sits and waits for me to gird my loins, as they say.

Spiders and Webs

On Ole Betsy as we speak.

Opted to make sure I remembered how to meander in case someone asks me to do it for them.  It isn't my favorite style, but it was a welcome and brainless after the debacle on the one above!

No Progress:

Who cares?!?! Did you see all that stuff up above??

Linking up

Going Crazy

 SPAM!!!

I cannot take it anymore.  My mailbox is filled with notifications of comments! 

A few of my favorites are when they tell me they like my website and want advice and then direct me to their loan payment website.  The strangest one to date is the continuous linkback to their stetchmark cream website.  Are they telling me I am pregnant based on photos or do they know something I don't know?!??!

At first, I did not mind because I was being notified, but they weren't being posted on the blog. But now they are not going to spam.

The straw that is finally breaking the camels back?  

They are repeatedly posting on my darling baby girls posts and Butterfly Kisses posts.

Enough is enough.

So I have to say, my dear followers, I am going to have to add word verification or "captcha" again edited: try the "Registered user" settings (as Sewing Mom suggested) meaning, no anonymous comments to see if it decreases, but might have to add word verification.  I sometimes go a bit mad myself with it on other blogs, especially on my phone, but it has to be done.  Maybe for just a bit until the spam stops?  I don't know.  I was impressed how well Google was capturing them, but lately the frequency has increased exponentially. 

Am I the only one that endured this?  What are some of your funny or not so funny comments?

-------------------------------

In other news...I did finally finish the rest of the throw pillows of Teen Boy. 

 He hasn't been complaining, but I really wanted to get the fabric out of my way and the pillows out from underneath my long arm.  Just one more project and his room is officially "done".  

Well.  I do need to get started on his t-shirt quilt.  He is probably leaving me in two years now.

Rip 'n' Sew Throw Pillows {Tutorial}

Our family room is very red, gold and green. I have been wanting to introduce some BLUE to it.  Seems crazy to have blue with all these boys? However, the "fall" colors drive me a bit crazy lately!

I have had this project in mind ever since I saw it in my magazine.

So I cannot take full credit.  

Photo of my scraps and magazine (BHG Fast and Fabulous Quilting Ideas)

I can say it is not as cute as the one in the magazine with it's ball trim, but I like it!

It seemed that last Wednesday when I was guest host at Freshly Pieced, there was some interest. So I thought I would share you the general run down!

I started off with a denim scrap panel from one of the boys' long ago denim duvet covers I made them 10 years ago.  I cut it the width and then the entire length (front and back side) of the pillow and added about an inch seam allowance.  However, I suggest you add more to the length to accomodate a button closure or what I call pillow sham flaps if you desire.

This is the easy part.  Grab all of your scrap bins and started finding pieces that are mostly the length of the panel I had and the colors you want.
 My first priority was to make sure I used up some of the scrap home decor fabrics that are just taking space up in my scrap bins. 

RIP

You simply rip the fabric.  You find a spot about 1-2 inches wide and start ripping it.

 If a fabric won't give? Snip a starter cut and rip away. 

 Some pieces ended up being cut like that interfaced red woven fabric below. 

They remained strong against my onslaught!

SEW

Grab your scraps and sit in front of the machine and add the strips.
A straight stitch down the middle.  That is all.

Trial Run

I debuted it on my pillow form by just wrapping it around and I was really happy with the finished panel!  I think it would be really fun as the front of a pillow sham in a boys bedroom!

CLOSURE

Now this is the easy part if you are making it permanent.  Stitch the short ends right sides together with an inch seam allowance.  Fold in half.  Stitch one end together by machine. Turn. Stitch open end close.

Problem?

I wanted a throw pillow cover.   I had a conundrum.  Button closure or zipper? A quilter remarked on my guest post that the frayed bits might get caught in a zipper.  So I started scrummaging through my button collection.  However, a new challenge presented itself.  My panel was too short on the back for a good overlap flap to accomodate buttonholes.  So zipper it was.

After a little brainstorming, I decided to bind the ends like a quilt and then add a zipper.

Trim the edges and add a folded 2.5 inch strip to both short ends with a 1/4 inch seam allowance.

I then ironed my binding and started doing my handsewing to the back...and then had an idea.  Why not attach the zipper to the binding before I handstitched it down?

You already have a crease where the binding would fold over, so pin the zipper to the edge (like the photo above) so that just the teeth (or coils if we are getting technical) are exposed against the binding.

I left the zipper open so I could eye the crease.  Stitch down using a zipper foot and a straight stitch.

This is preference thing, but I don't like having problems with the loose edge of the zipper.  To tame the floppy zipper tape, stitch the zipper to the outer edge of the binding also.

Handstitch the binding down with a ladder stitch, just as you would with a quilt.

Fold the panel so that zipper is in the center back.  Trim the ends because they might be a bit uneven.

Stitch an overlock stitch to keep the end strongs.  Pillows in my house take a lot of beating.  Since I didn't have my serger out,  I used what I thought resembled some sort of over-lock stitch!  It was late and I was too tired to look it up in the manual.

CAUTION!!!

If you decide to attach a zipper, make sure you leave the zipper OPEN a bit so you can turn it once you sew the ends. You can actually unzip something from behind, but it is quite a bear. 

 And I speak from experience!

When you flip it right side out?  A nice clean edge against the zipper!

I am really happy with my two pillows!  

I think they bring the perfect punch of blue!

Now it is time to take on the couch....