The weather has been frightful! Not as horrible as Michigan weather can be in February, but just not warm enough that we want to don 16 layers to head outside to do something sporty. I did laboriously attire myself in two shirts, pants, snow pants, heavy jacket, face mask, hat, gloves, two pairs of socks, and my clunky subzero-rated boots to shovel the driveway yesterday. It was not what I would call a “Good Time.”
This past weekend, I had planned to work on some scrap blocks. But, as I sat down at the sewing table, some little blocks that I had sewn together from those triangles that get cut off when making flying geese caught my eye. There were just enough for two small pillows. (Eventually, there will be a second pillow. I will explain why there’s only one for now in a bit.)
The flying geese cast off blocks measured approximately 2-3/8.” I cut blocks of the same size from a green print. (Interestingly, this fabric worked great for this project as it ended up looking like grass, which went well with the flowers I ended up sewing onto the pillow. Sometimes the unplanned things end up amazing and looking planned!)
I added a strip of green and pink to the top and the bottom to make the pillow more square. There will be sadness when all the scraps of that pink fabric are gone. I think it’s my all-time favorite fabric!
I used Wonder-Under to affix some flowers and stems that I hand drew onto scraps to the background. I used clear thread and a blanket stitch to help hold the flowers down. For the rest of the quilting, I just meandered around. As a bonus, I used a hideously ugly scrap of yellow-green fabric as backing for the quilted top. (Occasionally, I will purchase a grab bag of mystery fabric scraps. Usually these contain some great stuff. Sometimes, though, they contain something absolutely awful like that yellow-green fabric.)
As I sewed the final bits of the pillow form together, my sewing machine began to slow down. Panic set in! My husband drove it to the repair shop on Monday and was told it might be 10 DAYS before it was repaired…and it might not be fixable.
There was more panic at this point! (Sewing machines are expensive!)
Thankfully, I got a call today that it is working fine now…and I was told that I should probably oil it a bit more often. Oops! I’ll be thrilled to get it back tomorrow, and I hope to get started on that second pillow this weekend.
Lazy Saturday Quilts 