Ohio Star Blocks

Chosen fabrics for pillow front.

Today I’m working on a custom order for some pillows.  My mom and dad are getting their house ready to sell, and they have neutralized all of the paint in their house (a.k.a. no color on the walls).  I was visiting them a couple of weeks ago, and helped them paint.  While I was there my mom mentioned that she needed to make some new pillows for her living room couch.  She asked what colors I would recommend, and I suggested green and magenta because she had a photo of a flower with those colors in it and a lovely Austrian vase with similar tones.  I was going to help her pick some fabrics while I was there, but we just ran out of time.  So when I got home, I called her and told her that I would love to make some pillows for her.  I already have some pillow forms from Ikea (20″ square) and as you know, I have a lot of fabric.  She took me up on my offer, so I got to work.

It took me a little while to decide what pattern to use for the main block.  I chose the Ohio Star block pattern from Amy @ Stitchery Dickory Docks’ BOM Craftsy class last year.  I love the flower fabric, it is so vibrant and lovely, and I knew that it would be perfect for the center square of the block.  I fussy cut the flowers from the fabric to showcase the pop of magenta.  I matched the magenta color for the hour-glass blocks.  I combined the magenta cotton with a white linen.  I love the contrast of the two fabrics.  

Ohio Stars

Once the Ohio Star blocks were done, I used a thin border of a lime green cotton to outline the blocks and bring in the green from the flowers.  Then, I chose a darker khaki fabric for the sashing, but I wasn’t in love with the solid color, so I decided to break it up with some more fussy cut flowers from the main floral fabric.  It is finished off with a border of white, which I will also use for the back envelope opening.  (That’s not finished yet!)  Here is the finished pillow front.  I am trying to decide whether to add some thin batting behind the cover and do a little quilting before attaching the back.  Check back tomorrow for a look at the final pillows! 

Pillow #1

Pillow #2

Happy Crafting!

 

 

 

 

 

Advertisement

Cocktail (wreath) Anyone?

I love summer. The sunshine, the beach or pool, the green grass… I could go on and on, but one thing’s for sure, summer makes me smile.
A smile is something many of my fellow Coloradans could use lately. I have been so saddened by the devastation of the recent wildfire in Black Forest. It has impacted so many people, some I know well and some I’ve never met. It brings back the feeling of hopelessness that I felt a year ago with the Waldo Canyon fire also in Colorado Springs, which also impacted so many friends and family.
So as I continue to help any way I can and say extra prayers at night for those affected, I needed to do a little something to brighten my outlook. I saw this wreath idea on Pinterest many months ago and instantly knew I had to make one for the summer. So I started with a foam wreath form.

I also picked up a bunch of cocktail umbrellas from a great import store in Portland called Cargo, when I was there over my spring beak visiting my little sis. I bought four containers and only used two for my wreath.

Then I just opened the umbrellas and cut off about one inch from the end of each “toothpick” handle. Then I pushed them into the wreath form, making sure to overlap the umbrellas. I also had a glue gun handy to help secure a few loose umbrellas. Once I covered the entire form, I went back through and pushed in some more opened umbrellas to make it a bit more three dimensional.

The final wreath turned out great! Also don’t forget to add a ribbon to hang the wreath from. I added my pink ribbon right before I put in my last few umbrellas. I also didn’t cover the back of the form because I didn’t want it to stick out too mug from my door. I don’t have a good pic of the wreath on the door because the lighting is so bad, none of my pics turned out but here it is again before it was hung. I love it! Just the right amount of brightness and sunshine I needed this week!

Hugs,
Erica

My First Madelinetosh Project

 

So, as you may know, I am a newbie crocheter.  I took my first crochet lesson back in February.  Since then, I have definitely found, yet another, crafting addiction.  I love how portable crochet is!  Today in my class my students are winding down the year by watching The Hobbit and identifying elements of the archetypal hero’s journey from the storyline.  I brought my crochet with me today, so that I could work on it while my students watch the movie over the next three days.  I haven’t had a chance to actually crochet at all because I’ve been busy removing everything from my classroom walls and packing up my teaching stuff, but I do plan to use a little of my planning time to decompress and crochet.

The project I’m working on right now is a cowl (and up until about a week ago, I could have still worn it here in Denver! – It’s been unseasonably cold recently).  I’m using that gorgeous yellow Madelinetosh thread I wrote about a few weeks ago.  I picked it up while on vacation in Portland at KnitPurl.  Love that store!!  It was very inspirational perusing all of the beautiful fiber in their store.  Now I also want to learn to knit!  I will be taking a class sometime this summer.   This is my first foray with Madelinetosh, and I can understand the cult following with this fiber.  My local shop seems to sell out all…the…time!  It is soft and so easy to work with!  Love.  I also have some more Madelinetosh from the same trip but in a darker, eggplant variegated color.

How about you quilters out there?  Any fiber favorites?  Since I’m new to the game, I would love some suggestions.  I recently bought some of these fun little Bonbons.  They are from Lion Brand, and I got them at JoAnn’s.  I am such a sucker for cute little colorful things!!  Aren’t they so adorable?  I have been using them to practice making crochet flowers.  Lion Brand has 6 different color assortments.  I have the “Celebrate” and “Party”, both are metallic (sparkly!  another one of my vices).  But next up on my list are the “Beach” colors.  Such great colors – not sparkly though.

I hope you are all looking forward to the long Memorial Day weekend.  I have no set plans, and I am really excited about that!  My goal is to get comfy somewhere in the sun and read my book and do some crafting!  Sounds dreamy doesn’t it?