Freebird pattern

I have a jelly roll in the Freebird line. So I thought that I would go with a bird pattern for the pillows I am making for myself. I think I can figure out how to get all the angles, although I might have to test it first. =) I want input. I picked out the strips I want to use, but that was before I had a pattern.
Any suggestions to make it look as good as possible?

Just a little project

I have one thing I am almost done with... and nothing else started. That will soon change.
1) This pillow almost done. I'll probably finish it on the couch tonight. (sorry for the crummy phone picture I took on my way out the door today. Entertaining one of my almost little sisters tonight, so won't have time to update this.)

2) I have a gift card to use. I think I have mentioned this before. If I would remember when I drive by the store I would have used it already. But at that time, it's usually "gotta beat the traffic and see my man before he goes to work." So I am promising myself the next pillow project.

3) Although that might be tough to do. I have more fabric arriving tomorrow (including something the Cherish Nature line). And lots of cute and easy ideas to make pillows with it. I don't have any clue what type of pattern I will use for my own pillow. I still need to open up the jelly roll. I'll share pictures of the new fabric when it arrives.

It's getting easier

I whipped out another pillow this weekend. I realized that my brother was going to be at my apartment Tuesday for dinner.
on a side note: (I am looking forward to this. He has been in town visiting for weeks now, and I have only seen him once - at church. I get to make dinner - something with meat. When I had him over used to be the only time I made meat. Now I make it for my man often; so my brother is in for a treat this time.)
The reason this is of note, is that my mom is having me send her a couple things back with my brother. Additionally I am going to surprise her with a jar of jam I bought on vacation in Durango, Colorado (plum, that tastes just like the one her mom used to make) and this pillow.



I realized that giving it my brother would be the easiest and cheapest way to get the pillow to Mom, so I better have it ready by Tuesday. I had only decided on the layout at that point. (Which is an accomplishment in itself really)
I took my jelly rolls strips and make 81 squares; then I turned them into 9 squares, then into 1 square. The next day I quilted and finished the pillow...after a run (well literally walk; I am within walking distance) to Joann's Fabric. Two weeks in a row I got there within minutes of them closing. Good thing the first fabric I found looked like a great color. It was not the same quality of the fabric I have been using: thin and terribly wrinkly and misaligned on the bolt. I made sure I got enough to trim it before I cut it.

I intentionally made the back an inch larger than the front. This pillow form is puffier than the other ones I bought, and it didn't look like the 18 square would fit the 18 inch pillow. It sort of worked. The back is a little loose, but it doesn't look bad. I'm guessing/hoping after it gets washed it will fit well. (I think the back will shrink up more than the front.) I have yet to wash something I have quilted (at $3 a load, I'm sure that is understandable) and wonder how it really will look. I fear my first one will fall apart.



And what is a project without a mistake? I was conservative with the fabric back on my previous pillows, and only doubled up a little bit for the envelope. This one I needed to fold the entire width of the pillow. The strip I put on the end of the flap I measured like I did before... therefore placing it well past the fold. So I decided to keep it as a decorative strip below the flap, and ended up embroidering the edge of the flap. I think it looks nice; you would never know it wasn't intentional.

Record low in San Diego

Yesterday we had a record low temperature in San Diego. It does not seem like July when the sun does not come out and it is in the low sixties. Usually it is sunny inland where my apartment is, but yesterday it was cloudy here too. So I did some quilting and sewing. That was the only thing I felt like doing.
I finished my second pillow; decided it would fit without the border. It was a perfect fit.


I also got a small rectangle pillow form for another fun pillow. I still have to close up the gap and put on an applique. Maybe I should have read the directions on how to do that first; it looks like I should have put the applique on before I sewed up the edges of the pillow.

front where a scissor in the black fabric will goback of the pillow

I have been shopping online today. It is so hard to make decisions and say no. I have lots of ideas for other pillows. I might just go for it and sell them on etsy. I think they will be easy and very cute. I am also going in circles about Christmas fabric. I have two lines I found and have ideas for. But I hesitate to spend so much on fabric. And I am still waiting for a friend to find out if she is having a boy or a girl to make her a quilt... so maybe I will wait on the extra Christmas stuff.

Weekend project

Once I got pattern figured out, it didn't take long to put together the front of my next pillow. This is a 20 inch square, and I will use a 20 inch pillow. 18 inches will be too small, and the patterns I tried worked better with 20. So with all the extra I have left (which is still quite a bit) I am going to make a one inch strip all the way around, with the seams on the angle. For some reason this seems to be harder to motivate myself to do.

I pulled out the rest of the fabric strips from the jelly roll, and drew out a pattern for a pillow for my mom. I used the log cabin pattern and it turned out to be 24 inches. That is a lot larger than I was intending. Not sure of my next step there. I was going to make a 24 inch one for myself. I guess I could do the same for mom. But she will have to find a pillow form - I was going to mail it!
Trying to balance my time is again an issue. I joined the gym, and that will take up a good portion of my "me" time that I would use to quilt. However, it is better than sitting on my bum even longer than my full time job forces me to. Sometimes I wish I had a part-time job so I had more time to play.

Pillows!

I am looking forward to making more pillows. Up to this point, I have not started one project until I have completed the previous. And I have a list of projects in order.
1- Pillow for Ali - CHECK!
2- Pillow for Christina - working on the layout.
(side note: I am using my kitchen table as my work area. We never eat at it anyway. It is a mess. Fabric, rulers, mats, sewing machine, etc. strewed across it. - oh I keep the leaf in it too. So it isn't small. I think I kept it neat for the first week or so when I was hesitant about the whole quilting thing. Now I have clear support in my projects - don't know why I doubted - and leave out my supplies. So I got tired of looking at all that stuff, and moved my photo screen in front of the table. That worked well, hid the other items I am storing at the end of the dining room too.)
3- Pillow for Mom
4- Pillow for me
5- bag for me

So I think I will intertwine those projects for myself into the mix. Although I realized that I don't have fabric to back a pillow for myself or my mother. But today I ordered a gift card with my Discover cashback (aka, $50 free) so I can go to Pottery Barn and buy myself a nice set of pillows. They have the most wonderfully squishy pillows, and now that I am making covers, I have a good excuse to get them. Jerry loves to sit with a pillow, especially when doing schoolwork on the floor, so I am going to get big 24 in ones. I am so excited. I hope I like the jelly roll I bought.

The Bermuda Triangle

The last few days I have been drawing out patterns on graph paper to try and figure out what my next pillow is going to look like. I told another co-worker friend that I would make her a pillow with the leftover pieces from the first - because I knew I would have lots of scraps. I also have some white squares. Most of my scraps are triangles, so I thought I would do something with that shape and drew out patterns of diamonds and pinwheels. I wasn't sure what size I need the pieces to be, so I did some algebra. Unfortunately I am still a little new to how sewing seams works, because I tried one and it didn't work. I need the resulting square to be 4.5 in, and it is not that big. And because I have precut strips, they will not be the right size. (I got smart and looked in a quilting book. I need 2 7/8 width, not 2.5) So now I will end up with a scant (yes, I am baker first) square. I am wondering if they are all scant of 4 inch squares at the end then maybe I will have a smaller finished block, and I can make it like it would be too big - start with 20 in and put on 18 in - and it will fit nicely - hopefully, and thinking it will also shrink up a little in the wash. It is either that or back to the drawing pad. I am not too excited about squares, although I think it would be cute too, but since I already have the strips sewn together, I would hate to take them all apart. I also have to kick myself because I trimmed down some of my white squares thinking they were a little too big, when in actuality they were just right. So thankfully that wasn't all, and I still have a lot left, but now I have a bunch of triangles I am not sure what to do with. My guess is that I will have to use them for even smaller triangles (one inch squares? oh my)

I still have some strips from that jelly roll I haven't touched. Those I am going to put together into a pillow for my mom... although I am sure what I will do for the back... quilt both sides? She will love it. I asked my dad to find out what size the pillows are my mom has on the couch, but I think from now I am sticking with new pillow forms. After the last ordeal, I am going with new. ...And then after that, I am making a pillow for my apartment. A big huge one, and I am getting a really nice pillow from Pottery Barn. I also want to make a carrying case for my laptop,... whew, I am tired thinking about all these. I think I have enough projects in mind for the rest of the year.