TUTORIAL - easy tie top pillow...

 

If you're like me (someone who loves to embroider and has a huge pile of completed stitcheries packed away in a large plastic tub in their sewing room) then you're probably often on the lookout for simple project ideas which could delightfully feature a few of those orphan hand embroidered pieces, right?

This past year I've made three tie-top pillows from some large stitchery blocks and every time I've been incredibly happy with the final display!

As many of us are now in gift-giving mode and perhaps don't have too many pennies spare to go shopping this Christmas season, I thought it would be a good idea to share a simple tutorial for making  your own tie top pillow from one, two, three or a dozen orphan stitcheries. Now, I only use fabrics which are already in my sewing room and I encourage you to do the same because apart from purchasing a basic cushion insert for a few dollars the rest of the pillow project won't cost you a cent - though it will require half an hour of your time. 

The stitchery I've used for my latest pillow is one of three in December's "Faith In Hand" set (over here) but you could use any stitchery you like - in fact if you're more of a patchworker or English paper-piecing gal either of those would work just as well.

 I'll share the measurements for my pillow, but you'll soon see that it's easy to use any measurements depending on the size of your pillow front.

For this pillow I trimmed the stitchery to 8.5" wide x 9.5" high and bordered the block with 2.25"wide lengths of leafy fabric. This gave me a pillow front of 12" x 13" which I then fused Pellon behind and machine quilted in straight lines (you could use quilt wadding, but I had odd shaped pieces of Pellon in my scrap wadding box and chose to make use of one)...

Cut a piece of backing fabric the same size as the pillow front (my front is 12" x 13" so my pillow back is 12" x 13" as well) and two pieces of contrast fabric 2.5" x 12" (the width of the pillow front) to sew across the top of front and back later...

You'll also need four pieces of fabric 2.5" x 12" for the ties.

We need to make the ties before we go any further. 

Fold each of the four ties in half along their length. Sew across one narrow end with a curve and continue down the side with a 1/4 inch seam  - leave the remaining narrow end open.

Trim away the excess on the curved end.

Turn the tie right side out and press flat.

Here's each stage...

Pin the raw end of each tie to the top edge of the pillow front and back. Mine were spaced 3.5" apart.

Lay the contrast pieces you cut earlier over the ties so that the ties are sandwiched between the pillow front/back and the contrast fabric. Sew across the top with a 1/4 inch seam and press the contrast fabric away from the pillow front/back.

Lay the front and back of the pillow right sides together and sew around the sides and bottom with a 1/4 inch seam.

Fold a double 1/4 inch hem along the raw edge of the contrast facing fabric and sew in place.

Turn your pillow right side out, pushing the contrast facing inside and pressing the ties away from the pillow.

Now all you need do is pop in an inexpensive cushion insert (I buy mine at Spotlight), tie the top, and you have a really cute tie-top pillow to keep or gift.

I usually tie bows across the top of these pillows but for this one I liked the dangling ties. Do what you love!

Here's one of my other tie-top pillows which sat on our bed through autumn and winter. I added three green/white spot ties because they contrasted beautifully with the rich red...

The pattern for the "Potted Sampler"stitchery used in this pillow is over HERE in my shop. I actually made that design twice because I wanted to show it in two different colourways (both are included in the pattern).

The deeper reds work well with our autumn/winter bedspread...

But the softer colours are very shabby chic and perfect for our spring/summer bed coverings.

Of course this means I'm late making a new pillow because I haven't even begun this one. 

Adding it to my to-do list right now...

Just out of curiosity, which colour palette do you prefer for this design?

Well, I'd best be off and get dinner for my darling man as this tutorial was written up later in the day than I'd planned, but for a jolly good reason...I spent a few wonderful hours with Blossom and the girls this morning and rather than having her usual nap when the girls do, Bloss asked me to stay an extra hour just so we could chat without interruptions. What a blessed day I had. 

She's still hanging on and though there are signs the baby is not far off making his appearance we all know that the more babies you have the more you 'feel' things sooner rather than later. If he hasn't arrived in a week Blossom will be induced so would you pray her little lad makes an appearance before then please? (thank you xx)

Shall you be making one or more of these pillows??

I have some wonderful garden pics to share with you next time...

Loving hugs

Pillows and pincushions and a hexie bookmark...

 A couple of weeks ago I showed you some slow hand quilting I'd been enjoying during a time of rest. The stitcheries were from my December 2016 issue of The Stitchery Club...

...and they've been patiently waiting (quite a while) for their moment to shine. Way back then I'd already bordered the centre design with a pretty pink spot and stitched the long triple heart block four times intending to use it in a second border. 

It was such a delight to finally bring this idea together and create a beautiful pillow for our precious 2yo granddaughter, Rafella...

I took it over when I visited Blossom last week and little Raf (as we call her) was first out of the front door to come hug me. When I handed her the pillow and said "This is for you, baby girl"...well, you would have thought I'd given her the world. 

She cuddled it and loved on it all morning, her little exclamations of "Nana made a pillow for meeeeee!" melting my heart. Raf is a quiet little thing in comparison to Cully May, and also a very joyous child who gets excited when her big sister gets a gift (as in Cully May's 4th birthday last month) with no hint of jealousy.

Which is why this Nana wanted to give her something extra special of her own. One day she'll understand the words I chose to add in the pink spot border, but for right now she just knows she's loved and that pillow is cuddled each night. 

When I showed those photos of my hand quilting in progress last month there was great interest from many ladies who contacted me to ask for the embroidery patterns, so I've added that entire issue of The Stitchery Club to my Etsy Shop. It contains six designs which I think would be just gorgeous displayed within a quilt. 

You'll find the pattern set HERE.

So what else can you make from these stitcheries?

I featured one on the pocket of a pincushion which was gifted to a friend overseas...

I have shared quite a few pincushion tutorials over the years but if you like pocket style pinnies have a look at THIS tutorial. It will give you an idea how to create something similar from a stitchery or fussy cut piece of fabric.

I quite seriously LOVE pocket pinnies!

They're great for taking with you on a sewing day because you can pop scissors, threads, pins and needles all together in one pretty place. 

Another bit of hand quilting I completed recently was this smaller fussy cut hexie-centred pillow, a 'just right' pillow to rest my hands on while I stitch. A decade ago I realised embroidering with a hoop wasn't working for me so I began resting the heels of my hands on a small pillow as I stitched and it made all the difference to my level of comfort and also brought about a lovely soft sense of calm. 

Aren't those fabrics sweet? They are a new release here in Australia through Devonstone Fabrics and the designer is Elise Martinson. A number of the prints have sections which can be fussy cut into quilt blocks, applique or displayed like this in a hexagon.

Because I was so taken with the sentiment of HOME (no surprise to you, right?) I decided to use more of the same print as a bookmark.

All I did was take two 1.5" hexagon papers (mine are very thin cardboard) and using the blue fabric, centring the 'home' design into the centre of one, I basted the fabric around each one.

Then I sewed the two ends of a "6mm x whatever length you choose" piece of elastic together and placed the join in between the wrong sides of the fabric hexies before stitching the two hexies together around the outside with whip stitch.

Once that was done I removed the basting stitches and voila, I had a cute bookmark. 

Next time I might cover the elastic but this was a spur of the moment idea and I actually had to get some elastic from Blossom because it's hard to find any these days due to home sewing face mask production around the world.

I also made something else last week (what a productive sewing week it was!) but I'll show you that next post. 

This week I'm busy with spring cleaning, garden maintenance and creating a very simple menu plan...like in the old days. And that dear friends is something else I'll write about next time. Mr E and I have had a little mind shift of late and reassessed what's going to carry us through the next year, what can be put aside, and what we can genuinely do at our age because the years are adding up and we'd like to stay healthy and strong for the long haul and not burn our bodies out before their time. 

God bless you lovely friends, and I say that with complete honesty - I pray often that He will bless you, that His presence will bring you hope and strength and joy. 

I'll leave you with this photo of my latest vase display...dill fronds. Aren't they marvellous?! I had to harvest our dill plants and as we already have 'thousands' of tiny seeds for future planting these beautiful green heads could be brought inside for a different floral display. They last for weeks and smell wonderful....

...and a photo of Blossom and Rafaella in the new dress Bloss made her. Honestly, my daughter can sew like a dream and has just decided she's going to spend time smocking in the future. She finds it calming.

I don't think I'd say that, but then again she thinks I'm strange for choosing hand quilting as my calm pastime. Don't you love how God made us all so unique?

Loving hugs

Quiet Life stitchery, news and a tutorial...

Remember I showed you a progress photo of this little stitchery last week when I shared my "A Quiet Life" mini quilt pattern?

You can make this yourself as it's on the pattern sheets for "A Quiet Life" (download here) - all I did differently was applique the door, add a button for a door knob, change the flowers to daisies by switching the colonial knots of the mini quilt version for lazy daisy stitches, and sewed scattered cross stitches and running stitches here and there to fill out the effect for a single block instead of a set of nine.

Small changes to a single design can give it quite a different appearance, and this sweet and tiny block makes me happy hanging beside my desk where I love to have a bit of colour against the cream walls, whereas the pale blue and cream of the larger mini quilt works beautifully in my sewing room.

See what I mean about how different one block can look by changing a few things?

I finished this little one as you would a quilt with wadding and backing, but I chose not to bind it but leave the edges raw, just a single line of stitching half inch inside the edge. A tiny hanger was stitched to the back. Final measurement is 6" wide x 6.5" high.

After it was completed this morning I was packing things up and tidying the cutting table when I spied a pack of small notebooks I bought recently. My intention was to sew some covers for them as they make very simple and useful gifts, easily posted too, so I thought before I stored away the fabrics used on the little house block I'd use some to make a cover and share a tutorial with you at the same time.

You will need:

One 3" x 9" (opened) notebook
One 4" x 10" rectangle of fabric for the cover
Two 4" x 6.5" rectangles of the same fabric for the sleeves
One 4" x 10" rectangle of lining fabric
buttons optional

Fold the smaller sleeve pieces in half across the centre and press the fold.

Lay the folded sleeves on top of the lining with the raw edges to the outside.

Lay the cover fabric right side down over the sleeves and lining. Pin all around.

Sew the layers together with a 1/4" seam around all sides, leaving a 2" opening at the middle of one long side.

Fold right side out and whip stitch the opening closed.

Iron the cover flat...

...and insert your notebook. Ta dah! (as Cully May says very often)

I decided to sew a few buttons on the front after I'd finished because they look cute (and match the little house block) so if you want to add some be sure not to stitch through the sleeve.

Have you started the mini quilt yet? Or do you think just a single block mini-mini-quilt would be just right for your home (or as a gift)?

When Blossom and Ross went off to the ultrasound on Monday I had the delight of babysitting the girls and what fun we had! I'd made them a tablecloth for their little table and chairs beside the cubby house and they feasted on strawberries, jam roll, cheese cubes with milky tea in their tin teapot and cups while I read to them.

We were all very excited waiting for mummy and daddy to return because they would tell us whether Cully May and Rafaella would be welcoming a baby sister or baby brother in early December.

It's a BOY!

Cully May was not at all surprised and declared, "I know, I told you!" (which she has been telling us for weeks) with the biggest grin. Aaah, what fun we have ahead.

Well, that's enough for today. Dinner is in the oven and the bell will go off soon so I'd best be off to slice the bread and warm the plates.

God bless you dear ones,
Loving hugs