Pillows Part 2!

I shared on Instagram a while back that in preparation for new baby, we did some bedroom shifting and my oldest and youngest moved to bigger beds. In the spirit of the move, my oldest got excited and asked if he could have a decorative pillow for his new bed. Well don't mind if I do! I LOVE making pillows, and it's very rare that requests like that come my way from these boys.

That turned into everyone getting to design their own pillow, which has been such a delight for me. We started out by looking at my Pinterest board Quilts, and they walked me through what kinds of things they liked.

My middle guy chose simple herringbone in his favorite colors. (Note his outfit below, which has been worn most days so far this summer!) We didn't follow a pattern, but I started with (18) 4" scrap squares in gray and made those into HSTs. That gave us 3" finished HSTs in a 6 by 6 grid for an 18" pillow. He helped me quite a bit along the way, snipping chain pieced units, matching up HSTs, and arranging them. He was very invested!

I tried to include some fun little messages for him in the dark grey Lori Holt text print (though he doesn't read quite yet), and half achieved my goal. I like how the "Yay" is visible, but cut off the "happiness". Oh well!

He was very pleased with it nonetheless and I was happy to have this one done, mostly because he kept changing his mind! After I'd already sewn in half of a green zipper, he decided it had to be blue. Normally I'd try to talk him into changing his mind, but I didn't want him to look at it forever and wish it was blue, so out it came.

Next up was little guy. He can't really articulate a lot of opinions yet, but we know he likes yellow, and he loves to sing. One of his favorite songs it "Mr. Golden Sun". I started researching sun patterns and remembered this adorable pattern by Center Street Quilts.  I love that it's called "You Are My Sunshine". He truly is my little sunshine!

Though I'm not widely experienced in paper piecing or sewing curves, I knew it would be perfect. The pattern was easy to follow and after a quick refresher video tutorial on paper piecing, I was well on my way.

One of my favorite things about these three pillows is that they are all from scraps! I absolutely love putting my scrap bin to good use.

I bordered it in a Bonnie and Camille basics print in grey. I wish I had done something lighter, but what's done is done! I used crosshatch quilting as described in my last post.

Like his big brother, he was absolutely delighted to have his own pillow. What a gratifying moment for a maker mom.

Last but not least, big guy has LOTS OF OPINIONS. We love him for it. We hope to live up to his expectations, haha! While looking at the Center Street Patterns page, he took notice of the cute little flag minis. He felt very strongly about there being the correct number of stripes, however, so I used my trusty EQ7 to figure out how to make that work for the pillow size we wanted.

I won't be writing up a pattern for this one considering we stole the idea from Kristina, and there are just so many flag patterns out there. We used scraps once again, and he chose the Sarah Jane map print for the back. It wasn't a perfect repeat with the print but it still turned out pretty cute.

I did a wavy horizontal quilting stitch on my Husqvarna Opal. He's happy with it, so mission accomplished! It works really well in his new room. It's so fun to see them grow up and develop personalities and preferences.

I told them this was in part their gift from the new baby. I usually like to get them new pajamas or something, but I think they liked this even better! Thanks for indulging me in a personal post of sorts.

Pillow Palooza!

This summer has definitely had a strong pillow theme for me so far. About a month ago I participated in a local craft fair, so I used that opportunity to clear out lots of the pillows I had waiting around, as well as put some orphan blocks and scraps to good use.

This first one was a spinoff of a group gift quilt I participated in. The ladies in my birthday bee this year combined efforts to make a baby quilt for one friend who is having a baby girl. I was loving the color scheme and couldn't help but use the colors and scraps to make this pillow. This one was 100% scraps, front and back! Those always turn out to be my favorite.

I ended up doing a back zipper instead of bottom like usual in order to use the scraps I had. You can find a tutorial for that at the end of my Prairie Point Bunting Pillow Tutorial. Here's what it looks like from the side. 

My friend Kristi of Put A Quilt On It lives in the greater Sacramento area and was so kind as to drop by the craft fair. If you haven't seen her indoor/outdoor barn blocks you should really check them out. I have one in my living room and I love it! She ended up buying this pillow for her adorable little daughter. I'm so happy it went to a friend. Thanks Kristi! 

I quilted it with a simple crosshatch. I'm all about avoiding extra steps, and following the intersecting seams means no marking quilting lines ahead of time!

Another pillow from the fair was this cute owl lumbar pillow. I used the 6" owl mini block pattern by Burlap and Blossoms. There are lots of cute patterns in that shop! You can't beat the prices either. I made 2 cute mates and added the necessary borders to fit the lumbar insert size.

Though the pieces are tiny in this pattern and I was a little scared at first, it was very well written and easy and fun to follow. I quilted it with a scallop I thought was sort of like owl feathers, and backed it in yellow polka dots.

There is a video tutorial in my Instagram stories for how to put zippers in the bottom of pillows as shown here.

Another pillow I said goodbye to at the fair was this oversized barn block pillow in navy. Oh how I loved this one. It was my first time making a 24" square instead of 18" pillow and it was so big and squishy and delightful. This one also went to live with an Instagram friend! Unfortunately I didn't get to meet her as I was out of the room when she came by, and my sister was covering for me. Kathy (@mrstuttle5)- thank you so much for giving it a good home, I'm sorry I missed you!

I came up with the star block pattern just for this project, so no pattern as of yet, sorry! I used 3 different Bonnie and Camille basics with a solid navy, and quilted it in a diagonal crosshatch. I totally cheat when I do that as well. I start by quilting a big X from opposite corners, following the intersections of the star design. Then I use the little metal rod that came with my walking foot, find a distance between lines that I like, and follow that for the rest of the lines. Again, no marking! After that, I added some hand quilting around the outer and inner edges of the star. I love adding that finishing touch.

The backing is the same B&C plaid print as the front, and the bottom zipper is the same as in the tutorial above. I bought the same kind of insert from IKEA that I usually do, but this time in the bigger size. You always want your pillow covers to be a little smaller than the given size of your pillow insert so that they aren't saggy baggy! 

This happy star pillow came from an orphan block from a quilt I never finished, may it's vision and memory rest in peace, ha! I used various Bonnie and Camille scraps for this one too, in red and pink. The HSTs were 2.5" finished, with a 2" finished border. I started with (12) 3.5" fabrics for HSTs, and a 5.5" cut center. 

I LOVE red, and the B&C Hello Darling backing on this one has my heart. 

Right now I'm in the middle of making new throw pillows for each of my boys' beds. You can read more about the back story here. Two are in processs, and one is finished. It was a huge hit! I will post all the details about those 3 when they are done, but we found the ideas and patterns together on my Quilts Pinterest board. I am an avid quilt pinner!

Thanks for stopping by today. I really hope to be snuggling my new baby boy next time I'm back here. Wish me luck!