-pillow talk swap 8-

I finished my pillow!  I have to say that I really enjoyed making this.  I felt I had a vision for how this pillow was going to turn out, but sometimes my visions are flops.  I kept fretting over the background and whether I should put the dresden off center or not.  I am pleased with the overall effect though, and I have high hopes my partner will like this.

For the back of the pillow I used a coordinating print to the background of the front and made a simple envelope closure.

I kept the quilting on this pillow simple with random diagonal lines.  It already felt busy, and I didn't want to add more "busy-ness". ;0)  The pillow is 20" x 20".

Of course, as I was taking pictures, Josiah thought I wanted to take pictures of him.

Really, how I could I not?  Cutest little face ever.

-dresden making-

So I have my Fussy Cut Bee quilt top all finished and a backing ready.  Now I am just waiting for the inspiration to baste!  I am not the biggest fan of basting (who is really?!).  Plus, this quilt is meant for a full bed, and my house is just not set up with a whole lot of floor space in any of the rooms, so it is going to be a little squishy. ;0)

This week started off busy, but then one of the kids got sick on Tuesday and now as she is feeling better, another one is down for the count.  So I have a feeling it going to go down the line, and we will be spending some quality time at home.  My kids are catching up on all the TV watching that I usually don't let them have.  Gotta have some sort of perk when they are sick, right?

So yesterday I decided to work on my pillow for The Pillow Talk Swap.  This really is one of the most amazing swaps.  I think it has only gotten better over the past couple of years.  This is my third time joining in, and I am feeling the pressure to make something super fabulous.  My partner has a love for warm colors and text fabrics.  I had an idea in my head, but then I found this dresden while browsing and fell in love.  I have never been that big of a dresden fan, but this took it to the next level.  The rainbow isn't really my partner's thing, so I made my main dresden in reds, oranges, and yellows, and the second dresden with some neutrals.  

I was playing around with background fabrics, and I found this one.  However, I only had a 14.5" piece, and I tried playing around with borders.  It just wasn't hitting the right note for me though.      

So I went digging again, and I came up with this text fabric.  I like that it is smaller and a little less busy, while still being different from a solid background.  The plan today is to work on this a little more while the sickies watch La La Loopsy!

-summer plans-

So back in April we stopped in a furniture store to take a look at bunk beds for the girls.  Felicity was still in a toddler bed, and we thought the three girls would probably end up sharing a room at some point.  Of course, the first bunk bed you see in the store was this fort bed.  My girls were in *love*.   We didn't get any further. Honestly, who wouldn't be?  However, we gave ourselves some time to think about it.  Then we decided that we have enough kids to make this bed useful for quite awhile, so why not?  We had to special order it, and last week it came.  It has been a big hit, and they have been telling everyone about their fort bed and having all sorts of pretend adventures.

So, I had a down comforter to fit the double bed on the bottom, but summer here is super hot.  Really you don't need much more than a sheet at night.  Good reason to finish up one of those quilts that I have been meaning to finish for a year!  This is my Fussy Cut Bee quilt.  I wanted to finish it last year when I was hosting Finish It Up!, but I only got as far as adding a bit of sashing to some of the blocks.  I now have the top mostly assembled.  I just have one more white border to add!

I am a slow quilter.  Any other slow quilters out there?  I see people busting out quilts every couple of weeks, and I get inspired.  I can't do that.  Okay, so it might have a little something to do with four kids, but I also find quilts to be such big projects.  I always seem to lose motivation somewhere along the line.   However, I have three quilts I wanted to finish last summer, so I am determined to finish them this summer.

GOAL

June: Fussy Cut Bee Quilt

July: Kaleidoscope Quilt

August: Summer Sampler 

Fingers crossed!  What are your summer sewing plans?

Pursepalooza: Art Student Tote Review!

I am over at Sara's blog, Sew Sweetness, today with a pattern review for Anna Maria Horner's Art Student Tote!  Go check it out!