Little Stockings

During my felt addiction years I made my family these little stockings. They are only six inches tall and meant to hold Christmas candy. The first one was made for my mother, the candy cane for my brother, the Christmas tree for my father and the last two with the hearts were for the pets who are family too.

My Pansy Patch

Craft and sewing shows are on every day but it seems not as many as in the 1990's where most of my learning and inspiration came from. One of which was stitching on felt, I fell in love fast and for a few years every gift I made was with felt. Bunnies for Easter, stockings for Christmas, hearts for Valentines and pillows for every day. I made this pillow inspired by the happy little pansy. You may not be able to wash this craft felt but it is very inexpensive and comes in a wide range of colors.

A Little Bit Of This A Little Bit Of That

My favorite cross stitching magazine is "Cross Country Stitching". I love it's art and style and the magazine is chock full of patterns. I also loved how the designs were made in a way that you could take parts from here or there that could stand alone. I did this many times for projects, I picked a garden theme for this little decorative pillow.

His Favorite Things

In 2002, when my little brother was 13, I wanted to make him a quilt made up of all his favorite things at the time. Dogs, cats, cars, boats, lighthouses, red and blue and the American flag. It went well for the largest quilt I've made so far. I had enough scraps to make three pillows, but I knew I wanted to be able to wash them so after watching a program on how to make pillow covers I gave it a try. I had just bought a $40 sewing machine which helped me a great deal. My brother loved his present and still uses the quilt and pillows today, they have stood up to multiple washings in hot water over the years. The first photo shows the front, I used tricks and tips I had learned from watching others like rounding the corners on the pillow cover, using quilt batting under the top layer for a quilted look, doing extra stitching on parts that would be stressed the most. The second photo shows the back with the overlapping opening of the pillow cover. They say quilts get better with age and yes the red and blue colors have faded a little but they are so cozy and soft.

Couldn't Be Cuter

I know I am not the only one who finds yo yo's the cutest thing ever, and just making them for no reason at all is addictive. I had just learned how to make them when I stitched them to my patchwork pillow. I put a button in their center. Cuteness overload!

Best Of Both

What's better than combining a couple of your favorite sewing techniques. I had so many scraps from making my first quilt that I made them into lots of pillows. I made little cross stitch motifs
then stitched them to the patchwork pillow.

Mindless Projects

For many years my sewing hobby of choice was cross stitch. Planning out a pattern as a present is a fun challenge. But after concentrating for so long on a pattern it was a relief to work on projects like my above pillows where all I had to worry about was which color next. This way I still get to be stitching but without the "pattern following fatigue". It is also a great way of getting through your floss collection and using some of the colors you rarely choose. The heart pillow was for myself, the other two for my mother Carole.

A Little Bit Crazy

When I made this pillow I was mostly doing cross stitch projects, so it was thrilling to go outside the box by not following any pattern. Sewing and quilting television shows have been my inspiration to try new things. You don't have to be perfect as long as you enjoyed what you are doing and are proud of your work.

Heart Felt

These two hearts have a lot of meaning. The floral one was a present I made for my mother Carole. The Valentine doggy was a gift for my little brother Jonathan who loves dogs. At the time he was young enough to appreciate it's cuteness, now at 20 years old decorative pillows are not "cool".