A Christmas Pillow Case Gift

Welcome,

As a Christmas gift I made this pillow case for a friend.. 😃

It is made with scraps and a orphan block after making Bermuda's Quilt 

I wanted to create something that looked like it belonged with the quilt but wanted to use up as many of the scraps I had as possible.

I feel that the triangles alongside one quilt sized block fits my brief.

I am really please with how it looks, I've even managed to use up another orphan half block - with the dragonflies.

I kept the quilting simple, on the triangle section I just quilted 1/8 inch from each seam line.

In the diamond block section I quilted it as I did on the actual quilt - straight line quilting in the diamond with pebbles and some swirls and a few feathers for luck!

That was my last finish for 2016 😊

Thanks for popping by

Vicki

Mine & Yours pillowcases - a finished project

My mum and dad have just had their birthdays & I just had to sew them something. 

Yours - Mine Pillowcases

Now, I've been down the quilt path before. I sent mum an EPP hexagon quilt as a gift from Australia to England. Due to the value I put on the customs form (for insurance purposes I didn't simply put the value of the fabrics as it had hours and hours of hand work in it) this meant that they had to pay additional taxes at the other end.  So, a lesson learned, don't send them quilts!

Mine Pillowcase

I did want to make them something, so I opted for pillowcases. My dad, like most, enjoys his 'dad's jokes' so this mine and yours pair seemed perfect, I can see the conversation now!

Dad's Joke!!

I tried using the porthole method for the lettering but ended up in a big mess so I opted for this simple reverse applique instead.

Yours Pillowcase close up

Each pillowcase has been densely quilted using over 800m of thread and taking many hours to complete.  

Quilting close up on Yours Pillowcase

I have used a number of free motion quilting motifs in them and each has a heart quilted into it ♡, can you see them?

Quilting close up on Mine Pillowcase

As usual I backed the quilted front with muslin and constructed the pillowcases with French seams - nothing left exposed.

Close up of seams INSIDE the pillowcase

And each is finished with one of my new labels.

Label on Pillowcase

I love these. They look so simple, and yet the texture up close is amazing and I'm sure that they will soften with each wash.

Mine & Yours pillowcases

These are now at home with my mum and dad - Happy Birthday to you both ♡

Thank you for popping by,
Vicki

Christmas Pillowcases

Hello and Welcome

For Christmas I made pillowcases for some friends.  I would quite happily have kept these for myself had I not made them specially for these lovely ladies.

Each pillowcase is very different and I used some new-to-me techniques, and I love how they turned out!

Beware, this is going to be a long post ... I want to share as much as possible of these pillowcases.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Dream Low Volume Patchwork Pillowcase

Dream Low Volume Patchwork Pillowcase

The first is a simple patchwork with some embroidery.  This was chosen for M as she already has a gorgeous handmade quilt on her bed and I didn't want to try and coordinate and have it clash. 

To make the patchwork as low volume as possible, it's quite likely I committed a quilting crime - I actually used the reverse (wrong) side of the majority of fabrics.

Dream Low Volume Patchwork Pillowcase

I kept the quilting and embroidery as simple as possible so enable the pillowcase to work with the gorgeous quilt that M made rather than compete with it.  The quilting is a simple cross hatch working diagonally through the 2 inch finished squares.

I love how this turned out.  I've wanted to create a low volume quilt for my bed but wasn't happy with the fabrics I was pulling - now I know how great it can look I will definitely be putting it back on my to do list!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Triple Porthole Dragonfly Pillowcase

Triple Porthole Dragonfly Pillowcase

The second pillowcase for B was chosen because I knew that another friend is making a quilt made of predominantly purples with some teal, having not seen the fabrics I wanted to make choices that would coordinate.  I also know that she loves dragonflies, so this fabric was a no brainer.

Porthole close up

Porthole 2 Close up

The pillowcase was inspired by this gorgeous quilt by Lu Summers, I followed the basic tutorial that can be found here. I absolutely love how this turned out and will definitely see a quilt using this technique in my future.

I echo quilted around the circles with my walking foot, I love the texture this gives.

Triple Porthole zip detail

I added a zip to this one rather than the usual flap closure as I envisage B leaving this out during the day on her sofa and I wanted it to look like a cushion too!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Teal Impracticality Pillowcase

Teal Impracticality Pillowcase

I love how this pillowcase for J turned out.  I used the impracticality tecqnique outlined by Angela Walters here.  This is the first time I have done anything remotely improvisational and I loved the process, though it did use a LOT of fabric.

Teal Impracticality Pillowcase - quilting detail

The texture from this technique is amazing, especially towards the centre where the pieces are all very small.

Teal Impracticality Pillowcase - quilting detail

 I free motion quilted this pillowcase.  I began by doing pebbles (circles) in some of the triangular rings in matching threads leaving some unquilted to add to the amazing texture.

Teal Impracticality Pillowcase - quilting detail

Once I got to the larger 'open' area I quilted spirals and pebbles. In the green band I quilted a loop-de-loop. I love this, the colours are amazing and the texture, believe me you need to touch it to believe it!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I finished these pillowcases Tuesday morning, just in time for lunch with these lovely ladies, I'm glad to say that they liked their gifts ... and their gift to me - sewing supplies, so you'll be seeing pin cushions and a bag in the near future!

I have linked this to Crazy Mom Quilts Finish it up Friday and
 

Thank you for popping by,
Vicki

Crochet Edged Pillowcases - A Finished Project

Vicki Crochets too!!

After the quilted pillowcases I blogged about here  I went for a change of pace and made some simple pillowcases with some pretty fabrics I had to hand and set about adding some embellishments:

The first has this beautiful purple floral fabric on the front with a coordinating lilac tone on tone print on the back, it is finished with a green scalloped edge which highlights the green in the print.

I enjoyed the change of pace, sitting and relaxing with a crochet hook.

The second has a simple blue and green floral on the front with a tone on tone green for the backing.  This is finished with a matching blue scallop.

I haven't picked up a crochet hook for a while and trying to remember some patterns for the crochet border to make each different was the most taxing part of this project!

Finally a beautiful blue with orange and pink flowers with a coordinating orange baking and a simple cream wave for the crochet.

All of the fabrics have small simple  prints, are reversible and will add a pop of colour to any bed.

All materials used - fabric, thread and crochet yarn are 100% cotton.

I can't wait to see some of these being used!

I''ve linked this post to the following linky parties:

 - Crazy Mom Quilts

 - Confessions of a Fabric Addict

 - Creations ... Quilts, Art ... Whatever

Thank you for popping by,

Vicki

Quilted Pillow Cases - A Finished Project

Hello everyone,

I will be linking this post to a few 'linky parties' so if you have found me through one of them Welcome.  This Blog is only a little over a week old so any constructive feedback would be greatly appreciated.  I hope you all enjoy seeing what I have made.

This weekend I finished some pillow cases:

They all have quilted fronts with a plain backing.  Two of them also have patchwork fronts - orange seemed to be the colour of the week on that front!

If you follow me on Facebook you will have seen a few sneak peeks of these over the last week - you can follow me here.

Personally, I like plain bedlinen, preferably white - it's easier to keep clean when you have a hubby that likes to get dirty (always tinkering with an engine or something!).

Therefore I like a nice bright pillowcase to brighten it all up.  These all have a quilted front which gives the 'pretty factor' and a plain back which can be more comfortable to sleep on.

Navy Floral Sprial Wholecloth Pillowcase 

The first two are wholecloth quilted  pillows.  This one with a gorgeous flower print was quilted with a spiral which can bee seen better here:

and backed with a linen cotton and finished with a contrasting navy 'flap' to hold it on the pillow.

Fresh Pillowcase

I love the colour of this fabric, so simple and fresh, the quilting is an uneven crosshatch.  I didn't mark this, instead followed the pattern of the fabric

To keep the fresh feeling this pillow was finished with a simple white back and flap.

The second two are patchwork and seem to follow an orange theme - not sure how that happened as it's not really one of my colours!

Citrus with a Twist Pillowcase

My first time using triangles for patchwork - I certainly underestimated the number needed and had to stop and cut more a couple of times.
I went overboard with the quilting - there are 5 lines of quilting along each of the seam lines, which can be seen better here:

This was finished with an orange large spot 'flap' and a grey backing fabric - love this one!!

Finally (I can hear you cheering!) another orange patchwork:

Orange Patchwork Pillowcase

This has simple quilting following the seam lines as seen here:

And finished with a linen backing and a flap that matches the end fabric of the patchwork front.

For those that are interested in the details.  

• All fabrics are 100% cotton
• All thread used is 100% cotton
• Batting is 100% bamboo
• The patchwork fronts have been backed with Muslin

Thankyou for making it this far - I've did try to break it up so that it's not too wordy.

Vicki

Edit:
I've linked with the following linky parties, please click on the below links and check out the wonderful work completed by others: