Finally... A Crafting Day!

I have a serious thing for online crafty tutorials.  I've been eyeing this one for cushions from Sew Mama Sew for quite some time and decided today to give it a try.  I'm not finished yet, because I just had to make it more complicated by adding some quilting to it.  I thought, though, that I'd share the progress with you fine people.  Here is the top of one of three cushions.  I pieced the top out of some new and some vintage cottons and sort of quilted it to a piece of nice flannel to make it a little more durable.  They are 19" square and 4" deep.  They'll be floor cushions for the living room.  I'll be using the brown linen I used on my little houses pillows for the sides and bottom.

One of the things about this tutorial that just knocked my socks off is the part where she shows you how to magically make tons of bias tape out of a small square of fabric and then turn it into some super fab custom piping!  It's worth checking out just for that little gem.
Now, hopefully it will not be months and months before I can show you a cute stack of finished floor pillows!

Cute Houses

I have a thing for cute, colorful houses.. in real life and in art.  Last night I got to test out a new embroidery pattern by Jessica Rose of Vol 25.  She emailed me the set of patterns yesterday, and I just fell in love!  They are so cute and fun.  I immediately thought "row houses" and "pillow".I used bright colors and kept the stitching really simple and artfully imperfect to keep it feeling whimsical.  The border around the pillow is by Amy Butler (Wall Flowers in Mustard). The back and background fabric is chocolate brown linen.

Jessica has a couple of free patterns in her flickr group as well as pictures from other testers.  I can't wait to see what else she turns into embroidery patterns.  You should check out her other work.. fantastic it is!  She has a very lovely etsy shop.