Monday, 29 December 2003

A little while ago I mentioned a simple pattern I'd found for envelope pillow cases. Since then I've made and given away 6 envelope pillows. Three are pictured below. For my father's birthday, I'd given him two small pillows out of the bear fabric in this picture (which is a flannel). He seemed to like them well enough that I went to BB&B and found a large (usable) pillow and created a pillowcase for that for him as well. The two green/gold holiday pillows in this picture were for my mother and sister as little decorative accent gifts. A sixth pillow went to K with a pillowcase made out of a fabric that I thought would amuse her.

The three lap quilts (Whimsy, Snowy Bear, and Pink Feathers) that I've been posting about for the last few months were Christmas gifts to my sister, father, and mother respectively. I finished the last one with two days to spare. For never having touched a sewing machine before a year ago, I think I did alright!

So, how were they received? With squeals of delight? If they weren't appreciate enough, I know of certain people (eh hem) would be:)!

      Quilty comment by Joni on 29 December 2003

I agree-for sewing less than a year you did terrific! I am sure your family were quite impressed. It's a great approach-plans, not promises. Looking forward to the next plan-Cher

      Quilty comment by Cher on 30 December 2003

Heh -- Well, I think they liked them. There weren't squeals, per se, but except in my sister's case I don't think they were completely unexpected, either. My father had seen pictures of the bear claws and said that was the one he'd wanted; heehee! And my mother had seen the top of the pink one when she visited and liked that the best of all the pieces I showed her.

In any event, though, it will be a long, long time before I feel ready to give quilts to other sew/quilt/crafty people.

      Quilty comment by ATQ on 30 December 2003

A few months ago I posted about a 50-state quilt project that sounded intriguing. I receiving a follow-up email pointing out that this project continues in new incarnations. The new projects are found at NiftyFiftyQuilters and they make quilts for breast cancer charities. If you join one, you need to agree to make 50 blocks representing your state. (I'm not quite ready to do that, yet, although I'm very tempted -- and I would have a hard time choosing between my home state and my current state of residence...dilemmas, dilemmas!) And there are pictures! The quilts look awesome.

That sounds like fun! However, one of my resolutions for 2004 is that (with only two exceptions) I'm not making anything for anyone who doesn't live at the same address I do. I want stuff for me!

      Quilty comment by Katxena on 30 December 2003

Oh yeah -- These exchanges do sound like fun, but also like a lot of work. And the requirements for the blocks are (necessarily) quite strict and I don't know if I'm that consistently precise yet.

I'm beginning to think that 2005 might be the year of QuiltsForMe for me (with a couple of exceptions). :) But not this year...

      Quilty comment by ATQ on 30 December 2003