Pillows for a Doll Rocker

Last Saturday, my daughter and I visited a favorite antique mall, Venice Pavilion Antique Mall in Ross, Ohio (near Cincinnati).  I have been on the lookout for a small doll’s bed to display some mini quilts.  I didn’t find a bed but I did find this really nice wide rocker for only $6.50.   It measures 7-1/2 inches wide x 9 inches high

As soon as I got home, I made up a pillow with a Thanksgiving theme.

It was a cute pillow but I really wanted one that was wider.  I found four 3-½ inch blocks that I had paper-pieced 6 or 7 years ago.  With a few strips as borders, they turned out to be the exact size I needed.  This is confirmation of my old argument that if you keep something long enough, some day you’ll find a use for it.  All of the blocks were patterns from my Electric Quilt software (#5 at that time).  This one is called Bird of Paradise.

This pattern is called Lucky Star…

I couldn’t find my file with the name for this block, but I like the blue fabrics.

This block is called Jack’s Delight and shows an advantage the rocker has over a bed – the space to display small items on the seat.

The best use may be as a comfortable resting place for my doll Emily who is wearing a doll dress made by my mother out of one of my dresses almost 80 years ago.

Halloween Vintage Embroidery

I’m continuing with projects that use vintage embroidery and lots of autumn-colored scraps.  I found this free pattrn online and made it into a place mat.

I embroidered another vintage pattern and added fabric to make a Halloween pillow.

The scary, feathered owl was a birthday gift from my younger granddaughter who liked it so well that she bought one for herself.

I made a pillow set for my vintage folding chair.  This design is based on a Helan Barrick decorative painting pattern that I first used about 25 years ago.

It’s fun to take the embroidered pieces and figure out what I can do with them, using scraps and reducing the amount of leftover fabric I have to store.

Vintage Embroidery

Whenever my two daughters and I get together, they always pull out some kind of handwork to do – knitting, crocheting, embroidery, tatting.  Since I’ve always done my piecing and quilting by machine, I rarely have something to work on.  I decided to try some very simple embroidery using vintage 1930s-40s style patterns.  They are easy enough for my limited skills and I like the patterns which remind me of the embroidery all of the women in my family were doing in that era.  My daughter and I have a large collection of vintage patterns and I’ve been able to add patterns from some good online sites.

I embroider the panel (usually 8-½ x 8-½ inches) and then use scraps to make up something useful.  I don’t want to gather a drawer full of embroidered squares, so unless it’s a seasonal pattern, I make it up quickly.  Another goal of mine this year has been to eliminate bags of small scraps – smaller than 4×4 inches – and I’ve managed to do that.  The only fabric I’ve bought up to this point is some good off-white fabric for embroidery and to use to assemble the scrap blocks.  Here are some of the items I’ve finished this summer:

A cushion set for my vintage folding chair ….

A small wall hanging of an old kitchen stove …

A pillow with a design I adapted from an old postcard …

A wall hanging with a crow and sunflower center.  I hand quilted around this design and machine quilted the remainder of the hanging.

A table pad with a Mexican theme …

I still have a stack of completed embroidered panels to use.

Here are some links to free vintage embroidery patterns:

http://mytransfers.blogspot.com/
http://www.patternbee.com/FREEPATTERNS3.html
http://www.french-knots.com
http://www.needlecrafter.com

Click on photos to enlarge.

 

 

A Swan Cushion Set

A few months ago, I bought a vintage folding chair at an antique store and made a cushion set for it.  I thought it was time to have a change of cushions and looked through my scraps to see what I could come up with.  Recently, I’ve been embroidering in the evening while watching TV.  My embroidery skills demand simple designs with basic stitches.  Actually, I prefer the kind of 1930s-40s embroidery that all of the women in my family did while I was growing up.  This design of a swan holding summer flowers seemed just right for summertime cushions.

I used a quilt pattern named Children’s Delight from my EQ6 software to make 5-½ inch blocks. The pillow measures 17×17 inches.  When assembling the top cushion, I added a 15 inch piece of 2-½ inch elastic on the back to hold it in place while on the chair.

I made an unquilted fabric seat cushion to keep the focus on the top cushion with the swan.

I had just put the finished set on the chair and left to get my camera.  When I came back to the room, I found that Addie loves the new cushions.

Star Cluster Block

One of my Mother’s Day gifts from my son and daughter-in-law in St. Louis was a two-yard length of some exciting fabric.  I love the silhouettes of a hometown marching band with exploding fireworks (click on photo to see fabric design).

I used 1-½ yards to make myself a patriotic coverall apron with a nice big pocket.

I used the remainder to make a pillow and desk mat.  Judy Martin (my favorite designer) had a BOM on her website called Star Cluster which I thought would work well with the fabric.  I used the marching band fabric along with red/white/blue scraps to make a 16 inch block which became a pillow …

…and two 12-inch blocks for a large mat for my father’s 1940s-era homemade desk.

Like all of Judy’s designs, she has taken an easy pattern and added her own twists to make it unique.

Thank you to my St. Louis family for a gift that multiplied itself into three nice items.

 

Small Pillow with Frame – Gift Idea – Tutorial

Awhile back, I saw a cute item in a needlework shop – a small pillow that had a frame on top in which a piece of needlework could be inserted and then changed out if desired.  I thought it was something I could duplicate and I worked out the details for a 5×5 inch pillow that would accept a 4 inch piece of needlework (see picture above).
I plan to make some of these pillows as Christmas gift card  or check holders, using a favorite photo and tucking the gift card or check in back of it.  I’ll attach a tag:  Look behind the picture for a surprise.

Here is how I made the pillow:

Cut:

• 1 piece of 5-½ x 5-½ inch muslin for the top of the pillow
• 1 piece of 5-½ x 5-½ inch fabric for the back of the pillow
• 4 pieces of 3 x 5-½ inch fabric for the frame
• You will also need a small amount of stuffing

Press the four pieces of frame fabric (3×5-½ inches) in half lengthwise.

Place the muslin on the table and arrange two of the frame pieces on top of the muslin, matching raw edges with folds toward center.

Place the remaining two frame pieces top and bottom on the muslin, matching raw edges with folds toward center.  Pin and stitch 1/8 inch from the raw edges to secure the frame.

Place the right side of the backing on top of the frame, matching raw edges.  On the bottom edge, place a pin 2-½ inches from each side and leave the center portion open for stuffing.  Stitch ¼ inch seams, beginning and ending at pins.  Remove pins, trim four corners and turn piece so that frame portion is on the front of the pillow.

Stuff the pillow and hand-stitch the opening gap.

For insert, choose a needlework piece with a 3-½ x 3-½ inch design and leave a ¼ inch border around the edge to form a 4 x 4 inch block.  Zigzag stitch around the raw edges of the piece.  Insert into pillow frame.

You could also fussy-cut a pretty design from fabric 4 x 4 inches ….

…or print a 3-½ x 3-½ photo on fabric (such as June Tailor’s Sew-In Colorfast Fabric Sheets) and leave a ¼ inch border around the edge to form a 4 x 4 inch square.

This would make a cute gift with just one insert or, even better, stacking three inserts in the frame with a tag for the recipient to check under the first fabric for a surprise or two.

This pillow is very easy to make and uses up a little bit more of that scrap fabric that is in everyone’s sewing room.

Repurposing a Pillow into a Wall Hanging

This wall hanging began life as a pillow in 2007 when it won a blue ribbon at our county fair.  Then, it went into the cedar chest to be given as a gift to the proper person.  Each time, I hung onto it and gave something else from the chest and decided this year, I would like to have it made into a wall hanging that I could use more than I could a pillow.

It was pretty easy to disassemble the pillow, make the back into top and bottom borders, and add a backing.  I omitted binding and simply sewed the wall hanging and backing right sides together, then turned and top-stitched.   I used drapery hooks rather than adding a sleeve.

This pattern was adapted from a decorative painting design by my favorite artist, Helan Barrick.  I simplified it quite a bit to make it into a fused applique panel and added the pieced blocks in typical Amish colors.  The little quilt the girls are working on is also pieced.

I’m enjoying seeing this repurposed item in my kitchen after all these years.

Springtime Mantel and Cushion Cover

Desert Sky Quilts has a great quilting blog which includes tutorials for some blocks she designed.  I liked her Indestructible Star and tried it using her instructions for a 12-1/2 inch unfinished block.  I added a border and ruffles to make a nice cushion cover.

(http://desertskyquilts.livejournal.com/)

I thought this would be a good pattern to use with scraps for a springtime mantel cover.  For this cover I reduced the blocks to 6-1/2 inches.

For the length I wanted, I made 5 blocks using scraps of a different coordinating color for each.

I added setting and corner triangles along with a border and a plain piece of fabric for the top of the mantel.

I didn’t want to use batting and placed the backing right sides together with the block portion and sewed around the edges, leaving an opening on the back edge.  The piece was turned and pressed, then I used a minimum amount of machine stitching to hold the back and front together and top stitched around the edge.

I like the cover very much – cheerful and spring-like.

This cover measures 19-1/2 x 43-1/2 inches.

Christmas Log Cabin Topper

I wanted to make a sofa topper and footstool cover using Christmas colors, but not Christmas fabrics.  I decided to make log cabin blocks to use up scraps and got out my jars of 1-1/4-inch-wide scraps – shades of red, green and off-white plus some yellow scraps in 2 inch blocks to represent the candle light in the log cabins.

I made 6-inch finished blocks – 32 for the topper (finished size – 49 inches long x 28 inches wide) and 4 blocks for the footstool cover.

I scanned and printed a recent picture of myself for the label because I think it’s nice to have an idea of what the quiltmaker looked like when the piece was made.

And my oldest daughter made a cute Christmas pillow to complete the project.

Vintage Hanky Heart Pillow

I love vintage handkerchiefs and pick them up whenever I find them at a reasonable price in antique malls.  Last fall, when we were visiting Amish Country (Holmes County, Ohio), I found a book devoted to projects using vintage hankies – Hooked on Hankies by Laurene Sinema and Janet Carruth – Suzanne McNeill Design Originals.

I decided to use a pattern for a small hanging pillow that has a pocket where a vintage handkerchief can be inserted and it doesn’t need to be cut or altered in any way.  I used one of my pretty old hankies and embellished the piece with two vintage buttons.

I made it as a birthday gift for my online friend, Darlene, and she posted a picture of it hanging on her country-blue front door.  Check out Darlene’s blog to see how her quilting, crocheting and sewing projects are coming along – here.

The book has projects for using vintage hankies such as a table runner, wall hangings, baby clothes, shower curtain, wreath, etc.    Nice for displaying old handkerchiefs you own or as a good excuse to go to an antique mall to find some.