A Friday Finish for My Valentine

I've added two new pillows to the collection on my bed.

For Valentine's Day, I thought it would be nice to finish Bill's Bee pillow. He joked about being miffed that I wanted to hang my T is for Tina quilt above our bed, so I started B(ee) is for Bill. We're goofy that way.

The paper piecing pattern is from Amy at Badskirt. When I pieced the block back in November I put the squaring up triangles on the wrong sides. I did not intend for the bee to stand up straight! So out came the seam ripper.

horrible cell phone photo

Then I started quilting and that was another fail. I tried a new fill and it looked horrible. Rip again!

Bill's little bee sat and waited a couple of months until I found him again this week. I pulled out another variegated thread that matched the greens and blues perfectly.

I quilted some Angela Walters triangle fills and my trusty loopy swirl.

While I was making and stuffing pillow forms, I finished the Clamshell pillow, too. I die cut the shapes at Karen's house two weeks ago. The rows are machine pieced but the top edge is hand appliqued to the aqua background. My Facebook and instagram friends chose the background color.

This one was hand quilted with a creamy Aurifil Mako 100% Cotton 12 weight thread. This was my first time using the 12 weight and I loved it! This pillow was inspired by Amanda's Riley Blake challenge entry.

The Pebbled Sea Glass pillow is still my favorite. Isn't my little Devil Dog cute? The bull dog is a Marine Corps mascot. I picked him up in Parris Island when we went to Pete's graduation. Pete is doing well with his training at Camp Pendleton. We get to talk to him on the weekends and he sounds great!

B(ee) is for Bill 12" pillow, started 11/7/13, completed 2/13/14

Clamshell 16" pillow, started 1/31/14, completed 2/131/4

WIP Wednesday

It feels great to make progress on sewing and home projects, but it is hard for me to maintain a high level of productivity for long. Balance is a buzz word that might play a large part in my life this year.

Finished this week: Crackers quilt for charity.

In progress: 
Clamshell pillow cover. I should be able to finish this today, and then start another one.

 Ninigret Friendship Star Swap. We had our second round of swapping last night.

Take it All with you bag. I'm going to a class this weekend to make this amazing bag with 42 pockets. There was a lot of prep work (cutting and fusing) so we can get right to work with bag construction in class.

Random:
I just got this gorgeous Riley Blake fabric in the mail. I have no idea what it will become, but I love it!

My friend, Kate, made this cute basket for me. Thanks, Kate!

And now, it's time to surf!

Catching up

 I visited my friend Karen on Friday to play with her toys! Yes, her sewing room (and entire home) is as amazing in person as it is on her blog.

She had gotten some new dies from Accuquilt recently. I copped up a box of modern scraps into clamshell shapes.

 

I don't think I like them all up next to each other like this. I think I'll have to cut some shapes out of Kona white or snow for alternating rows.

When I got home from Karen's, I was happy to see that the red amaryllis had bloomed. It was a gift from Julia's boyfriend, Fred. Red won the race against the white one from my mother-in-law.

 

 I know you've been wondering if Bill's car is in the garage yet. I was a day late, but it was done on Saturday. There is still a lot to do out there when it gets warmer. This is good enough for now. This month, I'm focusing on cleaning out my bedroom so the carpet can be replaced. Yay!

Have you ever been out and suddenly realized you did not have your purse or driver's license with you? It happened to me on Friday. I was going to risk it and go on with my day, but I just couldn't do it. I turned around and went back home to get it. It must be the Catholic guilt.

Have a great week, guilt-free!