Gifts – Page 43 – Artquiltmaker Blog

Belated Thank You

K and Mrs. K came down for the Pamela Allen class. They had a four hour drive, which was above and beyond IMO. Still, I was (and still am!) so thrilled that they joined us, because they (not in any particular order):

did great work
added great comments to the class critiques
brought loads of fabric that we all rummaged through
are FABULOUS company

I invited them to stop and have dinner with us on their way down to Santa Clara. After the long drive I didn’t want them to have to forage for food as well. I thought we could have a nice chat; they could get a look at the Child and we could talk about projects.

They showed up and I come to find out they have a gift for me! I love gifts, especially unexpected and perfect gifts. It was a perfect gift: dot fabrics. It was a perfect gift with a wonderful presentation.

I love seeing the fabric the people think I will like. K and Mrs. K know I love dots! Perfect!

Thanks, for the fabric, for your friendship and support.

Teacher Pillows 2009

Yes, I am doing it again. If you want to read the torure from previous years, I have gathered the posts into one search just for you.

My goal is to have them done before school ends this year, which is June 12. I actually have until June 11 this year as I am, sadly, not attending the conference I usually attend that week. Still, I want these babies done and out of my hair ASAP.

Some weeks ago, on a rip to IKEA for light bulbs (now I know I can get the same ones at Lowe’s, which is closer!) I found pillows for $1.50. They are an ugly baby blue, but solid and they will make fine pillow forms. They are not as fluffy as the ones I have bought in the past, but tough times call for economies.

Yesterday, I corraled The Child and had him choose blocks. I also had him do drawings for the back.

This is the Greek Cross block and it is for the aide. The others are Tangled Star, Omega and one with a lot of triangles. I am working on the latter. Another day I will post all of the photos.

Next up: copy the drawings to fabric and piece.

Small Treasures

I listened to an interview with Mary Lou Weidman on Annie Smith’s podcast this morning. I listened to and wrote about it before. You can find the podcast and show notes at Simple Arts and the podcast on iTunes. It is the 4/17/2008 episode and well worth your time. Mary Lou is a really positive person and what I noticed about this podcast was her discussion of small blessings. I know that blessings can be a loaded word for some. I think of her concept as small treasures anyway.

Mary Lou talked about enjoying the small things in life: a special pear with a wonderful slice of cheese on it, a nice cup of tea, a wonderful bar of soap or bottle of lotion. While I have been trying to, generally, think positive, this comment gave me a little shove in the right direction. I also realized that there were a few recent things that I have really been enjoy. I recently received some apricot vanilla bars of soap and some of my favorite chocolates from a very special person in honor of a very special anniversary. Times are tight financially right now and these were in lieu of the wished for trip to Hawaii. I find, however, that I am not too disappointed and that I think about these gifts very often. I really am enjoying them.

Also, I have been rummaging through my stash quite a bit lately for fabric for the Tarts and other projects. I do this pretty regularly, but am not buying as much new fabric, so I am paying more attention to the fabric I have. It is really fun!

Finally, I also finished the Crazy Test on Thursday. It is ready for…something. I don’t know what it will end up as or who it will end up with.

In general, all is well!

Birthday Report

I feel very fortunate to have received some birthday gifts this year! That was in addition to people agreeing to spend time with me. What a bonanza!

A box arrived yesterday. I took it upstairs to unwrap in peace. I dislike wrapping gifts intensely, but when I get a pile of gifts wrapped gorgeously like this, I don’t want to unwrap them. I did anyway, but I admired them for awhile first.

Inside were all of these things. Lots of fabric, some music and notecards, books, a scarf, some ribbon (which I think will trim some tote bags nicely!). I can’t wait to read the Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie book. Thanks TFQ!!!!!

Above are the pottery pieces made at my party after they have been fired. Wati made the top piece. I photographed the back because I liked her message and the green she used. The bowl is the piece that I made. The plate came with the party and I tried to have everyone sign.

This fabric came from my dad even though my sister picked it out, paid for it and wrapped it. They are all FQs.

Terri brought the above fabrics.

Above are the gifts that Julie got for me. I got her the Life’s Companion book. Apparently, she thought it was so good that she got it for me! I started to read a bit of it and like. I wnat to reserve judgement, but it seems to be geared owards people who want to have a daily writing writing practice and haven’t yet started. As I said, I am reserving judgement until I read more of it.

I received so much fabric this birthday! It was amazing and great! I will have enough fabric to make a FOTY 2009 quilt with no problem. 😉 Thanks, everyone!

DH bought Amy Butler‘s In Stitches for me along with the Photoshop Elements book. Did you give me Seams to Me? That one came with no card or note straight from Anna Maria Horner. Nobody has confessed so I guess it will remain a mystery. Everyone needs a good mystery once in a while. I am especially interested since the person went to the trouble of getting the book directly from AMH. If you do that…..

Look! It’s signed! Whomever you are who sent this: THANK YOU!!!

I use Photoshop Elements to deal with the photos I post to this blog. As it turns out, I could use a few lessons. One of my goals for the coming months is to take a class (online, probably). In the meantime, the book will give me some help.

Above is an awful picture of some gorgeous batik from my mom.

I only photographed the quilt related things. The Child made me a hand (one of those pieces of pottery you paint kind of hand) with a mouth in the palm. I told you he was a creative child. My sister also got me an ice cream maker. Can’t wait to try that out! Might solve the little problem I have of buying ice cream sundaes for dinner when the boys are gone.

Quilting for Christmas

Quilting for Christmas doesn’t mean things that I made for Christmas, though it may mean that sometime in the future. It means gifts that I received for Christmas.

Julie sent me this great journal. It is a small square journal with a combination of blank handmade paper and graph paper. I already did one page of drawings and decorated the title page.

This was inspired by the pattern on The Child’s Christmas stocking.

Paul sent me the Civil war quilt book and Julie also came through with the Ruth McDowell and Katie Pasquini Masopust design books. I guess I had better start working on my design principles.

I also received The Quilt: A History and Celebration of an American Art Form. One of the things it has are ads of quilts from the 30s, which I really like.

Gift Bags From Afar for the Luckiest Girl

I got a surprise on Thursday! Kristen and Mrs. Kristen sent me a dotted package filled with fabrics and gift bags. I was so thrilled and it was just the pick-me-up I needed.

I saw this sunflower fabric on Kristen’s blog and asked her to get me some earlier this year. I never saw it and know that she is really busy, but was so pleased to see it come to live with me.

The dots, of course, will come in very handy.

While they were at it, they worked on some gift bags for me. Aren’t they pretty? They have little cuffs on them, which is wonderful and different from mine. I am so pleased to add them to my collection. I am also pleased that the gift bags phenomenon is spreading. Hope you will make some, too!

They put it all in a gift box covered with dots, which made me happy even before I opened the package. Thanks, ladies!

Clever Holiday Gifts

I am mulling over hostess and cousin gifts as the holiday season officially arrives with little to no inspiration. I really just want to sit around and work on what I want to work on. Fortunately, Jennifer Haywood- Ackerman, creator of the CraftSanity podcast, also has a great blog. Today she is talking about these fun napkins. The folding is the key to making these look great and she includes the directions for this and another project.

Ode to Mother

My mother once told me, when asked how old she was, that she was 29 . I don’t know if she actually was 29 at that time. Ever since then, when asked, I start to tell people she is 29 and then I have to remember that I am older than 29 so she can’t possibly be 29! The 29 effect means that I always have to do the math to figure out how old she is.

Today is her birthday and she is once again, 29. In honor of her birthday, I thought I would show some of the quilts she is working on.

This is a quilt for a friend who took care of the dog when my mom was running back and forth to hospitals and the nursing home earlier this year. The print is a dog print and, as you can see, she is clearly influenced by my dot habit.

This is the back and I think the way she highlighted the Very Hungry Caterpillar motifs is a good use of the Eric Carle fabric.

This quilt also uses pet fabric as the background for the hearts. The hearts are a pack from Keepsake Quilting and are raw edge applique’d to the background. I like way the placement of the hearts creates movement.

My mother is quite prolific and willing to try anything. As a result, she is a great inspiration to me.

Teacher Pillows 2008

Yes, I made Teacher Pillows again. I know I am going to get flak for reprising the project that made me so insane last year. This year my timing was off (summer, which, as you know, happens NOT to be before the end of school) and they turned out to be a lot easier. Spring was just too crazy with work to be able to get to this project in time for the end of school. I think doing them while I was on vacation and not worrying about regular life was a really good thing. The first day of school is Monday, so the teachers will get a little boost from a gift then.

I decided to make them on vacation so I could get my SIL to give me some pointers. She has 3 boys, two of which are out of the house and college, and a lot of Teacher Pillows under her belt. I thought that if she couldn’t give me some pointers to make the process easier, I would really give up the tradition.

These are 12″ square pillows. That size choice made the whole process easier, because I didn’t have to change the size of the block or add a border and could just use the directions straight out of Around the Block. I have EQ, so another idea is that if I want to make 14″ pillows in the future I could resize one of their blocks and use the directions. They have great rotary cutting directions. (note to self).

SIL also suggested that I made the back two panels 10″ x 12″ each. This size is to prevent gaposis. It was hard to get the pillow forms into the pillow cover, but once they were all in, there was no gaposis.

The only thing I don’t like about this group is that the pillow forms are too puffy in the middle, so the corners aren’t filled out. I am ignoring that this time around. Once the teachers lean on them, I am hoping they will squish down. I will look for squishier pillow forms next time. Last time I got feather pillow forms on sale and those filled out the pillow cover nicely.

Fearless Fun

Some days ago, I wrote about a Pencil Roll I saw on Pink Chalk Studio. She wrote about teaching how to make them as well as making them as gifts.

I was, yesterday, the fortunate recipient of this gorgeous pencil roll! Friend Julie, from High Fiber Content saw my blog post and made me one for my birthday.

Isn’t it fabulous?

Gifts to Give Using Fab Fabric

One of my favorite blogs is Be*mused blog (link on clip). She puts fabrics together beautifully and shows wonderful pictures. This link to one of her old posts from a current post discussing Christmas gifts dovetails nicely with another fabric avalanche, this one involving DH.

He was not bemused or amused. He was rooting around in my fabric closet (first mistake), which doubles as a place to store filing cabinets and Christmas gifts, when the pile of dots, conveniently, but precariously, piled right at the front of a bunch of fabric piles fell on his feet. He claims it covered his knees as well. Totally untrue, but I can see how he might think that. He told me to stop buying fabric. HA!

Anyway, Be*mused makes an excellent point. Pillow cases are GREAT for gifts as well as using up conversationals. I have some great conversations that I doubt will ever make it into quilts. They are currently in the “back of the quilt” stack. Pillowcases for the nieces and nephews might be another good way to avoid the Pineapple. Not this year as Christmas is already only 24 days away, but I could think about it for next year assuming I ever get any additional free time.

clipped from bemused.typepad.com

Now that I’ve decided to hand deliver my Christmas gifts to family members at Thanksgiving, I’m awash in lists and plans. And, ironically, still cranky over the too-early commercial bombardment of Christmas music and decor. Scrambling to find gift ideas for those always-difficult people, I’ve had to concede that what hasn’t been decided yet will be purchased, not handmade.

Are you looking for some gift ideas that you can sew? One of my old standbys has been the lowly and much overlooked pillowcase, which I’ve made mostly for kids, preschool to college age. I’ve made them to coordinate with gift quilts and occasionally they’ve been an extra something-to-open when I’m sending a gift card or cash. With all of the great fabrics available today, the theme possibilities are endless and there isn’t a simpler item to sew. Here are a few of the combinations I’ve used.

Make Lounge Cushion Cover

I was randomly surfing blogs and websites today (studiously avoiding the laundry, the Christmas cards and the Pineapple!) when I came across Make Lounge via Juju Love Polka dots blog. I saw this cushion cover and thought it was very fun. Sadly, Make Lounge is in London and I am not. Still, perhaps I will take out Pamela’s project and be inspired.

clipped from www.themakelounge.com

Appliqué cushion cover

Teacher Pillows Finished!

The Teacher Pillows are done and wrapped. HOORAY!

I found the cute bags at Walgreen’s, of all places. They are so adorable (thank heaven for no boy teachers this year!) that I didn’t feel bad about not making gift bags for them. I delivered the Principal and Assistant Principal pillows before I left. P will deliver the rest next week in stages.

Now I have to think about next year. St. JCN said that he fact that the project went well towards the end made no difference to her torture threat. She suggested a different project, so I will have to think on that. Suggestions, always welcome, of course!

Teacher Pillow Success

First, some inspiration. I was inspired by Yarnstorm’s photos, so I took my camera with me yesterday and snapped a pic of these roses in my neighbor’s yard.

Now on to the Teacher Pillows.

They are done except for the hand stitching. I am thrilled that I survived. It is always touch and go at the beginning!

Above is the principal’s pillow. St.JCN said the violet was inspired. I thought so and am glad someone agreed. I saw the quilt that inspired the violet yesterday as it scrolled across the screen in my screensaver. I will post it here, if I find it again.

Above is the Assistant Principal’s pillow. I actually think this one came out the best of them all. I think having enough fabric to use on the back is key. I will try to remember that for next year.

Pineapple blocks 11 & 12 are also done. They don’t fit on the design wall properly with all the others so #12 is hanging off. I think they look nice and cheerful. Not so dark as 9 & 10.

And now for a tip. I used the Jacquard fabric (see example in circle above) that you can run through your printer for quilt labels and for the drawings for the back of the pillows. It works because there is paper stuck to the back of the fabric that helps get it through the printer. You have to peel off the paper before you sew. (I suppose you could leave it on, but I don’t) This product works pretty well, except that if you try to sew through it when the wrong side is facing up, it gums up the needle and the stitches get really small. Normally I try to sew with it on the bottom. Today, I wasn’t able to sew with the printer fabric on the bottom for some reason that I don’t remember now. I sewed through it and immediately got stopped. I had a brainwave when I saw a pile of tissue paper. The arrow in the picture is pointing to the tissue paper I put over the Jacquard fabric just along the seam allowance. It worked like a charm. No sticking needle resulting in ugly stitches. I always press this printer fabric with a piece of clean, white printer/copier paper under the sticky part. I don’t let the sticky part touch the iron or my ironing board cover.

This Week’s Progress

If you don’t have time to read much today, here’s the short version: not much.

If you do have time to read the entire post today, the long version follows. 😉

Not sure why, but this week seems to have been especially busy. I think I may have accomplished a lot in the realm of quiltmaking and it just may not feel like a lot. Somehow not working on my own project and working on gifts doesn’t feel much like I am making progress. Perhaps, it is just that I am not making progress on my color studies or on my UFO list?

I wanted to put a small border on the above pillow for the Principal, but I was kind of stymied for what color. I originally thought of a strip of white piping, but decided I didn’t want to deal with making one. St. JCN, in all her wisdom, suggested a white strip, but, somehow, that didn’t seem right. As I was drifting off to sleep one night, the little voice in my head whispered: Violet. GREAT! I tried it (see above) and thought it looked good.

The reason I wanted a small border was so that the green border would not “bleed” into the green block. The violet seems to clearly define the block. I am pleased with how it worked out.

I also put a few more rows on to Pineapple blocks 11 & 12. They are getting there. 3 more colored rounds to go. I have the background strips cut for the next round, but haven’t sewed them yet.

Special Whine Redux
Earlier this week, as you probably noticed, I was feeling a bit sorry for myself and the state of my pictures. I went back and looked at Yarnstorm‘s post called Square Dance and the photos she included. I realized that while her photos are totally fabulous, one thing about how she structured this post is that she put up her inspiration and then showed the quilt that came out of it. I really liked that. As a brief aside, I like the quilt-to-be she shows, because it is simple, but not boring. She is working with color in a way that I have been trying to do lately (see Thoughts on Dots and some of the other square pieces I was working on last year). She has done a fabulous job with blues, something that I greatly admire.

The other thing about Yarnstorm’s pictures is she has a great eye and she crops very well.

So, I will stop whining, crop my pictures and keep working!

Susan I McRae on Various & Sundry 2025 #10Wednesday, October 29, 2025
I always love these info rich posts!
Eleanor Jackson on Mom’s QuiltSaturday, October 25, 2025
Congratulations to your Mom. I know how exciting it is to complete the quilts. Looks like she is proud, as…
Claire F on Flower 2 FinishedMonday, October 20, 2025
Love this block!
JulieZS on BAM BOM StartFriday, October 17, 2025
I can't wait to hear all the details. Your fabric picks are great so far. A citrus-y yellow like the…
JulieZS on Patchwork Palooza Block 12Friday, October 17, 2025
Oooh, that's such a good one! Love the fabric combos.

S	M	T	W	T	F	S
			1	2	3	4
5	6	7	8	9	10	11
12	13	14	15	16	17	18
19	20	21	22	23	24	25
26	27	28	29	30	31