Commentary about works in progress, design & creativity
Sheesh! March already. Can you believe it? I can’t.
A new month means a new pillowcase. This month I am sending off the Passport pillowcase. This is one of the travel pillowcases I made with the new fabrics I bought last month.
With this pillowcase I sent a note encouraging my nephew to get a passport, if he doesn’t already have one.
I selected some new fabrics for the rest of the pillowcases. I bought more than I normally would have. There was such a great selection that I couldn’t decide.
I went looking first at Boersma’s, because they sent me a coupon. I bought some of the fabrics from them, though I couldn’t use the coupon. All the fabrics I selected were on sale.
I knew that US Fabric, the shop I mentioned recently, had a passport themed fabric I couldn’t resist. I went there and bought a few also.
I am not sure Africa is on Nephew #13’s list, but that blue was such a great color. I needed some relief from all the brown.
His brother loves my pillowcases, so I may have to make a few more to make up for not making him as many. We’ll see.
I only had enough fabric from my trip for ~6 months’ worth of pillowcases for my nephew who isn’t going to college right now. Recently, I ponied up and bought more fabric. After a week or so, I found cuff fabrics and started in on making the pillowcases.
I have 6 finished and two more in process. I might be able to finish them by the weekend. Mom helped by trimming some of the threads that sometimes stick out after sewing a French Seam, especially on fabric that frays easily.
Check out my guide to making pillowcases. They make a great gift.
This is the last pillowcase before I have to buy more fabric. I have found some great fabrics and will have to go and buy them.
I don’t really consider camping mind expanding, but I guess it is. I like nature; I just don’t like the dirt and how hard everything is (washing dishes, showering, etc) when you go camping.
Still, the goal is to encourage this nephew to explore the world and get some non-school experience.
I revisited my Christmas pillowcase gifts after seeing some on SIL#4’s bed on Christmas Eve. It occurred to me that there are a few new spouses/SOs for whom I had not made pillowcases. Nobody will know that they don’t have them, but it is only fair, especially if they see their spouse has one.
My tally was in a post from 2015 and there are a lot of new additions to the family, mostly spouses, but a few kids as well. The original tally was confusing, so I have rewritten it.
TOTAL needed for oldest SIL’s family: 6
TOTAL needed for 2d oldest SIL’s family: 1
TOTAL needed for oldest BIL’s family: 0
TOTAL needed for youngest SIL’s family: 1
TOTAL needed for youngest BIL’s family: 0
Overall total needed: 8
Well, that’s at least 8 yards of fabric I can use up right away in 2025. I need to check to see what Christmas fabric I have in case I need to get some on sale. I hope I have enough.
I used some leftover Tarot fabric for a pillowcase for the YM. I had a bit leftover from the bathrobe MaryC helped me make.
I had the grey laying around and this worked out to be a quick extra gift for the YM.
Lil Sissy asked me outright for king sized pillowcases. Apparently, she has giant pillows and the cases I made for her are too small. Initially, I said no, then I found a big piece of turquoise and decided to make some.
These don’t feel as exciting as the other pillowcases I have made for her, but needs must. I have more of the Paris fabric now, so I can make her some more if I find another large piece of fabric to go with it.
With some of the leftover bathrobe fabric, I made some pillowcases.
Mom doesn’t want more bags, but pillowcases are always useful, so hopefully she liked them.
I realized later that I might have used the solid I intended for one of the FOTY quilts. Oh well, there is always more fabric.
This is the latest travel pillowcase for my youngest nephew. I sent it off a little late as we were out of town for the New Year holiday.
I am still on the travel theme. This pillowcase depicts steampunk travel. I am a fan of steampunk and really enjoy looking at the costumes and artistry. I thought this would be a fun installment in the series.
The colors are not as fun as I would have liked, but at least there isn’t a lot of brown.
I have one more pillowcase from those I made from the fabric I bought on my summer trip before I have to get more fabric.
This is not really a Christmas pillowcase, but since it was red, I thought it would be a good one to send off in December.
This one has all the states. I am not sure why some states are in a larger font than others.
Travel doesn’t have to be around the world. There are a lot of interesting things in the states as well as I have found traveling around California with DH. If the youngest nephew can’t quite make it out of the country, perhaps he can do some stateside travel?
I am on the fence about whether this pillowcase encourages travel or not. I thought the fabric was entertaining, so I bought it and now it is off to be encouragement for the youngest nephew. Fingers crossed.
Friend Julie told me that most of these monsters are made up to give each National Park a monster (or legend?).
I found an article on a site I have never heard of called “6 Mythical Beasts and the National Parks They Call Home.” The article tells you what equipment you’ll need to stalk them.
There is also a calendar of National Park monsters.
This month I sent off one of the actual travel pillowcases. Last month was the camping pillowcase. I suppose you have to travel somewhere to camp, but it didn’t feel like ‘real’ travel to me, whatever that is.
This was also a birthday gift since the nephew turned 18 yesterday. I stuck a card in the package for him. I actually got a thank you text! Unnecessary, but much appreciated.
I had some extra fabric, so I added the trim pieces to some of the pillowcases for this project
So, the new pillowcase project has started. As mentioned, I am trying to encourage the youngest nephew to follow through on his dream to travel through my pillowcase fabric choices.
I sent the first pillowcase off a few days ago. I hope the theme is obvious. To help with that, I sent him the camping pillowcase first.
I am pleased with how this one came out. I like the tree fabric for the cuff.
My youngest nephew graduated from high school in June. He is not going to college right now, so is missing out on some of the experiences his older brother and cousin had.
While I was on vacation, I decided that he needed pillowcases anyway. He wants to travel, so I chose a travel theme. I was able to buy several prints that I will use, but I’ll need to get more to fill out the year.
These pillowcases will be quick wins in terms of fabric usage, too.
My Dad’s birthday is today. I got him a gift card, which is boring. I also made him these trout pillowcases. As soon as I saw the fabric, I knew I had to make him something.
The main fabric is a recent Martha Negley. The red is the last of an old Robert Kaufman Reflections collection. I think it might