Pillow Party!!!

I've never really been much of a sewer. I have been doing counted cross-stitch since I've been a little girl, but I'm kind of scared not that comfortable using a sewing machine. Most of the time I'm more comfortable sewing things by hand, even though it takes me twice as long. 

I've decided that our boring futon is seriously in need of some pillows and since I've been admiring all the beautiful pillows on all the other blogs, I finally decided that I need to suck it up and give it a try. The worst that could happen is that I make some really ugly pillows that would probably end up becoming a dog bed. 
 

Luna wouldn't mind. Would you, Luna?

I have a couple pillows that I'd been wanting to make that were on my to-do list (yay, more things crossed off that damn stupid list). The first is the woven ribbon pillows that I found here and the second is the Jane Austen Quote pillow that I found here.

I was so excited when I saw that Michael's was having a 50% off ribbon sale. I was a little disappointed when I got there, however, because they didn't have as many spools as I needed to make two matching pillows. So instead I got half the amount in two different colors and figured I'd make one pillow with each color of ribbon that I got. 

 

I followed the tutorial from Sassy Sanctuary to make these pillows, so I won't re-post the steps here, but if you want to know how to make these pillows just click on the link above.


I'm thrilled with how these turned out! The woven pattern looks so cool. I'm even happy with the ribbon that I chose. 

The next pillow I wanted to make was inspired originally by a jewelry dish from Pottery Barn, but Mama Says Sew took it one step further and printed the quote out on fabric and made it into an adorable pillow.  


Of course, I had to change it up a bit, especially since I don't have a cool printer that I can use to just print on fabric. So I used my favorite method of fabric paint and freezer paper. 


I also had to use a different quote, because I like being a little different. 

It's from Jane Austen's Persuasion (which is my favorite of her books) and is a quote from Captain Wentworth written in a letter to Anne. Seriously, my favorite part of the whole book. 

"You pierce my soul, I am half agony, half hope."

Adorable, no?


Using the same idea as the Persuasions pillow, I wanted to make one using my new mantra: Find Beauty in Every Day. 


I just used fabric paint to make a panel with the quote on it. 

Then then used fabric to frame the panel and sewed it all up. Stuffed it, and plopped it on my futon.

Seriously, lovin' this!

I'm so happy that I now have some really cute pillows to adorn my futon. I feel like it makes the basement a little more homey. Plus, I had fun making them. I forsee more pillow making in my future. 
  

I'm sharing this project at the following link parties: 

 

I Conquered The Viking!

I wasn't gonna do it... 

I was gonna be good and not add yet another project to my to-do list. I already had several projects for weddings, wedding gifts, birthday presents, Father's Day gifts, 4th of July crafts, not to mention a gift for the Handmade Gift Exchange. 
 

But then my Mom and I took a trip to Fabric Depot in Portland, which is the biggest fabric store I've ever been to.

(dun, dun, duh) 
 

For the month of June, UCreate's Create With Me project was pillows!!! 
 

I love pillows!!!  
 

Again, I got sucked into the fun pillow project from UCreate's Create With Me series. This month, we had a choice between two really cute tutorials. Bow Pillows by E Tells Tales and The Shag Pillow by V and Co.  

 

I decided to make the shag pillow. I think I chose it because certain phrases such as "you don't have to be exact" and "there's margin for error" made me feel a little better as a beginning sewer. 
 

So here's the fruits of my labor. 
 

I LOVE IT!!!

  
I had to borrow my Mom's sewing machine to make this pillow, since my sewing machine needed a part that ended up getting lost in the mail and not arriving, even a month later. My Mom's sewing machine is a Viking (hence the catchy title) and was fun to use once I got the hang of it. 

 
I made a few other cute things while I had the sewing machine out, which I'll be posting tomorrow! 

I'm sharing this at the following link parties:

 

My Wreath Obsession Continues...

The 4th of July is one of my favorite holidays. Not just because I'm extremely proud to be an American, because I really am, but because my family turns it into a huge event. Like really huge. Like last year we had over 60 people there to watch the fireworks show that my parents (technically, it's my Dad, my brothers and other various males) put on every year. 

I decided that I was going to make a wreath for my parents house for the holiday, and while I was at Michael's, I found some really cute patriotic ribbon. I got all the supplies to make my other wreath and brought everything home. While I was putting my ribbon away (since I had other projects I had to finish before I could start on a wreath), I remembered this ribbon wreath that Stacy from She's {Kinda} Crafty had made. Although the one she made was a Halloween wreath, I knew that it would be awesome to make one with my patriotic ribbon. And since I'd already gotten all the supplies to make a wreath for my parents, I decided that I could make a ribbon wreath for Amazing Boyfriend's Mom. 
  

 

I had to go back to Michael's to get more ribbon, but I didn't mind, since that store is like a second home to me anyway.

Here's my finished wreath...

Didn't it turn out awesome?  

I spent quite a bit of time on it, but I'm so happy with how it turned out (and my poor blistered fingers are happy as well.) 

I painted 3 different star shapes and glued them together

Doesn't it make the front door festive?

Sorry about all the pics, but I'm pretty proud of how great this looks! 


This project was featured: 

I'm sharing this project at the following link parties: