Be a flamingo in a flock of pigeons.

 

  I moved to Florida several years ago and have learned to love the vibe and way of life here.  When a friend gave me this pattern a few weeks back I had to make the little pillow to celebrate the season and my new way of life.

   The pattern is Fa-la-la-mingo from Say It With Applique.  It would have been an easy little afternoon,  if I had read the directions.  Note the placement of the bow tie.  In the pattern it is much higher on her neck, and there would be reason for that.  I jumped into the project, cut out the pieces, appliqued them on a little piece of grey cotton using  Heat n Bond, embroidered the HO HO HO and stood back to admire my work...I wondered why the neck was cut in two pieces, and then it dawned on me that I should have taped the pattern pieces together.  My eyes were drawn to the raw edges on the pieced neck, so I removed the bow tie and slid it down to cover the pieced fabric.  It was either this or a pearl necklace and it seemed to be the easiest option.

   So the moral of the story of my Florida Flamingo Pillow is this...If the pattern says to Read The Directions First, Do it.  Enough said.

   The pattern calls for a 16 inch pillow form.  I made 2 pillows and I the one that I cut to the pattern measurements needs a larger form.  I cut the cotton down for this pillow because I like them stuffed really tight.

   On to my next holiday project.

Stashbuster Baby Quilt

 

The frame is the reward of the artist.  ~Edgar Degas

   I found myself looking in my closet full of fabric leftovers, asking myself what next?

   I started smallish little quilts, mostly for little girls because I have four granddaughters and the colors suited them.  I found this pattern, framed squares, online; I cannot really credit one particular source because this is such a common pattern, but as you can see here I used up lots of my favorite fun fabrics.  I liked working small, I guess because I'm new to quilting, and a fun new sewing genre was for me born! 

 

On my second one  I pieced the binding  and the result was a little bulkier than the printed stripe on the first one.  I also try to do something  fun on the back in the 
                                                                way of piecing.  

                                                         I'm looking forward to some new creations! 

After years of blogging inactivity, I'm relearning it so that I can share these little projects with a few friends and give myself reminders about what I've done how I did them!