July Minis and More

Hello Everyone! It’s time for the July Minis and More Parade hosted by Sherri and Michele. This month’s theme was gifts. If you are a quilter and crafter, you probably like to make gifts for your loved ones and friends. I do. Some of my favorite gifts to give are pillows and bags. A place can always be found for a pillow, and I think you need a bag for all occasions. If you would like to see some of my bag gifts, check out my Bags and Tote Bags category here.

My husband’s birthday is later this week and I made this pillow for him and his home office. He saw me working on the cross-stitch and said he liked it. He has not seen the finished cross-stitch so I think he’ll be surprised. He has several things that I’ve made for him hanging up in his office.

I knew when I saw the cross-stitch pattern, Where Liberty Dwells by Brenda Gervais of With Thy Needle and Thread, I had to stitch it because of the sawtooth star. I’ll have all the details for the cross-stitch further along in this post.

I also knew that I wanted to make a pillow with it. I had some ideas about the finish, but it was after I saw Sherri’s quilt “On A Whim” from her and Corey Yoder’s new book, Sunday Best Quilts, that I knew I had found just the right finish for it.

The On a Whim star block was perfect for the cross-stitch. I had to adjust the size because Sherri’s finished block is 12″ and the cross-stitch star points measured 7″, so the pillow finishes at 14″. I wanted the background fabric to match the fabric in the cross-stitch, so I used the Crosshatch in light gray from Timeless Treasure. I also knew I wanted to use the dark blue Crayola Kaleidoscope fabric from Riley Blake in the pillow, so I changed the colors of the half stars in the cross-stitch to match the fabric. The red is from my stash. I had several striped fabrics that I could have used for the binding, but I thought this one by Bunny Hill Designs from the Sugar Plum Christmas line matched the star the best.

Since the center would not be quilted, I kept the quilting light on the rest of the pillow. I used matching Auriful Thread for the quilting and piecing.

For the back of the pillow, I used this Stonehenge Stars and Stripes by Northcott that I’ve had in my stash for a while. I made an envelope back, just in case I want to replace the pillow with another cover sometime in the future.

Now for the cross-stitch details.

I pretty much changed everything but the design in this pattern. I only had a few of the called for threads and didn’t even use those. The fabric is 32 ct. Winter Wishes linen. The design called for a 40 ct. linen, but since I wanted to make a pillow, I went with the larger fabric. I knew by the time I was on the bottom outside star and still had one side to go, that I was going to run out of the red floss (GA Simply Shaker Schoolhouse Red). I checked the chart to see if I needed two skeins, but it only called for one, then I remembered the change in the fabric count. The 40 ct finished an inch smaller than mine did. I ended up mixing in DMC 304 for the red stripes to finish it. If you are interested in my color changes, you can find them here on my Quilt and Cross Stitch Information Page.

Just one more thing…

Merry Mini Quilt – Poinsettia Block

After seeing Sherri’s and several others Block 1 for the Merry Mini Quilt Sew Along from Fat Quarter Shop, I decided to join in. A new block will be revealed every Tuesday in July. It’s not too late to join in. This block only took a few hours to make. There are four blocks and then a finishing reveal on the last Tuesday.

Mostly Holly Taylor fabrics

I had a few options for fabric combinations, but I thought I would use some of my Holly Taylor fabrics from Moda. These are the fabrics I’ve pulled. Since there are only four blocks I should be able to use what I have.

I’ve been busy getting “kits” ready for my quilting retreat next week. All fabrics are pulled, but I want to cut them before I leave. I’ll share what I’m taking next time. Until then, have a great week and thanks for stopping by.