{zippered pillow covers}

Every sewer wonders what to do with scraps. Little leftovers that you can't bare to part with. For me it was getting to the point where I needed to find a way to use some of them. I had a few pillow forms laying around {making covers for them had been on my 'to do' list for over a year!} and I decided to make a few patchwork covers for them. I went with a pink theme, and a blue theme, and as for the smallest pillow? I used a solid pattern fabric and put a pink ribbon ruffle across the middle.

You can see in the picture above that I patch worked the front of the covers and the back I used co-ordinating solid prints. I also installed zippers in all three covers so that they can be washed and changed out for a new look.

I love zippers. I love the idea that you can take things off and on with them, I love how they hide in the seam, I love how they make items look professional, I love items that the maker thought enough of to install them in, however, I do not love installing zippers. That was until I came across this tutorial from Design Sponge.

I first used the tutorial back when I made a small throw pillow for Ella's nursery. Seriously, this tutorial changed my life! Who would have thought that installing zippers could be so easy? For the longest time not me, that's for sure. But they are, and you all should try a project that involves installing a zipper.

And another small piece of advice, check out your local thrift store for zippers. My local store has a notions/craft area and I ALWAYS walk out of there with a handful of zippers for about 20 cents a piece. Just another reason to love zippers! Ok, onto the pillows:

Blue/Green Scheme

Pink/Orange Scheme

Ribbon Ruffle Pillow

{Little Lady Quilt}

Ok, so we all know i've been busy with the Little Lady. I've been feeding, changing diapers, and singing "who's that baby lookin' in the mirror" non stop for the last 3 months...and in the evenings after my little Junebug goes down, I whip out my cutting mat and fabric and go to town. Oddly I was going through my fabric stash and got to thinking all of them would look great together. So I set out to make Little Lady a quilt. My mother happened to be in town and was generous enough to buy me a new sewing machine as a graduation gift from grad school. (Who knew you needed an MBA to sew?) She also gifted me one of those GIANT cutting mats, ya know the really big expensive ones? Gosh, those things are great. Soooo much easier cutting 5 strips at a time verses one square at a time. Thanks mom.

BEFORE:

All my 7x7 inch squares cut out. 63 in all! There are some pretty fabrics in there...Like the Joel Dewberry faux bois hot pink fabric...ya, I love that stuff.

AFTER:

The back is solid hot pink. I had to piece it together because the fabric wasn't wide enough, not my favorite thing to do, but hey...whatcha gonna do? Oh, and don't look too close at my quilting lines, they're not exactly straight. Even though I only had to sew 1/4" from the seams, somehow I managed to make them askew. Go figure. And the binding...I got lazy and after about 6 inches of hand sewing it, said forget it and machine stitched it in the ditch. Def not an avid quilter's work, but hey, it's the back, and with such a pretty top, who really looks at the back anyway?

Here it is on little lady's crib. Once we convert it into a toddler bed, i'll put it on as an actual quilt. Until then we'll use it for snuggling.

I think she likes it!