WIP: Pillowcases and Books

I have been very busy this week getting ready for a visit from my 20 month old granddaughter and her parents and from my 2 month old granddaughter and her parents. What with cleaning and decluttering and prepping bedrooms for their visit, I knew intense quilting was not to be this week. But I did do some sewing projects. Several months ago I'd made the older granddaughter a cloth book titled Thor and the Days of Yore. The picture on the instructions was too cute to toss, so I made it into a pillowcase for a small 12 x 16 pillow. (See my post for February 11, 2014.) She sleeps with it at night so my daughter requested a replacement pillowcase to trade off so she can wash the Thor one. 

I made this one to coordinate with her Little Witch Girl quilt. (See post for October 24, 2012.) I folded over 1/2" on each edge of the Count Dracula block and sewed it on the squiggle yarn fabric instead of piecing it. That way the pillowcase did not have raw seams on the inside. The small ridges on the outsides of the Dracula square are far enough out from the center of the pillow that I do not think they will  rub on my little granddaughter's face. I expect no Princess and the Pea predicament. 

The Count Dracula block on each side of the pillowcase are two blocks I did not use since I only used the pumpkins, kitties, and witch blocks. The squiggle yarn fabric is the same as the borders on the quilt. 

I also made three other pillowcases. This one coordinates with the Owl and the Pussycat Quilt last week's post for June 4, 2014.

The contrasting band is the same as the backing fabric, the body is like the quilt border, and the pink accent band is the same fabric as the binding.

This next pillowcase coordinates with the Paisley Pearl Quilt. See post for February 8, 2014.

The body of the pillowcase is the same as the backing of the quilt with giraffes, rhinos, elephants, and butterflies. The pink accent band and the woodgrain contrast band are fabrics from my stash. That accent band is from my jelly roll of Riley Blake chevrons. I just liked the quirky woodgrain.

This cow fabric was too cute to pass up and it has been sitting in my stash for perhaps a little girl's dress. I had one yard and most dresses require 1.25 yards. Yes, I could have added a contrast bodice or hem but in the meantime I used some of it for a fun pillowcase. Milk is supposed to be good at bedtime so why not a whole herd of cows? A pillowcase will probably get used more than a dress that is worn only occasionally. Plus I used only what was in my stash.

After being side-tracked by these four pillowcases, I managed to make two books of Calendar Babies. The art work is by Joy Allen and I think the illustrations are precious.

Joy Allen did another cloth book that I also made two of, one for each granddaughter. It was called My Baby's Day and you can see it in my post for December 27, 2012.

My statistics for this week are all new projects – two books and four pillowcases. I keep repeating the ongoing projects lest I forget them. I do not see how I can. Except for the mask hexagon quilt, everything is hanging up in clear view in my sewing room. But you know how that is. Sometimes you just stop seeing what is right in front of your face.

Completed projects (6):

1. Count Dracula pillowcase
2. Sea stripes pillowcase
3. Pale pink animals pillowcase
4. Cow pillowcase
5. Calendar Babies cloth book (times 2)

Ongoing projects:

1. Chicken quilt - spray basted, awaiting embellishment (April 24, 2014 post)
2. Classic Cars strip quilt (August 3, 2013 post) - need to back, quilt, and bind
3. Grinch quilt (May 22, 2013 post) - scheduled to longarm quilt this one June 27th. 
4. Overlapping square wall hanging - awaiting FMQ
5. Mask quilt (October 19, 2011 post) - hidden away awaiting inspiration for arranging hexagons

New projects (6):

1. Count Dracula pillowcase
2. Sea stripes pillowcase
3. Pale pink animals pillowcase
4. Cow pillowcase
5. Calendar Babies cloth book (times 2)

It's time to link up to this week's Freshly Pieced's WIP Wednesday.

Quilt for 2nd Granddaughter Completed

I have been in radio silence (or rather blog silence) because I have not wanted to reveal the completed quilt until after my daughter-in-law's baby shower. I can proudly state that  I did finish it about two weeks ago, long before the baby shower, which was today. I was not putting the last stitches in it the night before as I am wont to do with gifts. It has a bit more of a modern twist than is my normal style but my husband told me it still says little girl without shouting it. Here is the front. The quilt measures 39" wide x 45" tall. I'd like to call it Paisley Pearl but since that name is nowhere on the quilt it will exist only in this blog. I usually embroider just my initials and the year on the quilts I make. For some reason I never developed a system or custom for more extensive labels.

The hot-pink triangles and pea-green squares are quilted diagonally. The citrine squares and chocolate triangles are quilted vertically. The pale pink and multi-color paisley fabrics are quilted along the curlique shapes. The small half-square triangles are stitched in the ditch along their seam lines. The striped border is quilted in parallel lines along the turquoise and hot pink stripes. In retrospect I wish I had been braver in using colored rather than clear thread for the quilting. But again my confidence in my free motion quilting skills is not quite there yet so I made the subtler choice. Here is the back. I permitted my cutesy tendencies to peek through in my choice of backing fabric.

I did wait until two days before the baby shower to build up my nerve to wash it. I never pre-wash my fabrics because I like working with them crisp and not soft from the sizing having been removed, but I always cross my fingers that the dark fabric dye will not bleed into the paler fabrics. I like my quilts to have contrast so the old adage of "wash dark colors separately" is just not possible. But now that I use Synthrapol, a detergent that sets dye, along with Shout Color Catcher cloths,  small treated sheets that attract any released dye before it resettles, I am less concerned. Before I gift baby quilts or burp cloths now I pre-wash them twice, first with the Synthrapol and Shout Color Catcher cloths and then again with my regular detergent Era and Color Catcher cloths to be sure that when those new parents wash them they need not fear color bleed. If the colors bleed into each other on my watch – so be it, I will make replacement quilt. I do not want those new parents to feel that they messed up somehow. Besides, after washing, the quilt crinkles and puffs up so nicely on the quilting lines. The quilting does show up after all even though I used clear, soft, polyester thread. Here is the quilt packaged and ready for giving. That happy striped border still makes me smile. Perhaps the border could have been a bit wider but I was concerned that too much of it with it's bright colors and graphic pattern might detract from the featured large print paisley blocks. Also, if wider, then the backing fabric would have had to be pieced.

Underneath the quilt I tucked a selection of washcloths in the same color scheme as the quilt. I pre-washed these too with the color cloths and was glad I did since the bright turquoise did give up a bit of dye.

I thought it kind of bemusing that the box is from the Fat Quarter Shop  – the ultimate in recycling. Get fabric in box... give quilt in box!

I wrapped the box in my signature polka dots motif and used the remaining rose paisley binding as the tie. I will be an Indian giver though. I am going to ask for that binding back for another project. It breaks a quilter's heart to see usable fabric discarded.

Now, as for the present on the right with the striped fabric tie...? That is the subject of my next post.

After the baby shower today, I can safely say that Paisley Pearl was a success with the expectant couple, my son and daughter-in-law.