ISLAND BATIK AMBASSADOR MAY CHALLENGE Playful Pillows

A first for me! I'm actually getting a project done early. Of course I did because I had a sooner deadline to get it done. My parent's 70th anniversary!

My family celebrated my parent's anniversary on Sunday and I wanted to make them something that they would really cherish. I had a copy of their wedding photo. Aren't they a handsome couple!!

Since I didn't have a lot of time to make it, (I'm always doing things at the last minute) I had to figure a fast way to do it.

First I scanned the photo and saved it on my computer. I printed the photo on some Epson Iron-on Cool Peel Transfer paper. I found that it creates a better image than printing it directly on the fabric.

I then, just started sewing strips to the photo. I started with 1", then 1-1/4" then 1-1/2" and so on until I felt that it was as big as I wanted it to be. (I was in too big a hurry to take photos of sewing the strips on.)

I didn't have any pillow forms so I looked up how to make my own with batting on the internet. Isn't the internet a wonderful thing. You can find out how to do anything on it. I found an article that said to make a pocket with 2 pieces of batting by sewing on 3 sides. Then to stuff it with batting scraps so that it is the thickness you wanted without it being too stuffed. Then just sew the last seam down. You don't have to worry about the seams showing since they will be inside the pillow. 

After I made the pillow form (which I measured from the pillow top) I realized that it was too big after stuffing it for the top so I had to add one more row of strips to the top. 

I tried out the alphabet stitches on my sewing machine and stitched their names and date of their wedding.

I didn't have time to quilt it so I sewed the backing on the top on three sides and turned it right side out and put the pillow form in. I pressed the fourth edges in and used some glue to hold the edges together. Then I hand sewed the last edge with a ladder stitch. Here is the finished pillow.

Here they are with the pillow. Aren't they still a handsome couple! (My dad never smiles when you take his photo, but he is happy!) Would you believe my dad will be 98 in June and my mom is 93?

It's not fancy but it served it's purpose. Now when they look at that pillow they will always think of me.

I hope this gives you some incentive to make your own photo pillow for that special occasion. If you have a similar story please share it.

As always; Do what you love and love what you do. Feel free to share with your friends. Thank you for reading. Toby

ISLAND BATIK AMBASSADOR APRIL CHALLENGE PART 3

This will be a short blog. So far I have showed how I paper pieced my little log homes. This blog will just describe how I pieced them together and where I got my inspiration.

First I said I would let you know how I fixed that block that had an "attic" and some of my friends called it. Luckily with freezer paper foundation piecing I could iron the foundation back onto the pieces that were already pieced and then continue with fixing that one part.

I have a book called America's Glorious Quilts. 

It illustrates the history of quilts and is divided into chapters of the type of quilts.

I chose the chapter America's Folklore.















Here is the quilt layout I found. The description said it was made in 1880. It's funny because as I was posting the progress of my blocks, when I laid them out I had a lot of questions why were some of the blocks upside down? So I had to show them this quilt. I got quite a few funny responses about it. "You can put on the back of a sofa and it will look good from both directions." and "depends on which side of the bed you are standing!"

I liked the layout because it had large sashing to separate the blocks. Gives me plenty of space to quilt! 

I used a 2" sashing between the 6" x 8" blocks. So here is the finished quilt. I had a hard time deciding on whether to put a border on it so I asked my FB friends and the consensus was to put on a border. Since I was making this with fat eighths I was limited to how many blocks I could make with them. The quilt has a 2-1/2" border and finishes at 37" x 39". I haven't found time to quilt it yet but when I do I will show it off.

So let me know what you think of my little quilt!

As always; Do what you love and love what you do. Thanks for reading and please share this blog with your quilting friends. Toby Lischko

Here is a list of the other Ambassadors that blogged about this challenge.

Alison at Little Bunny Quilts
Amy at Sew Incredibly Crazy
Anita at Quilt in a not-Shell
Anna at Ark Angel Creations
Anne at Sweetgrass Designs
Barbara at Bejeweled Quilts
Bea at BeaQuilter
Carole at Carole Lyles Shaw
Connie at Freemotion by the River
Connie at Kauffman Designs
Dione at Clever Chameleon
Geraldine at Living Water Quilter
Jackie at If These Threads Could Talk
Janet at Whispers of Yore
Jeanette at Inchworm Fabrics
Jen at Patterns by Jen
Jennifer at Curlicue Creations
Jennifer at Dizzy Quilter
Jennifer at Inquiring Quilter
Jessica at Desert Bloom Quilting
Joan at Moosestash Quilting
Joyce at heARTs Creations
Karen at Sew Karen-ly Created

Karen at The Quilt Rambler
Kathleen at Kathleen McMusing
Laura at Slice of Pi Quilts
Leanne at Devoted Quilter
Mania at Mania for Quilts
Maryellen at Mary Mack Made Mine
Michelle at Creative Blonde
Myra at Busy Hands Quilts
Nancy at Masterpiece Quilting
Pamela at PamelaQuilts
Sally at Sally MankeSandra at MMM Quilts
Sarah at Sarah Goer Quilts
Sharon at Yellow Cat Quilt Designs
Sherry at Powered by Quilting
Stephanie at Steph Jacobson
Suzy at Adventurous Applique and Quilting
Teri at Lizard Creek Quilts
Tina at Quilting Affection Designs
Turid at Den Syende Himmel
Vicki at Vicki's Crafts & Quilting