Fourteen days and counting

Just fourteen more days to go until Christmas! How on Earth did that happen?!?! I spent a good bit of quality time with my sewing machine this weekend, trying to gear up for some serious handmade holiday gift-making. It was really quite fun to crank up the holiday music and just sew, in between trekking out to holiday parades and birthday parties. The best part so far about this holiday season is hearing my munchkin singing along to the Christmas tunes, that positively puts a smile on my face.

This weekend, I focused on finishing two pillows and getting my pouches started. Admittedly, one of the pillows is for me, but I figured while I was finishing off a gift pillow, it wouldn't take long to finish off the pillow for me. Let's start with my pillow...

The dog apparently thinks I made the pillow for him. He's sorely mistaken ;)

I've been working off and on since some time in September on a little English paper pieced (EPP) project that I've enjoyed more than I could have ever imagined. Inspired by Terri's gorgeous pillow from the PTS swap round over the summer, I bought some paper pieces (Diamonds and Jewels, in the 3/4" size) from the aptly named Paper Pieces shop and got to it. It took a while, and a lot of templates, but I actually turned them into a pillow, and I absolutely love it.

All of the fabrics are from my scrap bin, save for the Sweetwater print I used for the background. I even used a stash print for the backing, from Flea Market Fancy. The pillow is quilted in simple straight lines, using 50 wt Aurifil thread in white. This pillow cover fits perfectly on a 20" pillow form.

The gift pillow I finished up this weekend is going a long way to a good friend, so I really needed to get it finished so I can ship it off. I started this pillow a while back, for the Pillow Talk Swap, but as I finished up the front, I started to feel like it wasn't quite something my partner would like, so I set it aside and made something else. Fortunately, I happen to know someone who will appreciate this pillow very much, so I decided to finish it up for her. I added some simple wiggle FMQ to the sashing, in white 50 wt Aurifil thread, and added a simple envelope backing to finish it off. This pillow cover will fit perfectly on a 22" pillow cover (which I can't seem to locate at my house at the moment!).

I hope you had a wonderful weekend! Happy stitching :)