Certainly it would be great to make the gifts way ahead of time and it works well because it takes away a bit of worry, but for me I love making the gifts closer to when they are gifted.  SO during the month of December I am busy making all kinds of cute things.  AND... this year I am making some super special things that I just had to share!!  They are just too cute to not!!  Over the next week I will share everyday... if things go to plan, the cute gifts that are just getting finished.  Also, I will be sure to share where to find the tutorials I used, the supplies, extra tips, and my own tutorials, so much FUN!

CHECK IT OUT - TRAVEL NECK PILLOW with Mixi Heart face sleep mask.

First off I will share the tutorial I used for the travel neck pillow and then share my tips and tricks throughout this post.  CRAFTY GEMINI just nailed it with her tutorial for the neck pillow!! I was pointed in the right direction by a friend and I was just tickled to find such a cute pattern template and a video that was so simple to take a few minutes out to watch.  I added a couple things and tips below, perhaps read and then follow up with her video and you will be more than ready to make your own cute handmade gifts.

I used Shannon Fabrics Cuddle Minky for all of these pillows.  They offer beautiful fabrics!!!  I used their solids but don't even get me started talking about their prints and embossed Minky.  For the pillow tutorial Crafty Gemini did all the work with her wonderful video and template.  I just modified a little.  How I expanded on Crafty Gemini's design was to quilt the Minky before cutting out the pillow pieces.

Why did that make a difference? - Well Minky is stretchy and slippery.  She will share that in the video.  However, if you quilt the Minky before, it keeps that AMAZINGLY soft feel but gets stabilized.  Plus, doesn't it look darling!!!  Oh my goodness!!!!!  I quilted strips of Minky 70" x 15" with 14" x 65" of quilter's cotton fabric to have plenty of fabric left to make face sleep mask and snap straps.

The second way I expanded on Crafty Gemini's design is the addition of shredded foam and weighted stuffing beads.  One thing that I should mention is when making a quality product I want to use quality materials.  When I use quality materials it makes ALL THE DIFFERENCE.  I want these pillows to be super functional and last with time and wear.  Because these pillows might get a little more ruff wear being transferred all over I really considered what I was going to use to stuff them.

Fairfield's products fit the bill and then some!  To stuff my pillows I used about four handfuls of Poly Pellets in each pillow.  Before adding anything I added three handfuls in the bottom of the pillow (or the legs).  Then I proceeded to stuff with a combination of Poly-fil and Project Shredded foam.  I love adding shredded foam because it has that denser fill to it.  How to shred foam is simple... cut little chunks with scissors to size desired and insert in pillow.  The combination of poly-fil and poly-pellets and shredded project foam fills all the little gaps.  Finish by adding the last handful of Poly-Pellets at the top of the pillow.  The poly-pellets feel so nice to the touch at the bottom.  These pillows wouldn't be the same without the fillers.

The third way I expanded on Crafty Gemini's design was by adding a face sleep mask to match for that much needed sleep while traveling.  Here are some pics to show the front and back of the face sleep mask :

You will need to round all corners of your Face Sleep Mask.  You can accomplish by using the round edge of a spool of thread.  Trace around spool and cut away the extra fabric.  Fold the mask in half lengthwise and pin foldover Elastic at each point on Fabric Side with right sides facing out. Apply Bias Binding around edge sewing first on Minky side and folding over on Fabric side. And TA DA!! Finished Matching Face Sleep Mask. (this mask will wrap to cover your ears too, I wanted more of a face mask than just an eye mask to cancel out the extra noise you might get in say an airplane).

What is fantastic about the fold over elastic is that it easily knots to adjust for size and comfort.  Because who knows if you want it loose or tight and this allows for the customization.  How great is that!

 Oh my goodness the CUTENESS!!!

 The fourth way I expanded on the idea was to add a snap strap to the top to attach to luggage.  The reason why I was thinking that I might need this feature is because we have four people in our family.  I was thinking that we would need a quick way to attach and carry the pillows.


 The Snap Strap simply just slips inside the turn gap on the back side of the pillow.

 Round two corners of each strap piece.  Attach snap centered to the curved corner side on the fabric side each of the strap pieces.  Apply Bias Binding around edge sewing first on Minky side and folding over on Fabric side (it is tricky to sew the binding with the male side of the snap because it interferes with the sewing foot, just go slow and it works out :).

 Simply add the snap straps on either side of the close gap after pillow is stuffed.  I closed the gap with a whip stitch the best I could but then squeezed the pillow under the sewing machine and added a stitched line by machine.  I just felt this would add that extra secure closure that it might need.  It was tricky because there is a lot of pillow to squeeze in there but again if you go slow it gets done.  I started in the middle and sewed out and then repeated the other direction.

CABINETS/BENCHES - The next favorite place for me to place a pillow is on a cabinet.  This pillow is a longer pillow.  Essentially it is a Bench Pillow.  Certainly it would work wonderfully on a bench but I have this cabinet that it fits perfect on.  I also have little picture frames that I keep perched right next to the pillow to add that extra added interest.  So think benches and cabinets for longer quilty items like bench pillows or table runners.


GLASS - Would you believe that you can use magnets on either side of glass to hold a quilt?  You CAN!!  It is wonderful!!  I have had this old window that I came across years ago.  I have wanted to hang it on the wall for so long.  At our last house we didn't have a wall big enough that was unobstructed... but at our new home we do!!  YAY!!  I purchased some magnets at home depot and then used them on both sides of the glass.  I have the window attached to the wall and it is a wonderful place to display quilts.  I can change the quilts the same way I would with the pillows.  It really gives our home a very custom look.


QUILT HANGER - You can not go wrong with a trusty Quilt Hanger.  I made the quilt hanger shown in picture with the help of the hubby.  It is simply two pieces of wood that are connected by drilling and securing a bolt and knobs to allow for the quilt to be tightly hung in between the two pieces of wood.  This Quilt Hanger measures about 80".  It works perfectly for all of my Star Patterns that run from 72" - 76" square quilts.  I also have one a little shorter that will hang my Skinny Patterns that run 20" wide.  The thing about hanging a quilt to keep in mind is that you don't need to see the whole quilt.  If you have a cabinet that takes up half of the wall that's okay... the quilt looks fantastic just tucked behind the cabinet.  It almost gives the wall more dimension and expands the space.


If I could share any kind of advice about decorating with quilts it would be to have fun and don't be afraid to try new places.  Quilts are gorgeous and it is so fun to see them sprinkled throughout your home.  Not all of our quilts are bed sized!!  Keep in mind that with decorating you don't have to have follow any rules.  You can do whatever you want.  One thing I like to remind quilting newbies is that there are no rules, meaning there are no limits.  With decorating it is the same thing!

I have some more tricks up my sleeve for how to display quilts in your home.  Check back to see a few more over the next few months.  Thank you for stopping by!

One day you will learn how to give and receive love like an open window and it will feel like Fall everyday.

May your walls know joy, May every room know laughter, and May every Window open to great possibility.

Sometimes you just have to jump out the Window and grow wings on the way down.

and CRUSH STAR:


These two quilts compliment each other like ice cream and sunglasses.


Summer Fact 1: We eat ice cream on a designated ice cream day... each week... the whole summer!


I love the extra sprinkle of quilting on this quilt.  I picked a red thread and on each of the red blocks I added  some curly vines that mimicked the background quilting.  Just darling.  


The extra sprinkle of quilting is subtle but in person adds that special pop :)


Summer Fact 2: We have camped the same place each summer for the last six years. It is pretty Sweet.


Summer Fact 3: My hubby is a fireman and he is very busy the FOURTH of JULY putting out fires.  Psst... He loves it!  US fire wives get together and still have a really good firework show :)



In the picture above take a peek at the binding.  I used ombre fabric for my binding and couldn't love it more.  I also cut a few of the hexies from the same fabric.  Such a fun pattern and I hoped you enjoy getting a closer peek.


Before you know it Summer will be over and so here is hoping that it won't go too fast.  And then I will be ready to soak up the fall and all the great things that fall into our lap during that season of the year.  I feel like it is a lifetime away at this point.  However, skip just a bit ahead with me with my Halloweener patterns.  The other two that I released at Market are HAUNT:



and WEB STAR:


I just can't get over how cool the Web Star quilt turned out!  I want to make it in red and blue for the Fourth of July too because it isn't just simply a Halloween Quilt... however, it is just darling in the spider web fabrics.  Sometimes a quilt just works!!  Wouldn't this be so cute in a million different fabrics/colorways/etc!?!?!


Summer Fact 4: Working from home with the kids here for the summer my productivity suffers.  It is a good thing though because I enjoy producing a little less at the expense of spending time with the kids.  I still make little work goals that I want to accomplish for the week and try my best to at least fit a bit of work in so I can check those goals off.  


I love stitching.  Did I mention that?  It is so relaxing for me and I try to fit the stitching in at baseball/softball games and other events where I know I am going to be sitting for a bit where I can multi-task with some stitching.


I added a little sprinkle of quilting on the Web quilt too.  I stitched on top of the background quilting and then free-handed a spider.


Speaking of quilting, I used my favorite filler cowboy feathers.  Did you know that you can watch a fabulous quilting class available on QNNtv.com on my fun cowboy feathers?  Just saying, lol.


This is the second time that I made a Pineapple Quilt.  They are so fun!

Summer Fact 5: Pineapple is best in the SUMMER!  You know what I am talking about :)

Scraps have been on my mind lately because I am working on TWO quilt that are using just scraps (you can journey along with me on Instagram to see one of the projects... I need to post pics of the other one, just click the little Instagram link at the top of this site, It's a cute little pink camera image).

A long time ago when I just started quilting I didn't have many scraps.  Well of course not because with each project you typically will only yield a few scraps.  Lets also take into account that I famously ran out of fabric again and again so I would just use the fabric until it was GONE, COMPLETELY GONE.  I remember I would often have to cut the selvage into the seam lines sometimes (and I still do here and there)!!  Obviously when needing to sew the selvage in there aren't a lot of scraps.  But years have passed and I started my pattern company and made a million quilts the scraps have happily multiplied.

I organize my "SCRAPS" by warm and cool colors.  It works wonderfully.  I have two bins that are filled from slivers of fabrics up to a few half yards.  These are my scraps, not to be confused with my stash.  My stash I house all my fat quarters and yardage in nice plastic bins in my closet, so when I tackle a larger project I will pull from those places.  My STASH consists of fabric that hasn't been cut into yet.  My scraps are from previous projects I have worked on and they are so USEFUL.  When I am working on small things like pillows/gifts/appliqué projects I mainly pull from my scraps.  I enjoy mixing this eclectic mix together to create the cutest darn things ever.


I can't tell you how many times I dig into these two bins and add to these two bins and subtract from these two bins.  They are ever changing.  Even when I am working on a planned project at times I will insert some scraps. Sometimes you just need a tiny bit when working with appliqué and you can run to your scraps and grab a little piece of fabric and it will make the perfect petal or bloom or berry.  You name it.  It works.  I feel like I worked hard for these scraps.  They took money to buy and time to search for them, no doubt!  They remind me of past projects I made for someone I care about.  They are little memory triggers.  I see a scrap and I usually know what project it is from or if I was gifted the fabric or where I picked it up from.  I have a very sentimental mind.

Scraps, Scraps, Scraps.  I know I have mentioned that my scraps are so useful to me.  However, I am to the point now where I can and need to actually make a full project from my scraps to edit them a little so they can be a little manageable for me to pull from.  It is time to make a few scrappy quilts for this year.  This has been on my mind for the last six months.  That is why I am working on two different scrappy quilts as we speak, but I have more plans!  I need even more projects to put those scraps to good use.  I have a few good ones in mind.

To change gears a little I want to highlight a wonderful book that fits perfectly in with this post.  This is a wonderful book for someone that might want to use their scraps.  Alternatively, they could very well just make some of these patterns with intent and sans scraps because they are darn cute:  Well, wouldn't you know that recently I have a friend Sandra Clemons, that I met through my Quilt Market ventures, that authored a book on scraps!  So fun!  When she shared her book I jumped right in and made a little block intended for a pillow for my little girls room entirely from my scraps from this book shown in pic below.  Cately picked out these fabrics from my scraps and I sewed this little baby up.  I love this quilt pattern!!  It is darling!!  I plan on adding the cute border to make it a large throw pillow, so stay tuned.



Now to tackle some projects.


Use it Up, Wear it Out, Make Do, or Do Without

Getting Lost is not a Wast of Time

Waste Not, Want Not

It wasn't a Waste of Time if you Learned something

If I just lay here will you lie with me and just forget the WORLD