this week's sewing time

It's the last week of Summer vacation and so, since Monday, I've only been taking the sewing time I need to fill my etsy orders, which happens to be alot more than I realized when I took time to sketch my feather Sunday night. Oops! Ever so often I receive an inquiry for this Train Pillow set through my little shop. I don't offer this set as a regular listing simply because even though I really do love making these pillows, I wouldn't want to make them more than just once a month or so. I figure if someone stumbles upon my design through Pinterest or a Google search and takes the time to reach out to me, well then the time it takes for me to make these for the recipient will be time well spent!



For all of my fabric applique pillows I love to use ThermoWeb's iron-on fabric adhesive HeatnBond Lite! To create each pillow I first prepare each fabric by fusing on the adhesive, sketching my applique train shapes right onto the paper side of the HeatnBond, cut out my shapes, iron them onto to neutral shades of solid fabric, in this case Art Gallery Fabrics Pure Elements in Light Gray & Ash. Using a light blue shade of cotton Aurifil 50wt and my satin stitch, I simply stitch around each shape to finish. It's fairly time consuming, but so worth it! These steps create such an adorable, well-made pillow!



The back of each pillow in this set is finished in a bright aqua Amy Butler geometric print, with a little colorful touch of binding on each in Patchwork Plaid by Michael Miller!

Besides this order, I'm a Birthday Crown factory! I'm turning out so many of these, I rarely take the time to photograph them anymore. However this colorful set in my celebration style matched too perfectly with the Moda fabrics I used in this newest set of Train Pillows not to snap and share!



Now that these are done, this afternoon I promised one last sewing session to my girl. We're making a tote bag, which I'll be sure to share soon!

♥ Maureen

A Train Pillow Set in Moda : :

I recently received a very, very generous surprise box from Moda Fabrics, filled to the brim with up-coming collections in Moda's much loved, classic pre-cut bundles, folded perfectly & wrapped in ribbon!

A beautiful sight!



Inside I found a Fat Eighth bundle of Amy Ellis' first collection for Moda, Modern Neutrals, a bundle of Fancy by Lily Ashbury, one of Lella Boutique's Into the Woods, Bonnie & Camille's Miss Kate, Lauren & Jessy Jung's Pedal Pushers, A Field Guide by Janet Clare, and a colorful Layer Cake of April Rosenthal's Best. Day. Ever!





It was a challenge to undo each neatly tied bundle, but I knew these colorful prints would make an adorable Train Pillow Set, which I had an Etsy shop order for, so I jumped in! Using ThermoWeb's iron-on fabric adhesive HeatnBond Lite, I prepared each fabric by fusing on the adhesive, sketching my applique train shapes right onto the paper side of the HeatnBond, cut out my shapes, and ironed them onto to neutral shades of RJR Cotton Supreme Solids. Using a white, cotton Aurifil 50wt and my satin stitch I simply sewed around each shape to finish. It's fairly time consuming, but so worth it!









The back of each pillow is finished with a print from Ellen Luckett Baker's Quilt Blocks fabric collection for Moda, with a little colorful touch of binding on each in Patchwork Plaid by Michael Miller!



In the Summer weeks ahead I'll be sharing more of what becomes of each of these new Moda collections! I've even promised to share with Haila!

Happy Monday!   ♥ Maureen

Cloud9 Cushions { & A Fabric GIVEAWAY! } : :

As planned, this past weekend I turned that gorgeous fat quarter bundle of Cloud9 Fabric's Bark & Branch collection into a happy stack of quilted pillows!



For the three patchwork pillows I simply made a pile of half square triangles, geese units, narrow strips in varying widths, and began imrov piecing one pillow top at a time!

There are so many wonderful, low volume prints in this collection! I did put some effort into separating the color values as I sewed each pillow together, but I do think my piecing really does shine best up close. I especially love the diamond and zigzag pattern that emerged with the placement of my flying geese! I definitely plan to work this pattern into another project very soon!



As I worked my way through the bundle, this Forest Floor leaf print became my most favorite, so I made sure to keep just enough to quilt up for my 12" x 16" pillow form!





I pressed each pillow top to a piece of HeatnBond Fleece, used a 50wt Aurifil for all of my quilting, and finished with an Essex Yarn Dyed Linen in black as my pillow backing! The combination of these really makes a beautiful and sturdy pillow!



Along with my bundle of Bark & Branch, Cloud9 Fabrics also sent me a bundle of Koi Canvas to Giveaway today!! Click right HERE to get a better look, the colors are gorgeous!!





To enter,

 -- Simply leave a comment here in this post! I'd love to know what you'd make with your FQ bundle of Koi Canvas?
-- You can follow the Cloud9 Facebook page, Blog, or Instagram as an optional extra entry! Just let me know that you do by making a separate comment here to record that entry.
-- My followers get an extra entry, too!

I'll be sure to add the winner to the bottom of this post!

Thank you so much stopping by today!!!   ♥ Maureen

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Thank you to all who entered the Giveaway!! From  1,150 entries, Mr. Random says the lucky winner is... 

Comment #29 --   * Linda * Congratulations, I'll be in touch shortly! 

An Appliqued Apron Set Tutorial for Therm O Web : :

We're home!! This morning we woke up in our own beds, missing so many wonderful people, with so many new, special memories made these past two weeks to reflect on. It was such a terrific vacation!

Today, I'm making every effort to dive right back into our regular routine so, I'm taking some time to blog and sew this morning. Oh, how I've missed it! I'm excited to be sharing my Appliqued Apron Set Tutorial over on the Therm O Web blog for the first time since I was recently invited to join their Design Team line-up!



Along with my tutorial is a fun Giveaway for some of their great products! I'm such a huge fan of their basting spray and iron-on adhesive products, especially HeatnBond Lite for all of my quick and easy applique projects!



This apron set if one of our most favorite things I've ever made! Adding the black stitching to my applique projects is one my very favorite things, it's so simple and I just love the look of it!



How could I pass on the chance to share this tutorial one more time?! Hopefully with many of you new readers both here and with those of you who follow the Therm O Web Design Team!



Pop over right HERE to see my full tutorial, to enter their Giveaway, and pretty please feel free to pin it, too!

Happy to back here in this space with all of you!   ♥,  Maureen