Scrappy pillow

I'm working on some baby gifts for a shower tomorrow, some of which are sitting in a dye bath as I type. Hopefully I will get it together this weekend to show you what I've made, because the pattern I'm using for part of the gift is Fabulous with a capital F. It is especially good if you're still a little shaky sewing knit fabric...

In the meantime, I wanted to show off a little pillow I sewed up this week. Since I built the entryway bench, I've been wanting to make a few pillows for the top of it, just to add some color to that wood-and-gray corner. I have been reeeeeeally trying to use materials I have in the house, because goodness knows I have enough STUFF, I don't need anymore. Though I really want more. But anyway. I decided to try and delve into my scrap bin for these pillows. I think the first one came out pretty well.

 

I haven't done a whole lot of triangles, except for that still-disappointed-in Anna Maria Horner quilt, but I love the way they look scrappy. My scrap bin definitely proves that I skew to greens and blues, with some yellow thrown in.

 

In the spirit of using what I have, I pieced together an envelope-style back, which is my favorite method of pillow-making. When you have dogs and a little boy, you've got to be able to wash everything. In hindsight, I probably should have reversed the solid and pattern pieces, so the flap wasn't so noticeable. I like it anyway.

Alright, back to my dye baths!

Christmas knitting and a new hobby

The plague on this house has finally lifted and not a minute too soon. Two weeks of sick boy, sick mom is just no fun. I'm hoping we got all of the bugs out of our systems for awhile, cause I've got some major Christmas sewing and knitting to get to!

I suppose one good thing about being sick - or taking care of a sick kid - is lots of couch-sitting time. Which means lots of knitting time. I've been working on this Dark and Stormy pattern for someone special and while it's slow going (and I had about 10 minutes of panic when I thought I was going to have to rip back several inches), I really love how it's turning out. The yarn, KnitPicks Comfy Worsted in Hawk, is not my first choice for this pattern, but the recipient will appreciate the non-wool-ness of it. And it does have nice cable definition and is very soft.

I haven't been completely immobile on the couch for those couple of weeks. In fact, I picked up a whole new hobby (like I needed another one) - woodworking! I finally got tired of hubby saying "Why should we buy that when I can build an even better one myself, for much cheaper?!" and then never having the time to actually follow through. So, last weekend I asked him to show me how to use all of his "manly" tools and built myself this cute little bench.

I used the Spa Bench plans from Ana-White.com. This is a great site for beginning woodworkers, with tons of free plans - most are homemade versions of furniture found in higher-end stores. I had been looking for a bench like this to go here, mainly because we really don't have an entryway and I wanted somewhere you could sit down and take your shoes off. My main goal is to build a new dining room table (which is currently in the works!), but I figured I should probably start with something a little more...manageable. I learned quite a bit on this little bench, but the design was such that you really can't see any of the mistakes.

I'm already working on some cute scrappy pillows to sit on it - like I need another project!