Pillowcase Palooza

I made these two to be shams for the Seaside Rose quilt.  Sidenote:  she is JUST about finished; I have about 1/2 of the last side of the binding to handstitch down.  I plan to take her down to the beach here to photograph the finished product.  Hopefully the rain will stop by tomorrow....  I've used the  "Roll It Up" pillowcase pattern off American Patchwork & Quilting's "All People Quilt" website.  I love that there are no exposed seams with this method.  You sew French seams.  I've made this pattern 4 times now.  I haven't donated any pillowcases yet to their 1 Million Pillowcase Challenge, but I plan to.

Yesterday we were over the river in Detroit, buying our Acana dogfood that is made in Alberta, but cheaper to buy in the US.  Ridiculous, as it is made in Legal, Alberta (excellent dogfood, by the way) my dad's birthplace, and about an hour from where we lived, yet I can buy it thousands of miles away in Detroit, and also in Florida cheaper.  Makes no sense.  We also visited the Detroit Institute of Arts, where we are members, and a place we have come to really love and appreciate.  And worry that its billions of dollars of art could be sold to pay debts that the DIA had no part of.  I took this picture of a cloth made in Ghana, whose designs just spoke to me.  For obvious reasons.   I feel another whole cloth quilt being born...  These were drawn or etched on; I can't remember.  I should have taken a pic of the info card right beside the piece.  Duh.

Even though we've been there three times now, we took a guided tour of the institute, and yet again, the pride of the people of Detroit was evident in many of her words.  I plan to write a post just on Detroit, the beauty and rebirth that is happening that sadly the media neglects to report.  Anyhow, I'm getting off topic, shocker.

I stopped in at a shop that is becoming a favourite, Guildcrafters Quilt Shop, on the hunt for a wool for another project that I want to finish while we are in Florida.  Sadly, they didn't have the thickness of the one I used in my Frostbite snowman quilt, of which I have a chunk left over, but not enough, of course for the daisy petals that I plan to appliqué.  But another bolt of fabric caught my eye, and a piece of it came home with me, for a pillowcase for my daughter, Dayna.  I made it for her this afternoon, and it will be one of her Christmas presents.  Here it is!

Gosh, I love it when I buy a piece of fabric and the project is done within 24 hours of purchase!!  That rarely happens...  It is an adorable flannel with funky cats on it.  She's coming over tomorrow night, so I plan to give it to her then; I can't wait until Christmas, and this way she can snuggle on it for an extra month.  I had my overseer watching:

She LOVES me being down here in the basement sewing.  I was surprised that she didn't try to sit on the fabric as I was A) cutting it or B) sewing it.  Most unusual for her.  Note she is lying, propping her elbow, on a small stack of fat quarters as well as Leah Day's "Express Your Love" goddess pattern when she has a beautiful little pouffé of her own I recovered for her RIGHT beside her...  Cats.  She does use her pouffé a lot though, but loves to lean on something, like my shins at 6 am.  I had company from Rocco as well--

 

I'm just so happy down here sewing, and when they join me, which is often, it just adds to my peace and contentment.  And that is a subject for yet another post, a comparison of my old sewing room to the basement corner in which I now spend a good chunk of my day.  Stay tuned!