A Happy Single's Awareness Day - I mean Valentine's Day!

Time does fly, yes?

For Valentine's Day, I made a pillow for myself.  Several folks saw it, and wanted one.  I ended up with 13 orders for pillows.  Most wanted whatever I felt like color-wise, and some had specific color requests.  It was so fun to make them, and to have people like them so. It was just total gravy that folks paid me for them!

Yes, I know, I need to have materials covered, and my time paid for, but that's challenging for me. I plucked an amount out of the air, and it seemed high to me, but clearly, it wasn't.  My husband and I actually had a fight about me not charging enough for my work.  I thought I had charged plenty, he felt I should have charged more.  That's a good thing, I suppose.

The pillows came out awfully cute.  I started with IKEA pillow forms.  They are inexpensive, and down.  They are soft, and give great support.  Starting with such a great base, how can you go wrong?  Well, actually, it's pretty easy to go awry...I started with 2 layers of white fabric, and drew a line with a Sew-line air erasing pen.  I did a heavy stitch, twice, as the "line" the hearts were hanging on.  The hearts were drawn on fusible paper, ironed onto fabrics in red and pink and purple, cut out, and ironed on the line  I outlined the hearts, and Voila! I did envelope style closure, and they are OK, but I really need to work on my invisible zippers  I did a binding,, because it just seemed to frame it so well - it really completed the look.  I am enamored with the effect of binding the pillow.

The closure fabric was made from a variety of fabrics I had about the house.  The "I LOVE YOU" fabric looks like there are blank lines between the red words, but in reality it is printed with glow in the dark words  It says things like "Take out the trash" and "You don't bring me flowers" and so on.  A guild mate said it perfectly summed up marriage!

I made mostly 16" x 26" sizes, but a few 20" x 20" tucked in for fun.  I made one with lots of little hearts in a heart shape  It was cute, but not what was in my mind's eye.  I gave it to my folks who were visiting.  My chiropractor ordered a custom one for his wife.  While he was adjusting my husband's back, he described what he wanted  I sketched and before it was my turn, we had a design.  I think the initials turned out super cute!  He was pleased, and more importantly, his wife was thrilled and surprised.  It's a win all the way around.

I'm now working on a garden scene for a pillow.  A team at my school is doing a Bunko night, and there will be raffle/auction items.  The coach requested a pillow with flowers.  I will be reimbursed for the supplies.  I'm excited to get my work out there, and it's helping the dance team pay for it's costs.  They did a fleece scarf fundraiser, and I will get one of them, in a color of my choosing.  I think it's a great trade!

I hope your Valentine's Day had some joy in it, and that you got to sew and let a loved one know you cared.













Best,