Christmas in April

Back in January,

I made a commitment to myself to sew

at least one Christmas-y item each month.

As it turns out, I wasn't the only one 
who had this great idea!

Julie, The Crafty Quilter, really has her act together,

introducing a new Christmas project on the 15th of each month.

And now I'm linking up with Christmas Through The Year
at Lily Patch Quilts, too!
Head on over there for even more ideas and a linky party.

I wondered whether I would have trouble

with motivation when warmer weather arrived

and the trees were budding.

As it turns out,

while I was stitching away on my new

Paper Snowflake Pillow,

I felt...downright festive!

I had made this pillow once before,

as a free project for Pellon,

using my must-have-in-the-house-at-all-times

Pellon 987F Fusible Fleece.

For this new version,

I had a jumpstart, since

I had already cut out my snowflake design...

and chosen my Cherry Christmas fabrics.

I did a bit of stitching here...

and some quilting there...

and pretty soon I was ready to make the back of the pillow.

I used my very own tutorial for a

Covered Zipper Pillow Backing.

I was grateful for the good tips I'd written down,

because it's been a little while since I made a pillow.

My house is going to look so merry this Christmas!

Stay tuned...now that I'm pillow-happy,

I'm going to finish off my Copenhagen Pillow!

{It's about time, right?}

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Paper Snowflake Pillow - a New Free Project

This morning at our house we had a few snow flurries...

nothing major, just decorative.

:)

I just love how each snowflake is unique, 

and also very beautiful.

{Here's how they look under a microscope...photo from interestingtopics.net}

 A few weeks ago,

snowflakes inspired me to create a pillow,

and the free pattern is now available for

you to download

at Pellon Projects!

{Go to pellonprojects.com and choose Projects, then the Home Decor tab, to find my Paper Snowflake Pillow project.  It's free to join the site, and then you can download the PDF file.}

I may have mentioned before how much I love using Pellon 987F fusible fleece

in so many of my projects.

I literally buy it by the bolt!

The brilliant idea I came up with was to use Pellon 987F Fusible Fleece

on the OUTSIDE of the pillow,

as the main design element!

Maybe you had been waiting patiently to see the front of this pillow.

{I featured the back for my own free tutorial for making 

Pillow Backs with a Covered Zipper.}

So now you can make your own

Paper Snowflake pillows!

I chose some aqua and red prints for my original pillow.

I love the contrast of the top fabric...both are from Joy by Kate Spain...

perfect for the background of the snowflake.

{The bottom fabric is awesome, too...will be used for a future pillow!}

Then I used some Ta Dots in Ocean by Michael Miller.

{Raise your hand if that shocks you.  Anyone???}

And for the backing, I love the snowmen from Ann Kelle's latest Christmas line, called Jingle, for Robert Kaufman.

I'm actually working on my second paper snowflake pillow right now!

I've got some Cherry Christmas for that one, by Aneela Hoey for Moda.

{I'm going to have to get a bigger Aneela Hoey box!}

I don't provide a template for the snowflake design, because...

That's the idea...no two are going to be alike!

But I promise...they will all be very pretty.

See what I mean?

I kinda went crazy with the quilting on my first one.

I liked the way it looked on the back, too...all squishy and soft!

A Snowflake Pillow can be used all winter, 

but a Christmas snow is always extra-magical.

Maybe you could partner up with a child you love,

to design and cut out the snowflake shapes.

If you do make one, or a flurry of Paper Snowflake Pillows,

I'd love to see them on my Flickr group page,

"Amy Made That! and So Did I!"

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