A Little Bit of Sew and Sew

Since I'm wanting to post some of my projects from the last year or so, I thought rather than post one at a time, I'd do a quick group of some quick projects. 

This first project was by far the quickest and easiest.   It's made from an old heavy-weight pique knit shirt of my husband's that was re-purposed into a comfy pillow for our family room.

To make, just lay the shirt flat, right side out, and cut both the front and the back together into an even square.  Then flip the two square pieces together so that the right sides are facing each other.  Sew around the edges with a 5/8" seam leaving a 3-4" opening at the bottom.  Snip the corners off.  Turn right side out, stuff with polyester stuffing, and then stitch the opening closed.

There are no instructions for this next project.  It's a sewing machine cover that I just kind of made up as I went along.  The fabric is a remnant that came from the same coordinated fabric group as the fabric I used for my cutting table skirt.  The sewing table is not really a sewing table but an old wooden desk that my husband found at a garage sale for $35.  I have more drawer space than a regular sewing table and I particularly love the drawer right under the sewing machine.  Very handy!

The pin cushion by the clock is a ball of polyester stuffing wrapped in a piece of fabric and stuffed in a vintage cup and saucer.  (You could hot glue it in the cup but I used some leftover Velcro.)  The sewing machine sits on top of a cutting mat that I backed with felt so not only do I have a handy measuring tool but it makes it easier to slide the sewing machine to the back when I need some extra room to work on other things like hand basting or ripping a seam out.  (Um...not that Mom ever makes a mistake that requires seam ripping but just in case.) 

 

Finally, the rag edge baby blanket on the right is from a kit I bought about 6 or 7 years ago and tucked in a closet.  One weekend when I was on call and stuck in the house, I decided to finally drag it from the closet and tackle piecing it together.  The fleece was so stiff that I wasn't sure it would be right for a baby but once the blanket was completed and I washed it, it came out of the dryer as soft as a cloud.  Here it is in all it's awesomeness.   (Notice how its draped artistically over the basket?  Oh.  Well, pretend you did anyway.)