Winter Sampler Pillow is Finished

An article by Rachel    Comments Off

It’s it lovely?

I’m in love with my latest finished project. Lately, I’ve been trying to finish up stuff that is oh so close to being done. This weekend it paid off.

In November 2008, I started the Winter Sampler from Crabapple Hill. I foolishly thought I could finish for Christmas 2008. I barely got started that year. Well, I gradually worked on it over the year whenever I needed a nice hand project. Then I came to the adding wool pieces, and I stopped.

Well this last week it all changed. It only took a couple of day to add the wool pieces  and some fabric to the edges. Yesterday, I decided to tackle the remaining tasks. I needed:

• A pillow insert
• Fabric for back
• An invisible zipper
• Beads

Based on a friend’s recommendation, I bought my lumbar pillow insert from Restoration Hardware. Luck was on my side, the pillow inserts were 20% off. Even if it isn’t on sale, I think the insert is affordable considering it is a down feather. I went with down feather because it holds up so well. I plan on making two 20″ pillow to coordinate with the embroidery pillow. I’ll get those inserts from Restoration Hardware as well, and I’m pretty sure pillow inserts are the only thing I can afford in that store.

I found the fabric for the back at Whimsy Cottage, a local quilt store. I scored fabric that was 30% off. Yea for me! When I left the house the first time, I forgot to take fabric swatches with me. After hitting Restoration Hardware, I swung by the house to get the fabric swatches. I’m glad I did. Without the fabric swatch, I totally would have bought the wrong fabric. Lesson learned.

Finally I hit Joann’s for the zipper and beads. I went for a 14″ invisible zipper. I installed the zipper on the short edge. In the future, I’ll install the zipper on the long edge, less pillow to stuff. The pattern called for two different bead sizes. I went for one. I figured I didn’t need a billion extra beads. Instead I only have like a million.

Final assemble went well. I made the pillow cover an inch short then the pillow’s width and height. I took this advice from some blog I read. The smaller size made it harder to stuff the insert into pillow cover, but once it is stuffed, it looks so much better. I imagine it might be easier if I added a polyester lining to the pillow cover, perhaps next time. The tighter fit made the puffs on the side look better than I ever imagined.

Now Ross wants to know when I’m going to start the Spring, Summer, and Autumn sampler. Oh, silly boy.