Cozy Plaid Fabric Goodness

I made pillowcases :)

I love that they are coordinating, but not all matchy-matchy - His & Hers pillowcases for my Mom & Dad :)

It feels a bit silly and little-kidish to give my parents handmade pillowcases, but I wanted something I could finish quickly, instead of adding to my WIP list.  And I know my parents will appreciate them.

The fabrics are all DS for Joann's.  Two different colorways of the same plaid, {I Love Plaid!} and the same grey dot for each.  My Mom loves pink & grey together, so naturally I thought of her the first time I saw this fabric.  The yellow plaid kind of looks to me like someone went crazy with a highlighter :)

And can I just say how tickled I am that what was just a pile of fabric in my stash yesterday is now two pillowcases, ready to be useful?  Does anyone else get excited about that kind of thing?

*If you followed the link above and are wondering, I have used that tutorial to make pillowcases that I donated through an LQS :)

I won't be back to my blog until July.  I'm unplugging myself for a few days, because I'm just plain exhausted & something has to give around here.  So I'm cutting out my tv & computer time until I get a few important things taken care of & get better rested.  I'll catch up with you all later, ok?

H2H Finish

I finished my H2H quilt, yay! :)

My little helpers were nice enough to hold it up for a picture - I just love those red rain boots sticking out :)

That great, crinkly texture is one of my favorite things about this quilt; the whole thing is just so soft and drapes nicely, as if it has already been lovingly broken in.

My original plan was to bind with a navy blue fabric with pink flowers that has been in my stash for a long time.  Unfortunately, it didn't age well.  When I opened it up to iron & cut, it was faded along the fold lines :(

I'm running out of larger pieces in my stash, so Plan B was to cut a strip from each of several darker purples.  I'm pleased to have found another option that {in my opinion} looks so lovely, and didn't involve a shopping binge :) 

I really am trying to cut down the size of my stash, because I don't have much storage space in my house & because I don't want my pretty fabric to sit in the closet until it fades or yellows.  It really is sad to pull out a fabric you have been hoarding, waiting for a special use, only to find it in that condition. (I have fabrics with a 2000 copyright on the selvedge, and some probably older than that, if you are wondering)

I used a pastel varigated thread for quilting.  Varigated threads are great for people like me who have a hard time settling on just one color :)

I pre-washed most of these fabrics at my Grandmother's house before she passed away, so the whole quilt smelled like her house, {until I washed it at mine} making it all the more pleasent to hand stitch the binding down :)

At different stages, I've loved & hated this quilt.  As I was joining the blocks together, I really thought it was going to be awful.  I'm glad I didn't banish it to the stack of UFO's, because now I've completely changed my mind about this quilt.  Funny how the right boarder & binding can do that for you.  And how Plan B can turn out better than your first choice.

Tomorrow is Friday, and we all know how blogland loves to party on Friday, so I'll be bringing my quilt around and linking up :)  {I'll update this post to say where when I do}
TGIFF @ Quilt Matters
AmyLouWho Sew & Tell
Confessions of a Fabric Addict Whoop Whoop Friday
Richard & Tanya Quilts