Recently in Pillows Category

Our dream pillows are now at Etsy.com. We will be listing more in the days to come, but these four are so sweet. They are the perfect size to tuck into a travel bag and take with you in the car or plane...and have in a hotel room. They look great on your bed, and add a bit of whimsy to your bedroom decor...We have kid pillows also. These measure about 7" square, and are backed with soft Minkee. Great idea for gifts. And, besides being just about as sweet as they can be, they are machine washable. Check them out at Etsy.com.

Thank you for the support and encouraging words from those of you who came by our booth last weekend at Art By the Bay on Camano Island in Washington, and especially those who braved the cold and rain on Sunday. We had the most colorful booth at the show. Our birdhouse placemats were a hit. In fact, we sold all of them and took special orders for others. Our pattern for A's Strips was popular for the quilters, and our quilted art totes found new homes. And I smiled when I saw someone walk by with one of our quilted coffee sleeves on their espresso drink....

This is our booth before it was set up,,,,10 feet by 10 feet, with a climbing rope hanging right in the middle.

Still not ready, but almost...these are some of our items we had on display.

Everyone commented about our soft colorful Dream Pillows.

Today, the day after, we are busy completing special orders and planning for the upcoming shows.

We are just finally putting all our pieces in place. To be honest, with my (Amy's) working and parenting and all the sewing we do, not to mention the podcast, our bird book, and so on, we've been slow to get things (like our web site) up, running, functional, and the collaborative studio showcase that it should be.

The site is finally underway as a central landing space for "us," but I thought I'd mention, too, that we do have a Facebook page set up. If you're a Facebook user, please consider becoming a "fan" of our site just to keep in the loop on small announcements, tidbits, and news we share there that may or may not make it to the blog!

Today... you'll find a glimpse of some small pillows that are part of this weekend's Art by the Bay sale in Opal's area. (She has photos to share later that show how wonderful everything look when put together this way!)

Sometimes... I find that the gifts I decide to make are gifts I want to give because they're important to me... or sentimental... or symbolic... and not necessarily because I think they are the gifts someone "wants" to receive. It's a strange thing, I guess. In this case, I hope it will be loved and treasured... even as it comes along with regular store-bought gifts. The pillow is for a family member, and it was a special project to work on. I know the recipient loves animal print... and always has. And so I went through my stash of pieces, large and small, and pulled out the this's and that's... only a few of them "technically" animal print, and wove something together in terms of color and tone that I love.

I did have to go out and buy the home dec fabric, and I had hopes for a perfect print... but I couldn't find one. (That trip was one that was carried out to the tune of a four year old in the cart singing, "Pee... pee... pee... I have to pee... " as I tried to quickly find what I needed.) This plaid, however, did seem perfect. Really. The other fabric I considered is one I already had in my stash, a vibrant orange print with varying shades and a random leaf pattern... very "safari" in feel somehow. It would have worked, but I'm so happy with how this plaid turned out. The whole piece is still vibrant and rich and fun... but very sophisticated at the same time. I hope he loves it.

Already it's a Saturday again, and a lot happened between the last photo and this one... including Thanksgiving, which meant I had to totally clear my table. There's always that bit of a bridge of time after that where the table is refreshingly clear... even if it's still cluttered. This weekend, I've been hard at work finishing up three custom pillows that got put on hold during Opal's visit. These are for holiday gifts, so I'm glad to have them done and ready to mail out next week. it's a beautiful trio, I think. Also, with the boys out of school and the table clearer than usual, both chess and Sleeping Queens happened here last night.

This one is so fun. It's an interesting challenge finding the right color balance when making something for someone you don't know. This is one of a set of 5 commissioned photo pillows. I was given a sense of color and then, basically, instructions for something that's not flowery at all... something that is unexpected in many places. In the end, I worried it might have ended up more formal than it was intended to be... but I love the colors... and I love the black and white dots. And, though you can't see the photo in the center clearly for privacy reasons, it's beautiful in the middle of this!