Pillow Talk
Pillow Talk is my 200th post. I’m a little surprised. I have to give credit to my son for encouraging me to begin a blog. He still cheers me on, as do the rest of my family. I sure appreciate all of you, my friends, who take the time to read my ramblings and watch the progress of my projects. Thank you, from the bottom of my heart!
I hope you have some tea or coffee in hand while you read today. I’ll show you my pillow project in a minute, but first I wanted to show you one of my favorite Christmas cookies. Those who know me will find this interesting, because they know I love chocolate. But when Christmas comes around, I like to make a batch of these.
They are called Mint Snowballs, small little cookies covered with mint frosting and topped with coconut. You can find the recipe here. (This isn’t the recipe I use, since I was raised in South Dakota and mine has been handed down through our family, but the recipe is exactly the same.)
After all that baking, we’ll probably need a nap. Before you nod off, let me show you my pillow project.
Recently I picked up a copy of the November/December issue of Modern Patchwork magazine. In it, I found the pattern for the following pillow.
It’s a pattern named “Fall Migration Pillows” by Heather Kojan.
For my pillow, I used a marbled teal fabric by Jan Patek that I have had in my stash for awhile. The flying geese were made from Maureen Cracknell’s Garden Dreamer line.
The pillow goes together quickly; the flying geese are paper pieced. Once I had the top together, I added some fusible fleece to the back and got started quilting. For the flying geese, I just added a line of stitching just inside each one using a coordinating thread.
Then I decided to do straight line stitching for the rest of the pillow, using my sewing foot as a guide.
I didn’t have thread that matched exactly, so I used Aurifil Grey (#2605) 50 wt. I’m happy with the way it turned out.
The back is just a simple envelope backing. The pillow finishes at 18 inches.
So that’s my Friday finish. One of my next projects is to join with Tish’s Adventures in Wonderland and pull out all of my UFOs, list and categorize them, and work on finishing them this coming year. Will you be joining along?
Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays to all of you, my friends! Enjoy your time with your family and friends. I’ll be taking the next week off, so we’ll see you in 2018!
Linking up today with Powered by Quilting, Crazy Mom Quilts, Confessions of a Fabric Addict.
Wendy
30 Comments
grannygraduate
Reading your blog makes me want to start quilting again. My New Year’s resolution will be to get my sewing machine fixed and put my sewing room back in order.
Merry Christmas to you and yours!
catpatches
What a pretty Christmas cookie! Congratulations on 200 posts.
Melanie McNeil
Congratulations on your 200th post! They add up quickly, don’t they? Love the new pillow! I think your quilting suits it well.
Vicki in MN
Oh how I love your pillow!!!!!!!! I love coconut too-and of course chocolate! Now we have the white stuff on the ground to make it Christmasy!! How much did you get-we had about 4″
Sherry @Powered by Quilting
Congrats on the 200th post!!! That’s so amazing!! Also the pillow is so cute! What type of pillows did you buy to put in the cover?
Also I met Heather at sewing expo in November, she is super nice!!!
Cocoa Quilts
Congratulations Wendy on 200! Love the pillow it looks very nice and appears to be a fairly quick project.
weddingdressblue
Great pillow! I find myself drawn to flying geese lately.
Tish
Congrats on your 200th post! That is a huge accomplishment. And those cookies look like a delicious way to celebrate 🙂 I love mint anytime of the year. Will you be keeping your pillow? If so I say it is a beautiful present to yourself. I am super happy to hear that you will be linking up with me. I can’t wait for all of us to get started. I think working together we can balance out our old faith projects and new ones as well. Hope you and your family have a wonderful Christmas and New Years!
piecefulwendy
Thanks, Tish! Yes, the pillow will stay with me. 😊
Karen Goad
love that pillow! 200 post is good – I’ve been at it rambling on and on for 11 years now and it is a place to record your projects, make friends, get helpful hints and cookie recipes! glad I found your blog this past year or so have a great Christmas
piecefulwendy
Oh, thank you, Karen! I hope you and your family enjoy the holidays as well!
Tu-Na Quilts
The pillow is perfect from the colors to the quilting! Here’s a pat on the back for writing 200 posts and everyone has been delightful! Merry Christmas to you and yours!
piecefulwendy
Thank you, Karen! Merry Christmas to you and your family too!
Louise Hornor
Your pillow is lovely! You chose a very sophisticated palette to go with that nice modern design. And the quilting looks great! I like to see the quilting, so using the slightly lighter grey thread was the right choice.
I’m working on a couple pillows, too. Great minds think alike!
Those cookies look veeeeeery tempting…
piecefulwendy
Thanks, Louise! Looking forward to seeing your pillows! Those cookies make a small batch, perfect for two. 😉
Sandra Walker
You bet I’ll be joining in; any party Tish is hosting is bound to be a good’un! I love your pillow! I agree with Louise on the sophisticated palette and feel. I checked the link to the recipe because those look so much like my recipe for Mint Snowballs, except we put sprinkles on top, but these have oatmeal in; mine are just mint-flavoured shortbread-type balls. Maybe I should make some….
piecefulwendy
Thanks, Sandra! Today is a good day for cookie baking, I think!
Nancy @ Grace and Peace Quilting
You are on the ball, girl, to make something out of that magazine right away! Your pillow is chic and modern! And those cookies! Cute as can be! Congrats on 200!
piecefulwendy
Thanks, Nancy!
JanineMarie
Those cookies look really yummy. Mint? I’ll be right over. Oh, I have to make my own? OK. I love your pillow, from the flying geese to the lovely colors and the crisp quilting. I don’t make pillows often, but I like how you used the fusible for the backing. It gives such nice body. I will have to remember that.
piecefulwendy
Thank you! Enjoy the cookies (if you make them)!
Lynette
Wendy, your pillow is really nice. I like the gray thread better than a matching thread for this! I hadn’t seen Wendy’s UFO Confessions yet. It’s a really effective approach that I’ve been using, so I’ll play right along with her. It also fits in nicely with the 18 in 2018 Challege that we’re doing!
smilesfromkate
Congratulations, 200 posts is cause for celebration indeed. This post is crammed full of good things, your celebration, your lovely sounding cookies, and that’s such a gorgeous pillow, the colours are wonderful with the grey background. UFOs? You have UFOs? Oh well, it’s a great excuse to join a party! Merry Christmas.
piecefulwendy
Thanks much, Kate! Merry Christmas!
Kathlee McCormick
200 Posts! Congratulations and I love the pillow. Those cookies look delightful. A very merry Christmas to you and yours!
piecefulwendy
Thanks, Kathleen! Merry Christmas!
Sandra Healy
Wow! 200 posts, that’s great! I love your sophisticated pillow. Flying geese and pinwheels are my favourite things to piece. Have a wonderful Christmas, I look foward to seeing your 2018 projects.
rl2b2017
Hi Wendy,
Good for you – 200 posts!! That is just great, and so is your pillow. I really LOVE your quilting on this project. You did a fabulous job. It just looks so perfect, like a tailored suit. Really nice. Those little cookies looked delicious, too – I’ll check out that link. Enjoy the rest of the year – I hope you are spending it with family and friends. I forgot about Tish’s UFO challenge – I’m heading over there, too. ~smile~ Roseanne
piecefulwendy
Thanks, Roseanne!
Judy B
I have been reading your blog for awhile. Not always commenting, but enjoying. I just read you were raised in South Dakota. So was I. Born in SF and raised in RC. Now in WY.