The End of a Pillow Era

I wanted to let you know that I have decided to no longer do any sewing such as pillows or quilts. I have decided to focus exclusively on photography. It's keeping me very busy and it's what I am passionate about. So if you want to own one of the last Shutterstitch quilted pillows you will have to go to Helix in downtown Athens to buy one. Thank you to everyone who has been a loyal customer and has bought my pillows over the years. I have probably made at least 200 of them at this point, many more than I ever expected.

Tie Pillows

I'm working on 13 pillows for a client made out of his grandfather's neckties. Isn't that a great way to preserve his memory? He's going to give them to his relatives for Christmas. I wish I could be in the room when he does that. I bet they will love them!

"Pretty Little Pillows" winner

The randomly drawn winner of the autographed "Pretty Little Pillows" book is......

Stephanie Sanders!

Congratulations! I will mail you the book this week!

GIVEAWAY: Autographed "Pretty Little Pillows" book

I am so excited to announce that one of my pillow designs has been published in a book called Pretty Little Pillows by Lark Books. It's a really fabulous hardback book with the directions on how to make over 29 different types of pillows. Some of the featured designs are on how to make pillows with creative stitching, quilting, piecing, and other techniques. There are directions on how to make fold-out pillows, cushy toys, tooth fairy pillows, ring bearer pillows, eco friendly pillows, travel pillows, and gorgeous decorative ones too. Basically, just about any pillow you can think of! My featured pillow in the book is a quilted pillow (seen above) that is great to make out of scraps of fabric that you might have laying around the house. It's eco friendly and fun to make!

I AM GIVING AWAY ONE FREE COPY of PRETTY LITTLE PILLOWS. I'll even autograph it for you. :) You can enter to win the book by becoming a follower of this blog. Go to the light green side bar on the right side of this page. Scroll down until you see "Followers of Shutterstitch". Click on that and sign in. I'll be picking a follower of my blog at random on May 31 to win the autographed book. Don't miss your chance to own a copy!

If you can't wait that long to find out if you've won, then you can buy your own copy here.

New Pillows

I'm finally getting back into making pillows again after being on maternity leave. Here are two lovable, huggable custom pillows that I made for Renee in Ohio. And yes, those are flamingoes in the pink/green pillow!

Snoogle Product Review

I know this is a silly picture to post. But as a pillow-maker myself, I have to rave about my all-time favorite pillow to sleep on. It's the Snoogle. It's designed as a pregnancy pillow to support your belly and back, but it's also great for nursing once your little one arrives. I just had the best nap of my life while snuggled up in it with my own newborn. I don't think I could have survived my pregnancy without it either. I have mild scoliosis in my upper and lower back and this really supported me well and helped me get some great nights of sleep. The only downside is the pillowcase wears out and pills up after a few months of washing. Plus the pillowcase is hard to slip on and off. Maybe I should start designing Snoogle covers with zippers on the side!

Spring Pillows at Helix

These are some of my new pillows for sale at Helix this spring. Helix is a hip gift boutique in Athens, Ga.

Published in Pretty Little Pillows!

I am so thrilled to see that "Pretty Little Pillows," the book I will be published in, is now taking pre-orders on Overstock.com. The book will feature one of my "Poppy" quilted pillows and the instructions for how to make it yourself. Sounds like the book will be out in May 2010. Can't wait to see it!!

New Pillows on Etsy

I've posted some new pillows that I made on Etsy today. Check 'em out.

New Product: T-shirt Pillows

Thanks to Daniel for asking me to make these custom t-shirt pillows for his girlfriend's birthday. It was a great idea and I'll be offering custom t-shirt pillows as a regular product from now on. These make great gifts for the hard-to-shop-for friend or family member. If you want your own, send me your shirts and an idea for a color scheme and I'll get to work!

Snellville Days

I enjoyed sharing a booth at Snellville Days with my sister Allie. She makes the coolest jewelry. I spend a lot of my time at festivals trying everything on!

Getting Ready for Snellville Days

Spring is Here!...and that means I have a lot of festivals coming up to get ready for. There are pillows to make, cards to sew, and travel photographs to mat. I'm a busy bee!

I hope you'll come visit my tent at one of these upcoming festivals:

May 2-3 : Snellville Days, Briscoe Park, Snellville, GA

June 6 : Five Points Art Fest, in Five Points, Athens, GA

June 26-28: Athfest, Downtown Athens, GA

100th Pillow

Here it is in all its glory... the 100th pillow I've created! Thanks to everyone who entered to win the 100th pillow, customized to your liking. Emily Hunter was the winner of the drawing and she wanted a pillow that would coordinate with these photographs of a California avocado and poppy. If you like this you might like a pillow that matches it, for sale on my Etsy shop.

100th Pillow Giveaway Winner: Emily Hunter

Thanks to everyone who entered to win my 100th pillow. I put all the names of people that made comments on my blog into a bowl today and drew out the winner.... Emily Hunter! Yay! I'll be contacting you so you can tell me how you want your pillow to look.

For those of you that didn't win, you can always shop for my pillows online at www.shutterstitch.etsy.com . Thanks again!

100th Pillow Giveaway

You only have one more week to enter the 100th Pillow Giveaway. You don't need to buy anything, just follow the directions for entering below, on my post from March 4.

100th PILLOW GIVEAWAY!

I am so proud to announce that I have reached a milestone in my business...MY 100TH PILLOW! Right now I have made 99 pillows and would like to create a special 100th pillow for one of my fans. This is my way of thanking all my loyal customers and friends for their support of my business.

To enter to win the 100th PILLOW GIVEAWAY, all you need to do is:

1. Look through my website http://www.shutterstitch.com/ and decide which pillow is your favorite.

2. Then post a comment under this blog posting. In your comment tell me which pillow is your favorite and why. (Hint: the pillows all have names above their photos on the website). Include your name and some way for me to contact you if you win- like an email address. (If you don't want to leave your email address on the blog for privacy reasons, you can email me your contact info seperately at: shutterstitch@gmail.com.)

3. On March 31 I will put everyone's name in a hat that posted a comment on this blog about my pillows. Then I will close my eyes and draw one out of a hat. That person will win a totally free 14 x 14 inch quilted pillow. You choose the colors, patterns, style, etc! I'll even ship it to you for free! Hooray!

Here are the 99 pillows I've made:

1 Police
2 Grass
3 Rust
4 Strawberry
5 Banana Split
6 Bulldog Tooth Fairy
7 Chocolate and Blueberries
8 Elmo Tooth Fairy
9 Bulldog Tooth Fairy
10 Bear and Bee Tooth Fairy
11 Safari
12 Fire
13 Fun Florals Pinwheel
14 Fun Florals
15 Purple Psychadelic
16 All Batik and Hand-dyed
17 Hawaii
18 Georgia Bulldog Tooth Fairy
19 Pink Ballerina Tooth Fairy
20 Kitty
21 Summer of Sun
22 Red, Blue, and Cherries too
23 Angel Tooth Fairy Pillow
24 Custom for Charity
25 Pink Hydrangea
26 Pink Hydrangea
27 Funky Flamingo
28 Tape Measure
29 Eiffel Tower Tooth Fairy
30 Wild West Map Pillow
31 Carrot Cake
32 Heart
33 Blue Guitar
34 America
35 Grape Splash
36 Yellow Handkerchief
37 Wilderness
38 Tape Measure 2
39 Day at the Zoo
40 Spring Flowers
41 Spring Flowers
42 Georgia Peach
43 Crazy Kitty
44 Paper Doll
45 Poppy
46 Farm Tooth Fairy Pillow
47 The Grass is Always Greener
48 Southern Peach Map
49 City Girl
50 Flowers and Birdies
51 Strawberry Fields
52 Flamingoes
53 Sew Awesome
54 Birds and Bears Tooth Fairy Pillow
55 Plum
56 Yellow Safari
57 Custom for Colleen
58 Custom for Colleen
59 Blue Guitar 2
60 Ducklings Photo Pillow
61 Plum Crazy
62 Pumpkin Petals
63 Beachy Keen
64 Purple Peach
65 Poppy Pillow for Lark Books
66 Horse Photo Pillow
67 Sock Monkey
68 UGA Map Pillow for Kreslyn
69 Monkeying Around
70 Custom Tie Pillow for Kendra
71 Custom Pillow for Brian
72 Custom Pillow for Brian
73 Banana Rama
74 Blue Circle
75 Brown and Peach Stripes
76 Carrot Cupcake
77 Bulldog Tooth Fairy
78 Bulldog Tooth Fairy
79 Day at the Beach
80 Desert
81 Diagonal Blue
82 Hawaiian Tropics
83 Nature
84 Orange Jungle
85 Sunset
86 Black and White
87 Garden
88 Watermelon Punch
89 Brown and Red Athens Map
90 Blue and Yellow UGA Map
91 Blue and Green Circles Athens Map
92 Green Peace
93 Pink Athens Map
94 Red, Black, and White UGA Map
95 Red and Black UGA Map
96 Dotty Orange and Blue
97 Dotty Orange and Blue 2
98 Red and Black Stripey
99 Red and Black Log Cabin
100 ???

Customize your own TIE pillow

I recently made a pillow for an Etsy customer out of her grandfather's neckties. He had passed away last fall and she wanted to give the pillow to her mother on her mother's birthday. The tie pillow turned out so well and was such a neat idea that I am going to start offering custom tie pillows as a regular product in my Etsy shop. It's a great way to remember or honor someone special like a father, grandfather, brother, boyfriend, or husband. (By the way,the little embroidered 22 in the corner is for his lucky number.)

Here's what my customer said about her pillow:

Hi, I just wanted to let you know that I gave my mom the pillow yesterday and she LOVES it. There were a lot of tears. And a lot of thanks yous. So my hat's off to you for all the great work. -Kendra

Spring Pillows at Helix

I just took a new batch of Shutterstitch pillows to Helix, a hip gift store in downtown Athens that sells my work. Go check them out before they are all gone. One of my most popular pillows is the "Athens map" pillow or "UGA map" pillow. The maps are printed on fabric, quilted so that they puff up, and are washable.

The Making of a Quilted Shutterstitch Pillow

Step 1- I pick out harmonious colored fabrics and cut them into strips with my rotary cutter.

Step 2- I arrange the strips so they create a nice composition with well balanced colors and patterns.

Step 3- The strips are sewn together.

Step 4- I machine quilt batting onto the back of the pillow top to make it "puff out".

Step 5- The envelope style backing is sewn on.

Step 6- Wa-la! The pillowcase is finished. I will then stuff it with a pillow insert and it will be on its merry way to its new owner.

Athens Magazine

My pillows are featured in Athens Magazine's "Handmade for the Holidays" article that came out in December. There is an interview with me and a photo of my pillow and another photo of me. Check it out before the end of the month