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!

Baby Shower Quilt

Pretty soon I'm going to start offering a new product: Baby Shower Quilt Kits. This will be a fun and meaningful activity for mothers-to-be at a baby shower which becomes a great keepsake for baby. I made this one for Julia. You can see us making it at her shower here.

Basically in your kit you will receive:

• pre-cut quilt squares in the color scheme of your choice
  
• stencils to trace (such as animals, flowers, food, etc)
• fabric to cut out the animals, flowers, food, etc.

During the baby shower guests can choose a quilt square, trace a stencil design onto fabric (or make up their own), cut it out, and pin it together. This can be done during the snacks/ mingling of the party or as a separate activity time. After the party is over, send the pinned together quilt squares to me and I will sew it all together! Wouldn't this be a wonderful way to remember loved ones throughout the years and give the baby and mother something to cuddle up with?

I can also just make a quilt like this for you too, no baby shower needed!

Contact me for more information at shutterstitch@gmail.com

Circus Baby Shower

This weekend I helped throw a baby shower for my dear friend Julia. It was a circus themed shower using her nursery room colors: red and light blue. The party was held at the church where Julia is a children's pastor. Aren't the decorations cool? (Thanks to my co-hosts Shannon and Amanda). They were inspired by some of the links above.

Amanda made these cute little circus tags for all the food with circus stickers.

Strawberry, Nutella, and Vanilla cupcakes with animals on top.

These are so easy and yummy to make: cherry tomatoes, buffalo mozzarella, fresh basil, and a little balsamic vinaigrette on top right before the party.

The pretty pregnant lady: Julia Goolia!

Our craft activity was to have everyone make a quilt square for a crib quilt. I cut flannel into 8x8 inch squares and the ladies traced stencils and die-cuts into shapes on fleece. Then they pinned them to their quilt square.

A few finished squares. I'll post the finished quilt when it is done.

Guacamole, Artichoke dip, Italian Skewers

Fruit salad, cupcakes, cookies, lemon blueberry trifle

To make the Lemon Blueberry Trifle:
For the lemon mixture: Mix two 3.4 oz boxes lemon Jello pudding powder with 2 1/2 cups milk and three 6 oz. containers lemon yogurt
Layer 1 inch cubes of angel food cake, then lemon mixture, then blueberries. Repeat two more times. Top with Cool Whip and blueberries.


Tissue paper flowers

The guests filled out wish cards for the baby.



I just love this silly lady and can't wait to meet her baby!

Baby Quilt: Little Golden Books

I recently had a pregnant, soon-to-be-mama see my pillows for sale in Helix ( in downtown Athens, Ga.) and bought one for her nursery. She also ordered a custom baby quilt for the room as well. I used red and brown fabrics to coordinate with the really cute Little Golden Books fabric. It even has the Saggy Baggy Elephant on it! It looks like her daughter is having fun playing on it!

Favorite Artist of the Week: Sarah Harber

I have to brag on my cousin, Sarah Harber. She made my son the CUTEST animal baby quilt. Some of the animals are even made out of African fabric from the clothing our grandfather wore as a missionary in Nigeria in the 1960s. That really makes it special to me. All the animals are cut free-hand, without any patterns or templates... and my son's name is hidden amongst the animals' names. It's SO COOL!

In this last picture here you can see some of the outfits my grandmother and grandfather would wear in Nigeria, West Africa (1967). They would only dress the family up in matching outfits for special occasions. This is right before they came back to America on furlough. (My Mom is the tall brunette on the left.)

"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!

New Quilt for Sale

I just posted my latest creation for sale on Etsy. It is a sunny yellow play quilt, perfect for that summertime baby shower gift or tummy time for your own baby.

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!

Marimekko Fabric

I recently discovered the most beautiful fabrics by Marimekko. My Aunt Cindy went to Finland, where the fabric is made and re-did her guest room in a new Marimekko bedspread and coordinating artwork. I fell in love with the crazy cow print. Too bad the cow print fabric is $150 for 2.9 yards. *Sigh*. I'll have to admire it from afar. But wouldn't that make some cool pillows?

Tutorial: On the Go Activity Book

I love this idea from At Second Street. It's a On the Go Activity Book that she made for her daughter to play with in the car or while shopping, etc. It has fun activities like dress-up, tic-tac-toe, and a coloring section. All of the directions are on her blog. Awesome!

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.

Zoe's Quilt

My niece Zoe was born a few months ago and I made this bright and girly quilt for her arrival. She started using it right away for a little nap!

My Son's Nursery

I finally finished getting my son's nursery ready. He's going to be here in just a few days!

There were a lot of little projects I did in the room. I made him a baby quilt with sweet little elephants on it. I collected some fabulous art on Etsy and from family treasures. I distressed my husbands' childhood dresser (he carved a rocket on one of the drawers as a child.) This was the first time I ever distressed a piece of furniture before and I learned a lot, so I'm going to share my tips with you:

Distressing Furniture:

Step 1: Remove the handles. Sand off as much of the old paint or varnish as you can with sandpaper. (Mine still had a stained look which is fine. Just get all the shiny paint off.) An electric sander is not recommended because everything will look too perfect.

Step 2: Take a thick white or clear wax candle and rub it on all the edges of the dresser and drawers.

Step 3: Paint everything with acrylic latex house paint.

Step 4: Sand the edges and surfaces, especially where you put the candle wax.

Step 5: Apply a VERY THIN coat of Polyurethane. It is very important to only do one side of the dresser at a time while it is laying flat. I learned the hard way that if the furniture is standing up while you do this, you'll end up with a ton of runny drips running down the sides of the dresser.

Links to the Artwork I bought on Etsy:

Elephant Print

Crocodile Print

Alphabet Giraffe Print

Animal Wall Decal

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!!