To Make A Pillowcase

We're having a fun swap in BAMQ, a Pillow Fight! People were paired up and they got to decide on which type of pillow or pillow case to make for each other and to talk about which sort of colors they wanted too. It is really nice to have more information like this so that it's more likely your recipient will be more likely to actually like and use the thing you end up making for them. Hopefully my swap partner will 

enjoy these fabric selections.

I used these directions to make a double banded pillowcase with French Seams so that there's no raw edges to worry about when you're done. Unfortunately the ads on that website are super intrusive, so be warned.

You cut WOF pieces, 27" for the body, 10" for the cuff, 2.5" for the band. Press the 2.5" band piece in half lengthwise, wrong sides together. 

Stack the fabrics in this order, all right-side up, aligning the raw edges. First the Cuff fabric, then the Body Fabric, and then the folded Band piece.  You roll up the Body fabric towards the raw edge. as seen here. I temporarily pinned this here before the next step.

This is probably the weirdest part to wrap your mind around, after you've rolled up the body fabric you fold up the other edge of the Cuff fabric (right sides together) and align that raw edge with all the others. 

Note: Only one of the raw edges of the Body will be in this first seam that you sew, the other is in the rolled-up part. (that was the part that boggled me for a bit).

I moved all the pins I'd previously used to pin this final sandwich roll together. Pin together all those aligned raw edges and then sew a 1/4" seam along this long WOF raw edge.

It's a whole lot of layers, just make sure you're not catching the rolled-up Body fabric that's in the middle of the sandwich roll as you sew.

It's looks like a little taco/burrito kind of thing, all sewed up along one edge.

Then you get to turn it all right side out and see if you got the fabric stack ordered correctly.

All Very Wrinkly of course, but the whole thing needs pressing now anyways. Make sure you press the Band seam first before doing the top folded over edge of the Cuff. With wrong sides together, align the raw edge and along the bottom, press the whole thing in half.

That looks much better after a little pressing. The raw edges need some trimming before proceeding.

That's better.

With right-sides together, sew a 1/4" seam starting at the top of the Cuff, and turning the corner to sew along the bottom edge.

Trim those two corners before turning the whole thing wrong side out and then pushing the corners out so they're nice and flat.

Big Reminder Here: Switch over to a 1/2" seam allowance for this last step. Be sure to check your seam width on some scraps before you start sewing & change your foot if you were using a 1/4" one before.Sew down the side and bottom with, a very nice 1/2" which contains the raw edges (aka French Seam). Turn the pillow case right side out and do a final press.And there's one of my pillowcases, all done, now to go get the second one done.And here's the two gorgeous pillowcases I got from the swap from friend Amy.

Lupine Part Five Complete

 

It was a lot easier to zoom through the initial sewing together of the Lupine Mystery blocks I'm working on as I'd sorted them out into bundles. This is a picture before pressing the seams correctly.

Pretty soon I was sewing the last seam of the last block.

Beauty shot of the color and fabric print coordinated with my new iron (hee!) of the final block. This might be my favorite block and not just because it's the last one I made. I just like the combination of these prints, and I think the colors work really well together.

And here they all are together in a very purple class portrait. Wow some of those purples are Very Very Dark. Hope it works in the rest of the quilt. 

 Okay, that's part number Five done, so onto the sixth clue I go for this mystery quilt....

Final ICAD 2026

Okay, here's the last ICAD post for 2026, "ready to go"?

Sometimes I get quite literal when I start with the word first.

Quintessential, a rose overwhelming the horizon

A new hand cream box was too beautiful (and too similar to my "landscape-ish" style) not to use here.

Information pathways

Goodbye, Boring! Those shapes were traced with objects on my worktable, the rounded square was a TJ's mint tin, the long ovals are the bottom of a pencil sharpener.

 

I used the 1SE app to make a video of all 61 of my cards this year. As most of the pictures are "live" they have movement to them instead of being static pictures. So it's a little bouncier than previous compilation videos I suppose.

Lupine Block Ingredients

Yesterday I had the time to cut out the remaining white squares and set of four matching purple squares that I need for the Lupine mystery quilt. And lthen looking at the stack of really varied  purples, I knew that some fabrics in the hourglass units were going to play better with some of the purples, like this very much lighter overall version of the block above. 

I decided to pre-match them all up into sets of one white square, four matching purple squares, and four matching hourglass units. That means I've got  the rest of the block ingredients all ready to sew these together into finished blocks.

A Meg Situation

A little excitement this past week interrupted my plans to get back to going to the gym, etc. A surprise Monday morning injury, a partially torn out claw on Meg's front paw. She did something to herself out in the backyard, no idea what. We had to wait a day for a vet appointment, so this was my temporary attempt at a bandage. She was really unhappy and in a lot of pain if she stepped on her paw. Luckily we had some pet CBD oil to give her, so she could kind of zonk out for most of the day. 

I had to carry her up and down the stairs, etc. Kind of exhausting, like having a sick toddler to worry about all of a sudden. She's been a very cheap/non-injury prone dog for her whole life, so this was pretty unexpected.  The cats were both sticking around her, taking turns at keeping her company and looking quite worried when she would yelp in pain. She's usually the quiet one of the three of them.

Here she is back from her spa-surgery day at the vet. They made such a cute little bandage that successfully stayed on for two days. It was at least five layers of different materials. It was insanely hard to get offf of her, very sticky tape + very long fluffy foot/leg fur is not an ideal combo. I was surprised that she didn't even  try to lick or chew at it at all. So no cone of shame for her, thankfully. She's all bandage free now, but it's still a little icky as it heals up, so I'll spare you a picture. 

She's no longer limping around and is running up and down the stairs as per usual, so I think this crisis is over. Still no idea how she managed to get this injury though?!?! Back to situation normal around here I suppose. Off to the gym with DH I go this weekend, I'm hoping they'll have the A/C on as it's pretty hot today.

 

First Lupine Blocks

 

Time for a new Lupine Mystery quilt clue, and this time it's just cutting out four purple squares for the block corners and white squares for the block centers.The hourglass units made in part one way back at the beginning are incorporated as well. 

It's a nice looking block.

Lots of variety going on.

Well, there's six out of the twenty-four blocks to be made. I'll definitely be cutting some lighter and medium purple corner squares.

Helpful Quilt Basters

 

Time for some quilt basting, this time the Bohemian Wife quilt! This was last worked on when I finished making the backing in September 2025. I'm using a non-fusible Hobbs 80/20 batting. And one of the studio assistants was instantly on the job even though we were downstairs using our dining table.

She was very curious and helpful in initially holding things down.

She was soon replaced by her co-worker who just really wanted to have a nap in the layers of batting I was trying to separate. Honestly, not too helpful.

The derpiest of derp faces made up for the interruption.

Thankfully the somewhat more helpful studio assistant #1 came back on the job.

One last switcheroo occurred where studio assistant #2 checked the spacing on my safety pins.

I could tell he was satisfied with my work when he laid down. It was so nice to have help and company while I basted this kind of big one. I forgot how long this pin basting process takes, I haven't done one in a while. 

Okay, now onto the quilting. I'm not planning any exciting quilting as it will all get lost in the glorious mess of color and pattern. Probably just some walking foot straight lines.