An Owlish Pillow of Inspiration...

I've found some lovely, fun, cushion-y inspiration in blog-land lately...in particular from Lucy of Attic 24 and a much older post by Jen of In Color Order. So when Miss 8 told me she had a party to go to, I jumped at the chance to run with the cushion theme. I visited Lincraft and picked up some cute fabrics with a bird theme (the party invitation was in the shape of a flamingo, and the party girl an avid bird fan)...

I also picked up some beautiful cotton batting and some fine cotton muslin (all of which I washed before use). I made my first quilted pillow front without using an easy-feed/walking foot, and you could tell! The bottom layer came up short, and the top layer got a bit dragged around. So I had to make an emergency dash to the shops later in the week and pick up an easy-feed foot for my 1984 model Janome sewing machine! Do you know what? It is still possible to find parts that work with a 1984 Janome sewing machine! How cool is that?

Anyhoo, never having installed or used an easy-feed foot before, I got a quick tutorial in the store and also found a comprehensive photo tutorial online by Liesl of Hoppo Bumpo.

And this is my finished product:

I made up the front of the cushion with ten fabric pieces. I then put this panel over a piece of the cotton batting and both layers over a piece of muslin. I quilted the cushion front using wiggly, vertical lines, as per Jen's mug rug. The back of the cushion is just finished with a simple envelope close. I was too tired to bother with a zipper.

Last, but not least, this morning I made a simple card to go with our gift (which also included a copy of Fantastic Beasts And Where To Find Them by J.K. Rowling....the birthday girl being another HP fan). For this card I cracked out my little stash of gorgeous Stampin' Up! seam bindings, and also used some beautiful patterned papers from the A Walk in the Park collection by Echo Park Paper Co.

Woah! What with The Block, Masterchef and now Touch...this post has been pieced together over the last three hours. Now I am pooped. If there are any boo boos, they're going to have to wait until tomorrow. Night, night!