It's hard for me to keep secrets.

Don't get me wrong,  if a friend asks me to keep a confidence I don't have any trouble.  That's honorable.  BUT, when I have something I'm excited about, I have such a hard time keeping it to myself.  So while I hide my design wall from you,  I'll show some other stuff. 

Last month, my sister and her family came to visit from California.  Here are her two kids, Lucia (Lucy) and William (Buddy) with their 'Auntie Lisa'.  It was a lot of fun seeing them as well as Hannah and her husband, John.  Before they got here, Hannah let me know that Lucy wanted to learn some hand sewing.  Oh boy!  Auntie Lisa got excited and poked around some books and got an idea.

  

 

I showed Lucy how to trace and cut some simple shapes.  Then she learned how to stitch them onto a background.  We had fun  embellishing with some simple embroidery and buttons.   Lucy suggested we make this into a quilt.  Great idea but not enough time this visit so I had another idea.  I kept this project here while the west coast relatives flew home.  And I got busy right away!

I grabbed some batting and backing and quilted up this little mini.  I also stitched around the owl, sun, eyes, and tummy to make it a little sturdier.

Ta-dah!  A pillow for Lucy!  Isn't it great that I've been building my stash of solids?  I found just the right aqua for the binding.

 

AND........ I used my favorite tip for the back!  A shirt.  I have a little stash of shirts from the thrift shop and this pink check was perfect.  It's so easy to whip up a pillow this way.  No zipper, no flap, no fancy closure, just measure, cut, and sew it together.  Open up the buttons and put the pillow in.  Easy peasy!  And I always get a kick out of the pocket.  Too bad I didn't sew up a little softy for the pocket.

I already have a plan for the next time they visit.  I'm going to get everything cut out and ready for a quick and simple quilt.  Then I can turn Lucy loose with the machine and see what happens.  Sounds fun to me!