This month my plan was to make an individualized pillow for each of my 5 grandchildren.
I used the Crossover II (a great machine, by the way, and it is on sale for 25% off all this month) and many dies. I machine appliqued everything using a blanket stitch 99% of the time.
Here are the 5 pillows. They are 20" square.
Some of the dies I used are pictured below:
Here I am cutting out the fish scales:
and letters:
I discovered you really have to think about letter placement or you end up with this:
I also used an Accuquilt die (the music notes) with the Crossover II. It worked perfectly. I adjusted the tension to the lowest setting, covered the die with its plastic protector sheet, and placed it face down on the clear plate that comes with the Crossover.
Connor is our oldest grandchild and plays baseball with the Montgomery County Warriors in Gaithersburg, MD. His dad Matt is the coach. The warriors symbol had to go on his pillow, along with his number. Yellow and blue are the Warriors' colors. I used letters and numbers dies on his. I was impressed with this when I was done.
Hailey is his sister and loves purple and butterflies. Her room is painted purple. I loved this pillow when I finished it. I used butterflies, a posies set, whimsical hearts, and letters.
Next up are 3 sisters. Harper plays the violin, loves all things Paris, and butterflies. Her room is a teal color. I used the music notes, butterflies, letters, and whimsical hearts. I thought this one turned out great too.
Amelia is next in age. She has a blue beta fish that she named blueberry, and her room is teal. I had to use the fish die with letter dies for her pillow. I thought this one was pretty cool too.
Camella is the youngest sister. She loves unicorns and has a purple room. She also loves the color pink. The unicorn die and letter dies were in order for this pillow. I totally liked this pillow too.
The back is made by overlapping 2 pieces so it is easy to take the pillow insert out. I added 5" to half way to cut each piece (20 1/2" x 15 1/2").
I lined them all up on an inside bench, waiting for when all 5 would be together yesterday. They were all thrilled with their pillows! I am so glad they were!
Grandpa decided he needed to get into the act with a pillow too!! Silly Grandpa!
Sew Grandma is one happy Grandma! AND we just learned that the 3 sisters are going to get another sister in January!! How EXCITING! We were in total shock since we thought the family was complete. Grandma will have to make another pillow before too long!
(Bonus project--Convergence III from Ricky Tim's Harmonic Convergence pattern. I used the circles dies and the 1 1/2" strip die to cut parts of this wall hanging.) This is my favorite of the 3 I have made using Ricky's pattern. I saw one very similar to this on the web and wanted to make my own. I love the blacks, white, and red.
Thanks, Crafter's Edge for giving me the opportunity to make these great projects. I have a lot of fun being creative with the dies using the Crossover II!
