Pay Back Time

This is the time of year those of us in Arizona get to brag and gloat a bit.  The last couple of weeks have been beautiful with temps in the 70’s and our tree decided it was time to bloom.  So, sorry if you are reading this and are still dealing with snow and cold.    Paula, why don’t you ever come visit this time of year!! 

Someone asked me if I would tell you about a fun little pillow/memo board that sits on the shelf in my studio.  

 It has lots of pins to attach notes, pictures, quotes, etc.  Some are vintage hat or corsage pins, others I covered with fabric and beads.  

 It is an easy project that most of you crafty people out there could make without purchasing anything at the store.

Pillow/memo board:

I started with 2 pieces of fabric approximately 11 x 13”, but you can make it whatever size you want.  The fabric I had was a quilted silky type fabric, but it could also be made from whatever you want.  I think one from burlap, linen or muslin would be interesting and a totally different look.  Sew it as you would a pillow with right sides together leaving a small opening to turn it right side out.  Stuff with batting and stitch opening closed.  

My pillow sits on the shelf, but if you want it to hang, stitch a ring on the back.

Squares:

Next cut 7 - 1 inch squares of fabric and 7 - 3/4 inch squares with pinking shears.  This is your chance to use up those tiny pieces of fabric you’ve been saving.  I chose the most textural and luxurious fabrics like velvets, silks and brocades and hand stitched them in a row with gold thread knotted in front.

Pins with beads:

Cut several more squares approximately 3/4” with pinking shears.  Stitch 3 sides of the square together, stuff with a tiny bit of batting, then stitch the last side closed with a corsage pin head inside the square.  Lastly stitch a few beads on the front (with this up close photo you can see my beading skills are limited but I liked the beaded look).

Muslin word pins:

I printed the words I wanted on a piece of muslin fabric that I ran through my printer.  You can do that by taping the edges of your fabric to paper so that it prints directly on to fabric.  Once it’s printed I cut the squares again with pinking shears about 1”....some of mine are square and some are rectangles, just go with the shape of the words you choose.  Stitch and stuff like before with the corsage pin head inside.  I tied them with red string and ran the end of the corsage pin through a couple of the small fabric squares before inserting into pillow.

Finish:

I tied 2 1/2” ribbon around the pillow in a big bow pulled to the side.  I attached an old pin from my grandma’s jewelry box .

That’s it....easy, easy....enjoy!

deb