Me-Made November Recap

In theory, small pillows are a good starter project for most sewers, much like tote bags, coin purses and pyjama pants. I decided that a straight pillow was too easy (ha), and that I should add cord pipping to make look nicer (ha). I also decided, against most tutorials out there, to not make it an envelope pillow. This was chiefly because the pillow forms I had are super old, so the outer casing has started to give up a bit in places and I didn't want to risk the whole thing shedding through the envelope flap.

Bears!

A little back story to this pillow is needed. Many years ago I moonlighted at the Niagara Falls location of a company I was working for at the time, and down the street from them was a little diner called Dad's Diner. Once every few weeks I would treat myself to a breakfast there (I am a sucker for diner breakfasts), and enjoy a quiet morning with the local paper and a lot of tea. One week I was there, the entire diner had been decorated with many carved wooden statues, predominately animals. A bear was staring at me throughout my meal, and eventually I asked the waitress what the deal was with the new decor. She told me that a local artist and friend of the diner carved them all with a chainsaw and wanted to display them to sell them. I merely ask her the cost of the bear out of curiosity, but since the answer was $40, I left the diner with a full stomach and a heavier bag.


Fred lived in my room in Niagara for a few months before coming back to Toronto with me. His arrival in the Tdot was not met with great enthusiasm by my flatmate, who immediately asked if I planned on leaving him in the living room, especially since the living room was a "dangerous place that had axes in it." Fred moved into my room permanently, but the joke about bear imagery has lived on. With that in mind, one can imagine my first thought when this fabric came up on the cutting table.

Holy crap I did piping.

I am super pleased with how this turned out. The cord piping actually looks really nice, even though the end of it is a bit wonky thanks to me being far too close about my measurements. And there are bears all over it. I mean really.

Awe.

I was also able to photograph my November cheatsy project as well, a Sherlock replica. This little guy is meant to be a small, happy memory of a friend's now departed cat. It's part of a pseudo-quilting panel about cats that was in the clearance aisle at the store. Said friend will be coming back to the city in January, so for now this little kitty lives on top of my laundry basket.

Say hello to Sherlock.

For my next trick, I plan on making a circle skirt, for someone else, which is a bit terrifying. The upshot is that the fabric is amazeballs. I also plan on getting some Christmas on and make a wreath and some stockings that will be gifts for a few people. Let the December sew fest begin!