The Go To Gift

A few weeks ago, I started thinking stressing freaking out about what the make the kids teachers for Christmas gifts.  Once I remembered I still had SIX WEEKS (cue the hyperventilating), I relaxed and put some proper thought in to it.

Fast forward to today - and I had only a few "have to sew" things in the morning, and once I'd ticked them off, I got down to the task of the first teacher's gift.  My "go to gift" - a cushion.

Isn't she beautiful?  I pinned THIS paper piecing pattern last week, and knew it would be perfect to use for a cushion.  And although I love the original I saw, with the coloured fabric centre, I wanted more negative space for quilting, so kept mine white.  I dragged out my bag of Sarah Fielke scraps - leftovers from my Flying By The Seat Of My Pants quilt - and got the star and borders whipped together in a couple of hours.  This is a GREAT paper piecing pattern for relative beginners.

And then I got my Free Motion on!  These swirly patterns are probably my favourite in terms of free motion quilting.  They seem to be the design I do best - my stitch length is uniform throughout - something I have a bit of trouble with when doing some other designs.  I used a white Aurifil #2024  for all the negative space quilting.  I then took to pebbling the outside border.  I used my recently acquired hot pink Aurifil #1011 for this - and I LOVE this colour!  Now my pebbling is far from perfect, but I quite like it that way :)

I think the straight line shadowing on the inside of the star gives it a bit of a 3D effect?  I just love it!

And the back?  This is from a fat quarter of the same fabric range (if you're wondering what it is, it's called "On The Pond") and was easy to make in to a concealed zipper back.  So neat.

So that's another finish off that invisible list of things to do for Christmas.  I'm happy to say that when Cadyn walked through the door from school today, and I showed him this - his eyes lit up.  He was thrilled when he saw it was for his teacher.  He has a real soft spot for this lovely lady, as do I.  She has brought out the absolute best in him, and he's gone from being a kid that was struggling a bit and was anxious about learning - to a confident young man who is excelling in his work and in her words, is eager to learn.  So, me thinks she deserves this little piece of heaven.

NOW - if you are still planning your handmade Christmas list, I have something coming up very soon, that just may interest you!  Watch this space!

I'm linking up with Sew Cute Tuesday, Fabric Tuesday and I Quilt - You can too!