Be Mine Blog Tour - Day 3 - MY DAY!

Giveaway is now CLOSED!  Winners will be announced soon! :)

Hooray!  Today is my day on the Be Mine blog tour.  How exciting!  First I would like to welcome all the new followers that I have.  I noticed my "Followers" numbers have been increasing a bit.  I haven't had a chance to go and visit any of their blogs (if there are any).  My day job just gets in the way but I promise in the next couple of weeks, I will check them out.  HI and welcome!

For my project I made a Be My Valentine pillow. I was going to use "valentine-y" fabrics for it but I didn't have enough in my stash and I was just too lazy to go anywhere and get some. So I went with Bliss. I had enough in my stash and it's red so it worked! It even has those dreaded half square triangles in it! I'm working through my dis-like of them. They are getting easier to do. :) I am going to give you some condensed instructions on how I made the pillow. At the end of my post, there will be a link to my whole tutorial.

To start, you will need:

6 – 3 ½” squares for heart (focus fabric)
2 – 3 ½” squares for heart (background fabric)
4 – 4” squares of focus fabric (for the HSTs) HST = half square triangles
4 – 4” squares of background fabric (for the HSTs)
4 – 1” wide strips of accent fabric
• 2 @ 12 ½ ” long
• 2 @ 14” long
4 – 3 ¼” wide outer borders. Can either be from the focus or background fabrics. I used my focus fabric for the outer borders
• 2 @ 13 ½” long
• 2 @ 19” long
2 – 19” x 11 ½” pieces for envelope back. Again, this can be either the focus or background fabric. I used my focus fabric; I didn’t have enough of my background fabric in my stash.
19” square piece of fusible fleece. You can use regular thin cotton batting. I like the fusible fleece. Gives the pillow front more stability.
18” square pillow form


First thing that you need to do is create 8 HSTs using the 4" focus and background fabrics using any method that works for you.  Trim and square down to 3 1/2" if needed

Take those 4 HST and create the top row of your heart. Refer to the picture as to the correct orientation of the HSTs.

Take 4 of the 3 1/2" focus fabric squares and sew them all in a row.  Sew this row to the HST row (HST row on the TOP) and set aside.  This will be the top of the heart.

Sew into pairs a HST and 3 1/2" square of the focus fabric.  Refer to the picture to the fabric placement.  Make 2 and sew them together to form a row

Sew into pairs a 3 1/2" background square and HST.  Again, refer to the picture for correct fabric placement.  Join both pairs to form a row.

Take both the third and last row you just created and sew them together to create the bottom half of the heart.  Now sew the top of the heart to the bottom.

Sew your accent fabric around the block and then your outer borders.

Fuse the block to the fusible fleece and do some light quilting if desired.  After I did my own quilting, I like the look of the block WITHOUT it so it's your choice.

For the pillow back:
Take (1) 19" x 11 1/2" backing piece, fold the long side (19") under 1/2".  Press and fold under again 1/2".  Press and stitch roughly 1/4" from the folded edge.  Repeat with the second backing piece.

With the ride sides together (pillow top and backing pieces), ensuring the hemmed edges of the backing overlap each other, pin and sew with a 1/2" seam.  Using a walking foot is helpful.  Clip the corners and turn right side out.  Stuff and fluff and your pillow is finished!

Here is a pdf version of the instructions.  I hope you all like it!  There is a Flickr group created for photos of any of the projects made by you during the blog tour.  I would love to see it if you make a pillow! 

And if you made it THIS far, you deserve a giveaway!  I am giving away (2) beaded scissors fobs created by me.  :)  One is "valentine-y" and the other is "winter-y".  I'm sure by the picture you can tell which is which.  I will chose 1 winner for each.  If you have a favorite, leave me your first choice in your comment.  I will do my best to get you your first choice.  And of course if you leave a comment, you are also in the pot for the $50.00 gift certificate to the Fat Quarter Shop!

Remember, in order to be eligible for the grand prize ($100.00 FQS gift certificate), you need to comment on each bloggers featured day.  Winners for all giveaways (mine included) will be drawn on January 16th.  Good luck!

Vickie

Sherri

Me

Kim

Carol

Stephanie

Natalia

Thanks for stopping by!
Jen