Seth Apter Inspired November Pillow

This time over at Word Art Wednesday we have a wonderful giveaway from Seth Apter! He's an amazing designer with so many products from wonderful card making supplies to spectacular fabrics. I was inspired to create this pillow because of this fabric.

Sewing was my first hobby in life. When I was 10 years old I used what little fabric I could find, and my grandmother's sewing machine, to make little things. I loved the idea of taking virtually nothing and turning it into something pretty. By the time I was 15, I had a job at Cloth World and was using patterns to sew real clothes.

One of the few photos I have from my early sewing days. I'm on
the left in a dress I made when working at Cloth World.

Today I don't sew as much, but when I went to Seth Apter's website, I was so intrigued by the wonderful array of fabrics that he designs. I chose one that inspired me this fall, then found a cross stitch pattern to go along with it.

I then chose the colors of DMC floss based on the colors of the fabric. Here they are: 

It's really easy to order any of his fabrics at his online store, but I am fortunate to live near Whim-So-Doodle, a quilting store in St. Petersburg that carries his whole line. Both places sell his fabric at really reasonable prices. And what I love about it is that it's so soft and tightly woven. Such good quality! It took just 1/2 a yard to complete this project.

LEFT: Whim-So-Doodle carries dozens of Seth's fabrics. RIGHT: Getting the fabric cut
with a view of so many of their amazing, bright fabrics. Their shop in incredible!

The Box & Fox pattern I chose for the cross stitch was on sale for just $1.80 for a digital download in their Etsy shop. I love using those because I can really make the pattern quite large on my iPad. You can find it HERE, although the price may be different. 

If you do look at this pattern, you'll notice that in addition to using different colors of thread, I also kept each image to just one or two colors. Her pattern has several colors in each leaf, but because I was in a hurry to finish this project I didn't have time for that!

As for the pillow itself, I upcycled a pillow that I had on my couch. It was one that I got for free in a bedspread set. I didn't really care for it, but kept it anyway and I'm glad I did. It was perfect for this project.

Before and after for the small pillow. Definitely an improvement!

The finishing touch is the buttons, which came from my vintage button jar. They're genuine mother-of-pearl that have been sitting for most likely decades. I love using things like that because, although they are inanimate objects, they've finally come full circle and I'd like to think that they're happy to finally be on display!

My beloved vintage button jar, and the buttons I used for this project.

So that's it for my pillow post. I loved exploring the world of Seth Apter, and we're super grateful to him for sponsoring our challenge this time around. However, our challenges are always "anything goes" and we'd love to have you come over and play along with us!

If you're looking for some inspiration, here if the featured Bible verse that you're welcome to use. I absolutely love the fonts that this one is written in!

Thanks so much for stopping by, and have a wonderful day!

My Latest Lap Warmer

I’m in the process of making lap warmers for volunteers from out church to pass out to nursing home residents this Christmas. Most homes have at least 60 people. I would love to be able to make a little something for each resident, but that's not possible with time and money restrictions.

However, I have been trying to make around 15 of these little throws. I call them Lap Warmers. And they really are cozy. They measure about 26" x 26" and what makes them special is I try to crochet with two strands of yarn using a really big (size M) hook. I use a plain yarn along with a fuzzy yarn. The effect is really nice and warm. 

For this lap warmer I used a yarn that I found at the thrift store for just $2.00. I added that with a Herrschner's Yarn that had some sparkle. Because I was worried about running out of the thrift store yarn, I started the middle with just the Herrschner's. That made the pattern darker. Then when I added the fuzzy yarn, the colors became more muted. The border is Red Heart Super Saver speckled yarn.

One thing I also did was add a vintage button in the middle. This is genuine mother of pearl. I really like the whole look of this. I think I'll add more buttons to these because I have so many of them. It's nice to see the jar of them on my shelf, but even nicer if I can share them with others.

Here are a few more pictures:

The yarns I used for this. I love being able to incorporate some bargain yarns
into projects.

It's a really nice size for a lap!

Mother of Pearl vintage buttons are made from shells.

The underneath side of Mother of Pearl is brown, which is the inside of the shell.

I still have quite a few more buttons to use up!

Another thing I did with a vintage button this week was to use it to keep
the top part of a new dress in place. I even got a compliment on it!

Thanks so much for stopping by my little blog and have a wonderful day!