May 2012 | Himiko No Sekkai

And then Amy made the best pillow ever.

And I had lots of projects in various stages of completion demanding my attention.

But I set to make one for this household anyway. That's how well restrained and disciplined I truly am. Hah!

pillow

In my defense, it's gorgeous. And I had these Lecien flower fabrics that I had been hovering over for months on end, trying to decide what they should be. I had a moment of clear vision and knew the answer to that and the rest of the universe would be 'that pillow'.

pillow full view

Cute embroidery coupled with flowery fabric, quilting, crisp white lace and white piping... a combination that can't go wrong.

The little lady on who's bed this pillow now sits, went "ooooooooooooohhhhhh" and buried her head in it claiming that she'd stay that way forever. School got in the way of those plans but I get her. I do.

pillow close up

quilting

What more can I say? Except, go make one for yourself. Best thing you'll have done in a very long time!

And since I was doing towels, I had one more brilliant towel idea. Anyone with young children will get this...

There comes a time when bibs are outgrown for all sorts of reasons but a towel in reach for cleaning up messy faces, dripping cups and greasy hands still is a good idea. Leaving a full blown kitchen towel by every child's plate is a bit much and the ties of those old bibs, folded to look like a small towel, keep getting tangled up with the cups and cutlery producing even more mess to clean up. So I had a better idea.

Have a look at this:

child towel

A small sized towel - they call it guest towels over here- with a twist. A hand sewn hexagon flower, a small label, a little bit of embroidered ribbon and, hey where did I see that before, a crocheted edging. This time only at the bottom of the towel as the top sports a fancy piece of ribbon for hanging the thing up on a hook.

Folded in four, this layout makes for a pretty and comfortable sized towel that will replace all bibs around here.

towel detail

Oh I'm a fan. I made four so far... in pairs of two identical ones... in an effort to reduce discussions at the table to a minimum. They are such a pretty and fun means of getting out those small pieces of ribbon that linger in your sewing basket. Those little fabric scraps, the remaining labels. A cool purpose to indulge in hexagon sewing. And before you know it you're saying, in a slightly shrieky and panicking voice, things like "don't use it for your chocolate fingers... it might get stained!"

Useful. Did I mention they are really useful?

Were was I?

Well, mainly here. In my garden. In between the copious rain. Enjoying such beauties as these camelias.

garden

But I did promise a further look at what I had been up to. So here it is. A pretty pile of towels.

towel trio

The bathroom was in need of some new additions. Now I'm no great fan of prints on towels. Nor of bold colors. They are too much of a sore sight to my weary eyes in the morning. So I went for crisp white ones. Big and fluffy. And with the help of some cotton and a crochet hook, now with a softly colored frill at both ends.

edge detail

And as a way to use up some leftover fabric scraps and label scraps, I made small labels to go with the color of the crochet edgings.

towel labels

This is one of those projects that will be repeated in the future as more towels need replacing. Elegant, soft and luxurious looking towels. Man, it just about turns my humble bathroom in a true spa!

And now we'll go to sleep.

Avoid the mess.

Were was I?