finish it up Friday, week 18

Welcome to finish it up Friday!

Today I'm delighted to share a very special finish.
After two plus years in the making....the books (plural!!!) JUST arrived at my doorstep! It's a very happy finish indeed.

I'm not sure that the Fed Ex delivery woman cared that I'm an author, but she knows now. Actually, she was very gracious and kind and congratulated me. Hey! It's not every day your new book (!!!) gets shipped. I'm going to celebrate this for all it's worth!

I'm selling signed copies in my shop. For those of you who pre-ordered them, thank you! I'll be working my way though the orders soon!

Now it's your turn! You know the drill. Link away with your finishes! And a very happy Friday to you!!!

a new pillow

I'm working on covering all my couch pillows with fun and colorful cushion covers. This certainly fits the bill for colorful! It's a welcome bright spot in an otherwise dreary day.
I started off with these fabrics. I still can't believe that I cracked open a jelly roll AND a layer cake in the same day! Crazy!!! ;) I think the lime green was a natural choice, because of Malka's fabulous green wall that she photographs her work against so often. I love it! Although now I'm wishing my lime green fabric was a little more lime.
For the back I used some old (and so, so good) Flea Market Fancy fabric. I layered it with some batting and quilted it following the grid of the print along every other line. It worked very well. No marking required! It has enough stability and just the right texture for the back.
This was my first attempt at an invisible zipper in a pillow. My son thinks it's inappropriately named, because it isn't quite invisible. Close enough, I say! At least for the first shot. I'm going to have to try it again with an invisible zipper foot next time.

When I made the cover, the pillow was too small. Or should I say the cover was too big? So, I used a little trick that I read somewhere awhile ago. Wrap the pillow with scraps of batting to fill it out just a bit. Perfect! What a good use for leftover batting! The corners were still a little droopy, so I stuffed in some additional squares in the bottom corners, just to add some form. I could help but laugh because I felt like I was stuffing my bra or something! Not that I know ANYthing about that.

The pillow cover measures about 18" x 27". It looks pretty snazzy next to this one!