Mid Mod Yo-Yo Pillow

After thinking about what I could make to enter Amy Butler’s Midwest Modern Contest this month, I found inspiration a few weeks ago on the Sew, Mama, Sew! website for Yo-Yo pillows. I love reading the blog Oh, Fransson! (the designer of the adorable pillow) and was ecstatic when I was able to use this pattern to inspire my entry for the Amy contest.

My Mid Mod Yo-Yo pillow features fabrics from Amy’s Midwest Modern and Midwest Modern 2 collections. Though I haven’t entered a lot of contests before, it was enjoyable to work on this pillow because it got me outside of my comfort zone with the bright, splashy fabrics.

Click below to read more about the project.

A Close-up of the Yo-Yos

Why I wanted to do this project: I wanted to try my hand at entering a contest and am venturing into sewing nicely designed pillows. I saw the idea for the rosettes on the Sew, Mama, Sew! website which provided me inspiration for the pillow.

How long it took me: About five hours. I hand stitched ten yo-yos, each one taking about fifteen minutes. The piecing of the front of the pillow took minimal time. The binding took a bit longer because I had to wrestle the girth of the pillow when blind stitching at the end. Plus, I was designing the pillow as I sewed, which ate up a bit of time!

Back of the Pillow

Bumps in the process: I had to learn how to make yo-yos, which wasn’t too difficult, and I kept changing my mind when it came to the design of the pillow.

What I learned: Yo-yos are fun for embellishment. I hope to make this pillow a few more times using some different fabrics and pillow dimensions.

Today marks my last day of vacation, although Steve and I returned from our cruise Thursday. Since returning from the official vacay, we’ve enjoyed the leisure life around home. It’s been fun to enjoy three days of “staycation.” We’ve walked around a neighborhood not close to ours to shop and eat, we went to a movie, and we read and slept like we never went on vacation.

I have also started sewing the “Truest Triangle Table Runner” from Amy Butler’s Electric Quilt Company patterns, and I hope to finish it soon. So far, I have really enjoyed putting the project together and can’t wait to show it off on my dining room table.

Before I forget about how relaxed I have been in the last week, I wanted to share some pics of our great 2009 vacation:

And now that real life is looming ahead, I better go enjoy this last day of vacation!

We’re expecting exciting developments in the kitchen today. We hope, by the end of the day, to have a dishwasher installed! It’s been eight years since I had a dishwasher and I am starting to feel like this appliance in my life is long overdue. And, if the dishwasher doesn’t get put in, we hope to have new lighting and a new faucet in by the end of today.

Hopefully we’ll have the project completed by the end of next week.

After an amazing day in New York, which included a great brunch at the Cornelia Cafe in the West Village, a browse through Purl and Purl Patchwork in Soho, and a walk over the Williamsburg Bridge to Brooklyn to visit the Brooklyn Brewery and a beer garden, Steve and I came home pretty tired. Thanks to all who made our brief visit memorable!

This week we’ll try to take it easy to rest up for our upcoming trip to Minneapolis. Can’t wait to explore a new place!

It’s been a pleasurable week, despite a few setbacks. We’re still working on fixing the main computer, which is a major drag, but I am adjusting to life without school pretty well. The weather is much nicer here, which has been perfect for evening walks, and I have been reading for pleasure and slowly beginning my summer projects.

My main focus at the moment is relearning how to relax. I had a great mid-week conversation with one of my brothers tonight, and it was great to be able to do something important like that in the middle of the week. I’ve become so accustomed to having to cram all important activities in on Saturday and Sunday.

I need to line up weekday activities in the fall. I am trying to decide on an art medium to pursue and debating whether I could succeed at a yoga class once and for all. In past experiences, I have struggled with the calm breathing. It’s just not my thing.

Anyway, I hope to share my summer quilt pictures tomorrow.

I know we’ve stilll got a week until Valentine’s Day, but I wanted to post this pic of my Valentine’s Day decorations.

Now I need to go buy myself a bag of conversation hearts and watch a cheesy romantic comedy. That’ll be how I beat these winter blahs!

The good news is that I am almost home free on several school projects, so I’ll have some time to myself tonight and tomorrow.

I always breathe a sigh of relief when we turn the calendar from January to February. There’s something relieving about being a month into the year . . . maybe it’s because we don’t have to say “happy new year” anymore. I doubt this greeting is what bothers me about January, but needless to say, I am glad it’s over.

I sort of hit the “blahs” today. I know we’re still far away from winter ending, but I need some signs of life soon! Good thing that Steve’s birthday is next week as well as Valentine’s Day so we’ll have some reasons to celebrate.

I hope to get through some serious homework this week so I can relax all weekend. (And work on my summer quilt!).

I am never allowed to complain about being bored. Right now, I have so many ideas running through my head about projects and other things to do that I don’t ever see how I’ll ever be sitting around twiddling my thumbs.

Sometimes I think the post-holiday time of year is the best time. I have stacks of books I can’t wait to read, I have home decoration ideas for after the holiday decorations are packed away, and I have oodles of nonholiday- and nongift-related projects.

I’ve posted a few pics related to post-Christmas winter projects that I have already started.

First, Steve and I enjoyed spending a few gift cards this weekend to revive our somewhat neglected bedroom. I decided that, since we’ll be celebrating our third wedding anniversary this week, it was time to take down our wedding pictures in the bedroom. We’ve enjoyed so many activities and moments together since our wedding day that I don’t want to be held to that one moment in time forever (although we had one heck of a wedding). We also took down the big gawky mirrors on our hand-me-down dresser and bought a much smaller, sleeker mirror;  framed the card I received from Steve for our anniversary last year that features a Ward Hooper print of Idaho Sweetheart Coffee; and ditched a lot of the clutter on our dresser. These small changes really make our room seem bigger and much more put together.

Second, in addition to sprucing up rooms in the house before my parents arrive in a few days, I am super excited to begin working on some new craft/art projects in 2009. Given that I am only six months away from finishing graduate school, I am salivating at the idea that I may actually have time to work on some large-scale projects again in the near future. Therefore, I am coveting my new project journal given to me by my brother and his girlfriend. Not only is the journal appropriate for my interests, it features art from Nikki McClure, an artist from Olympia, Washington, where my brother went to college. I absolutely love her artwork and, as you can see by a picture I posted, I have long displayed art from one of her old calendars in our bedroom.

One more day of work and then the holidays really begin!

Tonight we’re feasting on a black bean pie and watching the Poinsettia Bowl.

Go BSU!

I wanted to add a poll to my blog because I love doing these on the web. It may not be as big or crazy as the ones on ESPN, but hopefully it’ll be fun.