Feeling Festive!

Feeling festive??? Really Shawna…festive?!? It’s January, so either I’m feeling the holiday spirit really early, a bit late orrrrrrr….it’s a different kind of “festive”!

Ah Valentines, one of my favourite times of the year! I love LOVE, which makes me a big sucker for all the mushy stuff surrounding the day! And believe me when I say that my love of this day has absolutely zero to do with flowers or chocolates or any of that stuff, not that I’d say no to any of them lol, it’s just not what I think the day should actually be about!

I just love the idea of showing the special people in your life how much they mean to you! Of course, we should do this every day of the year, but on this day, why not a little bit more! I still give my grown kids little treats, sometimes it’s candy or chocolates, sometimes it’s homemade cookies, maybe it’s a gift certificate to go on a coffee date with their significant other, or me! It’s just a little gift to say “hey, I think you’re really awesome and I’m so glad you’re you”! You might think that’s silly but you know what, I’m ok with that lol!

I don’t do too much decorating for Valentines Day, just the odd little thing here and there but this year I saw something that I decided I just needed to make, and am I ever glad I did because they turned out so cute!

Recently I went to the Shannon Fabrics website to look for a pattern in their Learning Center but before I could do that, I was greeted with the most Valentine-y picture on their home page and I was immediately intrigued! First off, let me show you the picture….

Eeeeek! There’s just so much awesomeness in this one pic, and while it’s definitely giving Valentine’s Day vibes, I could also totally see this as someone’s bedroom all year round, like maybe mine lol! Sadly I think this might be a tad much in Jeff’s opinion so since it’s his bedroom too, I guess I’ll have to come up with a different plan!

After staring at the pic for quite awhile, I determined that what was really catching my eye were the 2 pillows with the hearts in the middle of them, so that’s what I decided I needed to make…and the search began, a search I will say that took way longer than it should have!

I assumed that if I clicked on that pic, it would tell me all about the minky that was used to create everything, as well as pattern names or information about the items…..spoiler alert, it did not. It takes you to the minky, yes, but not a word about the projects. Off I went to the Learning Center to see if there were patterns there….nope. Next step was to go to the I Love Cuddle Facebook Group to see what I could find there, and by typing “Valentine’s” in the search bar, the exact picture I had just seen came up so I thought I was almost there! I clicked on the picture and thankfully a list came up of the projects and what fabrics were used in them and the pattern names (if there was one)! Almost friends, we’re almost there (again lol)! The ones I were interested in said they both used a pattern by Threadistry so, yup, you guessed it, off I went again on another search!

I found the Threadistry website and in the search bar under the Patterns Round-up tab, I searched “heart pillow” and friends, I finally arrived at the Blog post that told me how to make the pillow………IN COTTONS!!!!

Ummm, ok, yes I finally found it but after watching the entire video and reading the blog, I found literally nothing about doing it with minky. At this point, I was kind of annoyed and actually saddened by this whole experience, and truthfully, I almost packed it in at this point out of frustration! I obviously knew I could figure it out but I didn’t understand why I needed to since someone had already done it and they had posted a pic of it on the website, so why hadn’t they shared what they had done?!?

After brewing myself another coffee, I decided to just give it a go. I’ve never done reverse applique before, I mean I’ve barely even done normal applique but what did I have to lose…right?!? And by having to do it myself and figure it out by trial and error, I decided right then and there that I wasn’t going to make you have to do the same thing soooo I took pics of almost every single step so I could share them with you!!!!!!! So, here we go……

At this point, you’re done the front and all you need to do is figure out what kind of closure you want (zipper, envelope style, etc.), sew your front and back together, and you’re done! Because I’m not leaving you hanging throughout any step of this project, I’m also going to link a Throw Pillow pattern HERE that will help you if you want to use a zipper so you can follow that or an Envelope Back style HERE if that’s your option! I got you friends!

And now, I’m so happy to share with you how my pillows turned out….

Thankfully I absolutely love them and am so happy I stuck with the whole idea because could you imagine how awful that would be if I didn’t love them after having gone through all of that lol?!?

To achieve all this cuteness, I used Shannon Fabrics Carnation Hide and Heart Gnomes, and Pomegranate Glide thread. Since I used the Hide minky, and because I took the time to cut only the backing, you can’t tell that the heart actually has a raw edge! The luxe fibers hide the edge so you can’t see it! If I had used a smooth or dimple minky, I believe I would have done as the pattern instructed for the cottons and used a lining fabric for a cleaner edge….I think lol! If anyone else has experience with doing a reverse applique with minky fabrics, I’d love to hear your thoughts on how you would have done it!

Well friends, that’s all for this week’s post, and I’m exhausted lol! That was a lot of brain power but well worth it! I’ll probably recall all of this nonsense every time I bring these cuties out but that’s ok, that makes them even more precious, or at least that’s what I’m going to tell myself lol!

Have a great week everyone! Will you be shocked to know that I’ll be back next week with ANOTHER Valentine’s project lol?!?

Shawna