Autumn has officially arrived in Minnesota. Cooler temps are a welcome reprieve after a sweltering August. The trees seem happy too. Everywhere I look, leaves are beginning their gradual turn toward fall luster. Our neighbor’s maple tree is showing its first signs of brilliance. Keeping in step with nature, I recently completed a sewing project that honors the changing colors: the Scrappy Leaf Pillow by Natalie Jacob of Fijimama.
Seriously, if you are looking for a fast and fun autumn project that you can sew from your scraps, this is it! All the colored prints in my pillow are scraps from autumn quilts I have made in recent years (Journeys, Meadowland and Good Morning). I love that my new pillow will coordinate so well with my favorite fall quilts!
Did you notice that the background is scrappy too? I used many of the soft and subtle low volume scraps left over from my Quilted Snowman project last year. (Not to get us sidetracked here, but did you notice that Lori Holt has a new pattern coming next year . . . the Quilted Santa! Oh my, but that is tempting!)
Using my walking foot, I finished my pillow with some simple, straight-line quilting on a one-inch grid. Doesn’t it add a nice texture to the finished pillow?
I normally bind my pillows the same way that I bind a quilt. However, I followed Natalie’s lead and used a knife edge finish with an envelope back enclosure. This finish makes the pillow look extra soft and cozy.
I also tried something new. I followed the tips in a YouTube tutorial called “A Square Pillow Isn’t Square.” Lo and behold, I now have a finished pillow that looks completely square and doesn’t have those weird, pointy corners my pillows often have! It only took a few extra minutes, and the end result is definitely worth it in my book!
Natalie also offers a quilt sized pattern featuring her pretty leaf design. It is called the Scrappy Leaf Quilt pattern. I would love to sew that in the future, but I’m not sure I’d have enough scraps at the ready. I would need to purchase some new fat quarters, both colorful and low volume. (Wouldn’t that be a shame!) Having said that, I want to give Natalie another mention . . . as she also sells wonderful, custom-curated fat quarter bundles. on her fijimama website!
For now, I am super happy with my Scrappy Leaf pillow and the warm autumn glow it brings to a corner of my living room. Thanks for stopping by!
~Taunja
