We all fall down!

On Saturday I woke up with big plans to finish my Little Apples quilt. Then I rolled over and went back to sleep. Eventually I got my act together and started quilting. I was going to do a simple zig-zag pattern, but no matter what I did the fabric kept smooshing and shifting, and I found myself picking stitches out until my fingers hurt. This had happened on my past two quilts (Bliss and Sherbet Pips) but I fought through it. I was using my walking foot, and thought it might be my machine so I switched to my old one, but had the same problem. Then it hit me what the problem was - my walking foot was not walking. It was functioning as a regular presser foot and making my quilts a ferlipping mess! Any issues aren't terribly evident on the other 2 quilts, but there was no way I could continue to make this one without it looking absolutely horrid. I tried to repair it, but I believe I lost a spring along the way. So I promptly ordered a new one and am very excited for it to get here. I don't know if I'm more excited for the new foot or the quilting guide it comes with - no more taping out my lines or winging it - woot!!!

I was really in the mood for something bright and fallish and fun, so I used the "now what do I make?" time as an opportunity to knock out a project I had on my list for my mumsy. I enjoyed every single step of making this - and it really didn't take very long. Pretty much an afternoon project (an early lunch-late dinner longer sort of afternoon, but an afternoon nonetheless). Here it is:

Would you believe I've never made a pillow before? I am so in love with how this turned out. I traced everything onto sewable Heat n' Bond, cut, fused and did some stitching. It was really so simple I kind of want to applique a lot of other things.... I stitched the trunk and branches of the tree to give it a little bit of texture - it makes it look more like a real tree:

I did some decorative stitches on the leaves - they look a little like the real veins (?) on leaves. I used brown thread to tone down the colors - they were a little too bright. I like too bright, but my mom likes more muted tones. The stitching took care of it (I think --you can tell me if I'm wrong. It won't hurt my feelings).

The background is a plain unbleached muslin. I had bought it for something, but I couldn't remember what it was. I had a little saying I wanted to stitch on it, and the muslin was nice and sturdy for it.

I need for you to know :) that I can stitch much better than that. I was actually going to do it in cursive, but when I asked my mother what she wanted she said "crooked print." My favorite part is the leaves that have fallen -

I'm excited I finally got a fall project done. Hopefully I'll have a quilt to show you next week. I've also got some hooker adventures coming up (the crochet kind. Naughty :)  Now all we need is for the humidity to leave so that it actually feels like fall. Anybody else slightly in shock that it is almost October? Also--I didn't forget about the giveaway I mentioned...I just need to find some time to gather some goodies. Have a good week, lovelies!

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