Pulling out an old friend

Do you remember this medallion quilt? I started it six years ago with thoughts of having it finished in time for our 25th wedding anniversary. 

It seemed like the perfect quilt to make because it married my interest in quilting with my husbands interest in the Civil War. Now here we are two short weeks away from our 30th anniversary and this quilt is still not finished. 

I still love the cozy use-me-everyday look of this quilt, and it has taught me so much about piecing. I really would like to get it finished. 

In October my local quilt club is holding an all day sew-in. This seems like the perfect opportunity to work on repetitive piecing, so I thought I'd pull this quilt out and get all the facric cut for the next couple borders - that way I can spend the day at the retreat sewing -  and ironing :)

I'd love to hear about a project you've had in the works for a long time, but still want to finish. 

Acorns of all shapes and sizes

Late summer is always a fun creative time for me. My dear friend, M, has a birthday in August and I always have the best time making things for her. She and I both share a love for autumn so this year I thought I'd use the icon of all things fall-ish, the acorn, as inspiration.

Acorns of all shapes and sizes :o)

It all started when I happened across the super cute acorn patchwork pillow pattern by Bridgette of The Family Hearth. This is a great pattern for using up scraps of low volume fabric! I love the bold, graphic design! I made my pillow with a simple envelope style back.

Acorn patchwork pillow - pattern by Bridgette from The Family Hearth

For the quilting I used masking tape to mark simple diagonal lines in order to stitch an "X" through each square.  It's always so fun to quilt small projects because they fit in my Janome sewing machine without any tight pushing or pulling to get the quilting done.

After the pillow was finished I did a bit of searching for some acorn accessories to go with it. On Pinterest I found the pattern for patchwork acorn potholders made with fabric on the front and a dish towel backing.

Patchwork acorn potholders

These patchwork acorn potholders by Therm-o-Web are so easy to make, and again, scraps are the name of the game! I really like how the fabric squares end up on point in the potholders. I lined them with Insul-Bright to make them more heat resistant in addition to the dish towel backs.

Finally, I just wanted one more small item to tuck into the package and decided on the little crochet acorn. This pattern comes from Kristi of the blog Engsidrun. I was able to use scraps from some of my favorite yarn for these sweet little acorn.

Crochet acorn

I am fully aware that I probably got a bit carried away with theme gifts, but I had such fun that maybe I got away with it? Hope you enjoy the first days of fall! I know I will :o)