Another New Pillow.

It's becoming apparent that I am a bit of a pillow addict. I find it hard to pass up a beautiful pillow when out shopping or a beautiful fabric with pillow potential even more so! Needless to say, I'm that girl who has to have baskets to put your bed pillows in a at night and baskets to hide the pillows from Beaufort while I'm at work (He's a pillow sucker). There are pillows everywhere.

My newest pillow is a beautiful coral pink one that sits with the grey striped ones on the bed. I ordered the fabric from Spoonflower and had it custom made with piping. I love the color and how it ties with the "For Like Ever" print in the room.

A while ago I discovered spoonflower.com, a website that allows you to design your own fabric, upload it, and have it screenprinted onto fabric. I'm not much of a designer myself but you can spend hours pouring through the designs of others until you find one that you like! Believe me, I found several. One artist I like in particular is Domesticate. I emailed her with a few questions and she was more than helpful and very kind.

I bit the bullet and ordered a few meters to try it out. All in all, I'm happy with my order. For $1 you can order a sample of their fabric weights, which I recommend doing first. Shipping cost were reasonable but it  took a few weeks. However, they were upfront about that in their shipping information. I'd order from them again!

A side note.. Barbara of Hodgepodge commented on my Lusting post. Apparently, Rugs USA is now shipping free to Canada! This is new this week and I'm certain is only because they heard me lamenting:) Thanks Barbara!

Pillow Plenty.

It seems it's pillow month around here! Yesterday, I shared the new pillows that I had made with fabric from Tonic Living. They are going to be perfect against the headboard in the bedroom.

A while ago, I found an Ebay seller who sold silk ikat pillows for an amazing price. I had been tempted to order similar ones for the living room from an etsy shop but couldn't stomach the $60 a pillow price tag. The ebay store Antiquarian Textiles, based in Uzbekistan, sells a pair of pillows for less than $25 plus $8 to ship! I'll admit I was skeptical of the quality but decided to go ahead and order a beautiful pair of blue ikat dot pillows.

Yeah.. so turns out they weren't blue but purple! Those are the risks of ordering online, I suppose. The good news was that the quality was wonderful and a good friend offered to take them off my hands. They will be perfect for her daughter's room. 

Right away, I ordered a new set and waited patiently for them to arrive. This time I went a little more neutral and they are perfect!

Here are a few more from their shop, in case you are interested. I definitely recommend them!

Get your order in soon though because one downfall is that shipping is slow (4+ weeks for me). Sooner you order the sooner you get to enjoy them! Let's look at mine one more time..

Yep. Love them!

New Pillows Sewn by ME!

I did it! I learned to sew... well at least a little bit! Enough to make a couple of pillow covers:)
My sister was home, this Christmas, from Ontario, and I made her promise that she would "help" me sew some covers with the fabric I ordered from fabric.com. By help, I meant that I would watch and learn while she make them. Just kidding.... but, being the teacher she is, she instructed and I did most of the work!

She couldn't understand how come she had learned to sew at school and from Mom, but I hadn't. I remember making a tote bag and a pair of boxer shorts in grade 8 and 9, but I think that was the last time I touched a sewing machine.

I'll admit, I don't think I could thread the machine without using the manual, but I'm sure I'll learn soon enough! The hardest part was not the actual sewing but rather measuring and cutting. The first one was too big and we had to redo it a bit.

me cutting the fabric:)

Mom's trusty old sewing machine.. does the trick!

Here's how they turned out. While not perfect, not bad if I do say so myself!

I think next time I would made them a bit smaller. I left an inch seam allowance, but IKEA pillows are not super full, so I think you could get away with none at all.
And, here they are on the couch in the office.

I may be addicted now... where else do I need new pillows?

I've Been Drooling Over Dots and Spots

I love patterns. Trellis, quatrefoil, greek key, suzanis. I'll take them all. Especially if they are printed on fabric-it's my weakness. I'm predicting that the next big print is dots. More specifically ikat dots. I can't get enough of them!

Check these out:

Ikat dot pillows from the etsy  bestillshop.

There is nothing cuter than a room with a pair of twin beds.

Add in some ikat blankets and I'm sold:)



via coco&kelley



Oh where, oh where, can I use this Premier Prints fabric from fabric.com? Only $6.98 - $9.98/metre!

Look what Jamie from isuwannee did with! Unreal. Love it. That girl has serious vision!

Another one. Not ikat, but spotty just the same. I think I like it. Tres cool.

I'm telling you. Spots and dots are in. You heard it here! :)

Are you going to join the bandwagon? 

PILLOW TALK

It drives me crazy that I can't find nice pillows to put on my couch. Sometimes you can find some great ones at Winners in Charlottetown but only if you are lucky- it all depends on the day! Also, to me nothing beats down fill. It just isn't the same when they are synthetic. Nothing beats a fluffed and karate chopped pillow and you just can't get that look without feathers! (apparently karate chopping is now a big faux pas in the design world but I still love it)
If you need clarification see extreme karate chop below:

IKEA is the best source for down inserts but unfortunately we don't have one around here. If I were smart, I would have picked up a bunch last time I was there. I saw some at Fabricville last time I was there but I didn't think to check the price.
I decided to check out etsy for some pillow covers and found some great ones.. might have to place an order!

Eyeing Ikat?

elegant touch

elegant touch

Tripping for Trellis?

elegant touch

nenavon

nenavon

nenavon

nenavon

elegant touch

Seeing Stripes?

bestillshop

bestillshop

I like them all but none really work for me. Maybe for you?