First things first.  I saw that our LQS had posted a photo of the flamingo fabric and immediately started thinking “what can I make out of that?”. Why, more pillowcases of course! A friend of mine has also been making pillowcases lately and she texted me a picture of one she had done that had piping on it.  Hey, I need that!  It brings in the pop!  She told me she cut the strip 2″ x WOF and then sewed 1/2″ seams after folding it over.  So 2 inches becomes 1 once it’s folded over, then half of that goes into the seam, leaving me with 1/2″ piping.  I like it!  I’m definitely adding that to any future ones because it’s so easy.

I haven’t actually asked the daughter yet if she’s interested in giving pillowcases as presents to friends for Christmas this year.  If not, no worries – I have enough nieces and nephews that I could easily give them to someone else if she’s not interested.

I bought enough fabric to make two pillowcases out of each fabric.  I’ve laid them out there with what I’ll use for the main portion and cuff and then vice versa.  I made quick use of the green fabric I picked out initially for the purple star quilt that I didn’t end up using.  I think I’ll use that same green for the piping in the red/white and love/cat pillowcases, and then I’ll use that blueish-purple fabric that I didn’t use for the “rain rain go away” pillowcase piping.

I was at a good stopping point on the purple quilt – I have 10 of 25 blocks and sashing finished – so I decided to catch back up on Splendid Sampler blocks as well as complete the September block for the machine quilting party project.  Paper piecing!  That works, since I’m currently working on an entire quilt of that. It was all going well until, within 5 minutes’ time, I not only got water on the paper when the iron leaked, but I also accidentally cut off the piece that I had just sewn on there!  It’s the top piece.

Water on a paper piecing template is akin to throwing a bucket of water on the Wicked Witch of the West – it can easily distort the pattern.  Ironing it actually helps a lot….as long as no more water leaks out.  It turned out to not be a big deal and yes, I did pick out those little bitty stitches rather than start from scratch.

I happened to see a flying geese pattern on Craftsy the other day that I thought was cute.  It’s a different designer, but here’s a link to a mini quilt if you like the look of these – which I do!