Super Summery Saturday!

So far today I have made a new pillow for the back of my armchair and created a nice place to sit in my yard and enjoy my wireless internet connection.

First, the pillow. My chair is an old-fashioned one with a very low top. So when I sit in it there is nothing to rest the back of my head on and it is uncomfortable on my neck. I was using one of those cushy pillows filled with tiny beads, but the fabric is so stretched out now that the pillow feels flat and provides no support.

The other day when I was roaming the aisles of the newest Joann Fabrics in Richmond, I saw a pillow form in the shape of a small bolster. I picked it up and have been thinking how to best cover it over the last few evenings.

I used the remaining squares from the cherry theme charm pack (which I mis-identified before as oh-cherry-oh. It is actually called recipe for friendship.) I did not have enough squares left so I opened the oh-cherry-oh pack (because I bought both at the quilt store) and used a few of those. The body of the pillowcase is a patchwork of 12 blocks arrayed 4x3 in a rectangle and sewn together to form a tube. For the ends I made 2 squares using 4 of the charm squares each. I cut a piece of paper in a 7 inch square (because the bolster is 6 and a half inches across at the ends.) Then I trimmed the square into a circle. I laid it on top of my patchwork squares and cut the circles that form the ends of the pillowcase.

I slipped the tube I previously made over the pillow form and began to pin the first circle to the end. I sewed up the first end using the blanket stitch and some of my perle cotton stash. Then I flipped it over to the other end and repeated the process. I like the contrast stitching that the perle cotton provides.

Now the yard. I have one lovely tree in my yard. I went out and cleaned off last years lawn chair, dragged it over to the tree and angled it so that I do not have to look at any of my neighbor's houses, the street traffic or the pool hall next door. Then I took my cool beverage, my laptop and my little dog out for a spell in the yard. I have a wireless set up called Windy31 and it worked great outside!

I predict there will be many more moments spent in the shade.