Success followed by failure ... oh, my!

As usual, I put too many projects on my plate to finish before Christmas.  I saw a fun project on one of the blogs that I read and thought I could just whip up a couple prior to the holidays.  Will I never learn?

Snowflake Pillow Cover

Wisely, I put all the makings of these pillows away -- and out of sight -- until the January calm returned.  I finished three this week.  So, can I say that I am ahead for Christmas 2011?

The tutorial can be found here.  Noodleheads is one of the blogs that I read consistently.  Anna comes up with some great, simple projects and wonderful tutorials.

The pillow covers, which are in the envelope style and designed for an 18" square pillow insert, are made of felt.  I just bought the cheap felt by the yard when it was on sale at JoAnns.  The only problem I had with the project was that you could see the red color through the white snowflake a bit more than I would have liked.  For the second and third pillows, I fused a lightweight interfacing to the white felt before cutting out the snowflake.  That helped a bit.  If I make any more of these, I'll use a higher grade of felt or a different kind of fabric entirely.  Also, it takes a bit of time to cut all those angles of the snowflake.  I tried the Xacto knife as the tutorial instructs.  I found that I had better luck with the Fiskars snips that I bought a few years ago for making rag quilts.  The inner cuts, however, definitely required the Xacto knife.  I used one of my favorite Bernina feet, the #10C, to sew around the snowflake 1/8" from the edges.  I love that foot!

Alas, not all sewing projects go so smoothly.  I made both of my granddaughters skirts for the holidays and had some leftover fabric.  I found a cute little purse tutorial (you can find it here - scroll down to Lezette Thomason) and decided to make matching purses for each of the girls.  I've had the #62 foot for several years and have never attempted to use it.  Well, I do not love this foot!  I watched the Bernina video, checked out my Feetures book, and even used Google to find a lesson that would help me.  After 45 very frustrating minutes, I just gave up and did it the old-fashioned way turning a narrow hem and ironing it carefully before stitching.  I think I need a personal demonstration about how to get the fabric into the slot of the foot!

Now that the frustrating part is over, I should be able to finish the purses today and post a picture tomorrow.  It feels good to get back to sewing!