Cozy Cottage Calendar 2016 – Blog Tour

Today is my turn on the Fat Quarter Shop Blog tour celebrating the Cozy Cottage 2016 Calendar. This is my second sew-a-long with Lori Holt, of the Bee In My Bonnet and I’ve had a blast with her blocks and making a pillow this time around.

I changed the pillow up slightly, but only because I was working with a super small pillow form [ 13″ x 13″ ] and Lori’s awesome design with the scrappy borders would not fit on the front of my pillow.

I wanted to use Lori’s flying geese scrappy border somehow in my pillow, so I added the border design to the envelop back. I love how it turned out. Adding the border to the back highlights the colors from the little cottage and pulls the whole pillow together.

New to sewing or quilting? Go for the full pillow design, I promise you will love it! Lori is very creative and her designs are fun to work with. Her directions are are SUPER easy to follow and you will be amazed at how fast the cottages are to make.

I made the pillow for my 3-1/2 yr old son, hence the small size. He sleeps with a mini pillow every night and this was the perfect opportunity to make a new cover.  I’m usually a little suspicious about starting a sewing project with/for him, because his attention seems to waver… But he was so into re-covering his little pillow.

We used the calendar cover for inspiration and looked at all the little houses so he could pick his favorite. He always went for the orange! I made a few of the 4″ and 8″ blocks to see his thoughts. He was so excited when he saw the block that ended up in the pillow – yellow door, blue roof and red sidewalk…  I can’t tell you how much fun I had with this pillow.. Involving my son made it a very memorable experience.

These blocks are great stash busters. The 4″  block is actually quite tiny, so it’s perfect for testing colors, raiding your stash and getting a feel for everything.

The calendar is full of amazing images, plus directions for the 4″ and 8″ blocks, pillow and mini quilt. The calendar is available at the Fat Quarter Shop, but don’t wait too long to get a copy.  Click here for the link to purchase the calendar.

Thanks for stopping by and a special thanks to Lori for inspiring me with her calendar. Happy sewing!