June has been a craaaaaazzzzyyyyy month. The kitchen is finally finished, I’ve unpacked all the boxes and put everything in tentative locations, friends from Florida came for a week, then Terry, the two granddaughters, and I went on our annual summer adventure. This year to DC.

Before leaving I very quickly put together the “Cats in Pajamas” pillow for grandson Arthur. It’s a calico cat because he has a calico cat named Whiskey. (Named long before Arthur came on the scene!)

I asked Arthur how he liked his pillow with Whiskey on it. He said, “That’s not Whiskey, that’s a cat on a pillow.”

Ok. He’s three. But he is right. Before I gave it to him, that block was Athena. Not Whiskey. And he was a bit distracted entertaining Piper and Adley.

Anyhow.

We had a great time in DC. The girls are 10 and 14. Perfect age. And they love love love their cousin Arthur.

Piper, Terry and I went to the Holocaust Museum. Piper was reading the “Diary of Anne Frank” and Adley was too young to go. And I did look for excuses not to attend, but there I was. In the museum. Horrified. I have read all the books. I did not need to see the room of shoes. Or the graphic videos. Piper knew I did not want to go and respected that I went with her. Afterwards we talked about all the other genocides like the Armenian genocide and the killing of Native Americans. It was a good talking point.

We did hit lots of other fun sites as a family. Mount Vernon, the Building Museum, a movie–Lilo and Stitch (I cried)–splash pads, an arcade……and more. Seven days flew by. I love DC.

There had been some BIG storms in North Dakota while we were gone. Some news sources compared it to a cat 3 hurricane! My kitty sitter said our house was okay other than debris. When we returned home, I had planned on making the second pillow–for my little friend Fae. When I went out to my studio it was flooded! Yikes! The studio is separated from the main garage by a wall and we have worked hard to water-proof the entire section. Water came in under the wall from the main area. Hadn’t considered that! I was able to clean it up and I don’t think there was any major damage to the floors.

I thought there was no way I would be able to get that second pillow done this week since I had spent so much of my sewing time cleaning up the mess, but I did!

Here it is!

And a very quick and dirty tutorial about how I make “envelope pillows.” If you need clarification, just send me an email or do a comment!

The pillow form I am using for this pillow is 20″.

First, I quilted the front.

I cut the front down to 21″ square since I am using 1/2″ seams.

Then the back. This is a quick formula how I determine the size of the flaps for the back of the pillow. I divide the size of the front (21″) into 3. Which gives me 7″. Then I multiply that by 2. That gives me 14″. I need two pieces of quilted fabric for the back 14″ by 21″. I use this formula for all my pillow envelope backings.

I put 2 1/2″ binding on the raw edges of the pillow backing. Just like I do for a quilt binding. 21″ long for this pillow.

I also like to add a little personalization to my pillows. Especially if they are for someone special. I used my embroidery module to make a little heart for sweet Fae.

Put the special note on the first envelope back so it shows up when you turn it right side out.

I do one side at a time. Braver sewist than me can put them on at the same time. Although I feel that I am very BRAVE on the sewing front, I have had to rip out so many seams in my life, I just take one piece at a time.

Then put the other side on, clip corners and turn it right side out.

And the Fae pillow is done. I miss that wee child so much! And her mom. Haven’t met infant Fiona yet but hoping that will happen soon. Their Gram Gram was one of our visitors from Florida and I know that I’ll always have a bed there.

But I think I’ll wait until it cools down a bit! Yikes. Heat Wave on the East Coast. Left DC just in time!

Just waiting for the fabric for the backing and binding from Etsy to finish up the two “Cats in Pajamas” quilts. Then I can move on to so many other projects!