Monthly Archives: September 2020

Dresden Butterflies Floor Pillow

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Today is the last day of the Best of Moda Bakeshop Book Pillow Parade and I am excited to be bringing up the rear! We recently finished our basement and made a fun little reading nook under the stairs for our kids. We thought it would be fun to fill it with floor pillows and quilts (we have plenty of those!) to keep it a cozy space for our children to want to pass the time reading.

I chose to make a 24″ pillow using Add It Up and Alma by Alexia Marcella Abegg for Ruby Star Society for a beautiful, fall looking butterfly.

To make this pillow, you will need a copy of the Best of Moda Bake Shop book. In the book you will find the instructions to make my Dresden Butterfly quilt blocks. You will need 2 completed blocks to make this pillow and there are step-by-step instructions detailed in the book.

You will also need:

(2) 12 1/2″ background squares

(2) 17″ x 25″ pillow backing fabric

(1) 2 1/2″ x WOF strip of binding for the pillow backs

scrap batting 25″ square for the pillow front and (2) 18″ x 26″ for the pillow back

For the Pillow Front:

Sew the (2) 12 1/2″ background squares together with the dresden butterfly squares as shown. You will then need to baste this to the batting scrap as desired. For small projects I love spray basting. I quilted mine using Bernina stitch 4 to make this fun serpentine design that reminded me of wind for my butterfly to fly. Trim to 24 1/2″ square.

For the pillow back:

I very much prefer a quilted pillow backing. It adds extra comfort and stability and only a small amount of extra effort.

Baste the (2) 17″ x 25″ pillow backing fabric to the batting scraps, quilt as desired, and then trim to 17″ x 25″.

Press the 2 1/2″ x WOF strip of binding in half, with wrong sides together (just as you would to bind a quilt). Bind one raw 25″ edge on each of the pillow backs that measure 17″ x 25″. You can do this by hand, machine, big stitch, whatever binding you prefer for this project.

For Pillow Assembly:

Place the pillow top right side up and the pillow backs right side down. Align the raw edges of the pillow backs along the top and bottom raw edge of the pillow front. Pin, Pin, Pin and sew all around the edge using a 3/8″ seam. I prefer to use my walking foot for this step to deal with extra bulk. Switch to a zig zag stitch (stitch 2) and zig zag around the raw edge of the inside seam.

Flip the pillow right side out, gently poke out the corners, and give it a good press. Fill with a 26″ pillow form and you have yourself a new, comfy floor pillow.

For those of you that have missed the other pillow tutorials, please check the hashtag #bestofmodabakeshopbook on instagram for the other participants.

5 Simple Ways I use my Cricut Joy

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This is a sponsored post written by me on behalf of Cricut for Cricut. All opinions are 100% mine.

2020. What a year, amiright? I would never have known with I received the new Cricut Joy from Cricut back in March that I would a) be about to take on an extended summer with my kids home for what felt like 1 million days and b) have so many ways to use the Cricut Joy in my daily life.

I have previously used a Cricut Explore Air 2 and was curious to see how easy it really was to use the Cricut Joy in comparison to my Cricut Explore Air 2. Well, since I’ve received the Cricut Joy, it has become my go-to machine. It is so easy to use, portable, set up is easy, mats are optional thanks to smart materials…. I could go on and on. I love that I can ask one of my children to go upstairs and get my Cricut Joy in its cute little tote bag and not have to worry about it being too heavy or cumbersome for them to carry for me.

I would love to share with you today 5 little ways that I have used Cricut Joy throughout my day to day life, especially with Covid going on.

1) Make and send cards. We did this for family members in March and April, Teachers in May, birthdays for friends. My boys have loved playing around with the card options in Cricut Design Space and finding new things they can make and send out.

2) Car Stickers. My husband and I go through phases of wanting to redo our car sticker situation…. I don’t know exactly why, but I like to change things up. I uploaded my favorite band’s logo to Cricut Design Space, with the help of my husband, and made myself a fun, new Weezer sticker for my car. As always, when you are doing things with a specific logo, make sure you are only using it for personal use and not for profit.

3) Labeling buckets. I already said 2020 was a weird year, but we have upped our storage of commonly used items not knowing what the future holds. For us, we go through a lot of flour, sugar, and our favorite smoker wood pellets. This was a fast, easy project that I made using Cricut free fonts and labeled my buckets according to what is inside of them. This project took MINUTES and only required smart permanent vinyl, transfer tape, and time!

4) Label my quilting rulers. This one might seem silly not knowing when I will be sewing with friends again, but I really wanted to label my quilt rulers. Some of these rulers are super pricey and I would hate to have one walk off unintentionally. I searched for “Tulip” in Cricut Design Space. When I did that, I found a free “Window Cling Flower Box” project. Through the “customize” feature, I got rid of everything except a cute little tulip and added a “J” to the center of each tulip. I cut these out on permanent smart vinyl and adhered them to my quilting rulers.

5) Water Bottle Labels. Our elementary school has asked that each child brings a refillable water bottle to school each day. I have heard similar things from different friends and family throughout the country. In order to make sure my kids know which bottle is theirs, I used a Free Cricut font and made BIG letters. My oldest wanted his initials and my kindergartener wanted his name so it was something he was familiar with.

Each of these projects were easy to make using my Cricut Joy in 5 minutes or less. I loooooove organizing my house just a bit and making things personalized as well. Cricut Joy is available for purchase online and in-store (I’ve even seen it at Target!). If you are considering a Cricut and don’t currently have one, I highly recommend the Cricut Joy as an easy, everyday machine.