fall coffee dates

Last fall I started going to Starbucks every Monday morning with Thing 2 before she went to school. It was a nice way to start the week, and we had many great conversations over our mochas, peppermint hot chocolates, and chai tea lattes. We made it there every Monday morning throughout her entire senior year of high school.

We've decided to continue the tradition this year. I visit the usual location near my home, and she goes to the one closest to her college dorm. We chat on the telephone instead of face-to-face, but it's still a great way to start the week and stay connected :) This week I brought along a book to fill the time while I waited for her. (By the way this a very good story - one of the main characters works at a quilt shop and actually lives over the shop with her young daughter!)

I really love the look of the new fall Starbucks cups, and as I sat there reading and enjoying my hot tea I thought, "these fall cups could really use a matching coffee cup cozy!" Since I knew the perfect fabric scraps were waiting in my stash, I immediately started cutting once I was back at home. My friend Lorrie created and published the fantastic pattern and tutorial on her blog at SewMod.

My button stash is not so well stocked (sadly), so once all the fabrics were cut I headed out to purchase some fun buttons and the elastic hair ties needed. Shopping for those supplies took longer than actually sewing the cozies!  Here they are all sewn and ready to go!

They will fit all sizes of Starbucks hot beverage cups - tall, grande, and venti.

I buttoned them all and stood them upside down so you could see the fun lining fabrics too :)

Thing 2 really likes the one on the left (so I'll be sending it in her next care package), while I'm pretty attached to the one on the right. I haven't decided what to do with the other five - probably give them to my coffee loving friends!

You should check out Lorrie's tutorial and make some for yourself and your friends! Then make a coffee date with someone you love :)

Valentine Button Heart - a free pattern for you

Happy February!

I created this little piece of stitchy love and wrote a pattern that I'm sharing here with you.

snowflake pillows finished

The holiday snowflake pillows are completed and on display at my LQS. Here's a shot of the two pillow fronts and the little info cards I made to attach to each one.

The pattern called for the pillow backs to be closed with seven buttons. While I loved the look of the buttons in the pattern book photos, I didn't think that a button closure was the best option for a few reasons:

1. that's a lot of buttonholes to sew
2. all my buttons were different sizes so I'd need to recalibrate the buttonhole attachment frequently
3. I didn't want the pillow backs to look like when a guy wears a too-tight shirt and the buttons are just barely keep everything contained

So I put a zipper under the buttonhole flap instead!

Now the backs are all smooth and pretty with just five decorative buttons each.

You can read more about the construction of these pillows here. The pattern I used can be found in Amanda Murphy's new book, Modern Holiday.