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Whew! I'm on a roll! Getting addicted to making these pillow cases. I finished this one last night. Made with some beautiful new linen and Amy Butler fabric from her lotus line. The pattern, by the way, is from Amy Karol's Bend the Rules Sewing book.
This was my first attempt at sewing in a zipper, and I am happy to say it was not that tricky! I think I'll do it again soon--using some more of the lovely fabric given to me by my friend Maggie. Thanks, Mag! I love to throw these little pouches in my purse to find my favorite gloss or a hair tie quickly. My big handbags can be so bottomless!
When I travelled to England in college, one of the first British people to greet me in the airport said, "So, you've come to see the daffodils?" I didn't know what on earth he was talking about until we visited the home of Wordsworth later in our trip. His famous poem "I Wandered Lonely as a Cloud" reminds me of days like today.
I wandered lonely as a cloud
That floats on high o'er vales and hills,
When all at once I saw a crowd,
A host of golden daffodils;
Beside the lake, beneath the trees,
Fluttering and dancing in the breeze.
Late last summer we moved out of our little cottage in the city limits to two acres of tangled, overgrown paradise--a tiny family treasure of place where my own father and his three siblings were born. I spent the last seven months updating the three-bed, one-bath house inside with paint and wallpaper, cozy fabrics, and all of my favorite things, but I was also dreaming of how to transform those rambling perennial beds outside into something other than chaotic mats of quack grass and briars.
This week as the bulbs came into full bloom I began. Each day I've dug a few more weeds from the beds, and each day a new little crop of blossoms planted by the previous owner, Stella Mae, has opened its petals to the sun. It is exciting enough to see plants you've buried rise in the spring, but the surprise of those hidden by other hands is an even greater blessing. Every day is a treasure hunt! Besides the rows of yellow daffodils and scatterings of grape hyacinths, we've been greeted by white daffodils, narcissus, pink and blue hyacinth, red tulips, creeping phlox, sweet little miniature narcissus, and today a little cluster of baby pink tulips is turning more and more rosy under my picture window. I easily have fifty peony plants poking their shoots up, and soon there will be a profusion of lilies of the valley as well. What a glorious gift from heaven after such a long, cold winter!
This is actually a little pillow slip case. I finished it today in a jiff. It is made from vintage fabric (of course) and an antique oatmeal bag. The pattern is from Amy Karol's "Bend the Rules Sewing" book. Genious! Can't wait to slip all of my throw pillows into a new one of these for spring. Who needs to spend $30 on a new one, when you can cover them this way for so much less!
