Dot Dot Dot

I found this tutorial for a felt dot pillow on Pinterest (Pinterest? Really? You don't say.) and added it to the list of projects Chamaine and I would have to do while I was in Utah. 

You can find the tutorial HERE at Diary of a Quilter.

While the Christmas colors are certainly cute, I knew I didn't want to go that route. But I thought a Halloween one would be fun in varied shades of gray, burnt orange and black. However, even Utah in all its crafty splendor, couldn't offer up a good variety of black and orange felts. I mean really, how much can Hobby Lobby shake things up when it comes to black and orange? 

Then I was moseying around Corn Wagon Quilt Shop in Springville, one of my favorite quilt shops in all of Utah, and I came across this big bin of wool scraps. And by bin, I literally mean a gigantic wood box, much like the bins they put apples in at orchards. Only it had legs, so it was conveniently at waist level, which makes it easier to dig. And I dug all right, coming up with stacks of fun wool pieces in gray plaids, black and white houndstooths, and some deep, dark burnt oranges. Before I realized what was happening, I had morphed my crafty little notion of a felt pillow into a real life WOOL project. This was a first for me. I have admired penny rugs and assorted wooly crafts for a while now, but have never delved into it myself. Mostly, out of fear of the dreaded hand sewing. But I was turning over a new leaf and was rather liking the idea of making a pillow chock full of layers and layers of wooly circles.

My pillow will be big, as I want it to span the seat of a black rocking chair. So I started cutting lots and lots of circles. I spent an entire night arranging my circles so that oranges were evenly distributed and like shades of black weren't buddying up with similar ones nearby. Then I took a picture in case the world tipped upside down while I wasn't looking, so I wouldn't lose my arrangement. 

And then I started blanket stitching. 

Every night, while we watched past seasons of Survivor, I would stitch. And stitch. And stitch. Wow, that's a lot of circles. I'm stitching around all the gray and black circles with black floss, and using a dark orange floss for the orange circles. My background is a grayish tan canvas. I realize this isn't what one should use for a wool pillow, but it's the color I wanted and it's thick and sturdy. 

On a side note, I really am getting a kick out of the little "pillows" that the smaller circles make after I've stitched around them. I like to press them with my thumbs. It's like after you've quilted a quilt and you like to run your hands over the top to feel the stitching. I guess I'm more of a tactile person than I thought.

Chamaine is more focused than me and finished hers up in a jiffy. It's already sewn, stuffed and propped up on her bed. 

 

 

Comments

[Donna]

Thanks for the pillow idea! I've always admired penny rugs too, but never "got into" working with wools - at least not yet. But this would be a fun project to get started.

[Jane]

BEAUTIFUL...no cats to disturb the arrangement either.

[Chamaine]

...but I don't have the patience like you to make it beautiful nor in nice rows...but I have had compliments on it!

[Michele]

Both pillows are wonderful! I love the color schemes :-)