Another Super Quick Christmas Gift

 A Portland Timbers Soccer Team Pillow.
Done as a no-sew fleece cover.

 I had a 20" Ikea pillow form - which is not lofty enough folks. Instead, I used a pillow form from a garage sale acquired pillow that was fuller.

To begin with, I bought enough polar fleece fabric to cover the pillow with fringe.
20" plus 3" fringe all around. 20 + 3 + 3 = 26". Fleece is generally 60" wide. I bought 27" aka 3/4 yard and had enough to cover one pillow.

I squared up my two pillow sides (back and front) and started cutting my fringe. 1 1/4" wide snipping 3 inches in. I used tape to make my snips even.

Then I folded one fringette back and snipped a small hole in the middle of the four layers and fed the end of the fringette through, thus securing it.

 When you have three sides done, slip your pillow form inside. If you need to cut more to tighten up the cover, this is your chance. Mine was fine and I continued flipping the end of the fringettes through the small slits.

 Twenty minutes. Promise. Easy peasy.

And off it went, mailed to Alaska and the only Portland Timbers Soccer team fan up in the far north.

Guinea Pig Presents

A guinea pig tunnel.

For a cousin in frigid North Dakota who recently embraced guinea pigs.

 I did a quick internet search one morning before another 11-hour work day and found that there is a thriving pet market for polar fleece hand-sewn cozies. Who knew?

And PDF sewing patterns for really simple toys for mucho dineros.
I didn't buy a pattern for a tunnel - I just winged it with some remnants from Fabric Depot that matched.
If you're interested in making your own, I added some dimensions at the end of this post.



His name is Fluffy Nocturnal

These tunnels come un-done - held together with velcro. You can use it as a lap mat to hold little Fluffy or you can connect it and let Fluffy run through. Some sites sew together one end to create a Cuddle Sack.

Apparently guinea pigs like to be cocooned. And cozy.

 I rolled back the ends to add structure to my tunnel.

 I used this super cute turtle remnant. I was in Fabric Depot for some pearl cotton for  some hand-stitching in the photo below. I didn't have much time -- so finding small remnants that matched meant I didn't have to spend an hour looking at all of the Polar Fleece available.

This is a sneak peak at a Christmas present that I've been working on since October. I decided to do a sashiko stitch to quilt the layers together. Sashiko is just a fancy-schmancy word for a running stitch.


Guinea Pig Tunnel Tutorial
About 8" in diameter.

You'll need two pieces of matching or coordinating polar fleece and one piece of batting. I used a thin batting and my tunnel collapses unless you roll the end out. You might need two layers of batting to make this stiff enough to stay up.
10" velcro or longer if you make the tunnel longer.

Polar Fleece x 2. Cut each 26" x 13". If you want your tunnel longer, then cut 26" x 16".
Batting: cut to same measurement.

1.   Layer two polar fleece pieces rights sides together (RST), place batting on top.

2.  Sew around edges with a 3/8" seam leaving a 5 inch gap for turning. Turn right sides out and poke out corners with chopstick. Don't poke through - just enough to get corners rectangular.

3. The velcro goes at the short ends. Sew hook tape to Solid polar fleece and loop tape at opposite end to Print fleece. (I used a Print and a Solid). I double stitch at ends to reinforce.

4. Stitch parallel rows (to the velcro) about every 1 1/2". If you need to mark a straight line, use a disappearing ink pen. This quilts the sandwich together and adds structure.

5. Stitch around entire edge about 1/2" in, making sure loose fabric at gap (for turning) is tucked in.

That's it. If you want to make the Cuddle Sack, connect into roll and then sew one end flat.

I  liked the idea of it being a lap mat for holding Fluffy and that it did double duty as a tunnel.

Elvis No Sew Blankets Mini Tutorial

 My favorite neighbor girl needed help making some christmas gifts.
Polar fleece blankets. No-Sew Fleece Blankets.

Do you want to make your own? They are easy-peasy.
They even sell kits at Joann's Fabric Stores.

There are a couple of ways to tie them. We chose a low knot version.

 You will need two pieces of polar fleece in coordinating colors. Most fleece comes 60" wide. If you want a square throw, then buy 60" cut (aka 1 2/3 yard).

Neighbor Girl wanted them rectangular. She bought two yard lengths of two coordinating fleeces.
Her cut measurements are 60" wide by 72" long.

You can do this on your dining room table to save your back or sit down and lay them out on a clean floor.

Lay your two fabrics together and smooth out the wrinkles until all sides mostly match. On the 60" edges, you're going to cut off about an inch width which is the selvedge. These edges are rougher where the machinery that made the fabric gripped it.

I free-hand  cut the selvedges off. Because polar fleece hides all flaws. You're going to end up cutting fringe all around anyway. Even if you can't eyeball an inch to cut away, it won't matter in the end product.(but if you want to measure or lay out masking tape as a guide, you can).

We laid masking tape (painters tape) down 4 inches from the edge (Parallel to the edge). This was to assist in cutting the fringe. Each fringe (fringette?) is about 1 1/4" wide. I have a chalk marker that worked quite well to guide Neighbor Girl in cutting straight fringe.

She had limited confidence on the first side but by the 4th, she wanted to cut the fringe free-hand.

The trick to the fringe is to cut mostly 4" in on all four sides and evenly. So you might have to curb that enthusiasm of wanting to do freehand as your fringe starts to get wider and wilder.

Anyway, I gave her a masking tape line to cut to and chalk lines to cut straight. We didn't need these on the second blanket because of the elvis stage light design giving us fabric guidelines.

You will also need to cut out 4" squares on the corners as the fringe will fill in the corner and look seamless. I always forget the 4" squares at the corners until I cut the first fringettes. You'll figure it out, because polar fleece hides all flaws.

 Once the fringe is cut, you flip the fringette forward and snip a 1/2" cut in the middle of the four layers. My scissors aren't sharp enough to cut thru four layers with the tips, so my tip is to bring the scissors in and use the middle and/or back of the scissors to give you some power to cut through.

Neighbor Girl quickly grasped how much of a snip to make. Remember, polar fleece hides all flaws. Even if you snip too wide, it will be okay.

Then you bring the end of the fringette through the hole. Tug gently. Thus making a soft half hitch knot.

The other method has you tie the fringettes together in a double knot making the edges of these blankets more lumpy bumpy. This snip in the middle and push the end through method is a much softer knot that doesn't annoy you as much when you snuggle under the throw, but is just as secure.

 This right side has been done. Look at that red line. It's the opposite side as it comes through the slit forming that cool braided border.

One last tip: the fleeces don't shift because of the friction of the material holding them secure. But the weight of the blanket will slide over the table, possibly causing you to cut crookedly. Just roll up the other side to keep the weight of the material from shifting.

See that corner above? It had a 4" square cut out and you would never know.

 It took about an hour to make the first. AND stretch frequently for your lower back if you are bending over. The second blanket was only 60" square and took just over 30 minutes.

I have some video but no time to go through the laborious process in order to post here. You can catch them in my IG feed.

Photo Credit: DD; Cape Kiwanda

 I'm busy making notecards for my kids (who write letters just like their mama and their grandma!).
I'm using their awesome photography from the year from their various travels.