September is interNational Sewing Month! An ideal time to sew up back to school items like lunch bags, colorful fabric totes or for the cooler days ahead, a cozy throw or quilt. Holidays are right around the corner so sewing projects abound! Fun Halloween costumes, home decor harvest items or gifts for Kwanza, Christmas or Hanukkah.

With a new home pillows are my biggest sewing project this month. I love pillows and making them, my favorite style has been the flower pillow but for this Victorian home I am sewing up large floral and rich elegant velvet pillows. At present the fabric is just cut and wrapped around the forms but with a big event next weekend I am on a deadline to finish them up later this week.

The good thing about deadlines is they spur you on to finish projects that might drag on. Now that I have made a space for my sewing machine it is making my creative life much easier. My new studio at the back of this beautiful house will be under renovation for a while yet.

Looking forward to being completely settled in with all renovations finished in about three months. Here is to sewing projects, patterns and fabric stashes! Happy Sewing Month!

This weekend I taught a kid's workshop. I have such a great group of creative and very entertaining kids. Each month I introduce them to different techniques through a project and let them loose! This month was a doll pillow using fabric markers and stencil paint technique which gave a watercolor look to the pillows. We used two types of fabric markers, Jacquard's TeeJuice Fabric Markers and ILovetoCreate Fabric Markers. The kids liked both and found for outlining the TeeJuice fine marker was easy.

I had the opportunity last week to tour the Jacquard Company in California, as soon as you enter the front door the lobby chairs are boldly painted in striking designs. Painted fabric artwork hangs everywhere along with artwork accessory pieces by the talented Melony Bradley. Annette who gave me the tour was so welcoming and showed me throughout the factory where product is shipped all over the world.

Back to the kids and their experience with the products. Natalie liked the bright ILovetoCreate pack of markers and used every color on her fish pillow. She drew a fish on one side and a teddy bear on the other. Emily created a bright cat stress pillow, Molly made a Vintage doll as she loves the era of the 1800's.

They first began by drawing their idea on paper. With this as a guide they drew with pencil on the fabric going over the details with the fabric marker. The stencil paint technique for the larger areas allowed the fabric marker to show through.

We used prewashed unbleached cotton. I sewed a simple oval shape which they stuffed once their design was painted and heat set.

Once stuffed the pillow could be embellished further.

While they craft I am entertained with stories of school happenings with two of the girls in a school play much was talk about the drama festival next week. Crafting with kids is such a pleasure!

I have been a little scissor happy of late, my Westcott Brand pink scissor collection hangs on the wall as anything pink in my studio is on display. Since the T-shirt Remix contest at CHA I have been trying different cutting techniques on a variety of fabrics.

Being spring, flowers are just starting here to bloom so I am inspired to create a blossom pillow using fleece. I cut two 10" fleece circles and then several 6" strips of fleece. Folding the strips and cutting even slits from the fold in to create the looped fringe. With fabric glue begin gluing the fleece fringe from the outside in to the center. A contrast color adds interest. Glue the two circles shut leaving an opening and stuff. Glue opening closed.

I am very pleased to be exhibiting at the 37th Annual Christmas Art & Craft Fair, Capital Exhibit Center, Fredericton, NB. It is right around the corner from where I live so I get to walk back and forth from the show whiich I enjoy, home in five minutes!

I am introducing a new line of pillows I have been working on Pillow Talk. 'Express yourself in every room!' Here is what my couch looked like this week, kind of an explosion of pillows. If you are in the area it is a beautiful show to attend.

My chair I recovered gets the gift of my very first pillow I designed, I changed the construction details after this first one. It is now almost 2:30 am! Show all day I am off to bed! Keep creating! Debra