Saturday, April 23, 2011

A Case in the Mail

This past Tuesday, I found the cutest fabric at Ben Franklin.  It's International Harvester and Farmall tractor fabric.  I've seen generic tractor fabric and John Deere, but not IH and Farmall.

My father-in-law is a big tractor buff.  He owned a red Farmall that would be vintage, if not a true antique.  He and Byron like to go to tractor pulls whenever they get a chance.

I started scheming about what I needed to buy to make a quilt top of the prints.  After pulling down several bolts and make a general mess of their small fabric department, I realized a new quilt would be adding to my already-too-long backlogged project list.  Pillowcases! That was doable. 

I bought a couple of yards of one print with six-inch squares with big tractors in each square.  My favorite print was only available in FQ's.  I bought all they had: two...

Two fat quarters were enough to make the top of the pillowcases.  I bought some red hour glass fabric from the Jim Shore line for a decorative trim.  The pattern mix was kind of busy.  But I knew he would like them, especially the writing part.

When I got home, I did something totally uncharacteristic. I immediately started on the project!  An hour later, I had two pillowcases all done!  I mailed them first thing on Wednesday morning.  He received them on Friday.  In the note I included, I said, " I really wanted to make a quilt for you from this, but you know how big projects sometimes go.  As you are enjoying these pillowcases, know that in my heart, they are a quilt!"

I used Robin Gallagher's tutorial to make the pillowcases.  It's a great method that is fun and well-sewn.  (FYI, there is a .PDF instruction sheet at her webite, as well as some other handy tutorials.)

FYI, Ben Franklin often sells quality fabric in flat folds for $3-4 a yard.  I've bought fabric that I still see in the quilt shops for $9-11 per yard.  Check it out!

1 comment:

  1. Ohhhhh your lucky father-in-law. I am sure he is thrilled to have these handcrafted pillowcases!
    Lovely!

    and bonks, of course

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