this and that...

Last couple of days were good. I've been working my way through the list of Christmas presents for my family and it feels great to check then off as I go. And, since I felt all happy and on track last night, I decided to take a little break and worked on this paper pieced polar bear block instead.

Isn't he the sweetest? He'll look even better once I find some good buttons for his eyes, of course.

 I used the pattern by Sonja (artisania) from the book Pretty in Patchwork Holidays.

I'm  also almost done with two pillows for my mom. She asked for orange, brown, and white colors with some touches of red. Wow, not my usual colors at all, so to come up with something I'd like was quite a challenge. Here's a peek at one of the pillows.

I decided to go with simple patchwork and I think it's the quilting that's going to "make" this pillow. I did some paper piecing for the other one - pictures coming later.

Speaking of paper pieced pillows, I never really showed you the pillow I made for Kristie in our swap. I used this tutorial  and, as usual, I'm simply amazed at how perfectly seams match up when I paper piece my blocks.

Once my paper pieced blocks were finished, I framed them with two borders, installed the zipper closure on the back, and bound the pillow as I would a quilt. Finished size of this pillow is 18" x 18".

What have you been up to? Any Christmas sewing?

I'm linking this post up to Lee's WIP Wednesday. See you there.