Clowning Around

My online friend Deborah of ChicCosas.com is pregnant with her first child and I decided to make her one of my baby pillows as a gift. I know she’ll probably have a shower with her friends, but I’m thousands of miles away so wouldn’t be able to attend. I mailed her package last week and have been eagerly awaiting its arrival so I could post pictures. Didn’t want to spoil the surprise if she happened to read my blog.

I’ve made a couple of these pillows before using those cute 1950s Vogart quilt blocks that I won on Ebay 2 years ago. And I embroider the block to coordinate with the fabrics I want to use for the borders. In this case I had a problem.

Deborah had the ultrasound but they couldn’t tell if it was a boy or girl and she didn’t think they’d know until it was born. I didn’t want to wait that long. So, I obviously couldn’t do blue or pink. I knew whichever I chose would be the wrong one. Her husband is Mexican so I thought bright colors might be the way to go instead. Maybe not traditionally “baby” but who says you can’t break the rules once in a while. I found some fun striped and polkadot fabrics in my stash, embroidered the bird and clown with colors to match the stripes, then found some vintage buttons that looked like giant polkadots. And, somehow, that all worked.





I name all of my pillows and include that name and a description of the materials I used on a hangtag that I pin to each one. I called this one Clowning Around. I love how happy this little bird is, how it looks as if he’s laughing. And I hope that Deborah and her husband experience that same joy and laughter with their new little one. Which, as it turns out, is now probably a girl!