Wyoming Breezes

thirty-one pillowcases August 2017 A couple of years ago Marilyn gave me several yards of calico fabric from her stash. Before my surgery, I cut some of Marilyn's yardage and added some yardage from my own stash to prepare pillowcase kits. The kits were good rehab sewing projects. I worked on ten cases at a time over the course of several days. The cases are laundered and pressed and ready to be donated. Some will be donated to the local hospice home; the rest, as presentation cases for Quilts of Valor. Marilyn, thank you for much of the fabric for these cases. Since each case uses a yard of fabric, the fabric stash is now 31 yards lighter.

thirteen pillowcases April 2017 These thirteen cases were made from backing remnants and coordinating fabrics. They will be paired with a Quilt of Valor for a presentation and storage case. five pillowcases April 2017 Some brighter fabric was used for pillowcases for the local hospice home. The cases account for nearly 18 yards of fabric out of the stash.

six Quilt of Valor presentation cases three hospice pillow cases September 2016 The red and blue bandana prints and the tone-on-tone blue flowers were scraps from quilt backs, the striped fabric was an impulse purchase at a clearance sale, the blue/pink flowered fabric at the top was from Marilyn, and the neutral flowered fabric was large enough for the body of two cases. Approximately nine yards of fabric and scraps out of my stash.

twenty-one presentation cases for Quilts of Valor June 2016 Inspired by Marilyn's gift of fabric , I pulled some older fabric from my stash and paired it with some of her fabric to make twenty-one presentation cases for Quilts of Valor. I'm taking half of them to the QOV coordinator and keeping half for the Quilts of Valor that I make and take for distribution. These cases basically represent 21 yards of fabric and made a sizable dent in the stash. Check out my Slash the Stash progress here .

ten presentation cases January 2016 Last week while cleaning my sewing room, I found some backing scraps. Usually these scraps are large enough to be used for pillowcase cuffs, so I searched my stash to find coordinating fabric for the body of the pillowcase. Who knows why I purchased the striped green fabric, but it is now out of my stash. The nice thing about Quilt of Valor presentation cases is that they do not have to match the quilt, as their main purpose is to protect the quilt when in storage. These ten cases used approximately 10 yards of fabric - a nice addition to my Slash the Stash challenge.

Fourteen presentation cases August 2015 When I returned home from my trip and began to put fabric away that I purchased, I pulled some older fabric from my stash to make Quilt of Valor presentation cases. The cases don't need to match the quilts and are used basically for storage to keep the quilts clean and dust-free until they are presented.

Fourteen QOV presentation cases February 2015 While cleaning and organizing my sewing room, I found some scraps and yardage that I no longer wanted hanging around and taking up room. That pile of fabric was turned into 14 pillowcases. Now, they are laundered, pressed, and ready to become useful. I have no idea how the purple fabric found its way into my stash because it is one of my least favorite colors. Update : the purple cases were donated to the local hospice home, and the other cases will be used for QOV presentations.

Even though I made 16 presentation cases (pillowcases) for Quilt of Valor last weekend, the impact on my fabric stash is barely noticeable. Some of the cases are obviously more feminine than patriotic, but they can still be used to protect the quilts for storage. (Quilts should never be stored in plastic bags because the fabric needs to breathe.) The pattern information can be found in this post .

Saturday and Sunday, I cleared a spot on my cutting table to prepare some fabric for Quilt of Valor (QOV) presentation cases. The fabric I selected for the cases is old and not the quality required for a quilt top or back. The presentation cases (actually pillowcases) are given to the QOV recipient to help protect the quilts. I use two or three coordinating fabrics when making the cases. The cuff is at least 9 inches wide (cut width of fabric), the decorative trim is 2 inches wide (cut width of fabric), and the body is at least 27 inches wide (cut width of fabric). The "pattern" I use is called  Sausage Roll Pillowcase  or  Burrito or Magic Pillowcase . It is usually constructed without any raw edges to fray. At first glance, the directions seem odd and counter-intuitive, but by trusting the pattern, success can be achieved. Have you used a pattern that required you to blindly trust the designer?