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New Fabric, New Zillow Pillows

The newest Zillow Pillow fabric is in and now all I need is time to sew! Thought about the life of a pillow today, wishing I could have such a cozy life: under a back, under a head, sitting pretty on a cute couch - the details are endless. I love creating new Zillow Pillows and posting them at Etsy.com. Not only do I sell on that wonderful handmade website, of course I buy. My favorite thing is to put quirky words into the search and if I find someone has used the same word I have as a tag, I almost always buy it! The best necklaces on Etsy may have been tagged as "square rooting" or "cube this," either way, I'm sold.

Here's a few of my favorite Etsy shops:

elloh
mamaslittlebabies
marymaryhandmade
suzannaanna
circularaccessories
niceface

Check them out!

Zillow Pillow giveaway on a super cute blog!

Oh, I received the sweetest invite to be part of a giveaway on a very cute blog. Please follow the link and check out Amber's "For All of the 'OMG' Moments in Life"

I'm so happy to be part of the blog and giveaway. Making Zillow Pillows really does get me through my MFA in creative writing. It gives my brain time to relax and just sew. When I come across nice people who, not only like my Zillow Pillows, but help me reach more people with the cozy love of a pillow, life is fabulous.

http://amberfilkins.blogspot.com/

I've been expanding my product line for Zillow Pillows. I've moved from squares to rectangles (at my talented mother's suggestion) and now I've been creating the "I heart houses" line. We've all heard the sayings, house to home, home to house, but what is it about our spaces that we love to love?

When I was young, a typical Sunday was a drive through fancy neighborhoods, observing rooftops, gables, house styles. I'll admit I didn't love the long car rides, being prone to car sickness and adolescent boredom, but that didn't stop my parents from continuing these family outings. My father was a home contractor and an architect. Looking at houses for him, was like reading short stories to me, entertaining but also a form of study. My mother loved not only the outside of houses, the exterior, the surface, but preferred to delve deeper inside to the home decor side. This information not only defines each of my parents, but explains why I'm closer with my mom.

She could fix up any space. She could see potential in any area. And she still has the ability to take anything as it is and add a special touch.

My father worried more about the outside.

The "I heart houses" line is a lot about the exterior of cute homes. But behind every outer surface of a cute home is a compilation of better layers: love, thoughtfulness, smiles, sorrow, goodness, togetherness and memories. Thanks mom, for showing me the layers.

Long before Zillow Pillows - One year for Christmas I made little 5 in x 8 in felt pillows for my entire family. I started with my mom, who (at the time) loved chickens and my brother who loved guitars. Then I made some holiday ones with lights and trees. A pig for my friend Jorja, a cat Pez dispenser for another friend. My grandma loved angels, so I made her a white and golden pillow with a triangle bodied angel and a small round head. But I didn't know what to make for my grandpa Hugh. Maybe some background on him before you understand why it was so important to make him a very special one: he was the best person I've ever known. If you'd met him, you'd believe the same thing. So this pillow was more than just a decoration for his chair, mind you, this is the same chair that he allowed my cousin Aubrey and I to curl and hairspray his not too long hair. We played barbershop on his head and he never complained once (in fact, we have pictures!). He paid for braces when I was seventeen, made me an exact replica of a coffee table I saw in the Pottery Barn magazine and I couldn't tell the difference. He and my grandma delivered groceries to my house right after my son was born and when I came out to help, saying "Hi grandpa, how are you?" he looked right at me and said, "Don't get nosey." So he was a comedian too.

Finally, with an idea from a close friend, I ended up cutting out a hand saw from a piece of yellow felt and a handle from some brown felt. I sewed it on and wrapped it up. Christmas eve we opened our gifts at my mom's house and my grandpa Hugh was sitting beside me. When he opened his pillow it was upside-down, he turned it around and began laughing- a grand laugh, both deep and high, almost to tears. Every few minutes between opening other presents he'd look down at the pillow and laugh again or smile. Right before the evening was over he leaned over and said, "Some people have to buy things at a store to give as gifts, some people can't make something as special as this."

I have his pillow again, safely tucked away with other memories I bring out on the occasion of needing a tangible item to squeeze, just to make the memory come to life. Zillow Pillows came after my grandpa Hugh's passing, but the idea of making a pillow and knowing someone will enjoy it or give as a gift reminds me of how lucky I am to have known a man who knew the power of a handmade item.

Here's to kindness...

Zillow Pillows keep me busy

Three new Zillow Pillows to share tonight on Etsy. I remember pillow fights with my brother when we were younger, but mostly I remember "All Powerful Sock" - a tube sock stuffed with four other socks whirled around above one of our heads and then pleasantly slammed into our faces, shoulders, backs. If only we'd been lucky enought to have the not-yet-invented Zillow Pillows. Life would be sweeter, nicer smelling and a heck of a lot more fashionable.

Here's two favorites of the three newest additions! Cheers!

Studio Madness

The studio is a mess. Zillow Pillows scattered, fabric in stacks and a few starts to my next short stories. I've been writing another Vera story. She's not much of a pillow hound, unlike me. She's thirteen now (having already celebrated nine, eleven, fifteen and forty-three in previous stories) and of course she's difficult. I'd almost go as far as call her unruly. But does she have to be as predictable as a Zillow Pillow? Can't she surprise me by being ugly (inside of course) and breaking at the seams? Does she really need to worry so much about her father and argue terribly with her mother?

Well, Vera's not going to clean the Zillow Pillow Studio and frankly neither am I. Let the creative magic of words and fabric sit and sulk. Good for them.

Off to sew a pillow...

Zillow Pillows are like little stories...

I've been sewing a lot the last few weeks. Making Zillow Pillows is such a wonderful break from the writing I'm doing for my MFA in Creative Writing. I love writing, but there's something lovely about a tangible pillow I can squeeze and touch with my hands. They're like stories, only softer. Here's my newest tonight. Available on Etsy.