As fans of Parks and Rec, staunch feminists, supportive friends, and proponents of any excuse for merriment; my girlfriends and I celebrate "Galentine's Day" on a semi-regular basis. Apart from being a lovely occasion to spend time with some of my favourite people, it's also an excellent vaccination against imposter syndrome.
For the latest Galentine's Day I decided to channel my inner Leslie Knope by making some hand crafted gifts for my gals that suit their personal brand of awesomeness. I'll attempt to explain how each gift is customised to their recipient, but in the interest of my friends' privacy I'll refrain from gushing too much. ;)
The first gift I made was a purple quilted cushion featuring a pieced fox for my friend Jessie.
She is sweet, thoughtful, affectionate, and playful; the IRL incarnation of Deanna Troi. She has a plush fox that she loves to cuddle, and purple is one of her (many) favourite colours. I happen to know that this gift has also received many cuddles from it's new owner!
I put together the fox block based on Elizabeth Hartman's Fancy Fox Quilt, and I used some of my favourite Lizzy House fabrics from her 1001 Peeps collection (2011): Purple Pearl Bracelet on the border, Purple Scheherazade for the flap on the back, and Orange Scheherazade for that foxy little face.
The second gift was a rainbow Bloomin’ Quilt-As-You-Go cushion featuring a colourful sugar skull in the centre for my friend Julia.
Julia is smart, bold, fierce, loud, and caring; she has an affinity with Parks and Rec's wonderful Donna Meagle. Her house is full of rainbows (really!) so this one should be right at home.
It was my first time doing any sort of improv piecing; I normally have diagrams sketched on grid paper for each of my pieced projects. I really enjoyed creating from organised chaos!
I can't wait to make more "perfect gifts" for Galentine's Day! :D
