francecrew at ellieandjohn

Pillows. Done.

I think I mentioned back here that my girl needed some new pillow for her reading corner.  I didn't have any of the same fabric from the original pillows, but I decided to make the jump to grab my fave Anna Maria Horner fabric that I have been hoarding for over a year.  I made two new pillows. One is all the same fabric using AMH's bubble burst in turquoise.  You can still scoop some up here.  The other pillow was quilted with a combo of the bubble burst fabric and the coordinating mixed signals in seafoam, which you can still get here. I've been using the same tutorial for pillows since Sparkle Power introduced it here almost three years ago.  woah.

Ok, now I'm wishing I quilted both.  Call me a little crazy, but I hand quilted it.  Yes, it takes a long time.  Yes, it's not perfect. (I have not been hand-quilting for long.)  But I LOVE the result.  Makes me want to do more...maybe sell a few? Hmmm...

Here's the finished nook sans kiddos.  I'm totally digging it.

Fresh Start

Welcome to the ellieandjohn blog. This is my little online home where I'll be documenting my handcrafted items that I make and sell. ellieandjohn is named after my grandparents- two of the most creative and lovely people. I can remember looking forward to Christmas at their house as a little girl because everyone, EVERYONE, would receive a wonderful handmade gift. They would have worked together in the areas of woodwork, painting, sewing and/or knitting to create something lovely.

I grew up trying my hand at many types of crafts as my mother is very handy as well. I found that my interest was really drawn to sewing four years ago when I stumbled on the blogs of Amanda Soule and Amy Karol. Their abilities to balance and encourage family and creativity in the day to day was inspirational to me as a new mother. I have since been very motivated by the entire direction of the crafting movement. These past few years I have been learning and designing. I'm excited to be in a place where I feel that I have something to offer the crafting community. I'll be opening my etsy store for the first time in a few days. I hope you enjoy what you find. Here's a little sneak preview.