runner's bib pillow

Hello, happy Tuesday, everyone!!!

Yesterday was a very special day - it was my husband's 40th birthday. I don't know about you, but I have the hardest time getting presents for my husband. He's not picky, he usually asks for something very practical and useful, but I always feel like I should also come up with something he is not expecting.

After weeks of thinking I finally had an idea. If you've been reading my blog for a while you know that my husband is a runner, a very serious and dedicated runner. He loves it, running to him is what sewing is to me. So, this was my plan. Replicate the runner's bib from his very first marathon and turn it into a pillow. Pretty simple, right? Well, it was tricky. I used raw edge applique, reverse applique, freezer paper tracing and fabric markers. And this is what it looks like now. What do you think?

I'm quite happy with the way it looks, but I might have to go back and redo the name of the marathon, maybe stitching over the fabric marker would make it look more polished.

I used gray quilter's linen to frame "the bib", and did some straight line quilting to add a little texture. I also hand quilted around the white fabric (it's just hard to see in this picture). I used the same quilter's linen for the back of the pillow, did very simple quilting, and finished the whole thing off by adding an invisible zipper. It's not perfectly invisible, but pretty close and I'm OK with that.

So, that was my handmade present for my husband. It's only a second thing I made for him (the first one was this pouch) and I'm totally out of ideas. At least there's plenty of time to think before Christmas rolls around.

Have a wonderful day, friends. Svetlana