Swooning

I was really keen to try my hand at Camille Roskelley's 'Swoon' block and have recently bought a copy of the pattern.  But it is a very big block - each measuring 24" (60cm) square.  So I had a go at scaling it down and managed to do so very succesfully.  I ended up with a block that measured 16" (18" with border). 

I made this all up a few weeks ago with some Lynette Anderson mushrooms, co-ordinating Kona in tan and snow. I started quilting it, then needed some thinking time to ponder how I was going to quilt the whole thing and what I was going to do with the finished project.  So it stayed like this for a month and a bit....

 Finally yesterday I finished it into a cushion...

This is a slightly closer photo so you can see the quilting...  Most of it was done using my walking foot and involved a lot of corner turning.

And a picture of the back....  I quilted a chevron design so that it would continuous over the two pieces. I made the parallel lines probably too close - it took ages to do and would have been less stiff with larger gaps.

I used the fantastic Sew Mama Sew Pillow Backing tutorial again.

The pillow/cushion also has piping around it - I had never done this before and it looks really good, but was tricky with all the layers.

Linking up with Crazy Mom Quilts 'Finish it up Friday' for the third week in a row.  Can't keep this up for much longer.

A sacrifice for the betterment of my sewing...

I love my Kona cotton colour card.  It incorporates colour and texture ... and the promise of a new quilted project!

I decided to buy a colour card was a worthwhile investment as I've only seen limited Kona (or similar quality cotton fabric) colour ranges locally and they were NZ$22 per metre!  I've found places I can order them from in the US for approx US$5.50 per yard (the exchange rate is NZ$1 to approx US$0.79).  Postage isn't cheap but it is worth it if you can get the colour right.  So that is why I got a colour card.  But it was fiddly to work with so when I found this I thought I could do the same.  So out came a large sheet of cardboard and a heap of velcro.

Before...

 After....

It is so much easier to work with now... and I can pick out a range of colours that I would have had trouble identifying earlier.  See the range at the top right - they go with Bonnie and Camille's 'Happy-Go-Lucky'.

I do recommend writing the number of every colour underneath the velcro on the cardboard so that if a card falls off you can put it back on the right place.  I also scanned a copy of it before I cut it up - so have that to check the order if need be.  Mine also folds up so I can store it easier.  Probably good advice too to say - keep away from preschoolers - or at least watch them with eagle eyes while they look at the colours.

Another link - I found this when trying to match Aurifil thread to Kona cotton.  How handy - someone has done the work for me and it is so much easier when ordering online.

Another Cushion

This is the second cushion I have finished this week - and again in my favourite blues.

I started with a mini charm pack of 'Indigo Crossing' by Minick and Simpson.  I made these into half square triangles paired with Kona 'Snow' (my favourite - though I do have some Kona 'PFD White' to try - it seems very similar).  I didn't have quite enough squares - I had 84 and needed 100 so I used two shades of Kona cotton - 'Cadet' and 'Windsor' to make some extra squares.  I also used these colours on the back.

Again, I am really thrilled with the quilted back I made - and I especially like the way the vertical and horizontal lines look so tidy.  It goes without saying how easy they were.  I'm thinking of making a new valance for my bed - and would try this quilted pattern on it.  Wouldn't using one of the 240+ shades of Kona cotton be great for getting an exact match!