In the Blue

Today I'm sharing a project I finished nearly two months ago - I've been enjoying it selfishly so it is time to share the love...

It is the 'Garden District' pillow/cushion from 'Pillow Pop' by Heather Bostic.  This pattern is by Casey Yoder ('Little Miss Shabby') and it is a stunner of a design.

I used a variety of blues for the curves and a linen blend as the background.  The design is cleverly pieced and almost appears like a double wedding ring block.  I'm so impressed with it that I think I might make a DWR in similar colours for our bed.  The squares were quilted in the ditch and then hand quilted using variegated perle cotton in curves.

The back using a strip of 'Madrona Road' and the same linen.  The edges have been bound.  I had never done this for a cushion before but it was exactly like binding a quilt.

This is my third project from 'Pillow Pop' and I have plans to work through the book with the sew-along on 'ThreadBias'.  Two of my other projects are here and here.

I'm linking up with Crazy Mom Quilts for 'Finish it up Friday' again - see you there!

French Chevrons

I've been working my way through the 'Pillow Pop' challenge on Threadbias and have now finished my February cushion/pillow - a day late - but done.

'Chevron' by Brooke Biette.

I used a mixture of French General fabrics.  I've liked these for a long time and have quite a stash of them, but now find myself drawn to brighter colours when fabric shopping.  However Kaari Meng's fabrics really blend well with our home.  I love her reds and tans... so timeless!

I was inspired to use this colour range when looking at the 'Pillow Pop' group pictures and am really pleased with it.  I actually like it more than the original in the pattern.

I used some red Essex linen on the back and because of the extra weight I didn't quilt the back.  The handwriting fabric is from 'Fa-la-la-la-la' by French General.

 It's quite different than my first 'Pillow Pop' cushion but I'm very happy with both!

Linking up with 'Finish it up Friday' at Crazy Mom Quilts.  :-)

Have a good weekend everybody!

Some Simple Finishes

Two small projects finished and ready to share...

My cushion cover for the 'Pillow Pop' challenge hosted on Threadbias.  I made the 'Gumdrop' cover by Heather Bostic.

The fabric is 'Road 15' by Sweetwater.

I free-motion quilted it in a loopy design, starting from a flower shape in the centre.  I spent a lot of time thinking of a quilting design - the fabric itself hinted towards many very different patterns - and I chose one that is represented in the white-on-white print.  It was a fun quilting technique and I'm really pleased I used it.

The backing is a lovely soft-but-heavy linen that had been in my stash for many years.  The zipper is covered by an assortment of 'Road 15' fabric scraps.  I'll link this up to the 'Pillow Pop Sew Along'.  I might see you there?

In my last post I started a trial block of a patchwork Granny Square.  I finished this up today by adding a 'snow' border then binding it in a matching green.

I quilted it in an orange-peel style design - very easy and quick as free-motion.  When I make this block up as a large quilt I will probably use the same quilting design as it was actually fun to do!

My K will love using this as a dolly quilt, until I borrow it back to hang on the wall. 

I'm linking up to 'Finish it up Friday' at Crazy Mom Quilts again.

Before I go I'll mention that this is my 100th post on this blog!  I'm quite impressed that I've made it.  :-)  I wondered about what to do to celebrate but decided that the new computer that we purchased this week is already making blogging (and MANY other things) so much faster and easier.  Every day is a celebration anyway. 

Big smiles.

Cushions for Two

I had started making both my mother and my father-in-law cushions (pillows) for Christmas.  For both I had found a block that I really liked - and from that decided to make them into cushions.

Despite good progress I did not get either of them completely finished in time for Christmas - but they are now...

I made the tractor cushion for my father-in-law because he has a vintage Farmall Cub from the 1950s tucked away.  It doesn't come out very much but I know he treasures it.  I saw this tractor block tutorial by Lori Holt of 'Bee in my Bonnet' - but it was made in green - so I had to play around with colour placement to get it to match the Farmall (as well as our Case/Internationals).  Lori gives great instructions... I must try another one some day!

The cushion measures approx 22" by 18".  I did get the whole outer finished in time for Christmas (it has a grey cotton duck backing with my favourite zip technique) and all I had to do today was make an inner.

As a cushion it was hard to photograph - it kept appearing to have flat tyre - it looks much better in real life!

The second cushion was made for my mum because she loves her chooks too.  The block is one I have adapted from other hen blocks I have seen on the web.  I used leftover fabric from this quilt I made for her last year using French General's 'Petite Odile' range.  I had managed to only get the top of this finished done for Christmas so my mum will be pleased to see it backed and filled - ready to lounge on her bed!

I quilted the front using a grey thread in an attempt to make it look like chicken wire - but am not that pleased with the effect that it created.  I quilted the back using more of the same French General fabric - so it is a very cuddly cushion.

I'm linking up with 'Finish it up Friday' on Crazy Mom Quilts.  See you there!

A Pillow to Call Home

Another cushion I made as a Christmas present for a different sister...

I used the same linen-style fabric as the backing of this cushion.  The lettering is a floral print from 'Madeira' by Blackbird Designs for Moda.  I'm sure it is at least two years old - but I really like the colours in it and it looks great against the background.

The mini rose behind is 'The Fairy' - one of my favourites.

I cut the cushion (pillow) out as a 18 1/2 inch square.  I wrote the letters in a document using wordart, reversed them, then traced over the printed versions with steam-a-seam.  I later used my 'fake' buttonhole stitch on my Bernette to applique the letters.  The letters don't line up perfectly as the 'M' wants to be big, but I'm very happy with how they turned out.

I've attempted to link up my master copy of the lettering so please let me know if this does or doesn't work (I think you have to be able to access Google Docs):
Click here to download a pdf for the HOME letters.

I love this cushion as well and think I'll have to make another one or two...

Floral Dresden

I made this for one of my sisters as a Christmas present...

The centre circle and back fabric is a linen 'style' fabric I found (unlabelled) at Spotlight.  The petals are made using favourite floral fabrics from my collection and  the front background is Kona 'snow'.

The idea came from a pattern in 'Pillow Pop' by Heather Bostic and allowed me to use my dresden ruler by Darlene Zimmerman.

I appliqued the dresden bloom and circle on with a machined button-hole stitch.  I have this on my Bernette 65 and it is one of the few things it gets used for - but is very handy to have!  I went against my original plans and hand quilted the top together with perle cotton.  I am pleased with this and must remind myself to try it again some time.  The well rounded circle was made using a technique I read about in a book by Sarah Fielke - using a cardboard circle and aluminum foil.

K loves posing!

I really like this cushion and hope my sister enjoys it too... I could easily find a space for it here if it is not her style.

Granny Stripe Cushion

I rarely do any crochet - but when I do I really enjoy it.  The rhythm of the hook has an appeal when I've been busy knitting or sewing.  Recently I saw this pattern and wanted to have a go - but I didn't want to commit to a large project like a blanket. 
So I decided to make a cushion/pillow.  I had six 50g balls of (wool) yarn and have only got a little left over.  The cushion finished at about 18" x 19" (45 x 48cm).  I used a 3.5mm hook and started with about 90 chain.  There are five repeats of each colour which makes 30 double rows.

I backed the crochet in a plain white woven cotton, and used a mid pink fine wale cord for the back.  I used my favourite zipped cushion back tutorial again (see links).

The only flaw in my project is that I sewed the front to the back with one being upside down.  Ooops!

I made this cushion for K and she absolutely loves it.  She has been using it as her sleeping pillow and it has been involved a doll/toy games already.  A very snuggly/cuddly pillow!

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.

I'm Published!

This is an exciting first - an item I submitted was published in the latest 'Fat Quarterly' e-zine.  Wow!

I decided to challenge myself by coming up with something original under the banner of 'modern traditional'.  One of the most traditional blocks I could think of was the 'schoolhouse' block.  I had always intended to make one so this was just the motivation to do so. What shall I try next?

NZ Love

We have a wedding dance to go to - so instead of the routine gift of money or vouchers I made a cushion (pillow).  The main fabric is grey wool/poly Italian suiting.  I added a map of New Zealand using strips and then raw-edge appliqued it on.  I'm not sure how strong it will be - but am hoping it will be well received.

Hint:  I remembered that with a digital image (my map of NZ) I could mirror the image in Word and print it off like that - it saved me double tracing!