TGIFF: Sparkle Punch pillow

When I realized that I was not going to be able to persevere and make an entire Sparkle Punch quilt, I decided that a pillow cover would be the next best thing, right? 

Kate Spain "Joy", Kona Ash, some red with white dots Christmas fabric from the local fabric store, and we have a fun 18" square cushion cover!

I did my usual simple envelope back, but for the first time I finished the edges with a binding, and I LOVE it.  It adds a nice border to the cushion of course, but it also means that there are no raw edges on the inside of the cover.  Score!

This cover  was a lot of fun to make, but since I have use for no more cushions in my own home at this point, the cover will find its home (hopefully temporary!) in my etsy shop.

Linking up with TGIFF, being hosted this week at Echinops & Aster, and Finish it up Friday @ Crazy Mom Quilts.

W.I.P. Wednesday

Another week has passed by, and I've actually had a lot of progress!  The backing fabric for the Reunion cushions arrived last week so I was finally able to assemble them.  The tops had already been pieced and quilted, so the final assembly went really fast.  As usual, I used this tutorial for a basic cushion cover.

Last week I mentioned for the love designs, in particular the Frankie pattern which I had started cutting for.  The quilt is only comprised of two different blocks, and chain piecing them together was a breeze.  The top isn't quite done, but all of the blocks are finished and probably half of them are sewn into sections.  Here's a peek of one of the sections, which incidentally is hanging sideways!  The fabric is Freebird by Momo for Moda, with Kona Ash as a background colour and a little Sweetwater Reunion thrown in (lower left).

Lastly this week is this sweet little hexagon flower.  This is for Chelsea, who is hosting this month in the bee I am participating in.  She already has a hexagon quilt in the works and has requested each bee member to reach into our own scraps and make her a few flowers to add to her top.  I made a whole ton of hexagons last summer on our road trip to Disneyland and haven't made any since, but I seemed to remember how and these came together in a few evenings.  I still have a few more flowers in the works for Chelsea.

I still have quilt tops waiting to be quilted, but I don't feel like re-hashing that every week!  So for now, I'll leave you with this photo showing my new sewing spot!  I used to be tucked in a corner of our living room, which was fine, but my ironing board is generally on the other side of the room and I was walking back and forth constantly so we rearranged things so that my machine could be in front of the window.  I love it!  So much more light, fresh air, ahhhhhh. :)

W.I.P. Wednesday

My sewing time this week has mostly been spent finishing up these pillow tops.  I sandwiched them with really thin batting & muslin backs, then proceeded to add some pretty basic straight line quilting on each.  I really like how they turned out, and now I have to wait for the Reunion Sally's Skirt that I ordered to arrive, which I will use for finishing the backs of the pillow covers.  Can't wait to get these on the couch!

Next up, the postage stamp quilt that I've been working on for quite a while.  The patchwork portion has been done for a few months but I've been deliberating about borders and binding, here and here.  All those bright flashy colours, and in the end I decided to go with this:

I feel almost like I chickened out with this choice of an off-white background and medium green binding (these aren't Kona solids, but greatly resemble 'Snow' and 'Grass'), but I'm not a super flashy person, the patchwork itself is fairly flashy to being with (the photo doesn't do it justice), and well, my gut was telling me to go neutral on the borders so that's what I'll do.  

Upcoming/no progress:

• "Fast Forward" quilt - needs to be basted, quilted and bound
• Sweetwater Pure strip quilt - needs narrow borders added to the top, then baste/quilt/bind
• pillow cases for our bed to match Swoon, using Hometown Preppy Plaid
• consider getting something together for Giveaway Day @ Sew Mama Sew

Have a great week everyone!

The "Reunion" continues.....and a few ponderings

On Wednesday I shared the first two pillow tops that I completed over the last week for our living room, using Sweetwater Reunion.  These have been so much fun to make.  They're small, so pretty quick, and I've been trying to pick out block designs that I don't normally do.  Well, call me over-eager, but #3 and #4 are finished now too:

This one was completely and totally inspired by Jenelle's Hello Spring! Cushion.  I did not totally follow her pattern, for one thing my pillow is going to be a different finished size than hers, but I just looooved the opposing columns of flying geese and thought it might work pretty well with the Reunion fabrics.  This was the first time I have used the "no waste" method of making flying geese, and thanks to Jenelle's directions and photos it was all very clear and they came together easily. 

This is my first ever dresden plate, and while a little bit finicky it was not nearly as difficult as I thought it would be!  I have Krista's (poppyprint) new Dresden Plate Pillow pattern, and was so eager to give it a try that I couldn't wait to buy a special ruler!  I found this tutorial by Elizabeth Hartman which included a printable template, and just went for it.  The finished size of the plate, and the finished dimensions of my pillow form do not allow for the flying geese borders in Krista's pattern, but I will definitely re-visit that idea in the future.

Now for my ponderings.....do you ever get bored with your projects?  The above blocks were a lot of fun to make and I tried some new things, and I really liked it!  Not that any of them were particularly difficult but sometimes I wonder if I don't challenge my skills enough in my projects.  Generally I love how my projects turn out in the end, but I certainly do not always love the process.  I'm starting to wonder if I just need to challenge myself a bit more.  Now, that said, I do love the whole modern quilting thing and know that the idea of modern quilting to some extent is simplicity....I'm thinking there must be a balance here somewhere.  Modern/simple/challenging - is it possible???

Talk to me!

Linking up with Sew and Tell Friday @ Amy Lou Who, 

Sew Darn Crafty @ Sew Many Ways
Sew Modern Monday @ Canoe Ridge Creations

Festival of Half Square Triangles

Over the last few weeks there has been a 'Festival of Half Square Triangles' being hosted by Megan of Canoe Ridge Creations. There was a great summary of the festival posted yesterday, you can find it here. This week, it is our turn to share HST projects that we have completed within the last 6 months. The link party will be hosted on Megan's blog from April 16 - 22.

I've shown these before, but they're getting one more feature here! This pair of cushions were made last fall to go with my Swoon quilt, though they were totally an after-thought. I didn't realize when making Swoon how many leftover HSTs I would end up with after trimming the flying geese units! I used the leftovers to make blocks and then turned them into cushions for our bed {there is a third cushion in this set, but it is not made with HSTs}. I love them, partly because Hometown fabric is still one of my ultimate favourites, and also because I never even planned to make the cushions and sort of winged it, yet they turned out better than I thought they would!

Be sure to visit the linky party by clicking on the button below to check out what everyone else has made!

Orb Cushion

{finished size: 18" x 18"}

The scrappy Octagonal Orb block {tutorial found here} I made last weekend became a cushion yesterday. The top is not quilted per se, as in I did not use batting, but I did back it with a muslin like fabric and did four rounds of stitching, one around each of the patchwork rows, just to keep all of those seam allowances in check! For assembling the pillow cover, I once again used this tutorial by Julie Herman. The fabric I used for the back is "Man's Best Friend" by Henry Glass, in Polka Dot Red:

And in other news, yesterday I received this lovely FQ bundle of Reunion by Sweetwater for Moda (ordered from Fabric Shoppe on etsy). My intentions for this fabric was originally new cushion covers for our livingroom, but I'm not totally sure....orrrrr maybe I should just stick with the plan as our cushions do need a bit of a makeover. :)

Linking up to Finish It Friday @ Crazy Mom Quilts


Sew Darn Crafty @ Sew Many Ways

Fresh Sewing Day ~ December

The start of another month, December no less! Let's take a look back at November. When I gather my projects from a single month all in one place I am always amazed at how many I have finished. Many this month were smaller projects, and one was very large (which is why the rest were small! hehe).

The biggest finish this month was my Swoon quilt. It was fun to make, from start to finish, with a few frustrating bumps in between, mostly related to machine quilting a monster! Working on it at the same time that Debbie was working on hers helped motivate me to keep going and to finish! The quilt has been washed (yay, no colours ran!) and has officially made its home on our bed.

Next were a number of pillows finished this month. Two for our bed (one HST design and one wonky stars) to join this one from last month, all out of Swoon leftovers. Also a box style seat cushion for my sewing chair.

And finally, the rest are going to be lumped into the category of "Minis".

1. Little House mini quilt, made for the Mini Quilt Challenge. 2. Little Apples wonky log cabin ~ still in progress. 3. Reversible Modern Table Runner. 4. Circle of Flying Geese mini quilt.

Monday Finishes!

I have two finishes to share today, and neither falls into the quilt category. We're talking pillows here! First off, the third (out of three!) throw cushion for our bed is finished. This one is a non-HST design, but it's fun and it still fits with the others. The ring of stars design came from this tutorial, and again, for the construction of the pillow cover itself I used this tutorial from Sew Mama Sew, which is very simple but yields great results. And the final "credit is due" for this project goes to Krista of Poppyprint for her concentric circles quilting tutorial.


The second finish is a seat cushion for my sewing chair. This was take two on the project, and while it's done and it turned out fairly well unless you look closely, it was a tricky project to complete and I'm not sure if I would do it again. I still feel like I may do a bit of tweaking, like maybe some edge stitching around the top and bottom of the pillow (though I don't think it would be called edge stitching, not sure how else to describe it, basically creating a very mini faux piped edge by pinching the edge of the gusset & top and stitching it together? Anyone know what I mean? :). But it's bright and fun and I'm happy to have a cushy something to sit on!


Incidentally, the chair itself was also a little project of mine. I looked and looked for a solid wood chair to refinish and use for a sewing chair, and finally found this one at our local recycling/junk store for a few dollars. It used to look like this.....a photo clearly taken on a much warmer day than today!

Happy Monday everyone!

Linking up with the following:
{Sew} Modern Monday @ Canoe Ridge Creations
Sew Darn Crafty @ Sew Many Ways
Manic Monday @ Sew Happy Geek
Made With Love @ Sew Chatty
Made by You Monday @ Skip to my Lou
Fabric Tuesday @ Quilt Story

The people have spoken....

I tallied up the "votes" from this post and decided that since I asked, I'll go with what the majority voted for! It's all ready for a little quilting....

W.I.P. Wednesday

It's W.I.P. Wednesday again! Let's see what's all going on....

Ongoing projects:

~ The wonky star table runner is coming along nicely. The top is finished and I'm working on the backing...a pieced back this time! In fact, I'm not sure if I'm going to like the front or back more, maybe we'll just call it reversible! While I prefer to take photos outside, it is a super blustery day today therefore indoor photos will have to do for this week!

{front}

{I managed to tape these to the side of my house, outside, and quickly took a picture between gusts of wind.....this one gives a much better indication of the colours than the first photo ~ these are the blocks that will somehow make up the backing}

Edited to add: Since I started writing this post, I have made more progress on the runner, in fact all that's left is the binding, which I do not have fabric for yet. Here's a peek.....

~ No progress this week on the Little Apples wonky log cabin mini quilt

~ HST pillows, two down, one to go. I'm asking for your help....I can't decide which of the remaining 3 blocks to use for the third cushion for our bed, so in the comments please vote 1, 2, or 3. :) The other two will still be used for something else, just not sure what yet.

Up and coming projects:

~ After the sad outcome with my Little Apples fabric chair pillow from last week, take two on the Perfectly Portable Cushion pattern is in the works. I am going to try it without piping this time, as round 1 with piping for me was a miserable failure, and rather than a zipper I am going to do a velcro closure around the back of the cushion, hopefully as invisibly as possible! The fabric I am going to use ~ Genevieve flowers on brown by Henry Glass Fabrics, on clearance at the fabric store. Can't get away from that blue/red combo!

{haven't ironed this fabric yet....oops!}

That's about it from me for this week. Be sure to click the link below and visit the weekly W.I.P. roundup over at Freshly Pieced!

Hometown Throw Pillow #2

This one was an easy finish. The pillow top was already complete, it was just a matter of sewing the back on and stuffing the pillow form inside. Pillow #1 had yellow accent stitching, this one has red. Not sure which one I like better! The original idea for this HST layout was sent to me by Rebecca Lynn, from this Flickr photo.




Linking up with the following:

Fabric Tuesday @ Quiltstory
Sew Cute Tuesday @ Creative Itch
TOO Cute Tuesday @ Funky Polkadot Giraffe

Hometown Throw Pillow

We had a very rainy morning here today, but slowly things started to improve and when I noticed a moment when it had stopped raining I grabbed my first finished leftover HSTs throw pillow and took it outside for a photo. Oh, also a towel to dry off the bench beforehand!


I used a 16x16 pillow insert, and followed this awesome pillow tutorial from Sew Mama Sew and it turned out so well! The fit could be a little snugger but all of the fabrics are yet to be washed for the first time, so once all 3 pillow covers are finished I will throw them all in the wash together, hope for a tiny bit of shrinkage, and I think the fit will be much nicer.



Linked up with the following.....