Cushions...

I think cushions / pillows are such a fun and inexpensive way to add some colour to our homes and this week, I was in the mood to make a couple of sweet pillows to add to my sewing room.

I've been seeing alot of chevron patterned things around and was inspired to make a chevron pillow cover using vintage sheets that I've been hanging on for a while.  There are a few ways to sew a chevron pattern being the easiest is to use striped fabric where you cut strips of fabrics on a 45 degree angle and sew them together to create the zig zag pattern.   There's a great tutorial over at Made if you would like to check it out! 

My chevron pillow front however, is made from half-square triangles using Jeni of In Color Order's tutorial, only my squares started off at 4" and I trimmed them down to 3.5".     

I quilted straight loose lines echoing the zig zag pattern on the white background.   The red striped binding is machine stitched to the front and hand stitched to the back.

I've made an envelope backing with some more pink and blue floral vintage sheets. 

Next, I wanted to repurpose an old t-shirt, so I followed V & Co's tutorial on how to make a ruffle pillow.  I've found that Vanessa's tutorial was very easy to understand and the ruffle rosettes were lots of fun to make! 

Can you believe it!  This 14" x 14" pillow came from one medium sized t-shirt!?

 

I love how the vintage sheets add an old-fashioned charm to an otherwise modern looking design and I {heart} the t-shirt decorative cushion - it's so soft and smooshy!!!

 

 

Have a great day and thanks for visiting!

 

 

 



Groove Quilt - Finished and Bound

The Groove quilt is finally finished!  Thanks to Alyssa of Pile O' Fabric for moderating The Totally Groovy quilt along.   I don't think I ever would have made an 'all solid' quilt without this little nudge and I am so thrilled to have been a part of this quilt along.

  

This is my first curved pieced and first all solids (except the back) quilt.   I like the play of these solid colours and that any two would work well next to each other.  I guess Emily Cier's of Carolina Patchworks idea of using only solids was to enhance the lines and contours of the Groove pattern and I think sometimes all solids are just such a relief for the eyes, wouldn't you agree?

 

The quilt is backed with Blossom in Pink from the Zoo Menagerie Collection by Eleanor Grosch.   I love the retro like print of this one.
 

Here's a close-up shot after I got it out from the dryer - love the crinkled look!   I've used Warm & Natural cotton batting and quilted it with matching cotton threads on the front and pink cotton thread on the back.   I did stitches 'in-the-ditch' ( as I've not done any FMQ as yet ) and I really like how it helps to really define the lines, and also the design that it creates on the backing of the quilt.  

Just to share with you, I've ordered the Beginner's Guide to Free-Motion Quilting  by Natalia Bonner and the Free Motion Quilting book with Angela Walters  from Amazon recently and am hoping with better understanding, getting tips and techniques from these books, I might overcome my fear of FMQ and be more comfortable with it.

Anyway... back to the quilt - I've only remembered about the label when I was almost done with hand sewing the binding!   Thus I've made a quick handwritten quilt label using Micron Pigma fine-line and appliqued it to the back.

 

As the label reads, this quilt was made for my niece's 19th birthday present and I can't wait to get this to her when she's back from campus this week - I hope she'll like her first quilt!

Overall, this quilt was so much fun to make and the quilt along was a great learning experience for me.  I feel like I've overcome my fear of curves and all-solids with this project and now I can say I'll probably be making many more in the future! ;)


My Quilt Stats :

Name : Groove Quilt

Size : 72" x 81"

Fabrics : Kona Solids in Burgundy, Peapod, Champagne, Dusty Rose, Taupe and Blossom in Pink from the Zoo Menagerie Collection

Quilting : Stitched in-the-ditch

Binding : Kona Solid in Burgundy


I'll be linking up to Alyssa at Pile O' Fabric's Groovy Linky Party - hope you'll check out all the awesome finishes.

Beth at Plum and June's Monday Link-up

Connie at Freemotion by the River's Linky Tuesday

and Elizabeth at Such a Sew and Sew October 2012 Finishes Linky Party

Please do visit these blogs where you'll find links to quilters sharing their lovely creations.


Hope you'll have a lovely week ahead!

Quilt Along progress...

Thank you for all your kind words the other day about my daughter's crochet pillow, I really enjoyed doing it and I'm so glad my daughter was so thrilled with her pillow! :)

My quilt along projects are going great,  I've finished the 12th block of the HFWYG qal and here it is...

Tassel Flower - 20" paper pieced block :

And I've finally gotten the quilting done and binding attached to the front of the Groove quilt for the Totally Groovy qal.  I'm in the process of hand sewing the binding to the back.

Hope to share the finished quilt soon...

Have a lovely weekend everyone!

Patchwork Pillow - a crochet kind

I've had something like this on my 'must make' list for a while and I've followed this tutorial for the blocks to make a pillow.  

joined them in sections ...

 



 

all joined up ...



and I've finished the front with two rows of double crochet stitches in turquoise around it.

 

and here is the finished pillow ...  all rainbowy and patchworky ...

 

the back :

 

Since the holes were kind of small for big buttons, I've decided to add ribbons to give it a neat finish.   This pillow measures at 20" square and it lives with 5 other bright-coloured pillows in my daughter's room!    She LOVES pillows, by the way!!!

 

There's something quite wonderful about completing a project especially one full of crochet goodness.  My fingers are all itchy to make another pillow in different yarn now, but of course I must keep plodding along with my other projects...

 

Wishing you all a wonderful weekend!

 

 

 

 



 



Tippecanoe blocks and a hooky project!

Week 11's block installment for the HFWYG? QAL is called Tippecanoe.  It's a 5" foundation paper pieced block and there are 4 of these blocks in the full quilt.   Here's my take on it...

Block #1:

Block #2 :

Block #3 :

 

Block #4 :



And here they are all in a row...

These were so easy and fun to make!   You can find the tutorial here if you would like to try it out!


It's been awhile since I've last crocheted something and I've decided to use some of my leftover yarns and got hooking during my son's soccer practice recently...

Very 70's don't you think?  The pattern is made up of a mix of 2/4/6/8 and 10 round squares using chain and double crochet stitches.   It worked up quite quickly and I LOVE the colours!   These crocheted squares are destined to be a cushion / pillow cover.   I hope to share with you the finished pillow soon!

Till then have a lovely week ahead.


I'm linking up with Connie at Freemotion by the River :

Playing Catch-Up

I've been playing catch-up with the How Far Will You Go? Quilt Along.   This week I made blocks 5 through 10.


Week 5 :  Jack in the Box

 

 

Week 6 :  Windblown Square

 



Week 7 :  Another Star

Week 8 :  Seesaw Blocks - these are the first 5" block in the quilt along

Week 9 :  Dutch Rose - the first 20" block

Week 10 :  Clay's Choice

Jess of Scrappy n' Happy has posted 2 alternative throw quilt ( modern and traditional sampler ) layouts a few days ago should we decide to go for a smaller version of the quilt.   If you're thinking of joining us, here's a link to the tutorial for the previous blocks. 

Anyway... it sure feels good to be caught up - hopefully by the end of the week I can start on a few things I've had on the list for a little while!

Happy Sewing...

Groove quilt top complete

 

 

I started piecing the strips over the weekend and finished putting together my Groove quilt yesterday for the Totally Groovy QAL with Alyssa Lichner of Pile o' Fabrics.

I really like the way the colours work together.  I had fun doing this and really enjoy the pattern from Emily Cier of Carolina Patchworks.  What is so great about her pattern is that it is so versatile that you can change the layout and the design will still look stunning! 

I've ordered the backing fabric and I'm waiting for it to arrive...

Blossom in Pink, Zoo Menagerie Collection

I chose Eleanor Grosch's Blossom print as it has the retro feel and I think it would look great with the Groove top.

The next step is to figure out how to quilt it.  I love the pebble and swirl designs, however, I've not done any FMQ before and I'm not brave enough to try it out on this quilt.  So I'd probably do some wavy or straight lines echoing the shapes of the quilt using matching threads for each section.  Thoughts and suggestions on the quilting - other than FMQ that is ;) and thread colours are welcome!


On another note, Martha at the blog Weekend Doings participated in the Quilting Gallery's Blog Hop Giveaway Party recently and I've won in her giveaway!  Fyi, I've participated in so many giveaways and this is the first time that I've actually won something! 

The giveaway was for this pretty pincushion.  Her embroidery stitches are so neat and even, love the size of the pincushion too - I simply love handmade gifts, don't you?  She was so sweet to include a skein of perle cotton thread along with a 10" square fabric in the package too.  I do hope you'll visit her blog, she does beautiful photography, quilting and has yummy recipes to share!

Now I have some catching up to do on my HFWYG qal blocks, which I am sooo far behind!

Happy sewing everyone!