Hello November??

Really? November already? Where has the time gone? I have not been blogging much due to the fact that I have not been sewing much. October has come and gone and aside from some Halloween costumes, I've barely gotten any sewing done. Hence the blog hiatus.


So you probably don't know that the Pillow talk Swap was on again, and today was actually our mailing deadline. This pillow has been a month or more in progress but it’s finally done and off to it’s new home. I hope you like it partner! It's kind of anthro-inspired. I had fun making it and I even got to try some creative paper piecing, a little hand embroidery (ok haven't done that in years)


EDITED 12/7
By now my partner John, QuiltDad has received his pillow and he likes foxes which is why I chose that theme. I used Sonja's (Artisania) paper pieced fox pattern to make the fox on the back of the pillow. You can find her patterns here.

PTS5 Swap pillow has arrived

...So it's the end of a long but routine work day.
I'm tired.
I trudge down to the mailbox to retrieve the days deliveries.
Oh there is a key to the larger box for parcels and this immediately lifts my spirits. Parcels are like Christmas around here.
I open the large box where the parcels are kept.
I glance at the label.
Royal Mail.
Again!
Who doesn't love getting 'royal' mail? That must be extra special mail.
I feel all Queenly.
I contemplate waving to my subjects.
I remember they are all inside playing video games.
I think, "what's this?" Oh it must be my swap pillow!
I immediately shred into the package right there in the street in front of my house.
Eeek!
It IS a pillow. And a lovely pillow to!

Don't you agree?



Yes this lovely pillow plays very well with it's fellow couch mates.


And look a mug rug to boot!!!


My desk at work needs one of these, so this is extra special.

Thank-you Fiona!! These are perfect for our home and will be enjoyed for years to come!

PTS 5

It's that time again in Flickr-land, time for the ever popular Pillow Talk Swap, round 5.

This is a quickie round without the full compliment of usual cohorts, but quite fun nevertheless. Partners were given out a few weeks ago and I've just finished up my pillow for this round. I hope my partner likes it! My partner is a bit more of a traditional quilter from what I can tell, so I hope that this choice reflects their tastes. I chose to go with english paper-piecing of 60 degree diamonds into these tumbling block shapes.

The Y chromosomes in my house both liked it but then again, they are always eyeballing things with Escher-esque overtones, so that was no surprise.

Lots of bright colors which my partner seems to prefer and paired with starkly contrasting black and white. I used some of Carolyn Gavin's Spring street line as the border/back and added some gathers to give it more texture.

Off to other parts of the union she goes....where will she surface next?...

Happy Sewing!

Sunday Sewing ~ Riverbend

Another day, another pillow. Introducing Riverbend! ~ which is similar to the Earth and Sky pillow revamped back to my original color scheme.


I like this one a lot - probably the colors. This one will live happily on my living room sofa. It looks quite content in it's new home. Just in time for Turkey day company.

I decided to change up the pebble quilting using a contrasting thread - looks better like that. I also increased the gathers on the curved section, also improves the look to me.


Stay tuned for a little mini tutorial on how to make an stocking advent calendar wall hanging for the holidays ~ coming up this week!

Happy Sewing!

PTS3 ~ The Evolution of a pillow

Partners were handed out for the 3rd Pillow Talk swap. A totally fun event whereupon you are given a partner (they don't know who you are) for whom you are to make a pillow according to their specifications (if any) and then you in turn receive a pillow from someone else (who you don't know) etc etc. This swap is run by the fabulous Heather (a la mode fabric) and the amazing Kerri (Sew dearly loved) and hosts a whole cast of amazingly talented quilters and sewists.

This whole process was a complete blast! I highly recommend it.

So after partners were handed out, it was time to do a little cyber-sleuthing/stalking? I had received my partner and checked them out from afar. Feels a little weird to be trying to figure out someone I don't even know. But stalking commenced, I checked their blog, checked their photostream on flickr, and tried to get an impression of their tastes. Then, I had some ideas ready to try out.

The Palette ~

My partner had specific requests, but also left it pretty open. Taking some inspiration from their mosaic I came up with this design. Influenced, by circles, colors, and modern art ~ cubism. This is my spin on all of those elements in pillow form.

The basic design ~ although the final version was a little different

I decided to do a specific grid of changing colors for the pieced fabric going from one color to another because I'm all about color fade-in and fade-out lately - I don't know why, I just am. It's a kick I'm on. I decided to try this out on paper first...

So I embarked upon an entirely nutty adventure in quilting. This is in part because I'm not really a quilter, I figure out a design first and then try to make it happen in fabric and I always try to do this just a little bit differently probably because I think of fabric more as a pliable construction material than anything else and I really like to make things challenging.

This time my endeavor involved using lots and lots and lots.....

of tiny squares of fabric. Over 1600 of them actually. Eventually when all was said and done, the squares ended up creating a 1/2 inch grid - yup, that would be where nutty came in, insane, deranged - pick your adjective.

Luckily, I remembered Elisabeth (Oh Fransson!'s) tutorial for Sew mama Sew on small squares piecing and that saved me. Phew!

The colors come together ~So, after this lovely mosaic was done, I then proceeded to cut it up again - yes you heard me correctly.

Tools of the trade ~

I followed this with a little circle piecing for the final design to emerge. The circle piecing was a little challenging because the pieced fabric was very thick and I paired it with Linen which has it's own challenges. I decided to beef up the linen with some lightweight interfacing and in the end, it came together pretty well. Add some straight line quilting and....

...it's done!

I hope you like it partner because it is coming your way. I'm a bit nervous about this actually because this design is really kind of out there, the colors are wild, it's beyond my comfort zone ~ but there you have it, the evolution of a pillow.

The pillow talk swap was totally a rad thing to do. Stretched my design ideas, got me thinking in a totally different direction than normal and made me realize just how pathetically boring most of our throw pillows are around here. Really, I need to do something about that next...

Happy sewing!