Finished Christmas Pillow

After quite a bit of 'erring and arring' I finally set to work yesterday to finish this pillow I had an itch to make.

I had hoped to finish it faster, but that darn math issue popped up and I could not make my brain work hard enough to figure what I wanted. So, some of those 2.5-inch squares that border the pillow are in fact just whacked off where convenient for fitting. Ah, the best laid plans...

Ii is very likely that no one would have even noticed, but now that I've called attention to it, well... I do like how this turned out. Very nice that I made two stars while I was in construction mode; the next star will be placed on point thanks to DH's recommendation. That will look quite nice, I think.

Two treatments on this pillow differ from what I have been doing on pillows lately. First, I tried my hand at free-motion quilting on my older Bernina. What a different set of skills that requires! I attempted wavy vertical lines with occasional little loops along the way. It was fun; I need to practice this more, and on little projects like this pillow, it works very nicely.

Another different treatment involved the zipper on the back. I have no pictures of this one, but I watched a YouTube video on line which I am sure you all would enjoy. It features Sherri McConnell of A Quilting Life, and shows how to add a flap over the zipper which she places on the back of the pillow. Looks really nice, and I found it much easier to achieve a neat finish than what I'd been doing by trying to put the zipper in the seam at the bottom. I will show mine on the next pillow I share here.

One last picture of this one.  I might do several more of these; they work up so fast (if you don't obsess over the measurements of the border blocks). I enjoy trying out a variety of star patterns, so changing things up is very likely a possibility.

Happy Quilting, Friends!

Christmas Star

Impulse creating - that's my specialty. Apparently, maintaining my focus on a single project is a total impossibility. With Lunch Box Social and Temecula Baskets as my two main projects this week, and intentions of longarming something, and a couple of other Works In Progress (WIPs) on standby, I did this.

I just took a notion to make something Christmassy! What does it hurt to take a half-day or so to whip up a festive block? It satisfied a sudden urge to get myself into a Christmas mood. I have an idea that I will turn this into a quilted pillow for the front room sofa. I will be hosting the family for Christmas this year, and I need to crank up the holiday mojo!

I've been seeing a lot of pillows showcased on Instagram lately, and it has jogged my memory that I've placed several pillow pictures in my saved files. But inspiration can come from table toppers, too, as well as individual blocks in larger quilts. My thought process considers how these various looks would translate into a pillow. 

I am particularly smitten with the idea of framing the star with a patchwork border, sorta' like these two little quilts from Lindsey Weight.

 

The first one is straight-up squares while the second one fancies it up a bit with HSTs in the corners. Both are pleasing; both would be so simple and fast to finish. However, I could get slightly more involved with some hourglass blocks like this next one from Jessie.

Hmmm...decisions, decisions. But fun to create, you know? I am stuck at doing the math for making all the parts fit on my 20-inch pillow inserts. (Math; it's always the math; smh.)

It's a beautiful day here in southern Ohio! Hope you are having a great Saturday!

Happy Quilting, Friends!

Erin Has a Finish

Got a text message late last night from Erin which included two pictures. The first highlights a brand new finished quilt top, one that you first read about here.

 The text message which accompanied the picture was brief, "Don't look at my points too closely!!"

Honestly, I wouldn't have thought to do that, and from this view, they look pretty darn good.

She added, "It was a lotta seams."

I suggested that those large spaces could be one piece of fabric rather than small pieces sewn together. At the time she said she wanted to do it this way. I wonder if she has a different idea about it now.

The second picture??? Well, of course it is a picture of her cat Rocky!

Adorable!

Happy Quilting, Friends!