LMS

I get asked quite frequently for a tutorial on this little pillow which I made for a class I taught awhile back.  It’s gotten pinned and repinned quite a bit over on pinterest–especially after Joann Fabrics pinned it(how fun!).

Can’t take credit for the Daisy pillow–I received it in a round of the Pillow Talk Swap.

I’ve decided to offer the tutorial here on my blog for anyone interested in making one of their own!  It’s a super easy tutorial with tons of pictures–including all of the finishing details(binding/pillow back).  The quilting is easy to do & a perfect project for a beginning quilter.

Patchwork Pillow Tutorial

The tutorial itself doesn’t have the supplies listed so here they are:

Pillow Supplies:

25–3″ squares of assorted fabrics

1/2 yard fabric for pillow top backing and pillow backing or a 15″ square piece of muslin for pillow top back and 1/3 yard print fabric for pillow backing)

1/4 yd. fabric for binding

14″ square piece of batting

505 Spray & Fix temporary adhesive

Perle Cotton

embroidery needle (size 5)

water erasable marker

thimble (optional if preferred for quilting)–quilting can also be done without a thimble for this project

12″ pillow form

Enjoy!

Yay!–I finally get to share my Garden District pillow with you all!  I designed and made this pillow almost two years ago!  Yikes, I can’t believe it’s really been that long.

I designed Garden District for Heather Bostic’s book Pillow Pop–a book featuring fun pillow designs from over 20 different designers/bloggers.

The fabrics I used are from Anna Maria Horner’s Little Folks voile collection and a tan linen.  The combo of the two weights of fabric was a little bit tricky to work with but the end product is so striking.

One of my fave parts of the pillow is the colorful hand quilting using perle cotton.  I’ve been asked often what type of needle I prefer for quilting with perle.  I use an embroidery needle–the larger eye and longer needle are perfect for working with the heavier weight thread (I usually use 8 wt. perle).

I finished off the pillow with a simple envelope enclosure but I added a fun little strip of pieced fabric to spice the back up a bit.

I’m happy to have my pillow back home after it’s long absence!–It’s happily living on my couch. =)

BTW, in case you missed the scrap basket update in my last post, they were spoken for in just a couple minutes after my post.  They’ve been mailed off and received into their new home where they will hopefully be made into something fabulous.

I do still have scraps that I will need to unload again sometime and judging by all you scrap lovers (myself included!) a scrappy giveaway may be in order at some point in time.

Happy Sewing!

I have received numerous questions recently about using Perle Cotton for quilting whether by hand or by machine.  So, I thought I’d talk a bit about the two techniques.

The Faux Sashiko pillow(pictured above) that I designed for the fall issue of Stitch magazine was machine quilted using Perle Cotton.  This is a great time saving trick, but one I would really only reccommend on smaller projects–my machine gets a bit cranky when using the heavier weight thread and I certainly wouldn’t want to attempt it on a larger quilt.

When I machine quilt using Perle, I only use the Perle for my top thread–the bobbin thread is regular thread.  I use 8 wt. Perle cotton–although 12 wt. might make my machine a bit happier with me.  I always lengthen my stitches–I usually set my stitch length as long as I can on my Bernina.  And I manually pull the thread off the Perle cotton spool so my machine doesn’t have to work so hard.  I leave my tension at the same setting I would use for regular sewing.

My Fall Petals Pillow is hand quilted using 8 wt. Perle Cotton.  Hand quilting with Perle Cotton is essentially the same thing as hand quilting with quilting weight thread.  The technique is the same, but you take longer stitches and you get to use prettier thread. =p

There are a lot of great resources for hand quilting–one of my favorites is from Mary.

Appliqued Pillow

 I almost exclusively use Finca Perle Cotton which I can now purchase locally.  Prior to purchasing locally, I purchased online from Yarn Bazaar.  I was able to purchase a color card from them which is a wonderful tool if you are unable to view the thread colors in person.

Machine Quilted Journal Cover

 Hopefully this answers some of your burning questions about quilting with Perle Cotton! =p

I am very excited to once again have gotten the opportunity to work with Stitch Craft Create Magazine. =)  My Fall Petal Pillow is featured in the Fall 2012 issue which just came out.

We all know that I’ve kinda got a “thing” for applique and hand quilting.  This pillow combines the best of both worlds.  And I always love working with fall colors–and that unexpected pop of blue just works so well in my opinion.

There are so many cute projects in this issue of SCC…paper, yarn, fabric, felt, thread…I think that’s why I like this mag so much!  It’s just got a ton of cuteness going on–and as a mama who loves crafting, with a 7 year old daughter who loves crafting, we always find cute new projects we want to try & new inspiration on every page.

Can I tell you how much I enjoy being able to use Flea Market Fancy for binding!–No fear of not being able to buy more…at least for now…which is perfect, ’cause I love that little posey as a binding.

Shannon, the editor of Stitch Craft Create Magazine, was kind enough to send along an extra Fall issue for me to give away to one of my readers!  If you haven’t checked out Stitch Craft Create Magazine yet, or if you have and you’re addicted to it (like me), just leave me a comment for a chance to win a copy of your own. =)

The February 2012 issue of American Patchwork and Quilting arrived in my mailbox last week & I’ve gotta admit to being quite excited to see it in my mailbox….because:

My quilt, “Butterscotch Squares” is in this issue! =)  Designed and pieced by me–and hand quilted by my mom.  I have wanted to to be published in AP&Q for quite some time–one of those bucket list things & last spring I decided to do something about that—I figured it doesn’t hurt to try!  And lo and behold, I about peed my pants when I heard back that they liked my design and wanted to publish it. =)

Butterscotch Squares features both piecing and applique.  I used Moda Bella Solids for the pieced portion of the quilt and a variety of Fig Tree Quilts fabrics for the appliqued petals.  I also think this quilt would be amazing made using white/charcoal and a variety of scrappy brights for the applique!

Happy Tuesday!

Pillow Talk Swap Pillow Received

I was so delighted to receive this wonderful pillow last week from my Pillow Talk Swap partner, Mary.  Mary is a wonderful gal and has a great blog full of all things quilty so I was very excited to see a package in my mailbox from her!

Mary beautifully hand quilted this pillow using bright threads for pops of color–combined with linens (2 of my favorite things) and threw in some Heather Ross for good measure.  A sure fire winner! =)  And her piecing is fabulous–we all know I am a sucker for some great piecing!

Thank you so very much Mary!  So excited to finally have a non-rainy day to snap some pictures and share my wonderful pillow!

Dead Simple Quilt Along Fabrics

I hope you aren’t tired of seeing this stack of fabrics!  I just got some coordinating Perle Cotton and I think this quilt is going to look amazing hand quilted something like this:

Fabulous, no?

Strawberry Fields Pillow

So, the name of the game around here seems to be deadlines.  I have a number of different things going on right now that are hogging up my time…in a good way of course.  But one piece of exciting news is that I am going to be teaching a few classes at a local fabric shop.  The first series of classes, Pillow Talk, will be kicking off September 19.  I’ll be teaching the basics of piecing, hand quilting, & finishing a pillow like the one above.  I have never viewed myself as a teacher so I have been preparing quite a bit…hopefully I’ll be over prepared.

There are 3 pillow classes scheduled before Christmas so, there has been some pillow making going on over here.  I’m hoping all goes well–I’ve gotta admit to some nerves even though it’ll be just a small class.

Here she is–the finished giveaway pillow!  And boy, did I have a great time with this one…hand quilting, applique, pebble quilting…it was all just great fun.

I loved the color palette that my winner chose–these wonderful corals/aquas & springy yellow/greens were such fun to work with.  The fabrics are a mix of Tula Pinks new line of fabric Prince Charming, a couple Coquette fabrics by Pat Bravo of Art Gallery Fabrics, and some Nicey Jane & Bijoux by Heather Bailey for Free Spirit.  I really liked how well all these different lines of fabrics worked together–the pinks from Coquette & Prince Charming are an exact match.

I have been wanting to do some little umbrella applique for awhile and it really worked perfectly in this pillow.  The applique stitch is a free motion stitch but, not as stitchy as I do sometimes–I just went around the applique once and kept it pretty straight for a more streamlined effect.

The hand quilting is done in shades of pink, aqua, green & grey using Finca Perle Cotton in size 8.  And how cute are those bows?!—I totally changed my plan for these as I went along.  I had originally been going to do a kind of bunting/banner applique/embroidery throughout the pillow but as I went along the dimensional bows took shape and I went in that direction instead.  My pillows kind of tend to take shape as I go along–I start with a general idea of what I want to do but this usually changes somewhat as I go along.

You know me and my stripey borders–this one is from Moda’s Sweet line of fabric—long out of print but just perfect for bindings.  And, I had such a great time with the pebble quilting.  It was my first attempt and I’m pretty happy with how it turned out–I love trying out new techniques on these little projects–totally gives me an idea if it would be something I would want to attempt on a larger scale.  Pebble quilting is fun, time consuming, & uses a lot of thread. =)

I kept the back simple using fabric from Tula Pink’s Prince Charming line of fabric & a simple envelope enclosure.  I knew from the start that I wanted to use this fabric for the back–I mean seriously, how cute are those frogs(can you spy them)?–and in my mind they go perfectly with the umbrellas & raindrops on the front of the pillow.  I love that Tula’s fabrics are fun and whimsical without being considered juvenile or novelty.

So, is this pillow yours?  Stop back tommorrow to see! =) I know, I know…. =)

I’ve shared peeks of this quilt previously but this is the first time you are seeing it in its entirety.  Of course you all recognize this quilt as the quilt I had intended to donate to Japan Project modern–however, with that project no longer taking place this quilt is currently residing in my family room until I decide where it will end up. =)

Hand Quilting Detail

This quilt is made up of a combo of Flea Market Fancy and Katie Jump Rope fabrics which I think work so well together.  My mom and I did the hand quilting on this quilt using Finca Perle Cotton size 8 in Dark Brown.  The quilt pattern is a slightly revised version of this free pattern.  I preferred the framed squares as opposed to the solid squares and I also made the quilt a bit smaller than the pattern called for.

Back Detail

For the back of the quilt, I opted to use a solid white.  This isn’t something I normally do but I wanted to show off the hand quilting pattern–I think it looks pretty neat (you’ll have to ignore the wrinkles).  For a parade of more great quilts be sure to stop by Amy’s Creative Side and browse around a bit.