Calculating Quilter: pillow

Showing posts with label pillow. Show all posts

Sunday, May 13, 2012

Finish for Mom

A year ago I made and gave my mom this pillow.

Then sometime last fall I used the same fabric
to experiment with two different patterns.
I promised my mom I'd make her
more pillows to complete a set.

SO...on saturday I sewed and sewed...

and surprised my mom for Mother's Day,
with the Circle of Geese above
and the Dresden Plate below.

And now she can complete her
newly decorated guest/sitting room.

So mom,

Sunday, November 20, 2011

Dres...done!

Finally, with the help of all of you who were so kind to give me your opinion and advice,

my first Dresden plate is complete!

I went with option #2, the darker blue center.

I really like it and now all I need to do is follow through with making it into a pillow.

Thanks again for your help!

Saturday, April 16, 2011

Completed Cathedral Windows!

Update: Sharing this for Fabric Tuesday at Quilt Story
Can you believe it? Friday Night Sew In Success!!

Here's my completed Cathedral Windows Pillow.

I am so pleased with how it turned out.

But, I had a hard time finding a spot to photograph it.

Seemed too fancy for my living room.

Here's a few more views.

I learned so much from this project.

Of course the cathedral windows were a first.

But I also got to try a basting spray to keep

all those windows in place as I sewed and found it worked well.

And, I learned how to make my own piping,

thanks to a little help from my zipper foot.

I used fabric from one of the windows.

The most exciting part was putting that pillow form in and seeing the finished cushion!

A very special thanks to Melissa at Make Life Beautiful

for her wonderful tutorial and her encouragement all along the way!

I definitely want to make another one someday!

Hope your weekend has been productive!

Sunday, April 3, 2011

Done...but not finished.

My Cathedral Windows pillow is coming along.

I have all 12 windows sewn now

I will admit I struggled a bit at first to get my machine and fingers to coordinate to make the curved seams. In fact, I started to wonder if I shouldn't just hand stitch instead.

But, my frustrating work week made me determine to "conquer" this new challenge and I set out to show my machine a thing or two! And that I did. As you can see in the picture above, I am now experimenting with button type and placement.

I spent a little time at the store yesterday searching for the "perfect" buttons. The tutorial says they're optional. And at first, I wasn't sure I wanted them. But I think with this fabric, the buttons complement the semi-formal look. I really love the center button (see below).

It has the same paisley swirl as some of the window prints. But I thought it was a tiny bit large and heavy for the whole pillow so I decided on some smaller, lighter, lacy looking buttons for the rest of the spots.

Now I just have to go back to the store and hope there are enough to finish this off.

So there you have it, the windows are done, but I still have a ways to go before the pillow is finished.

Next, I'm going to learn to make my own piping. Yet, another challenge. But no rush. One step at a time.

P.S. A special thanks once again to Melissa at Lilac Lane for her tutorial and inspiration!

Saturday, March 19, 2011

FNSI Results

It's still quite windy outside but I think the rain has stopped. As I kind of suspected, this week took its toll and kept my progress to a bare minimum. I definitely watched Roger play two tennis matches...and WIN! So that was great progress ... although not for my quilting/sewing projects.

As for those, just a tiny bit of progress on my

Be Mine Cathedral Windows pillow.

Decided on the final layout and spray basted them down.

THEN I completed ONE window...right there at the top.

It's not perfect...but enjoying the process and like it so far!

Not too bad for a sleepy friday night! Hope yours was productive too.

Sunday, March 13, 2011

Down but not out!

Talk about down...two weeks of that awful bug...missed a week of work...and didn't even feel like sewing...or blogging. I managed to keep up with some of my blog reading, but it was hard to watch all the great projects going on and not being able to work on mine. But, I am on the mend and got to spend most of my day today sewing.

I thought my Cathedral Windows Pillow was quite appropriate for sewing on a sunday afternoon and I got this much done.

I'm not completely settled on the layout of the fabric but at least I'm to the stage where I can experiment!

I can't wait to start sewing those curves and completing the windows!

Throughout the week, I did manage to do a little work on my embroidery and here's a peek at our latest lighthouses (even though I haven't removed all the markings or pressed them yet, sorry mom!)

Mine...

and mom's....

We both have one more to go!

Also today I worked on a special project for a very special friend who happened to have a birthday today. I can't post it til I give it to her, so I'll wait and share it for fabric tuesday.

Anyway, it feels good to be back to sewing and my blog. That's what really makes me happy!

Hope you're keeping well and busy and happy too.

Monday, February 28, 2011

Feb Finishes - March Starts

Hard to believe February has come and gone. I've been waiting to post my february blocks til both my partners received theirs so here goes:

Block Swap Adventure	Let's Bee Together
Squares within Squares Quilter's Cache	Partners Choice

I've already received all the info for March's blocks, so I will get started on them as soon as I get rid of this nasty cold/cough bug that I caught that is apparently going around. UGH. I haven't felt like sewing or blogging for days...so you know it must be bad! But I forced myself to do one last post for February because I wanted to let you in on this sewalong I found over at Lilac Lane.

It's a cathedral window pillow Melissa made with pretty Valentine's colors. Beautiful, huh!!

AND she's doing a sewalong! I've wanted to try this pattern for a long time and thought this would be a nice "do-able" project to learn from. Every Wednesday she'll post a step in the process.

I'm going to use this fabric that I've had sitting in my stash for about 3 years. It's called Gypsy Princess by Hoffman California International. I just love it and thought it would be perfect for cathedral windows.

Last wednesday we started the background. I didn't get very far, only because I started getting sick and could no longer sit at my machine. But I'll catch up soon enough I'm sure.

Anyway, if you're interested, here's a link to the supplies list.

Hope you join! Now it's back to bed for me.

Wednesday, September 29, 2010

Sidetracked: Hope's Pillow

So, three years ago I made a quilt for my friend Charlotte (who also goes by Hope). It was only the second quilt I'd ever made and I was really proud of it. (Here it is, Hope's Haven, in my Quiltfolio) Sometime after giving it to her, we visited a quilt shop in Monterey (love it there....the ocean....and a fabric store....need I say more?) Anyway, being the good sport she is, she let me drag her to a class on String Quilts...and I immediately went home and practiced the block with scraps from her quilt. (Btw, I'm sharing this post over on Fabric Tuesdays - scroll up and click the button to view.)

Of course, when I told her what I'd done, she started hinting about the possibility of getting a pillow to go along wither her quilt. Thus, the idea was born. And, although it's been almost 3 years, I am quite proud I followed through and finally made her Hope's Haven Pillow.

It was fun arranging the 4 blocks but a little stressful as well. See, I have a hard time with "random" patterns...they always look off balance...but I finally got something I could live with. Since this was my first pillow, I read a lot of blogs looking for tips, tricks and different styles of pillows. Borrowing from many of them, this is how it turned out.

Chose the border, backing and binding fabrics....oh and some cute buttons...