Scrapbuster Modern Cross Pillow {a tutorial}

I’ve been quite focused on using scraps and making pillows the past few months (just look at how many of my blog posts have been about pillows!).  I thought I’d share how I made the most recent pillows, which fit 18” pillow forms.

Supplies:

• 45- 2.5” squares (rainbow, monochromatic, whatever you like!)
• 4- 6.5” square solid squares (I used Kona silver)
• 1 piece of muslin bigger than 18.5” square
• 1 piece of batting bigger than 18.5” square
• 2 backing panels measuring 12.5” x 18.5” if you want to do an envelope closure backing
• 18” pillow form

Directions:

Decide what kind of color scheme you want to use, then lay out five 3 x 3 grids of 2.5” squares for each of the sections of the cross.

Sew the squares together in rows.  You can nest your seams (alternate the direction you press them for each row) or press open.

Sew the rows together.  Press to one side or open.

Now lay out your pillow top.  Sew the sections together the same way.

Here are my two pillow tops waiting to be quilted.

That’s all there is to making the pillow top!  Quilt as desired.

Flowers and teardrops for the rainbow pillow.

Ripple stipple for the purple pillow.

Create an envelope back for the pillow with the two 12.5” x 18.5” backing panels or use an alternate method for making the back.

Bind or serge to finish.

I think this block would be awesome for a bee!  I might even have to make my own rainbow quilt. 

Thanks for stopping by!

Wild & Free Pillows {a finished project}

My oldest daughter was lucky enough to have a student teacher for the first part of the school year.  What better way to say thank you than matching pillows for her teachers?

I used the new line of fabric Wild & Free by Maureen Cracknell (+ a few scraps).  I always thought the arrows would be my favorite print from the line, but once I saw it in person, Sun Tracks was clearly my fave!  I bought extra after getting my preordered fat quarter bundle, and used it for the backs of these pillows.

I also quilted each pillow differently.  For one I did cross-hatching, simply for the reason that the spool of thread on my machine was nearly out and I thought maybe I could eke out an entire quilted pillow from it (I couldn’t). 

There is just something about straight lines that makes my heart swoon when I see them on pillows! 

Quilting always seems to show up better on the back.

Then I quilted the other with a free motion pattern so they were the same but still different.  Also I was a bit tired from all the straight lines.  FMQ is so fast!

The quilting pattern blends in a lot of with all the different fabrics on the front.

The teachers liked the pillows and I got a message from one later that night informing me her 16 year old daughter already claimed it for her bedroom. 

I promised that this would be the end of pillows for a while, but I was wrong.  I already started another with the leftovers from this project and some scraps that have already overtaken my sewing room and are threatening to take over my house…

Have a wonderful weekend!  Linking up with Fort Worth Fabric Studio and Crazy Mom Quilts.

unicorns and rainbows {another pillow!}

My daughters had two birthday parties to attend this weekend (in addition to all the regular holiday hoopla which was crazy)  so last week I thought it would be a fun idea to make each birthday girl a unicorn & rainbow pillow.  Of course I wasn’t organized enough to take a pic of the first pillow, but the second one, which is virtually identical to the first, I clicked a pic of minutes before leaving for the party.

Now if you think the pillow looks uber-stuffed, you would be correct.  I ran into Joanns with the kids last week one day after school and hurriedly grabbed some pillow forms for upcoming gifts.  I guess instead of 12” pillow insertsI picked up 14”.  Luckily they fit in the 12” covers just barely!

The quilting turned out nicely on both pillows.  I took a photo from the wrong side before adding the envelope back because the design shows up much better that way.

One of the fabrics I used for the back says “Always be yourself, unless you can be a unicorn, then always be a unicorn.”  That’s something I would have loved to read over and over again when I was a kid.

The fabric is called Unicorns and Rainbows by Riley Blake.  You can still find the fabric available online.

Hope you had a fun (and not too crazy) weekend!

Let the gift giving begin! {a finished pillow}

Last week I received a package of fabric from Hawthorne Threads from a giveaway I won.  In addition to the fabric prize, the lovely people there sent me samples of two of their in-house lines of fabric, Fair Isle and Bengal.  The little pieces of Fair Isle were just begging to be made into a pillow!

The fabric features cuddly polar bears and the cutest smiling narwhals!

My favorite print is the sleds.  The color is more peachy than pink, not normally a color I’d be drawn to.  But I love the combination of blues, peach, and grays.  The cool palette made me think this pillow would look fantastic on my friend’s white leather couch.

Apparently her cat, Prince (who has his own Instagram account) liked the pillow too!  Speaking of Instagram, I finally joined and you can find me as @beacraftygirl.

I also tried something new making this pillow.  Instead of binding it, I used my serger so there are no raw edges.  Maybe no binding gives it a more modern look?  Honestly, I was just looking to finish it quickly, but threading the serger after several months of no use proved to be more time consuming than making and attaching binding!

Most Christmases I give handmade gifts, but I am never organized enough to complete a project with enough time to photograph and blog about it.  Hopefullly 2014 will be different!

Last week I also received my Wild & Free and Priory Square preordered fabric.  I love it so much I cut into it the very next day, and then I ordered more of each line because I never want to run out.  Don’t deny it…I know some of you probably do the same thing!!!!

Blessed

I hope everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving with family and friends.  Ours was nice and relaxing because my mom hosted this year.  The food and company were great, and it was even better that I didn’t have to cook or clean anything!

Esther’s pillow is finished.  Originally I wanted to turn the embroidery, designed by Sarah Jane, into a wallhanging for her bedroom, but she was adamant that she wanted a pillow.  Of course the kindergartner won that argument!

Lately I’ve been on a sewing-room-organizing-kick, so I was able to use my shoebox of 2.5” squares to fill in around the embroidery to make the pillow 18” x 18” square.  It couldn’t get any easier than that!  I feel like I’m getting the hang of picking fabric.  I auditioned a lot of squares, and like the final result.  Circles are Esther’s favorite shape (“because they are round”) so I tried to use lots of little prints with circles.

Then I saw this AMAZING (and easy!) free motion quilt tutorial on Christina’s blog “A Few Scraps.”  If you’ve never checked out her blog and you are interested in free motion designs, you have to take a look at the video tutorials she’s posted.  Spoiler Alert:  my quilting looks nowhere near as good as Christina’s!

Even though my quilting isn’t perfect, it was fun to try this new design and Esther loves the extra circles.  Win-win!

I did an easy envelope back using Denyse Schmidt’s line Piccadilly.  This medallion print feels so bright and ornate for something designed by Denyse Schmidt.  LOVE!

Not only was I blessed with a wonderful Thanksgiving, I also won two giveaways this past week!  A huge THANK YOU to Fat Quarter Shop for the Bella Naptime Solids fat quarter bundle and Hawthorne Threads for a fat quarter bundle of their exclusive new line Calliope.

I hope you’re enjoying the weekend and maybe some turkey leftovers and time to sew!

Meet Mr. Fox {the pillow}

 

A few weeks ago I cut into some fat quarters of fox fabric designed by Andie Hanna to make a quilt.  Plans changed, and I decided not to use the foxes in the quilt, so they went in this pillow instead.

The gray and light blue patchwork were also left over the from the quilt because the vibrancy of the rest of the blocks drowned out the low volume patchwork.

The binding is a brown Stella dot and the backing is some striped fabric left over from another quilt.  It’s called Soul Garden by Carolyn Gavin.

I quilted the front of the pillow on my long arm, swirls for the first time.  Definitely improved with practice!  The finished pillow is 19 x 19 but I was able to stuff a 20 x 20 pillow insert in there (the only size I had on hand).  Makes it nice and puffy I think!

I’ll be linking up to Fort Worth Fabric Studio and Crazy Mom Quilts this Friday.  Have a great week!

Potluck Squares Christmas Pillow

Crazy Mom Quilts posted a really cute pillow last week.  As luck would have it, I had picked up a charm pack of that line a few weeks ago at the LQS and had to try making my own version right away!

At first I tried to include black in the red & green color scheme, but I had a hard time with the layout and decided to omit the black.

I wasn’t feelin’ the love with the scrappy layout either.

So I ended up going with diagonals of the same fabric alternating red & green.  (I had a charm pack of Pezzy Prints I included too.)

I quilted the front of the pillow with straight lines about 3/8” apart with white Aurifil thread.  The binding I copied from my friend Svetlana’s Autumn Penny Patch Quilt.  They say imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, right? 

The back is envelope style with 3 buttons to hold the closure in place.  I didn’t think through the buttons though, and need to add room for the bulk of the cushion insert next time by placing the buttonholes closer to the edge of the flap.  The back is just solid Kona ash.

I think it’s a nice addition to our growing pillow collection on our family room couch.  Can you tell a quilter lives here?

I hope you have a wonderful weekend!

First Ever Embroidery Project {plus a giveaway}

Tomorrow an embroidered pillow I created using Aurifil threads and a free pattern from The Sometimes Crafter is being featured over at Lily’s Quilts!!!

If you are a first time visitor or regular visitor, welcome to my blog! 

Today I am giving away a copy of Aimee Ray’s book, Doodle Stitching: The Motif Collection.  I accidentally bought two copies when I was looking for an introductory book to embroidery (the danger of shopping both on Amazon and at the local Joann’s) and one lucky reader will be getting a copy due to my mistake.

The book is amazing, and that is an understatement.  There is a library of stitches in the front section of the book with diagrams even I can understand.  It has a section of projects and then in the back there are over 400 patterns divided by theme such as “embellishments” and “under the sea.”  It comes with a CD so you can print your own copies.  I’ve printed quite a few and it makes it so easy for using an iron transfer pen or pencil.

To enter, simply leave a comment on this blog post.  For an extra entry, let me know you are a follower, old or new!  International entries welcome.  I’ll announce the winner on Tuesday, April 2nd. 

Two Turkeys Kissing

My daughter said, “Look, two turkeys kissing!” when she saw these pillows.

They measure 18”x18” and are made from Laurie Wisbrun’s  “Olive the Ostrich” (not turkey) line of fabric and various scraps.

I did straight line quilting about 1/8” from the seam lines with charcoal thread.  Then I did a bunch of lines around the ostriches to help frame them.

I used leftover fabric from other projects for the backs.  The closures are envelope style.  I haven’t got up the courage to do a zipper back yet.  Soon…

It feels good to have these done before Valentine’s Day.  Linking up to A Lovely Year of Finishes.