Pillow Talk Swap 7

Sorry for the long absence, but I've been sewing furiously to finish all of my sewing commitments before we move next week. This means I have lots of lovely finishes to show you over the coming days.

First up (because it is due today!) is my pillow for round 7 of the Pillow Talk Swap. For those who don't already know, this is a blind swap - meaning that you know who you are making a pillow for, but you don't know who will be making a pillow for yourself.

For my partner, I used this block pattern pattern and color scheme from Red Pepper Quilts, and changed it up a bit by changing the color of the background fabric behind the connecting squares, and added a few borders around the whole.

Here is the back of the pillow. For some reason these chevrons kind of hurt my eyes in an optical illusion sort of way in my photographs, but I promise they aren't so eye bending in person.

This pillow is winging its way off to it's new owner later today. I sure hope he/she likes it, because I sure do!

<3 Kelsey

Linking up to Sew & Tell and Fabric Tuesday

do. Good Stitches, February 2012

Another month, another pair of blocks for do. Good Stitches. This month Rachel from Stitched In Color had us creating granny square blocks, which are all the craze in the modern quilting community recently it seems.

For my part, I made two blocks with Kona Aqua as the background. Our color palette was blue, green, teal, turquoise, orange, and gray.

Sorry for the lighting in the photo - the weather here has been just awful lately, so I was forced to take a picture standing in our doorway.

<3 Kelsey

Just Because

Just because some moments are too precious not to share.

<3 Kelsey

Pillow Progress

It's time for round 7 of the Pillow Talk Swap, and since I will be moving next month, I wanted to get a jump start and not procrastinate on this one. I was inspired by this quilt by Red Pepper Quilts. It is just so colorful and modern, I couldn't resist. :)

I pulled these fabrics mostly from my stash, with the exception of the two black and white prints in the bottom right . I had to buy those two special - apparently I rarely sew with black.

I shrank the original block design down to 5" blocks, and my final pillow will be 3 x 3 blocks, with 1" sashing in between.

With the first four blocks done, the feel of the pillow is finally starting to come through. Hopefully my partner likes where I am heading!

<3 Kelsey

 PS. Finishing these blocks was my goal for the One Thing, One Week Challenge over at Amy's Creative Side, but I didn't manage to finish them all since I got sick on Thursday. But I am still pleased with my progress, even if it wasn't as much as I hoped.

Orange and Grey Cowl

Having recently finished my first knitting project, I jumped right into my second. This time I went with a nice simple garter stitch to avoid the rolling that happened on my first cowl. I actually really love the feel  and the density of the fabric that resulted - it was almost sponge-like.

 

I also challenged myself to one new technique by working with two separate yarns concurrently. I chose a bright orange and grey for a more masculine look. Turns out working with one yarn is just about the same as working with two. :)

This cowl was a gift for a good friend who we went to visit for a weekend recently (moving out of state causes a sudden need to give everyone gifts as it may be the last time you see them).

Next challenge: knitting in the round!

<3 Kelsey

The Longest UFO

I started this quilt just over two years ago. It was the very first quilt I ever started.

Back then I didn't know anything about fusibles or any other tricks to make appliqué easier. It was appliquéd entirely by hand with nothing more than a needle, thread, a pair of scissors, and a pin or two.

I originally started it as a gift (I worked at 23andMe at the time), but when I didn't have time to finish it, it got packed away and essentially forgotten about. 

Before I left 23andMe for a new job, I had promised I'd finish it for decoration in the office. Since we're about to move to another state in a month and a half, I figured I better make good on that promise. :)

This was my first time trying any free motion quilting other than stippling. I quilted two double helixes, and while I was initially concerned with some flaws, in the end I am pleased how it looks as a whole. I did a simple loopy FMQ design for the background. 

This also was my first time having my own fabric printed on Spoonflower. I used the company logo to create a custom quilt backing. It was a lot harder than I expected to hide the repeat! But I hope to get to try my hand at a lot more fabrics in the future. :)

It feels good to put this near 2 year UFO in the D-O-N-E pile!

<3 Kelsey

Lord of the Kindle

Today I'd like to share another project I made as a Christmas gift for a family member. My husband and I got my Dad a Kindle Touch back in October, and he has still been carrying it around in the box it came in. Clearly, this needed to be rectified. :)

My Dad had loved The Lord of the Rings since before I was born. We went and saw every movie opening day when I was in High School. We've read the books countless times. We both still play a Lord of the Rings based online video game.

So when I saw this pattern for a paper-pieced Gandalf quilt block, I knew I must use it to make my Dad's Kindle cover. I didn't use any particular pattern for the case itself, but followed pretty standard procedure for making a slim carrying case.

Of course I ran out of time to photograph it before Christmas, so both these pictures and those from my last post are curtesy of my parents. :)

I used fusible fleece for the batting (that stuff is great for bags!) and did some simple straight line quilting on the front, with a velcro enclosure.

<3 Kelsey