Five Custom Pillows + One Quilt

Hello Friends!  I have been sewing like a MAD woman, and wanted to share the finished goods with you!  A little over a month a go I went fabric shopping with my boyfriend (no worries, we left still a couple!).  :)  The mission at hand was to pick "manly" fabrics for new custom pillows for his couches.  I found Betz White's Stitch Organic print and used that as the base for all of the pillows.  We methodically selected a handful of fabrics that coordinated with the Stitch Organic print and were soon enough on our merry way!  I made a total of five pillows, with only two using the same pattern.  All pillows are 18" square, and I machine quilted each pillow on my BabyLock.

I made another Tallahassee paper pieced pillow, just like I did for the Pillow Talk Swap!  This time I used the same fabric for the background and flower middles, and really like how it turned out!

I used the Stitch Organic print for the backing of each pillow, and hid the zipper with a coordinating print.

For this pillow, I modified the Coming Home quilt pattern in Camille Roskelley's Simplify book, to make an 18" square pillow.

It's no secret to my family and friends that I have fallen in LOVE with triangle pillows.  I made two this go around, and really thought about keeping one for myself (shhh...don't tell my boyfriend!).  :)

This is the second triangle pillow.  They both coordinate, yet they're so different.

Last but not least, I modified the A Bunch of Crosses pillow pattern from the Pillow Pop book, to fit an 18" pillow form.  You might remember that I made him a Simply Color Cross Quilt for Christmas last year; I love that this pillow echoes the same pattern.

All of the pillows lined up, and ready for their debut on his couch!

I had some leftover fabric and a little time (more fabric than time), and opted to make a quick fat quarter friendly quilt (Fantastic-O Fat Quarter Quilt, by my friend Gina Halladay).

 

 

I also added a little hand embroidery (I couldn't pass up the opportunity!).

The Pillow That Started It All!!!

It's official, this is where my love of triangle pillows started.  I whipped this colorful pillow up in a day's time for a friend's birthday.  I used the gray flower print as my base fabric and pulled colorful coordinating scraps.

The triangles are 4" equilateral triangles; each pillow requires a total of 50 triangles (10/row and 5 rows/pillow).  Each pillow is roughly 18" square.  

I did some simple straight line quilting on the pillow, using the triangles as my guide.

I used the Gray Flower print for the backing of the pillow, and hid the zipper with a coordinating print.

Pillow Talk Swap #10

In addition to the Pretty Little Pouch Swap #7, I also signed up for the Pillow Talk Swap #10 on Flickr.  I really had a wonderful time participating in this swap.  Just like the Pretty Little Pouch Swap #7, the swap was kicked off with each participant posting an inspiration mosaic, so that their secret partner can pull colors and ideas for their own creation.  This was my mosaic...bright geometric patterns (stars, triangles, chevrons, pluses).

1. Pillow Talk Swap 7 - Finished 2. Not available 3. Not available 4. Not available 5. Not available 6. Not available 7. PTS5 Done! 8. Scrappy Applique Pillow - 2 9. PTS7 all finished! 10. PST4 11. Finished Pillow Talk Swap Round 9 Pillow 12. Cathedral Windows

I can't show you my partner's mosaic, however this is what I created for her!  I used the Quilter's Cache template to create a 9 block paper pieced Tallahassee pillow!  This is the first time I ever paper pieced, and although there was a bit of a learning curve, I am SO glad I challenged myself, as I love how the pillow turned out.

I used a happy mixture of  Rilley Blake fabrics (Sugar and Spice, Delighted, and Apple of My Eye), as well as some Simply Style, and Architextures for the background.  Here is a close up of the quilting.  I opted to only quilt the squares of the background and flower centers, that way I wouldn't take away from the colorful flower petals.

The back is just as happy as the front!  I used a blue and gray chevron stripe print from Paula Prass, and opted for the polka dots from the center flower to hide the zipper.  The pillow is binded with the Gray Eyelets from Flea Market Fancy.  I had a really hard time letting this pillow go, but hope that it will bring my partner joy!

This is the sweet zippered pouch and goodies I received from my partner in the Pretty Little Pouch Swap #7!  :)

Handmade Christmas Gifts

I've always dreamed of a 100% handmade Christmas.  What about you?  Hopefully one of these days I'll get there, but until then I have two Christmas gifts to share with you!  First up is the fun doughnut quilt I made for my Grandma B.!  (It makes me hungry just looking at it!).  :)

 

I used Threaded Pear Studio's Modern Day Diamonds quilt pattern.  I absolutely love the simple design and size of the finished quilt.  I'll admit that matching the diamonds was a bit tedious, but towards the end I came up with a couple fail proof shortcuts, which eliminated a lot of seam ripping!

The back has a fun doughnut stripe along the bottom.

A close-up of the long-arm machine quilting, which I did myself- woo hoo!  :)

The next handmade gift I have to share is this quirky mustache pillow, which I made for my friend Thomas.  Mustache home decor is hot right now, so I figured who wouldn't want a pillow with an appliqued leather mustache on it?

I used Free Spirit's Designer Houndstooth fabric, in Hot House Blue, for the pillow.  The leather was a scrap I had laying around.

I also used a scrap piece of coordinating brown Moda fabric for the zipper cover!

 

This pillow marks the first time I ever worked with leather, with that being said I think the applique looks awesome!

Did you sew (or receive) any handmade Christmas gifts?

Sugar and Spice Flower Pillow!

I finally got some sewing in this weekend, which excites me beyond belief!  Sweet Amanda of The Quilted Fish asked each of the Creative Consultants (me included!) to make something to be displayed in her booth at Quilt Market!!!  I have to say that having something I made, displayed at Quilt Market, excites me like NO OTHER!!!  :)  

Remember the Sweet Divinity Flower Pillow tutorial?  Well, I used the same tutorial and created the Sugar and Spice Flower Pillow...what do you think?

Guest Post on the Quilted Fish's Blog!

Happy Friday everyone!!!  I'm so excited to announce that today is my day to share my Sweet Divinity Flower Pillow tutorial on The Quilted Fish's blog- woo hoo!

 
I hope you love the pillow as much as I do!  If you decide to make a flower pillow of your own, please feel free to share photos of your pillow with me at squirmywormstudio@gmail.com (as I would love to have the chance to oooh and awww over all of the variations!).  :)