Pillow Finishes

With so many unfinished quilt projects on the go, I am trying very hard (although I haven’t been completely successful!) to resist the urge to start any new large scale projects.

Lately, other than making the odd quilt block here and there, I have been finding it increasingly difficult to acquire a large enough chunk of sewing time to make decent progress on any one particular project. (Plus I seem to be attention-deficit when it comes to staying focused on only one project at a time!)

Making pillows seems like the perfect solution to me. I can try new techniques and get the satisfaction of a reasonably quick finish!

I wrote about my paper pieced economy blocks in a previous post.

As most of my Amy Butler fabric scraps have now been used and I didn’t want this to end up as another UFO, I decided to turn these nine blocks into a pillow.

I added a narrow outer border which allowed me to maintain the block points when constructing the pillow (sorry I didn’t take a photo of this step) and then quilted diagonal lines on either side of the seams.

I used Amy Butler Deco Rose – from her Daisy Chain collection – for the envelope back of this 18″ pillow.

This pillow will be going to a very special someone…

My second pillow finish involves my much cherished Carolyn Friedlander Doe fabric.

I don’t consider myself a fabric hoarder. After all, isn’t fabric purchased to be cut up and used? However, this beautiful Doe fabric has been sitting unused in a drawer – occasionally looked at and stroked 😉 – waiting for the right project to come along…

Anyway, I recently borrowed this great book – Modern Log Cabin Quilting – from my local library. I don’t own a lot of quilting books but am really tempted to order and purchase a copy of this one for myself.

I was greatly inspired by this book and decided to make myself a giant log cabin block. (I have actually started a second project from this book but will write about that at a later date.)

I allowed myself to cut just one 2 inch by WOF strip from each of my ten Doe fabrics and began the log cabin process.

There was very little wastage from this project and I used all but a few bits from my strips. I later used these leftover scraps in my pillow backing.

I was very tempted to continue with this giant log cabin block – measuring 24 inches square – and make it quilt sized. However, I ultimately decided to stop at this size, quilt it and turn it into a 23 inch square pillow.

I used polyester/wool blend batting which gave the pillow top a nice puffiness after quilting (in the ditch),

and found some well-matched cotton duck fabric (interspersed with my leftover Doe scraps) to use for the envelope back of the pillow.Now I can see and admire this lovely fabric on my bed every day!

Now a question for you:

Do you consider yourself a fabric hoarder? Have you got any fabrics at home that you consider too precious to cut up? Or are you simply waiting for the right project to come along? I’d love to hear from you so please leave me a comment.

Deb 🙂

Linking up to Main Crush Monday @ Cooking Up Quilts, Design Board Monday @ Bits ‘n Bobs, Let’s Bee Social @ Sew Fresh Quilts, Needle and Thread Thursday @ My Quilt Infatuation and TGIFF @ Quilt Matters