New pillow for a new year

My Pillow Talk Swap-4 pillow arrived while I was in California celebrating my in-laws 60th wedding anniversary!

 My secret swap partner -- Nik Ramirez --  obviously studied my inspirational mosaic and/or Flickr photostream, and/or blog to know that the cross blocks and blues, greens, and grays would be a big hit with me!  

 A sunny morning and a lovely new pillow to end the year with.  Sigh of contentment.

Oh, and she threw in some charm squares, a coffee sleeve, thread, and a produce bag! 

Thank you so much for a great swap, Nik, and our fabulous hostesses, Heather, Kerry, and Nova, and swap mamas Tacha, Kelly, and Tami!  Pillow Talk Swap - 5?  I'm ready!

With wishes, true and kind and a happy new year to all -- Joan

Mini show and tell

I thought I would finish a quilt back or two today for the Spring to Finish challenge, but that never happened.  After spending a lot of time looking for good deals on fabric online without ever actually pressing that "buy" button and then grocery shopping, I didn't find any time for sewing until late in the afternoon.

I finished this Hope Valley 36 patch for a bee,

and these gnome homes for another bee,

and I finished a few more cross blocks.  Believe it or not, I'm actually running out of fabrics for each cross quilt and need to get more.  I still just can't make myself hit that "buy" button.

You should probably know that my beautiful daughter looked at me with her big eyes and flashed her movie star smile, and she will now be the happy recipient of the Nicey Jane + Essex cotton linen cross quilt.  It was only a matter of time really.

Actually, I did buy one thing online today -- the first issue of Fat Quaterly.

Seventy-eight pages of information, inspiration, patterns, articles, and giveaways! 

On Wednesday you saw that I am joining the Pillow Talk 3 Swap, and I am very excited about it.  I love the pillows that have come out of that swap in previous rounds.  Maybe I should make a practice pillow.  The only pillows I've ever made were the ones to match Molly's half hexagon quilt from last summer.

 I recently completed my first swap in a Flickr swap group.  This is what I received from Melanie (Crandons):

The swap was for the 1/2 yard of the Amy Butler fabric and the 1/2 yard of the FMF vines, but Melanie tossed in all these precious scraps!  Opening the package felt like Christmas morning, and I am convinced that no one could love or appreciate these scraps more than I!  And -- another believe it or not moment -- my first FMF ever!  It's about time!

And last, but not least, I prepped just a few more hexagon blocks for the ORBC quiltalong.

With wishes, true and kind -- Joan

Wordless Wednesday -- Pillow Talk Swap 3 Inspiration

1. DQS7 Finished 1, 2. Shoo-fly pillow 3, 3. pillow talk swap~ ready to ship!, 4. hope valley crosses , 5. Half Plate Green, 6. Plume Sails, 7. YIP 365.184:: Zen squares pillow, 8. If it's a boy quilt - front, 9. Coin Quilt from Last Minute Patchwork and Quilted Gifts, 10. String Pieced Pillow, 11. Good Folks String Quilt Top, 12. Pillow Talk Swap & Tutorial, 13.Untitled, 14. white banded patchwork pillows , 15. cheerful obsession, 16. Mauve

http://www.flickr.com/groups/1197421@N20/pool/

With wishes, true and kind -- Joan

2009 Blogger's Quilt Festival

Having come back to quilting in June after a break of several years, I find myself with only one completed quilt and a rapidly growing pile of quilt tops.  So my entry for the quilt festival is the half hexagon quilt I made as part of comfortstitching's half hexagon quiltalong on flickr. Please click on any of the images below for a closer look, and my apologies to my regular followers for re-posting this quilt so soon.

The quilt has a bit of a story.  I decided it would be a “make do” quilt, using only fabrics I had on hand.  I started by gathering primarily scraps leftover from the making of this quilt top for my daughter a few years ago. 

I cut my strips and half hexies and started playing with them on a makeshift design wall (flannel sheet) hanging over the French doors separating the family room from the living room.

My daughter walked into the house, expressed interest, and we agreed that the quilt would be for her college dorm room when she moved back to school in the fall.  However, although she had picked out most of the fabrics from the earlier quilt, her tastes have changed a little, and she wanted to use more Amy Butler fabrics and take out some of the stronger, brighter colors.  I agreed and started cutting more fabric.  As I played around with this new direction, I found myself changing more and more of the fabrics and using more and more from my long cherished Amy Butler stash.  If I didn’t have enough fabrics to complete a row in the layout, I just added other similar fabric, which was a look that both my daughter and I agreed upon.  If you look closely at the picture of the finished quilt above, you will notice that in several "rows" there are actually two or three different fabrics.

The half hexies were then sewn into strips...

...with a little "help" from Bonnie and Samantha.

We did purchase new fabric for the borders and the back.  We both quickly agreed upon this fabulous Kaffe Fassett for the backing that seemed to tie in all the fabrics.  It was quilted on a long arm by my friend, Karen Walker.

 I used leftover fabric and strips to make two pillowcases and four pillows…

…to create Dorm Room Chic.

Sweet Dreams, Molly!

Be sure to click on the badge to see other quilts in the festival.

With wishes, true and kind -- Joan