Will work for Fabric...

you know those signs you sometimes see people standing at the edge of the road holding...



I think mine should say... "Will Work For Fabric"...because I have been known to do this in the past!



Last year I swapped my labor for the giant roll of batting you see in the photo above. I did some sewing for Roc-Lon Industries for quilt market & in return I got the batting...only problem was, I didn't quilt!

I have long drooled over the new movement in quilting - modern colors, traditional patterns approached in non-traditional ways, the use of solid colors to complement the prints and decided just before christmas that I wanted to give quilting a try and made some table runners for gifts.

Then I stumbled upon a friends blog post announcing season 2 of Project Quilting! This was just the inspiration and challenge I needed to try my hand at quilting!

here are a couple of pics of my work in progress..






and the description of my piece for the challenge - inspiring friendships

20"square pillow cover

named for Friendship, NY

driving through the hills of allegheny ny this summer I passed a roadsign for Friendship NY and thought that would be a great place to say that you were from ... when I spotted this challenge on your blog I thought it would be the perfect place name from which to draw my inspiration.

so... friendship...my online friendship with you brought me to this challenge, the fabrics I used are from other "friends" I have made both online and in real life while pursuing my creative endeavors...Patty Young and I started out together in the same boutique group on ebay, I met Sandi Henderson there as well, Jennifer Paganelli and I became online friends and later met in real life when I visited her home in CT for one of her fabulous home shows(turns out she also has inlaws in my hometown!), and I snuck a little Valorie Wells in there as I had the good luck to meet her at quilt market!

the nesting dolls fabric represents the friends we made while living in Poland too many years ago!

the fabric used for the border came from my stash - the outermost print reminds me of the hills where friendship, NY is located

I started with a log cabin block that I cut into quarters, shifted around and sewed back together, made the stripwork heart applique, added batting & backing and quilted it all free motion (?) ... as I may have mentioned this is one of my first forays into quitling and I don't know all the correct terminology yet! I then added an envelope back to the front so it could be used on a 20" pillow form

thanks for inspiring me!

A Pillow Makeover...

....or another case of crafting ADD! Last Thursday I had the brilliant idea that we should have a surprise 75th birthday dinner for my FIL on Saturday. No sweat - 48 hours to clean & cook a dinner for 17!

While cleaning up the house I decided that the cranberry pillows on our couch were too christmasy/wintry and that I needed to bring a bit of spring into the house...so I snuck down to my sewing room to see what I could whip up!


Before:


I have long admired the log cabin squares that Jona of Stop Staring & Start Sewing fame has been working on so I decided to give it a try myself!


attempt #1 - shades of aqua and celedon. Some Amy Butler, Erin McMorris and a touch of the new Oh Cherry Oh! It was so much fun I started in on another...


some green & yellow this time - Heather Bailey, Amy Butler, Oh Cherry Oh!...I was really getting the hang of this & could see how Jona was addicted. So back to the basement I went...


pinks & oranges this time....just needed one more to balance the couch!

I think I saved the best for last! I went through the pile of strips I had cut for the other 3 pillows & started with Heather Ross's matryoshka's in lavender and ended up with my favorite pillow of the day!

I may attack the living room pillows next with Patty Young's Andalucia! Let me know what you think about the great pillow makeover!