A Wreathed Christmas pillow

Just because a pattern uses a single print in a block doesn't mean you have to limit yourself to one.  My stash is mostly made up of leftovers, with not a lot of yardage, so working from my stash usually involves a scrappier look.  

This week I made a block from my Wreathed pattern to use as a Christmas pillow cover.  As expected, I didn't have a big enough piece of any suitable green to make a block, but I had pretty green and gold metallic prints scraps.  The Christmas scrap bin spit out some assorted reds and cream/gold prints too.

Well, I probably had enough of that green with the snowflakes, but I really liked the other greens too.  Why choose? Use them all!

Choosing reds for the corners added a little bit of pop.  A friend once told me every quilt needs a "party girl" fabric to liven it up.  I think the red fits the bill here.  

I chose the border width to make the cover fit my couch throw pillows so I wouldn't need to buy a new pillow form, or find space to store the pillow out of season. I don't have a lot of storage space so finding shelf space for a flat empty pillow cover is much easier.

I considered making the borders in the same fabric as the block background to make the wreath float on the background, then decided more light fabric on a pillow cover was just inviting dirt to show up really well.  Green is clearly a better choice!

The red squares in the corners in the border were added because the scraps of the green I used in the border were not long enough to reach all the way across.  I initially added a different green in the corners, but those two green didn't play well together.  They looked fine together in the block, separated by a little bit of the background, but side by side and touching, they clashed a little.  Red works better, and echoes the red corners from the center block.

It's sparkly!

I love the gold metallic in the background and in the prints.  As a rule, I'm not partial to metallic accents, but that rule goes out the window when it comes to Christmas.  I love some Christmas sparkle!

Two years ago, I wrote a tutorial on how make a zippered pillow cover.  I wrote it because I couldn't find the tutorial I used when I first made one of these.  After figuring it out again on my own I wrote the tutorial so I could refer back to it when needed.  Since I hadn't made another pillow cover since I wrote the tutorial, I needed a refresher so I pulled up the instructions on my blog and followed them step by step.

Here comes the embarassing part.  That tutorial has been up for two years. I've referred people to it. Unfortunately it contained a doozy of a mistake!  Wrong side up is not the the same as wrong side down.  It just isn't, though I seem to have a brain block about it and write the wrong one fairly frequently.  This was one of those times.  If you followed the tutorial as written, you'd end up with the zipper on the inside of the pillow and the wrong side of the back of the pillow on the outside.

Fear not, I clued in before I did anything irreversible.  I layered and sewed tings in the proper order and orientation, and promptly corrected the tutorial.  It's safe for you to follow the instructions as written now!

P

Pretty red binding for a bright finish

When the binding clips match the quilt...

Here's the new pillow, front and back, with the zipper hiding under the cream strip on the back.  

We're a little slow to decorate for Christmas in this house, but I think this project has tipped me into the right mood.  We bought poinsettias last weekend.  When I finished the pillow, I was encouraged to switch out the fall quilts for my red and white and Christmas ones.  Maybe this weekend I'll get out the wreath for the stair railing and the garland for the mantle.  Next weekend can be the tree and tree lights so we can enjoy trimming the tree after my daughter comes home.  Less than two weeks to Laura hugs!

Have you made anything new for the Holidays this year? I used to make an ornament for the tree every year, but the tree is getting a bit full, so I think I'll count this pillow as this year's addition. :)

Happy quiting,

Joanne

Wreathed Quilt

We just has a dusting of snow here, so I feel like I'm a season behind posting this one.  Wreathed, made with Island Batik's beautiful Flowing Meadow collection, looks like a fall quilt to me, with lovely rusts, golds and deep greens and just a touch of something that reminds me of cranberries.

You might remember Wreathed Squares, which I designed for Connecting Threads and tweaked a little in this quilt this past fall to work better in a different fabric collection.

I tweaked it even more and named the new and improved pattern just plain old "Wreathed".  I liked the original just fine, but I love this new take on it even more.

The wreaths look more substantial.  I think they showcase the fabric much better.  With a little bit of strip piecing, they're also faster to piece.  That's a win, right?

Just a few more wreaths so you can see some of the colours better (though the golden tones Island Batik's Doughnut neutral basic doesn't show very well in these closeups).

I really do love this as a fall quilt, and I think it would make a great spring quilt as well in soft pastels, but what I really want to try next is a Christmas version.  Wreaths and Christmas just go hand in hand, so it's a logical leap.  I'm out of time for this Christmas, but the Merry Moments collection will be in stores in time for me to make a version for next year.

On second thought, I don't know if I can wait.  Maybe I can at least squeeze in a pillow cover using just one block for this Christmas?

What sewing are you squeezing in this December?  I hope it's stress-reducing rather than stress-inducing!

Happy quilting,

Joanne

Wreathed is available as a digital download in my Etsy shop

Pattern development and distracted sewing

I spent a large part of the last month lost down the EQ8 rabbit hole, playing with new designs.  For every design that becomes an actual quilt, there are dozens of discarded ones, and a few that have potential but need to sit and simmer until I figure out what I need to tweak to make it work.

Sometimes, I tweak and tweak and tweak and finally decide the original design was right to begin with.  That's how this placemat set worked out!

Brochettes placemats ready for binding

Last week's guild retreat was just the little push I needed to step away from the computer and start sewing.  If all had gone according to plan, I could have pieced these on the first day and quilted them the next day.  All did not go according to plan.

Pro tip:  When you add stitch-and-flip corners, be absolutely certain you have added them where they're supposed to be.  Do not cut away the excess fabric under the triangle until you are absolutely sure that the triangles are in the right place.  Once you've trimmed, the seam ripper cannot help you!  Just saying...

While chatting with fellow quilters at the retreat I made four of these, stopping a few times to rip seams when I sewed things in the wrong place.  Apparently, I don't multitask well.  I should chat, or sew, but not try both at the same time.  In any case, I finally succeeded in making four of these:

I paused before adding the top strip.  There was a little niggling thought that something wasn't quite right, but I silenced it.  I kept sewing. I added the strip and the second corner triangle, then I trimmed. Then I finally clued in that I should have listened to that niggling thought.  I added that first triangle one step too early.

Pro tip #2: Refer to the pattern at each step.  At an even more basic level, remember to actually bring the pattern with you to retreat.

Yup.  I neglected to do that.  This is a new pattern I'm working on.  The only part I had printed was the cutting chart.  I was running late that morning and just grabbed the chart and thought these exact words:  "It's a simple design, I'll remember it, no problem.  Just go!"  

Obviously, it is a simple design.  Also obviously, I didn't quite remember it on the fly.  What followed was some scrambling to squeeze additional pieces from the leftover fabric.  There wasn't quite enough of the lighter green, so I pieced scraps together to make the last piece I needed.  Thanks to the busy spatter/dot print, you can barely see the seam. 

There wasn't enough extra dark green print to cut what I needed, but I was able to cut some of the smaller pieces from larger pieces in the mistakes. 

Happily, I had enough of the tan to recut the eight pieces I needed.

I started over, paying attention this time, and finished the placemats before heading home at the end of the day.  The runner followed the next day, much more successfully as I brought a diagram AND paid attention.

I quilted these on Sunday with very basic straight line outline quilting with the walking foot.  Binding will follow soon, then I can take pictures for the pattern cover.  The pattern itself is almost ready. I just need to lay out the diagrams on the pages. 

I'm rather pleased with this design.  I think it would work in different color schemes of with themed prints.  Some leafy fall prints, or Christmas poinsettias would be perfect this time of year.  It's too bad I have four more quilts to make in the next month or two.  I don't think I'll be squeezing in new Thanksgiving or Christmas placemats!

How is your sewing going?  Hopefully it has involved less seam ripping and recutting than my placemats!

Happy qulting,

Joanne