Finally – a Finish!

It has been a while since I have been able to sit down at my sewing machine, let alone my computer to get anything quilt related done.  I took on a few new classes at work which kept me busy along with doing some renovations around the house.  Suddenly I looked at the calender and realized it was April – how did that happen?

I will be giving some updates on the two rooms of the house we have been working on soon (they are both finally close to being finished), and I finished marking finals yesterday, yay!  Now I can finally get back into the sewing room and get working on some projects that have been long neglected.

The above pillow has actually been finished for a while and was done for an improv quilting challenge with my local Modern Quilt Guild.  It was done with some 2″strips that were leftover from the HST quilt from a while ago.  I also tried some quilt as you go with this as I was putting the strips down.

I love the quilted pillow and it lives in one of the rooms we have been working on – I will post pics of it in its home soon!  Now I just have to get the other pillow I have been working on finished:

New Pillow Finish

Finally a finish.  I don’t know why, but it feels like I have been working away and finishing nothing this summer.  This could be due to my tendency to skip around between five or six different projects, but whatever the case it feels great to finally some something finished even if it is small!  There is nothing like getting something off the WIP pile to make you feel like you are accomplishing something.

I had a few squares left over from making my Squares of Eden quilt, and they have been laying around in my sewing room, collecting lint.  I decided to pull them out and make a quick pillow for the guest bed to go with the quilt.  I had a pillow form that was 16″ by 24″ that I had recently picked up when I was making pillows with my cousin (getting her started on the quilting bug early).

As it was a small project I decided to have a little fun with the quilting and try out a few new designs.  I have been wanting to try the swirls for a while after taking the craftsy class by Angela Walters.  I then used the flower boarders from Natalia Bonner’s book A Beginners Guide to Free Motion Quilting.

I am happy with the way the quilting turned out and almost decided to bind it for a mini quilt instead of making a pillow so I could see all the detail on the back.  I did make the pillow and have been enjoying the extra pop of colour.  I am now making plans for more pillows – they are so much fun and come together so quickly.  They are great for a little pick me up project, and a fun place to try out new free motion quilting patterns without it being too overwhelming.

I am linking up to Finish it up Friday on Crazy Mom Quilts.  If you are visiting from there, welcome and thank you for checking out my post!  If you haven’t looked at some of the projects, I highly suggest taking a look.  There is always something great being finished.