Sidetracked: Hope's Pillow

So, three years ago I made a quilt for my friend Charlotte (who also goes by Hope).  It was only the second quilt I'd ever made and I was really proud of it.  (Here it is, Hope's Haven, in my Quiltfolio)  Sometime after giving it to her, we visited a quilt shop in Monterey (love it there....the ocean....and a fabric store....need I say more?)  Anyway, being the good sport she is, she let me drag her to a class on String Quilts...and I immediately went home and practiced the block with scraps from her quilt. (Btw, I'm sharing this post over on Fabric Tuesdays - scroll up and click the button to view.)

Of course, when I told her what I'd done, she started hinting about the possibility of getting a pillow to go along wither her quilt.  Thus, the idea was born.  And, although it's been almost 3 years, I am quite proud I followed through and finally made her Hope's Haven Pillow. 

It was fun arranging the 4 blocks but a little stressful as well.  See, I have a hard time with "random" patterns...they always look off balance...but I finally got something I could live with.  Since this was my first pillow, I read a lot of blogs looking for tips, tricks and different styles of pillows.  Borrowing from many of them,  this is how it turned out.  

Chose the border, backing and binding fabrics....oh and some cute buttons...

Decided to go with overlapped backing so the pillow form could be removed

 and (my own idea here) fasten the opening with those cute buttons.

Got to experiment with the automatic buttonholer feature on my machine....wow, so easy!



And.....here's the finished product....front...

 Using the third button on the front center was an afterthought really

But I love buttons....and liked how that turned out.  Here's the back.

And there you have it, Hope's Haven coordinating pillow.  Happy Birthday, Char!

My VERY First Show - Update 11/02/10

Thought I'd update this post so I could share it on Fabric Tuesday (their button is on your right).  The quilt show I entered my kite quilt in was last Sunday 10/26/10.  Details are here.  This was such a fun quilt to make!  Below is my original post and some more detailed photos.

Well, I finally did it. Today, I completed the application to enter a quilt into the Independance Hall Quilt show. The show is in October and is held at one of my favorite places to visit, the Ironstone Winery in Murphy's CA. I'm kind of nervous but also excited to be sharing a very special quilt I just finished for my grandson. Here's some shots of it. Can't wait til October!

Flying to New Heights

Isn't it colorful...so happy and childlike.  I found the pattern, a Tammy Tadd Designs,  in a magazine while standing in line at the grocery store.  My eye was drawn to the 3-D effects in the kite pinwheels and kite ties.  Some of those details are captured in the next few pics.

3-D Pinwheels (like paper folding)

3-D Kite Ties & Rick Rack Kite Strings

Quilt lines created pillowy diamond shapes in the background. (Shot prior to binding)

I'm really proud of how it turned out.  Thanks to the great pattern full of color and creativity.