MQG Riley Blake Challenge

I am really excited about my finished item for the MQG Riley Blake Challenge!



I used the x + block to make four scrappy blocks, and sewed them together for my pillow front. I quilted it with straight lines 1/4" apart. For the back, I used more of the grey, and did a hidden zipper (because all I had that would fit was UGLY!) which was quite fun.

I really like the bright colorful prints from this challenge, and I like the scrappy look the different prints and colors provided.  This is a breath of fresh air in my living room

Polaroid Pillows

I had seen the polaroid quilt blocks popping up on blogs, flickr and pinterest over the past several months, and I thought they were such a cute idea! I knew I wanted to do something with them, and when I started thinking about Christmas gifts, I thought of how much my kids LOVE pillows. I thought these would make great gifts for both my kids and my niece and nephew.



I started going through my scraps and choosing prints for each kiddo - things I thought they would like.



Then I cut all the white pieces for the frames and sewed those to the fussy cut centers.



I decided how big I wanted the pillows to finish, and then added grey sashing around the frames.



I tilted my ruler as I cut them down to size, so the pictures would appear tilted. Then I sewed them together in rows and made the pillow top. I didn't want to quilt them, so they would still be soft, but I wanted to prevent some fraying, so I sewed a muslin back onto the pillow front before I sewed the envelope closure on the back.



I used a bunch of stash pieces for the backing and just did simple envelope closures. I think they came out pretty cute!

Seasonal Pillow Challenge

Our MQG did a seasonal pillow challenge as our last challenge of the year. I knew I wanted to make a Christmas pillow, but I also knew I didn't have a lot of time, since I had lots of other obligations! :)

I had just won a copy of Simply Modern Christmas, which has a great wreath table topper/wall quilt. (You can see it here.) I loved it, but at 26"x26" it was just too big for a pillow.

I cut up all my greens and white, sewed up a bunch of HSTs and started playing around with the layout. I thought this looked enough like a wreath to be seasonal! :) I quilted straight lines about 1/4" apart and I put in a hidden zipper in the back, which was WAY easier than I thought it would be, and looks so nice!

We don't have a lot of Christmas decor that is not up on shelves or toys, so I'm thinking I might need a few more pillows! And I found fabric to make myself a Christmas quilt, that has been waiting three years now! Maybe if I get everything done on my list.....

Wonky Paint Chip Challenge

Our guild is doing bi-monthly challenges this year, and our first one was a paintchip challenge. We all chose a paintchip and had to make something with at least two of the colors on the paintchip. We also had to make our project wonky.

Wonky is really hard for me - I like nice straight lines and clean angles! But I was determined to participate! I chose a purple paintchip (there were not many left when I got to choose, and I had just gotten the purple Stash Stack Club from Pink Castle Fabrics and I'm not a big purple person, so I thought this would be a good opportunity to use some of that purple fabric up!). I really like wonky stars, but I had already made a wonky star quilt, so I chose a wonky log cabin block.



I decided to use all of the shades of purple from my paintchip. I chose a scrap for the center of the block, and built around it. I trimmed sides slightly wonky after each round, and kept going until the block was big enough for my pillow form.

For the back I knew I wanted to use letters from the book Word Play Quilts. I love the idea of putting words onto quilts. Since I knew I was making a pillow, and my center fabric was chairs, I thought writing 'sit' on the back of the pillow would be cute. I plan to use the pillow in one of our chairs.



I used two different shades of Kona grey on the back as well. I quilted both sides of the pillow with straight lines - the front has vertical lines and the back horizontal. I inserted a zipper at the bottom of the pillow cover.

I really really like this project! I was very hesitant at first, but I think it turned out really well. It was also my first time to make a quilted pillow cover and I really like the texture and sturdiness of it. I will be making more!