First Pillow - a few lessons learned

I decided to make a pillow for my secret partner in the For the Love of Solids Swap. I don't really know why since I've never made one before, but I dove in and went for it. I had a few parameters. Most were taken from my partner's sign up form with dashes of her mosaic mashed in:
- Ohio stars pattern
- make it improv/wonky
- include log cabins
- use blue, green, lime, aqua, grey, etc
- use only solids (obviously)
- make each block different in some way.

So here is the front:

Yep, my small item is a zippy pouch!

 For the back I used her mosaic as inspiration:
- abacus blocks
- use a berry colour + those above
I decided that I wasn't confident enough to attempt a zipper in my first pillow, so I opted for an envelope style adding binding to each flap sewed on with one of the machine's fancy stitches I rarely use. I found one with blocks (greek keys?) and went for it. Well, it adds to the wonky and a little character that's for sure. I think I'll need a bit more practice on how to get those stitches straight.

Here is the back:

Lots of wonkiness in these blocks

 Hubster helped me out with some photos so they would have decent lighting, but then the camera battery died and I haven't been able to find the charger. Sheesh. So these photos will have to do. Hopefully my partner will be a better photographer and share some photos with me.

Next up: the small item I made. You can see it in the collage of the pillow front. I made my second zippy pouch. Good thing I have had recent practice with the Mouthy Stitches Zip Pouch Swap.

Lessons Learned:

• You do have to have a game plan when making something a certain size. I was aiming for a pillow about 16" and ended up with it at 22" (I trimmed it down to 20")
• I'm not so good at teeny tiny piecing
• I'm an over presser. There are some seams where the threads show more than I would have liked
• I love solids, but I still need practice with values so I get them a little more varied
• I really need to plan out the placement of blocks for the pillow - the back on this pillow is where the abacus blocks needed to be centered a little better
• I spend too much time playing on Picasa, and should invest more time in taking better photos to begin with. I sense an online photography course in my future, or a search for useful info on blogs...I know I've seen a few recently. A light box will be in my future as well.

Well, maybe I'll still spend time on Picasa for things like this:

Love the neon filter

 Now I'm off to watch the red carpet coverage for the Oscars - lame I know, but it is a tradition. I need a Tim Gunn fix for the night.

Crushing on Kona Crush

I am loving working with Kona Crush fabric lately. I've used it for both swaps, and still have piles left. woo hoo. I actually bought it without knowing it was Kona Crush - I thought it was normal Kona Solids fabric. I'm so glad I made that happy accidental purchase from Pink Chalk Fabrics. Unfortunately it seems it isn't being restocked, which probably accounts for the wicked sales price I received. I'll have to find a new source with decent shipping rates to Canada. It doesn't come in as many colours as the straight up solids range, but they do have a few gems (I got Aqua & Red). I think Julie at Jaybird Quilts uses Crush in some of her projects. I really do love it. It's soft, and adds texture and interest. L O V E.

We will be hosting my father and sister in law next weekend visiting from Australia so I knew I needed to get a move on with the pillow. I was so gung ho I made the project a touch bigger than intended. I've ended up with a pillow that would measure 22 inches square finished. Hurumph. I was aiming for 16 or 18 inches.

I've popped a picture up on the Flickr group for feedback and asked if my partner would rather have it still be a *large* pillow or a wall hanging (something she did not ask for in her questionnaire) and I'm hoping she'll comment or the project might be on hold until the weekend after next. Yikes. I'm super happy with the results so far, but if my partner says its a no go I will just finish this as a wall hanging for myself. So win-win.

This shows a truer colour of the border, and teals/aquas in the blocks

These are truer colours in the blocks, but the border is actually aqua

I really should try to finish a project in the daylight so I could take a decently lit picture. Pshaw. I've tweaked it with Picasa to compensate. The colours are greens, aqua, teal, blues, greens, yellow and olive. Oh and touches of grey just because i put grey in everything for some reason.