Spring Carnival Cushion Cover

This is only the third cushion cover I have made. I started the EPP in August and then put it away. The excuse was that I was not very pleased with my choice of background fabric. However, I could not come up with anything better and decided to just finish it.

I went out of my comfort zone and decided to add piping. It frames the pillow nicely.

In case you were wondering I used Dritz Home 3/16" cable cord and the fabric strip was 1.5" wide. The zipper foot works nicely for this. The pillow is 20" x 20" so the thicker piping works well. For a smaller pillow I would use a thinner piping.

The 1" x 1" quilting gives it some added firmness.

And now for the flip side. If you observe the first picture carefully you will notice I did not place the EPP piece in the center of the background. #*^$*#!!!!

I cut off more from the top than the bottom and only noticed it after the pillow was completed. The perils of late night sewing after you have had a long day at work.

Linking up to: Fabric Tuesday, WIP Wednesday, Finish it up Friday

Riptide

Feels good to finally complete one of my very old UFOs. This is probably the first fabric I bought before I discovered designer fabric. Anyway I had started the quilt top almost 4 years ago and finally it's done. The pattern is 'Riptide' by Erla Gudrun.

I used this quilt to practice my FMQ skills. I quilted a five leaf flower which echoes the pattern in one of the fabrics. I was aiming for random placement of the flowers, however, found that I was not doing a good job of quilting evenly. I switched up my strategy and used the pieced blocks as a guide to get an even placement of flowers.

This ensured that I did not leave any large areas un-quilted.

On another note, notice I took the picture inside the house. I thought of taking the picture outside but the last time I attempted it I found that all passers by stopped to look and it made me extremely conscious. I found myself turning red and almost wishing I was invisible. I miss the isolated backyard that I was so used to taking pictures in where no one was around. Short of me driving the quilt to an isolated spot I find taking pictures outside my house attracts more attention than I can handle. How does everyone else manage? Any pointers or I should just get over it and do my thing??

More about this quilt here.

A Splash of Color

I have never been a fan of mini quilts until recently. I realized they are a great way to add a bit of color to the walls and try out new stuff without being invested in the project in a big way.

I finished one more mini for my sewing room. That pretty much is the last of my 'Simple Marks' fabric by Malka Dubrawsky. I auditioned different fabrics for the binding and found that Kona Chartreuse seemed to work the best.

I have also been up to some selfish sewing. Made a few pouches for myself. It had literally been a case of 'cobbler has no shoes'. I mainly followed Noodlehead's pouch tutorial with some duck cloth in the lining for structure. The fabric is 'Daisies N Such' by Jan DiCinto for Daisy Jane fabrics. There was a pack of fat ninths in the swag bag at the retreat last year and had been saving them up for pouches. 

I also love this little wristlet I made for the SMQG holiday swap earlier last month. This is what started the pouch making spree. I love the linen fabric by Ellen-Luckett Baker and had been hoarding it for a while. It was time to put it to use.

Feel good about starting the new year with small projects and sewing from my stash. I did not set any goals for this year but would definitely like to sew a bit more from my stash as I realized I have been hoarding some great fabric and could do with room for more :)

Linking up to: TGIFF, Fabric Frenzy Friday, Fabric Tuesday