A while ago, Rhett asked me to make a quilt for him. I've had some trouble deciding what to do because he doesn't like busy patterns and does like plain colors. Not a fun combo for me to work with :) I know I'll get to it soon, but it certainly wasn't going to happen before Christmas. So, I went looking for Plan B.
I did finally decide on colors and a pattern for the quilt, and I'll share more when I actually get going on it. For Christmas I decided to make him something to tide him over and give him a preview of things to come.
We have an ongoing back-n-forth about pillows on the bed. We have several that are for lounging and comfort and a couple that are decorative. Basically it drives me nuts when he lays on my decorative pillows because it deforms them. They're never quite the same after he gets to them. Conversly, he can't understand why I even care. Why are there pillows that can't be laid on?
So, I decided to give him his own decorative pillow that will match the quilt to come.
I used this pattern from Craftsy. I liked both the size and the design. Bonus ... it was free :) One thing I would change about the pattern is the back. It is a fold-over back, and I do like that. The pattern just didn't have the two pieces overlap enough (only about 1-1/2 inches.) For a pillow this large, I'd have them overlap 6 inches so that even when the bulk of the pillow is inserted it doesn't bulge open like this.
The other thing I changed was how I did the applique. The process described in the pattern was complicated and I just couldn't wrap my mind around it. I'd had success with the applique for my advent calendar (tutorial here), so I used that method. I really don't think you can tell the difference.
I also wanted to practice some FMQ; I did a different pattern for each color. Pebbling on the Red, border hearts on the black, micro-stippling on the cream and spirals on the white around the applique. This was the first time that I tried both pebbles and spirals. I need to work on the pebbles, but I love the spirals.
I am so happy with the way it turned out. I did have technical problems with the pebbling and hearts. The front looked OK, but the back was awful. It turned out I just needed to replace the needle with a fresh sharp one. That simple little thing stopped the skipped stitches and made the back look like the front. Unfortunately I didn't make this change until almost the end, so the back of the red and black look pretty bad, but the back of the spirals are beautiful.
Hooking up to Confessions of a Fabric Addict, CSI project, The Idea Room, Sew Many Ways, Fireflies and Jellybeans, Time to Sparkle, Link Party Palooza and Make Bake Create.
It turned out terrific, even with the stitch issues. More importantly, you learned a valuable lesson and I'm betting you won't do that again.
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