Pantone Challenge: Secret Courtyard Mini

I was excited to see that the Pantone colour of the year this year was green. Or Greenery to be exact. I love green. It is my favourite colour.

So when Sarah @ No Hats in the House and Rebecca @ Bryan House Quilts announced that they were hosting the Pantone Quilt Challenge for this year I was determined to enter. Previous years, my stash has been sadly lacking the required colours, but I have plenty of green fabric squirreled away.

It is hard not to think of plants and gardens when someone says "greenery"- and that is exactly where my mind went for this mini.

It was such a gorgeous day today I had to get my little helpers outside to help with the photoshoot

I wanted to do cathedral windows where the petal shaped looked like leaves and the centres beautiful blooms. This grid makes me think of peeking through a trellised gate, overgrown with vines and beautiful blooms - a secret respite from the bus day to day. (Sadly, this is nothing like my garden, my thumb is distinctly on the black side).

To make the centre, I used the Missouri Quilt Co Easy Cathedral Windows tutorial. I can't say it was easy - it was a bit of a mind bend for me, especially as I set it on point. But I have also made a normal cathedral window pincushion, and this was definitely easier. I guess it is all relative. I raided my stash of green to make the leaves and my Tula Pink for the blooms. Thank you Tula for your big bold flowers!! Just the vibe I was going for.

To get it up to pillow size (I am killing two birds and making a cushion for our lounge), I set it on point with some Essex yarn dyed linen in Steel which made me think of pavers in that secret courtyard.

The great thing about doing the cathedral windows is that it is QAYG. I quilted around the petals to secure them down and then around the centre of the blooms to keep them nice and secure since there will be little girls bouncing on it. On the Essex I quilted straight lines in a bright green about a quarter inch apart (think moss on those pavers....am I painting a picture for you?).

I really love the texture that the quilting gives it

Lastly I put a exposed zipper in the back. I just love that look. None of the zippers I had on hand were long enough so I just put tabs on the ends to get it up to length. I bound it in some great Color Me Retro by Jeni Baker (first ever bundle purchased, very big soft spot for this line - I ordered it from the hospital after giving birth to Ms Bird).

This kind of zipper closure just makes me happy. Plain back so that when heads are lying on it that don't get the front grimy. But oops! forgot my label - will have to retrofit that it

Now just to convince my dear husband that there is no such thing as too many cushions for the lounge...

Thanks to Sarah & Rebecca for hosting. Go check out the other entries here.

Quilt Stats
Name: Secret Courtyard
Dimensions: 24" x 24"
Pattern: Missouri Quilt Co Easy Cathedral Windows
Fabric: Assorted green from stash, assorted Tula Pink florals, Essex yarn Dyed in Steel
Binding: Color Me Retro Kitchenette in Apple
Quilting: All Auriful 50 wt. Petals: 4093 (Jade), Blooms: 4647 (Berrylicious), Background: 1231 (Spring Green)

Shape Family Challenge

Ta da! Scraping in by the skin of my teeth, here is my entry for the Shape Family Challenge run by the amazing Jodi (@Tales of Cloth).

All finished, I love this ranbow-y goodness

Made with Liberty fabric and a super light chambray, these were a match made in heaven and sew lovely to set. When I pulled the papers out they pressed so lovely and flat.

The premise of the challenge is to take one of Jodi's mixed pack of shapes (a Shape Family Pack) and make your own pattern. It certainly was fun coming up with it, although my husband did wonder what on earth I was doing.

Playing aound

The pillow back is a gorgeous spotty chambray that I am also going to make a dress out of (one day) - I think a Tea House dress, but I am going off topic...

Mmm, delicious

I straight line quilted it with a lilac Aurifil thread.

The pillow finished at 22.5 x 23.5 inches.

I've loved the peaceful nature of hand-stitching. It allows me to sit in the same room as my husband and still sew. I am a little sad now that I am finished, I think I may have to start a new project. Once I finish a few more WIPs. 

Aussie Christmas Swap: Rainbow Pillow

Finally, last minute Christmas sewing is over, fete sewing is over, work is over (for the year, let's not get too excited), school is over, so I have a spare few minutes to write a blog post.

I feel it is very appropriate to write this post this long weekend since it was a make for the Aussie Christmas Swap. 

My partner said they loved Tula, Alison Glass and EPP / hexagons. Well, I have a fair amount of both Tula and Alison in my stash but given the short timeframe for the swap plus all the associated Christmas / year end crazy there was no way I was going to have time for hand piecing. I went with a pattern that had a good geometric design still though and hoped that would meet the criteria for my partner. 

Pattern I drafted up in PowerPoint

First up I whipped up some foundation paper piecing templates in PowerPoint. I am a big believer in playing to your strengths and I am good at PowerPoint. Obviously not the quilters tool of choice but for something simple in a pinch I thought it was a good option. 

Then auditioning colour placement and piece, piece, piece. Once done I was a bit stumped with how to quilt it, so I sat on it (metaphorically, not literally) for a few days and is often the case, the solution came to me in bed. I used my growing collection of Aurifil to match the colours and quilt it up. 

In love with the quilting pattern

I couldn't decide which part I loved the most, so two quilting pictures!

I used some Alison Glass Ex Libris for the pillow back and bound it in bike path in black and called it finished. Truth be told I was sorry to send it off, but spirit of Christmas and all that. 

This is my December ALYoF finish. 

Stats

Quilt: Alison x Tula Rainbow (technically it's a pillow)

Pattern: inspired by a pillow made by Sami (@imasavonasac on Instagram)

Dimensions: 16" x 16"

Fabric: mainly Alison Glass Handcrafted (I & II) and assorted Tula Pink (Eden, Elizabeth, True Colors)

Binding: Alison Glass Bike Path in Black & White

Backing: Alison Glass Ex Libris in Bookplate warm
Quilting: Aurifil 50wt in assorted colours

Now. I know people say it is better to give than receive and I felt pretty good about my giving, but I totally hit the jackpot on the receiving end. My partner was Carmen (@wombatcupcaketree on Instagram) and it was like she read my mind. 

A truly thoughtful gift

The necklace was actually on my Christmas Wishlist for my family so I had to take that off. I feel so very fortunate to have received a gift that someone put so much thought into. Thank you Carmen!!