Sunday, February 11, 2007

i quilted!

remember, oh, about a month ago when i mentioned that i had started a log cabin quilted throw pillow? well, it sort of languished on a living room chair for several weeks after that, until this weekend when i decided to finish it. i was pretty much done sewing the pieces of the top together, but i still had to do the actual quilting part. i've never quilted anything before, and though this piece is about as easy as it comes, i was still so scared to take the sewing machine to my beautiful, carefully sewn together piece! the quilting is one big concentric circle of lines, and i had to stop after each line and kind of take a deep breath and convince myself that everything was going to be okay. and it really was okay!

front:



back:



the pattern is lisa congdon's, from the crafter's companion, a book that i am really enjoying. the fabric was just lots of little things i've picked up, both vintage bits as well as goodies from purl and superbuzzy. i like how this pattern allows you to really use up scraps of fabric, and it was fun (though sort of stressful!) putting the colors together. i deviated from the pattern slightly in a few places - i didn't use pre-quilted fabric pieces for the back, but opted instead to just sew some batting to a large square of fabric i had lying around. i also omitted the ribbon ties on the back - i added them, but they weren't really laying right, so i took them off.

i love how the end result looks, and i think i will make a mismatched pair for it. and now i'm setting my sights a little higher for my next quilting project...maybe even an actual quilt!

oh yes...and a second finished object as well: i finished the pair of fetching(s?) that i made for a friend - i gave them to her yesterday, and i think they were well received. nevermind that a few of the cables are cabled the wrong direction, but it's pretty hard to tell. oops!



these are made with rowan classic yarns cashsoft dk, in poppy. i made the last pair of fetching with this yarn too - it's so smooth and soft and squishy!