I have been sewing up a storm over here, but it has been mostly by hand and therefore very, very slow. I had signed up for the sixth round of the Pillow Talk Swap over in flickrland and from my partner’s mosaic, I got the impression that she was a big fan of hand quilting. And I always like to challenge myself and include a ‘first’ with every swap. So currently in the mail is my very first Dresden Plate! I am SO thrilled with how it turned out!
The dresden pattern I used is from the Material Obsession book, but mine turnedo ut quite a bit bigger than stated. That said, I was REALLY glad it was larger. I like the larger dresdens with the large center circles, personally. And this pattern is fool proof. It went together so fast and so easy, I now want to make about a bazillion of these. MUST.FOCUS.ON.FINISHING.UFOS. Why are new projects always so much more attractive than UFOs? Its like I get the 7 week itch…
I added a few rows of hand quilting around the outside and put the whole thing on my most favorite polka dot EVER! (From Henry Glass and now OOP. Boo)
And as if the joy of seeing that pillow come together wasn’t enough, I made a second ‘bloom‘ pillow for Kirsten for a private swap we arranged back in May-ish. In exchange, I received this little wonder:
I love it very very much. It currently resides next to the lovely pillow I received from the last pillow talk swap and my (almost two year old) and I race each other to it on the couch.
I had to take this shot of the pillow on the chair because Kirsten used the same chair for her shot 🙂
And now, I get to stalk my mailman and see what the most current round of pillow talk will bring my way!
It’s so pretty! I love the polka dotty background! The gifty pillow is great too! I love the photo set up 🙂
oh i love it all! that dotty dresden kills me a little. love it. and the +&x pillow…. swoon!
I LOVE your Dresden! So clean! So pretty! I want your stash!
So cute! :o)
i love the hand-quilting on the 1st pillow. so pretty! and the fabric arrangement on the 2nd one–perfect!
I think one of the best things about swaps is that it forces you to try new and different, as you tend not to get people with identical tastes to you. Love the dresden that you pushed yourself to, and what a cute pillow you received.
Love the pillows! Your dresden is amazing, I haven’t attempted one of those yet. And the pillow you received is great, love all the colours!
Beautiful!
amanda! glad you mentioned your blog here. i was owndering what you were up to! congrats on the little bun in your oven and abby looks so old and soooo cute. i think of you often with the frabric shops here. i need to send you a little sampling. you sewing is out of this world. i am inspired to try out quilting! miss you! find an excuse to come visit and i will take you to the most amazing little shops (filled with japanese cleverness and cuteness)
very sweet pillows….thank you for commenting on my quilts…appreciate it