holiday pillows for Michael Miller Fabrics

One of my goals for the past few years has been to have my work included in a booth at Quilt Market (a bi-annual trade show for quilt shops). Last fall, I was able to accomplish that goal (yay!) when I was asked by Michael Miller Fabrics to create two pillows for their fall Quilt Market booth, using fabrics from their holiday Glitz collection.

Since the objective was to showcase the green, gold, red, and white prints, I wanted to stick with clean, simple designs that referenced the holidays, but weren't over the top. For the first pillow, I envisioned creating a minimal wreath design. I first thought of sewing one of the rings from Denyse Schmidt's Single Girl Quilt, but I wanted something that had a bit more space in the borders. Not long after, I found Svetlana of Sotak Handmade's quilted pillow design---featuring a patchwork ring---and thought it would be lovely in this context.

The resulting pillow cover wound up being so pretty and simple, and a subtle nod to the holidays.

Photo by Michael Miller Fabrics

For the second pillow, I created a design inspired by overlapping cranberry garlands. I made each garland by fusing small red circles to the patchwork pillow top, and then stitching a line through each "strand."

In addition to making the pillow, I also wrote up a free tutorial for it, which is now available on Michael Miller's web site, if you would like to make your own. 

Each of the pillow backs featured more of the Glitz prints and hidden zippers (I used Svetlana's tutorial---my favorite method!), for a fun, festive finish.

P.S. Looking for this month's link-up for the Modern Sampler Quilt Along? It will be posted later this week, so stay tuned!

flying geese pillow class

There are still a few spots left in the Flying Geese Pillow class I'll be teaching in the Spoonflower Greenhouse on Thursday, May 9. If you live in the area, I hope you'll join!

gallery of gifts 2012

In case you've been itching to get your hands on some handmade Salty Oat goodies, here's your chance! From now until December 22, you can find a few of my things for sale in the Gallery of Gifts at the Library Arts Center in Newport, New Hampshire (my home state!).

The annual holiday show features the work of a number of New England artists, and I'm excited to be included for the second time (I first participated two years ago). Among the items I sent, you'll find corduroy lunch totes, cross-stitch animal hoops, patchwork pillows, and cross-stitch pinback buttons.

If you're in the area, I hope you'll stop by the gallery and do a bit of holiday shopping and support a great organization!

LMP+QG july challenge: little bits pillow

Each month, my friend Kait and I are making a project from the book, Last-Minute Patchwork and Quilted Gifts ("LMP+QG" for short). You can see previous projects here. 

For July, Kait and I had another quilt on the to-do list. Wanting to try something a bit different and not wanting to add to my growing WIP pile, I decided to make a big pillow instead.

I opted for a yellow and gray color theme (noticing a trend?) so that I could use the pillow in our guest room, which has officially become the yellow and gray room. I followed the book's instructions for cutting and piecing the small scraps to create blocks---the technique was quite similar to the one used for the pieced pillows Kait and I made in March.

I did random straight-line quilting on the pillow top, which is something that I've wanted to try for ages, but was always intimidated by the prospect of quilting an entire quilt that way. This pillow was the perfect introduction. It's big---over 20"+ square---and squishy and will be perfect in our new guest room.

See the pretty quilt Kait made here.

Coming up next month: Kelly's pincushions

paintbox pillow

A pretty patchwork pillow to brighten your morning, made by my mom for my birthday last year:

pillow swap: what i received

So way back last summer, when I participated in the Triangle Modern Quilt Guild's pillow swap, and made this pillow for Quilt Dad, I received this amazing pillow from fellow guild member Valerie in return:

I loved the color palette that Valerie used so much, that it wound up being the inspiration for our living curtains. Thanks, Valerie!

P.S. Happy Valentine's Day!

quilting project: log cabin pillow

A log cabin pillow made for my sister-in-law's June birthday:

{Made using this Sew Mama Sew! tutorial and pink and green fabrics pulled entirely from my stash, with a bit of hand quilting thrown in.} 

quilting project: heather ross travel pillow

Soon after moving to North Carolina, I joined the Triangle Modern Quilt Guild (which has been a lot of fun to be a part of). For this past month's meeting, I participated in a travel pillow swap and created a pillow for my swap partner, John, of Quilt Dad fame. 

Using Ashley's quilt block tutorial as a starting point, I created the pillow from limited-edition Heather Ross for Spoonflower fabric and coordinating solids. I opted for an envelope-style back and straight-line quilting for the front. All in all, I was pleased with how it turned out.

P.S. Have you seen Heather's newest line, Far Far Away III? Love!

quilting project: big stripe pillow

I fell in love with Sparkle Power's quilted stripe pillow the second I saw it, and immediately used the tutorial to make a lilac and maroon pillow as a Christmas gift. It was such a quick and easy project (particularly since I did it after having just finished this one), that I'd love to do it again and make one for myself.

sashiko throw pillow

Inspired by this post on The Purl Bee earlier this year, I decided to try my hand at sashiko (Japanese embroidery). I purchased my supplies (sashiko kit, needles, cotton thread, and leather thimble) from KimonoMomo on Etsy and got started stitching. I did most of the stitching during our trip to Seattle last March---including while on the plane---and I turned the finished piece into a pillow a few weeks ago. 

The lovely graphic patterns used in sashiko are my favorite part, and I've used them in the past---like on this cross-stitch travel mug---without even realizing it.