Monday, January 17, 2011

hoopla bunting pillow!

PLEASE BID ON THE AUCTION POST, WHICH CAN BE FOUND HERE


a little while ago i ordered some charm packs from one of my favourite etsy shops. they're all Moda, and most of them were lines that are just now coming out in yardage. i ordered Modern Workshop, Central Park, Hideaway and Hoopla, and i love them! (especially Hideaway, since i'm obsessed with cuckoo clocks!)

i really wanted to make something fun with them, but they're just 5"x5" squares... i searched around looking at patterns, but most of them required a charm pack PLUS a jelly roll or something, or were for things that are pretty, but so not usable (how do people keep their tables clear enough for runners anyway?!). i thought about a pillow, but i couldn't decide on a design. all of my favourite types of squares, like log cabins, need longer strips...

i hemmed and hawed a bit, reluctant to cut into the squares without the perfect project, and then i ran across the Queensland Flood Appeal that Toni at Make It Perfect is organizing, and i knew it was the perfect reason to use some of my fancy new fabric.

at the same times, i ran across another blog that inspired me to think about buntings (i'll post about that blog later), and i realized that bunting flags were the perfect use for charm squares. i decided to use Hoopla, since it has a lot of small prints that are cute regardless of direction. i found linen in the most amazing shade of teal, and knew it was perfect for the background.

and then, because i've been slightly obsessed with paper piecing patterns lately, i somehow decided that i should paper piece the pillow, and that this would be the perfect time to draft my very first paper piecing design. you know - when i'm on a deadline, and using precious fabric that i can't get more of immediately. i'm clever like that, you know.

and so, the epic paper pieced pillow that took longer than some quilts emerged!

front

i'm so in love with it. i was giddy every time i looked at it for the first few days (and then the giddiness turned to panic when i realized i was running out of time!).

left angle

i learned a few good lessons about paperpiecing while working on this project, a few that i was able to fix as i went along, and one that i wasn't, but it's okay. (i wish i hadn't made the patterns all the same size - if i'd split the top half less evenly, the centre flag wouldn't have a seam through it)

right angle

i thought about using plain white kona for the bunting string, but that seemed rather blah. the hoopla line contains a tiny white on white dot,and luckily the charm pack had two of them. i cut them into 1" strips and pieced them together, and managed to do all of the string out of them. barely! i think i had a 1"x1" square left over!

detail

the back is solid teal, except for the short row of bunting in the bottom right corner. i used those flags for my quilt label, and machine embroidered on them. one has my name and country, and the other states “Queensland Flood Relief Jan 2011”.

back

bottom corner

there's a lapped zipper across the back of the pillow, i used one of my cherished dead-stock vintage zippers. it’s a lighter shade of blue, and says “lightning” on the cute rounded tab. (i totally <3 lighting brand zippers!)

zipper

i used a layer of cotton quilt batting backed with thin white cotton for the front, and a layer of flannelette for the back. i wanted to be able to enclose the zipper edges in the batting, and regular batting would have been too bulky to fold over. but i did still want the wrinkled look after quilting, so i didn't preshrink the flannelette.

interior

i'm going to do a second post for the auction itself, to keep bids and comments separate. (cause i'm hoping you'll comment!)

soooo..... what do ya think?

front corner

front angle

8 comments:

Digital Misfit said...

Simply fantastic, as always. Your creativity and crafty ability never ceases to amaze me.

Erin said...

This is so cheerful! I hope it gets a fantastic bid.

I laughed at the part about table runners because I do have one...somewhere underneath everything on the table.

Rachael said...

It's so gorgeous! Beautiful.

found you via iron craft.Great blog!

Gingham Skies said...

B.E.A.U.T.I.F.U.L.

Gingham Skies said...

P.S. I am featuring your pillow and mentioning the auction tomorrow on my blog

Heather - Dollarstorecrafts.com said...

This is really awesome! I am linking to it in a few hours at Dollar Store Crafts (as well as your auction): http://dollarstorecrafts.com/?p=9991

amy dame said...

thank you so much for all of your comments everyone, and especially to everyone who blogged about it and the auction!

erin, i have a quilted tablecloth heaped at one end of my table - i had to move it 3 weeks ago to cut fabric, and the table hasn't been clear enough since to spread it back out!

Unknown said...

Oh man, that is so cute! I love this idea. I hope you don't mind, but I posted a pic on my blog since I have an online fabric store and we have the Hoopla charm pack (I linked to here so that people can read more about it.) It's at http://quiltsandwich.typepad.com/quilt_sandwich_fabrics/2011/01/whats-all-the-hoopla-about.html

Thanks!
Becca
Quilt Sandwich Fabrics

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