Another year

It's my birthday, and I thought I'd take a look ar some of the things I finished this year. Funny, some of these projects seem so long ago. 

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Salvaged Pillows

All six of the denim pillows are finished. I'm calling them the Salvaged series, as all the denim and lining are upcycled from worn and washed clothing and linens.

Two of the designs are more swirly.

Salvaged:Filament Denim  Pillow

Salvaged:Coastline Denim Pillow

And the other four are more symmetrical.

Salvaged:Aperture Denim Pillow

Salvaged:Jigsaw Denim Pillow

Salvaged:Asterisk Denim Pillow

Salvaged:Compass Denim Pillow

Originally I had planned to finish the edges with doublefold chambray binding, like the first asterisk pillow. But I opted for a simpler turned edge with topstitching. A few got a double row of topstitching, but there are as many as 10 layers of denim (including the seam allowance) at some points, and that proved beyond the capabilities of my sturdy little machine.

Each pillow has a concealed brass zipper on the back with a brass chain pull and rivets for reinforcement at the zipper ends. The lining is yarn-dyed cotton sheeting.

All six pillows are available in my Etsy shop. Just in time for last minute holiday shopping!

Aurifil winners

I've drawn the five lucky Aurifil thread pack winners. Thanks for all your lovely comments and enthusiasm.

And the winners are:

 

 

 

 

Aurifil thread review & giveaway

A little while ago Aurifil sent me a few spools of thread to try out in various weights and colors. Aurifil cotton thread comes in several weights, including 50wt recommended for piecing, slightly heavier 40wt for quilting, and 12wt for redwork and serging.

This week I've been burning through a spool of 28wt cotton (blue 2725) on two projects. I used it to quilt the Naptime baby blanket. I love how the quilting pops, not only from the design but from the heavy shiny thread.

I've found the thread to be a pleasure to work with. I often have trouble maintaining tension balance on my old machine when I use heavy threads. But I've had no problem with the Aurifil. I've noticed that the thread generates very little lint in my machine, relative to other threads I've used. Perhaps that's helping with the tension.

The strong and substantial 28wt thread has also been perfect for piecing my denim blocks. It's not easy for the machine to push through four layers of denim. It can't be easy on the thread either. The 28wt Aurifil has been great.

Now for the fun part. Aurifil has provided five sampler packs with various thread weights to share with my readers.

To win an Aurifil thread pack, leave a comment telling me what thread weight you want to try first. I'll pick names Wednesday, December 7.

Update: Each five-pack contains a variety of weights and colors. The spool color is top secret code for the thread weight and material. Don't tell anyone!

More denim blocks

I've had a raft of hexagon-centered circle blocks floating around in my head since I hand-pieced a fussier version for Lynne's Hexalong this summer.

Now I've made patterns for six blocks. One of them (the lower left) found a home in the Pear Blossom quilt. Another (in the center) has already finished off a pillow. All of the fabrics are reclaimed from worn jeans.

Here are the pieces for five of them. It's a lot of work pushing the rotary cutter through all that denim!

Denim patchwork pillow

I'm working on a series of cushion covers pieced from recycled denim jeans. Each cushion is a variation on the six-petaled flower medallion I designed for the Pear Blossom quilt.

The cushion is 20" square.

I topstitched in heavy cotton jeans thread.

My favorite bits are the enclosure details on the back. More jeans top stitching, and reinforcing rivets on both edges of the zipper opening.

The zipper is No. 5 (standard jeans size) antique brass with a chain pull. I considered going with a jeans locking pull for the zipper but I decided the locking would be annoying.

The cushion is lined with upcycled yarn-dyed cotton sheeting and bound with cotton chambray

I love the denim patina on the back.

These are the six designs I'm working on. The finished pillow is ready to ship in my Etsy shop, and the other designs are available for make-to-order.

(Un) baby blanket

Architectural baby blanket a photo by Dan @ Piece and Press on Flickr.

I'm working on a baby quilt, but I'm not sure it looks like a baby blanket.

I started with Thomas's Naptime Pillow pattern. When I was small I built mazes out of wooden blocks, then legos, and I wanted to capture that spirit in the quilting.

The quilting follows the zig zag of the pieced prints, then echoes or responds to the previous quilting line with each new run. To keep the lines straight I marked a 3" reference grid and diagonals with my hera marker, then improvised as I quilted.

The fabrics are Thomas Knauer Pear Tree, AMH Loulouthi, Ty Pennington Impressions, and Kona white, copen, and bone.