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

quilting project: half-square triangle placemats

Before I moved down here to North Carolina (which I'm loving so far, by the way!), one of the projects I managed to finish, and gift, was a set of four quilted placemats.

Each one was made up of half square triangles, which I made from green and turquoise scraps in my stash, and backed with a coincidentally complementary print by Kathy Davis (also used on the back of this project and this one).

 

I've been experimenting a lot with half-square triangles lately--the layout possibilities are endless!--so I'll try and post some of my other projects in the coming weeks.

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.