Tuesday, February 3, 2015

I "Heart" February Finish

Meet my first official finish For February:


You might be surprised to know that it is an 11" square pillow. Those pixels are a mere half inch finished.  This is the ring pillow for Son #1's wedding in March.


I was inspired by all the Pixellated Heart projects floating around the blogosphere. I knew I couldn't get the desired affect with two inch finished pixels so I used the Elizabeth Hartman Stamp Collection tutorial on Oh Fransson to mini-size the project. I think it came out smashing!

It all started out as a 16x26" Fjadrar Inner Cusion from Ikea, a pile of pink and red scraps, my stack of untouched Caroline Friedlander, a little RK Essex Linen, a red zipper and some navy pearl cotton. That's what you see. Underneath it includes, fusible interfacing, cotton batting, muslin and of course, thread. I guess you could add in all the vodka-starch I used to tease those seams into submission.

I will share the construction process is another post, but for now, here is the pillow in detail.




Note that the ribbon can be removed so that the little heart can be tossed around the home as a decoration post nuptials.

Now for an update on my 2015 Goals:

The Hickory Knob Retreat left me in an unusual position. I have a larger number of WIPs than I am used to. They are staring me in the face from the rail of the grace frame. It makes me feel a bit anxious when I look at them. Add to that that the ring pillow was NOT on my 2015 Goal list and I am feeling a bit behind. I do have a lot of starts just not many finishes.

I did finish some welcome additions to help me with production in January. These were also not on my 2015 List. I made six of Lori Holt's Design Boards. I absolutely love them and have another board to make a larger one that will fill in as a mini design wall since I am so short on wall space in my studio.


I changed up the design a bit and used gray flannel instead of batting scraps. I can neaten these babies up with a swipe of the lint roller.


They are coming in so handy with my granny square quilt. I lay out blocks on the 20x20 boards and organize my pieces on the 10x10 boards. I can stack them and move them around with ease. Lori is right, these are invaluable.



I have constructed seven of 20 granny square blocks. This project just moved up from a May finish to a mid-March deadline so I have to get hopping.


I have purchased more Kona Snow for the granny square quilt and the Christmas Tree Pants Side-B.
I still need to order some additional RB Small Dots to round out the granny square project.

And last but not least, I failed on my January ALYoF goal and only got my Christmas Runner sandwiched and FMQ'd two rows of Ribbon Candy.


I was going to make the Ring Pillow my February goal but since I finished it before I even shared it I am going to go back to the runner for my January ALYof goal.

Linking up with:
Freshly Pieced WIP Wednesday
Sew Fresh Quilt's Let's Bee Social
Mabey She Made It's Do Tell Tuesday
Quilt Story's Fabric Tuesday
She Can Do's Craftastic Monday
Blossom Heart Quilt's Sew Cute Tuesday
I have to Say's Show & Tell Tuesday
Bitter Sweet Designs A lovely Year of Finishes

26 comments:

  1. Your heart is amazing and adorable! I love it as a ring bearer pillow! Your Granny squares are ver. Right and cheerful and I might steal the design boards idea! Great post!

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    1. Thanks. Click on the orange link and it will take you to the design board instructions.

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  2. I love the pillow too! Sorry you didn't get your runner completed in January, but now you have a whole month.

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  3. I love your heart pillow! It is quite striking! And love your gray project boards, too.
    Susie

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  4. Well, you got lots done even if you didn't finish quilting your runner! Smart thinking to make the ribbon on the cushion removable for later. Cute finish!

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  5. What a cute heart pillow! Have fun making those granny square blocks, I really enjoyed playing with color combinations when I made those. So many possibilities!

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  6. love the heart pillow, squares are so wee!

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  7. Its gorgeous! It would drive me nuts! Good for you!

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  8. This ring cushion is so wonderful, a real piece of love! The combination of colors and pattern is so beautiful!

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  9. the heart pillow is fantastic, and I love how the ribbon comes off for after the wedding xxx www.crazyforpurple.com

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  10. That pillow is da Bomb! Love it, and so nice that it is already finished. Time has a way of getting away from you the closer you get to the wedding! I had to Google "vodka starch" - at first I thought it was just a way of saying you drank in order to deal with the tiny squares - lol! :) I have a large design board that also serves as my ironing board, but I never thought about having small ones. Thanks for the link!

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    1. Thanks. The pillow is done early but I'm sure A pre-wedding Rush or two will pop up anyway. Even as the groom's mom. As for the starch, I am actually a complete teetotaler but I had my son buy me a bottle of cheap vodka a few months ago so I could brew my own vanilla and I decided to try the leftovers as a starch alternative. I can't handle the fragrance in the cheap brands. It works very well. I may have to get my son to pick me up another bottle next year.

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  11. The tiny squares + Friedlander background! Love!

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  12. The ring pillow is fabulous!! How special it is with those tiny squares and it looks modern (is that the word?) with those fabrics! I love your granny squares too!

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  13. Wow! Those little tiny pieces seem like they would be really unforgiving, like if they didn't line up it would really show. As a sewest, I know the time and attention that went into that! I bet they will love it!

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  14. Oh, that pillow will be such a precious reminder of the wedding! I'm looking forward to seeing more of your granny square quilt--that pattern is on my list of somedays

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  15. I love the pillow - super tiny squares!!! I have to check out the design boards, unless you want to mail me one of your ready ones! :-)

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  16. Oh that heart is gorgeous and I'm wildly in awe at the scale - it's going to be a stunning ring cushion. And I Think I need to check out those
    Design boards, they look really clever.

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    1. Thanks. I got the idea for the boards from Lori Holt of Bee in My Bonnet.

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  17. Love that tiny pixelated heart pillow. This is such a special gift that the newlyweds will cherish for a lifetime.

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  18. The ring pillow looks great. What a special gift to be able to contribute to the wedding. It's great that you can remove the ribbon for long term use, too. Excellent job!

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  19. Great job sis! I know Druleen will love it! I have to admit seeing little pieces of my own fabric makes me feel special 😉

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    1. So glad that you can be a little piece of this project.

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  20. What a great pillow for your son's wedding! I made some mini design boards a while back, they are so handy! Good luck with your February goal.

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  21. Great idea for wedding! Lovely quilt! My last quilt was also pixelated heart :)

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