A Birthday Gift Accomplished

Maybe it's because I like to make my friends smile. Maybe it's because I'm always looking for my next sewing challenge. Maybe it's because I like getting cool gifts myself. Whatever the reason, I frequently find myself stashing ideas away - either on Pinterest, in my creativity journal, or little notes that I inevitably lose - for things that I just HAVE to make for upcoming birthdays, rainy days, and holidays.


In this case, the idea didn't just sit there, collecting dust -

I actually made it!

(I know, I'm not sure if I can believe it, either!)

 

I got the idea from these fabulous pillows that were made by one of my favorite fabric artists - Tula Pink.  The second I saw them, I thought of one of my closest friends - Christen. We're both a bit obsessed with London, English men, period costume dramas (think Pride and Prejudice), super heros, singing along to our favorite songs, fantastic shoes, coral (the color) and the list continues... As amazing as the pillows by Tula Pink were, I couldn't find a pattern for them, at least not in this style. So I stared at that little picture on her website until I got my courage gathered to do some quilt math. Quilt Math = Fractions. Fractions = Evil. I did pretty darn well in my math subjects in school, but I always shot the textbook, or my poor unfortunate teachers, a glare when fractions were brought up. I grabbed some graph paper, sketched out the design, and completed the arduous quilt math while watching an episode of Castle. Love that show. Just saying.

 

I was in awe, and a bit frightened, when I realized that Tula Pink had not only made cute flag pillows, but pretty dang accurate ones, too. There are fifty white squares in the stars section of the USA flag, for example. To get my stars section to the right size, and including those some 50 white squares and 49 blue squares, it meant that each square would end up being 5/8". EEK!  I had to take a couple deep breaths when I saw the final number.

 

 

 

 

 I forged ahead. To the left, you'll see the finished stars section, along with my prized Gingher's, for scale.

 

Tuesday's work involved making a lot of strips of strips. I would sew lengths of presumaly random fabrics together, and then cut those strips to the width needed on the pillow. I found a great site that gave the exact dimension that a USA flag should be, but I didn't have the same luck with the Union Jack, so there was a lot of more trial and error involved with that one.  On Wednesday, the front of the USA flag pillow was done. I thought Thursday was going to end with just a completed Union Jack, but I ended up staying up a little later to finish the backs, too.

 

 

 

 

 

I woke up on Friday, the day that I wanted to give Christen her gift, and found that I was surprisingly on schedule and ready to go. I'm usually the first one to point out all the flaws in my work. With these, I'm pretty darn satisified with how they turned out!

 

The best compliment that I've gotten on these pillows came from the birthday girl herself, Christen. She said that they keep making her smile. I can't ask for better than that.





Finished in
the nick of time!




In Bellingham, I'm fortunate enough to have three really good quilt shops - Fourth Corner Quilts, Two Thimbles, and Fabric - Etc. Each year, Fabric - Etc., hosts a charity quilt drive, called Bonnie's Team. Fabric - Etc., provides the backing fabric and the batting, and the completed quilts are donated to Bellingham's Madrona Infusion Center. (You can learn more about it here. )

At the beginning of August, when I picked out the backing fabric, I had delusions that I would get it done early this year! I remembered how last year, it felt like I barely got it turned in on the due date itself! 

Well... History, at least my history, has a way of repeating itself.

 

I was out of town, visiting some friends in Tennessee, at the beginning of October. When I came back home, I made a list of projects that I wanted to make before Christmas. Then I had the startling realization that I only had ten days to start, finish, and turn in, my Bonnie's Team quilt! 

I didn't even have a design in mind... 

Thank Heavens for Pinterest!

 

As I lie in bed, panicking about how to incorporate something fun, yet sophisticated, and all with the color pallet of the backing fabric, I started scrolling through my Quilting board on Pinterest. I found the perfect fit in Mod Chevron Baby Quilt, designed by Rashida Coleman-Hale. To get it to the size requirements needed, I did a little tweaking. Quilt math is always my favorite (sarcasm intended). After digging through my stash of fabric for just the right colors - I'm so picky that it even gets on my nerves - I was ready to get down to business!

 

I started cutting and assembly work on Friday, October 12th, and finished the quilting and binding on Tuesday, October 16th!  Not too shabby, if I say so myself.  If I look too closely as the quilt, I get annoyed, because I can see several spots where I didn't get corners/points matched up perfectly. I wouldn't go so far to say that half-square triangles are my nemesis, but they definitely won't get added to my Christmas card list, either, if you know what I mean.

      

Here she is, in all her glory! Done with only a few days to spare. (Maybe procratination really does work for me??)