Pink and Pink {Quilt}

Shelby: "My colors are blush and bashful".
M'Lynn: "Her colors are pink and pink."
Shelby: "My colors are blush and bashful Momma."
"Pink is my signature color"

-Steel Magnolias

If you have been around here since 2013, you may recognize this quilt.  But you might be confusing it with the original, called Blush and Bashful, I made my aunt in August of that year.  She was diagnosed with cancer and has since passed away.

 My cousin, her son, had returned it to me along with some other items.  I had extra fabric and had told him at the time that I had planned on making his daughter a quilt of her very own with it.

Time went by and he mentioned that he wished he had kept it for his daughter.  He immediately felt terrible for saying it and we further talked about me still making her own.  I started cutting out the block parts knowing I really wanted to work quickly on it.  

But I just couldn't get it out of my head.  I felt guilty keeping a piece of her grandmother for myself.  This past fall I sent her the quilt back with her very own Poppy pillow.

In February, I noticed on my WIP board that it was waiting for the piecing stage and really I didn't have anything pressing to do.  The anniversary of her death had just passed and it just seemed right to start on it.

I have to admit, the first time I made the quilt, it seemed to take forever.

 This time, it flew.

 When I returned from Quiltcon, I loaded it up and decided to go a different path than the original with the quilting.

 I've been intrigued by a fellow longarmer's use of large paisley and swirls

 and thought I would give it a try.

 It certainly isn't perfect, but I had a lot of fun.  I'm ambivalent about the choice of thread I made.  I already had a light grey loaded up from a previous quilt and thought it would be okay. It certainly isn't horrible, but is probably not my first choice.

I finished up quilting, just in time, to take it on the road for Spring Break and finish the binding.

 Instead of hunting down more Moda Blush fabric, which I confess, has never been "me" but my aunt's taste.   I eyed this Raspberry backing by Riley Blake when I was a my friends home shop.  It isn't the exact match, but I liked how it gave it a little punch to suit my love for brighter colors!

 The binding is a sweet bias striped pink fabric from the Olive's Flower Market by Lella Boutique.

Quilt Stats:

Measures: 54" x 70"

Pattern: Poppy Print from Simply Fat Quarters book by Fat Quarter Shop

Fabrics: Top: Moda Blush, Robert Kaufman Pale Flesh, Backing: Riley Blake Raspberry Parlour by Sue Daly, Binding: Moda Olives Flower's Market

Quilted: Free motion paisley and swirls on HQ Avante

 

All finished. 

Just in time for Spring!

Barn Bat Pillow {Quilted Pillow}

"When witches go riding, and black cats are seen, the moon laughs and whispers 'tis near Halloween"

I think I've mentioned it before, but my love for Halloween decorations can probably be correlated to the fact that I grew up in a No Halloween/ No Trick-or-Treat house. Every year I end up making a pillow or a quilt for the holiday.

I thought doing my nails would be enough. But it just didn't satisfy my need for a quilted thing. 

Thankfully I had this special stack of scraps that my friend Lindsey had sent me. I really was trying to stay strong and not buy this amazing Witch Hazel line from Riley Blake. I'm still sad I didn't buy any. 

I knew it would have to result in a pillow or some abstract quilt. Luckily, I stumbled onto Elizabeth Hartman's Barn Bat Tutorial. I had the right dimensions and only needed to add four solid black blocks and one Essex linen block.

I adored the bats with the very first strip.   

Before I knew it, I had made a pillow top, hidden zipper back, and binding. 

I decided to just outline the bats in black thread on my domestic machine.  Stitched the front and back together and attached the binding. I love using the binding like a piping. 

I'm already thinking about next year's Halloween project.