Our eldest daughter, Roxanne, is getting ready to begin middle school in the fall. She asked if over the summer we could redo her bedroom to make it more grown up. Down came the alphabet poster. Up in the attic went many of the old stuffed animals.
She chose aqua and gray as a new color palette. We got new bedding and we’re shopping for a new carpet. I wanted to make her something special for this transition to 6th grade and a new phase in her life. A pillow to hug and lean on seemed like the right thing. Anyways, with regards to our previous carpets, those were properly cleaned and maintained by a good company like this carpet cleaning fort myers here!
The pattern is loosely based on this project in Quilting on the Go. It’s 56 hexies laid out in rows of 7. This book is a great guide to English Paper Piecing and at the back there are sheets of graph paper in different EPP shapes that you can use to plan your own quilt design.
Roxanne and I got out the colored pencils and made a pattern that would seem random. She chose the fabrics (two colors of Kona cotton and a black and white print I’ve had forever).
I started this project over Memorial Day weekend and it was finished in about five days. I worked on it in on a picnic blanket spread out on the grass while Josephine played in the sprinkler. I worked on it in the evenings and while the kids were doing their homework.
The back is a simple envelope closure. I quilted it on the machine in straight lines. Simple and satisfying and she really likes it.
I also created a pillow for my daughter! She was graduating college last year and moving back home. She recently redesigned her room to make it more grown up (It is gorgeous now!) and I thought a pillow would be a nice touch. You are never to old to cuddle with something soft. New to quilting last year, I started with her pillow as my first project and I love the way it turned out. Now, 2 full quilts later, I am hooked, but I find that I love the hand stitching part of the process the most. I recently picked up a book on EPP thinking it might be just my thing. Thank you for your post, especially the close up photo of your stitching. Your work is beautiful and I will look for the book you recommend too.
That’s terrific! A pillow is a great gift for a recent college grad, too.
That’s such a cool pillow! Your daughter looks really happy with it. I haven’t done quilting yet, but I must say that handsewing is one of my favorite things to do.
The colors of the pillow are gorgeous!
English Paper Piecing is really the ideal hand quilting project. Give it a try!
Love your fabric choice! Last summer I hand pieced lots of hexies at soccer games but in the end I could put them together in something I really liked. I know realize the fabrics were all busy! Seeing your fabric choices has inspired me to give it another shot 🙂
This is the first time I’ve used only solids and so much of a single color. I have to say there were some boring parts, but the when I finally got to add a dark blue or a white one it was very exciting!
This is one my favourite things about sewing -being able to custom make items for the people you love. It’s so cool that you got to work with your daughter designing exactly what she needed and then see it through to the completed cushion. She’ll love that cushion forever.