Friday, March 6, 2015

Day 5 of The Simply Striped Pillow Blog Hop

Day 5 of the Simply Striped Pillow Blog Hop !

            Simply Striped Pillow Blog Hop
                             March 6





Welcome to my first Blog Hop on Susie's Sunroom!

I invited six "super star" quilters to make a pillow  "any way you like" from  one pattern-   
     the Simply Striped Accent Pillow Pattern   { available on my Craftsy here}!

Today, the fifth  day of the blog hop, we will see the pillow that Lara,   (soon- to -be published AQS) book  designer and  quilter , of BuzzinBumble blog, has created!




Meet Lara @ BuzzinBumble  blog

From Lara~


A Fine Romance - Simply Striped Pillow

Hello, this is Lara, guest posting from BuzzinBumble, and I'm tickled pink to have been asked by Susie to be a part of her Simply Striped Pillow Blog Hop! 

I really enjoyed working with Susie's pattern.  It has lots of great photos and step by step details that make it easy to follow.  The envelope closure, disguised as a stripe, is a really nice touch!  My pillow is 16", which Susie gives the dimensions for as a bonus at the end of her pattern.  

My daughter Kaitie came over and helped me as I was putting this together.  To her goes the credit for the silly surprise, which you will see as you read this post.   As I put this together, I was going for a granny chic look and channeled my inner Dottie Angel.  


A Fine Romance - Simply Striped Pillow

I named the pillow "A Fine Romance" from the sassy Ginger Rogers & Fred Astaire song in the movie "Swing Time".  It is made almost entirely from scraps and one pretty vintage hankie.  The three main fabric pieces (which you can see on the back) are Andover's Downton Abbey - Dowager's Paisley in black / Athill Range by Cabbages and Roses - Perrymead in aqua / and Pepper Cory - Peppered Cottons in oyster.  

This pillow also makes a great project to experiment with free-motion quilting.  If you read my blog, you know that I am a fan of Christina Cameli and am just starting to learn to FMQ.  I played with three of the patterns from Christina's latest book on this pillow.   You can't see the design that I quilted on the front Downton fabric and it's a darn good thing too, because I couldn't see it either as I worked on it. Aack!   The fabric design hides it well.  However, I did use a freestyle version of "Impulsive" on the aqua Athill fabric on the back of the pillow and I adapted Christina's "Verdure" motif to use as a border treatment on the back stripe.  My work was wobbly, but I'm still pretty happy with the outcome.  

Here is a photo of the back of the pillow, lit from the side, so you can see my attempts:


A Fine Romance - Simply Striped Pillow - Back View

Susie has kindly offered her wonderful Simply Striped Pillow pattern as a giveaway for us blog hoppers and I am pairing it as a giveaway on my blog with a copy of Christina's fabulous new book "Step-by-Step Free-Motion Quilting".    

To enter for a chance to win, just leave a comment on any of Susie's Simply Striped Blog Hop Days and then come over to my blog at BuzzinBumble and let me know you did by commenting on my giveaway post also.  Don't forget to enter Susie's great giveaway too!  Both of our giveaways end on Friday, March 13th. 

Okay, now to reveal the little bit of secret silliness on my pillow.  We decided to quilt words on the front stripe and hide them under the hankie.  The words Kaitie came up with cracked me up - "Dress Classy, Dance Cheesy".   That pretty much describes both of my girls, neither of whom has any concern over what others think of their dancing, even when they look like Elaine, from Seinfeld.  LOL  I quilted the words in light green , so it doesn't show through unless you lift the hankie and peek.  



A Fine Romance - She should have dropped her hankie
~ Lara

Romantic and whimsical,   patchwork-y and vintage.... all stitched together  into an elegant pillow!  The secret embroidery words under the hankie remind me of a dancer's whisper to his  partner!


Be sure to hop on over to BuzzinBumble blog  {here} to enter in Lara's giveaway!


The schedule of bloggers, in case you have missed a day ~

The Schedule-    here at Susie's Sunroom  :      
                        
March 2   Elaine    Summercrafter       

March 3   Susie  Susie's Sunroom      

March 4   Geta      Geta's Quilting Studio     

March 5   Sheri   Sunshine in the Attic         

March 6   Lara    BuzzinBumble          

March 7   Amanda    The Patchsmith   

March 8   Amy  Amy Made That!         


And don' t forget to go to the first day of the blog hop , and sign up there for
THE GIVEAWAY:    
               ~  will remain  open until Friday, March 13 , 2015  12:00 pm  EST 
                       click here  to enter


Thank you for stopping by today!
Come by tomorrow to see what Amanda, of  The Patchsmith blog , has made!


1. The pattern              2. Summercrafter                       3.  Susie's Sunroom             4.   Geta's Quilting Studio

5.  Sunshine In The Attic     6.  BuzzinBumble                                     



I'm off to my sewing room!

30 comments:

  1. What a beautiful pillow! I love the romanc-i-ness of the patchwork and the hankie and the hidden words are delightful!! So many surprises and the quilting that is visible on the back is lovely!!

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  2. Such a sweet and lovely pillow, and the hidden words just makes it better!

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  3. What a pretty, pretty pillow. 'A Fine Romance' is the name of a sitcom here in England starring Judi Dench - it is a favourite of mine - as are little patchwork squares. Yours are just adorable. But what I like the most is the way you have created a little family heirloom, with the help of your daughters, from Susie's pattern. What a great way to get your girls interested in sewing.
    p.s. Your FMQ is excellent - I also like Christina.

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  4. Beautiful pillow, the colors are so soft and inviting.

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  5. Love how soft and pretty tis looks. The quilting looks great and I laugh at the stitching under the hanky. One question-what is cheesy dancing?

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    1. Thanks so much S.! Dancing Cheesy means you cast all your self consciousness aside, break out your goofy moves, and just have fun without caring about what you look like.

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  6. Lara, I love your sense of creativity and humor! Lifting that hankie is like peeking at someone's fancy underwear and then being caught! The pillow is beautiful and will be treasured always!

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  7. Your pillow is adorable,Lara! Love the hankie and the surprise underneath. The only way I know how to dance is cheesy.

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  8. That pillow is so very unique and gorgeous!!

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  9. This is a nice take on the design. It's very pretty.

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  10. The handkerchief is such a sweet idea!

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  11. You are a hoot! Thanks for the LOL. I too enjoy FMQ and am still "wobbly" I love the hankie touch to the pillow and so delicate with those soft colors. And the words are so clever too. They'll cheer you up if you are crying on the pillow!

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  12. I love that pillow. The patchwork pieces are so sweet with the little animals on some of the fabric too.

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  13. Hey now....there ain't nothing cheesy about my dance moves! :)

    Very granny-chic! It matches that bedding set perfectly!

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  14. Wow - what a gorgeous (and fun) interpretation of the Simply Striped Pillow! Every detail is enchanting. I could look at the little patchwork squares all day. If that book is responsible for the lovely quilting, it should be in every home! Well done, Lara!!!

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  15. Wow. What a creative pillow. Job well done.

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  16. HI,what a neat pillow! So pretty!
    Hugs from Lara !
    Thanks all for sharing!
    msstitcher1214@gmail.com

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  17. Lovely and elegant!

    lin.web.28 at gmail dot com

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  18. Simply fabulous pillow, dahh-ling! Seriously, I love the hidden humorous message. Hey girl, your quilting ROCKS! What do you mean, "wobbly"?? I see nothing but ahhh, love that Verdure in the middle stripe on the back. Love your fabric choices too (you knew I would though methinks). Okay over to your blog (this is a little confusing for menopausal lack-of-brains like moi...)

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  19. That is one gorgeous pillow!

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  20. Beautiful pillow! How clever to practice FMQ on a pillow before tackling something bigger. -- soparkaveataoldotcom

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  21. Beautiful pillow!!! I love her use of the hankie on it!!

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  22. This is such a versatile pattern and looks so easy to make. Would love to have this pattern

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  23. What a fun idea..with the Hankie!! Really pretty Pillow!! Great job! :)

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  24. It is fun to see all those different versions! Who knew what others can come up with :)

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  25. It's great to see how everyone is using the pattern - love your cheeky romantic take on it!

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  26. such a pretty pillow - I love the patchwork on this one :-)

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