Oh, February, with your sickness & broken internet & knee surgery (not mine!) & schools clamoring for auction donations. Good thing I've just been waiting for an excuse to finally try one of those gorgeous log cabin pillows.
This pillow is for our preschool auction, & while I originally planned to build it around fairly sophisticated & neutral fabrics, you will not be shocked to learn that the more color I added, the better I liked it. Log cabins fascinate me, the way that the placement of one strip can completely change the entire look of the thing. It's like a puzzle, one where I don't know the solution until I know it. When I felt like one more round of prints would be too much for my revised plan of playful-but-restrained, I finished off with a wide neutral border (Kaufman kona "stone," such a great, um, stone color).
I also spent a lot of time thinking about how the quilting was going to change the look, flipping back & forth between Lisa's pattern in Crafter's Companion & the Japanese version in Machine Made Patchworks. I went for the straight vertical lines (Japanese style) instead of the square spiral (Lisa style) partly because I wasn't sure I wanted any horizontal lines to interfere with the number/letter fabrics, but mostly because I was feeling very perfectionist about this project (see above re: auction) & my new sewing machine still makes me a little nervous.
I love the look of the ribbon ties on the back (I turned & tacked the ends to avoid fraying), but I think that if I were better at zippers, I would have used one for the closure so that I could have made the cover tighter (I like a nice fat pillow). The two extra ties do make a useful difference, though.
Possibly my favorite part of the entire project was having an excuse to use my machine's loopy stitch. It's subtle, black thread on the grey corduroy (I was worried that it would be too easy to cross the cool/dorky line with contrasty thread), & I like how it sort of looks like a line of scribble.
I was also happy to be reminded of this quilt, which is one of my all-time Japanese craft book favorites. It looks like the kind of thing that would be a good bit-by-bit project, & one that would probably turn out excellently if you just trusted your stash instinct, doesn't it?
Yeah, it does! If it were overplanned, it would lose it's contemporary charm. The pillow looks great; I love the details on the back.
Posted by: meg | February 06, 2007 at 05:56 AM
i love the pillow...
the ribbons and the stitching
are sweet.
Posted by: gkgirl | February 06, 2007 at 06:30 AM
wonderful wonderful pillow. Love the back!
Posted by: JD | February 06, 2007 at 07:36 AM
i prefer the parallel stitching too-- less pulling which makes everything really shine. beautiful work.
Posted by: melissa f. | February 06, 2007 at 09:17 AM
GORGEOUS! Yep, that parallel stitching does it for me too, I love the way it looks.
I get some weird comfort that so many of us are in school auction mode at the moment.
Posted by: Blair | February 06, 2007 at 12:56 PM
i love the pillow. great job! and i'm right there with you in "school auction mode", as blair put it...
Posted by: meg | February 06, 2007 at 01:12 PM
Ack! Sign me up on the list for that school auction mode as well...I got myself roped into the Kindergarden class project when in reality I'd *much* rather be doing something as fun and beautiful as your pillow. Gorgeous!
Posted by: Meegan Blue | February 06, 2007 at 10:48 PM
The combination of all the fabrics - especially the letters - and the vertical stitching really makes for a good-looking pillow. I love your modern reinvention of the traditional pattern!
Posted by: Sonya | February 07, 2007 at 10:47 AM
i love this pillow so much.
it's perfect!
Posted by: aprill | February 07, 2007 at 07:06 PM
The pillow is perfect!!
Posted by: Crystal T | February 08, 2007 at 07:08 AM
i love your pillow and that quilt...to die for! i think you are right, it does look like something you would just work on a bit at a time and then - bam! - you'd have a mighty fine quilt.
Posted by: erin | February 08, 2007 at 07:25 PM
Absoluetly, the parralel stitching is lovely. Makes the whole pillow cover. Gorgeous!!!
Posted by: Sara, The Wine Mskers wife | February 09, 2007 at 03:10 PM
Oh, corduroy, I love you. Your whole pillow turned out beautiful! The quilting is just right, good decision to do it this way.
Posted by: Alex | February 14, 2007 at 08:25 PM
The pillow looks fantastic! I love all the different fabrics and the corduroy. Which craft book is that quilt in?
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