Custom Throw Pillows

My bedroom has 3 windows above the bed. They let in a lot of light from the street lamp and even more from the moon. So we put curtains up to cover them almost immediatly.

There wasn't really a great way to open the curtains (maybe we could have done a wrap to pinch them in the center?) so the windows always stayed covered. Which basically made it that we didn't have windows. But these curtains were not blackout, so while they were good at night, the room was too bright to nap during the day.

You can see in that picture we also didn't have curtains. Well, there is a flagpole across the street that the guy keeps a spotlight on all night (as I guess he should). That spotlight comes in through the crack in the blinds at EXACTLY eye level to where I sleep (the window side is my side of the bed). Kevin can't see it, but curtains were a priority for me. (Once I put a t-shirt over the blinds, they became a priority for Kevin.)

A few months ago we got curtains, and I think they added a lovely finished look to the room. But they didn't match the small curtains. And the small curtains weren't really working as well as I'd like.

So I got another panel of the curtains, with the idea to make a set of small curtains.  But then watching movies in the living room, I had the goofy idea to stick the throw pillows into the square windows in our kitchen that glare on the TV.  And they blocked out all the light. And filled the window well almost completely.

I realized I had a solution. Instead of making curtains, I could make pillows.  And they fill the window almost completely (just a little light around the edges). The room is nearly black- which make napping very easy.

But even better is that I can take them out of the windows during the day, and use them as throw pillows on the bed. So my bed looks fancy, and the windows let light in.   

Since we were going to use them as throw pillows, it was important they be washable- the dog hair gets everywhere. So I made pillow forms and then put an invisible zipper in the seam and the curtain fabric is a pillow case.  The curtain cost $23.79, the zippers $0.60 each, the fiberfill was $12 for a 5-pound box (and I have about half left)- so the pillows were about $10.50 each.  Pretty good price for made to match, custom pillows. It would have been hard to find throw pillows on sale for that amount. And now I also have window coverings!

Did the gushing blog post give off how excited I am about this?

Building Blocks Quilt Along: Post 6

 This month's block was a pinwheel. This was a difficult one to piece, since I am really really trying for accuracy.  Mine weren't too far off, but they also weren't perfect. 

The quilting designs this month were really fun. Two of them went really heavy through the center, which I think had a bit too much build up, and my stitch in the ditch still needs a lot of work, but overall I think these look really good.  This is the first time I've done pebbles as a pre-marked designed. I don't think I would mark them again, but I'm happy with how they look. Marking them means that I got to have a lot of different sizes, and they look really good- but it loses freedom of how to fill the space if your circle is just a bit off.  However, I love how pebbles let you travel anywhere when you get stuck. There is so much traveling anyway, that you can just go back over anything.  My favorite of this block though is the echo quilting curves. I love the movement in it.

And here is what the progress on the whole quilt it:

Color Challenge #2

My small quilt group is doing a 12 x 12 color challenge each month this year.  For some reason, I haven't been sharing them on the blog- I should update with all of them.

I missed the February meeting and just now got around to catching up with that quilt.  I decided to try a few new things with it. First- I wove the center instead of piecing it. I think the weaving makes a really cool look, but for a sampler quilt like this I didn't spend the time making sure it was perfectly centered, I probably should have, as the ends get cut off unevenly.

And second, I hand stitched the binding to the back, instead of bringing it to the front and machine stitching. I used Mirage fabric from Connecting Threads, and the way it is printed if you hit it just right it brings up white thread :(  But you can reall only see that very close up.

These aren't my favorite colors, but overall, I think it looks pretty cool.  I didn't quilt the middle with the weaving. It should be fine on a wall hanging, but that big spot without quilting really makes me want to do something with it!