A Pillow!

Hello there! When I saw this pillow that Karen designed at Karen's Quilts, Crows and Cardinals I knew I had to make it! I found her blog during the Grow Your Blog Hop Party earlier this year! Her Family Tree Quilted Pillow is featured on Moda Bake Shop! You will love her Redbirds and Berries Mini Quilt, which is also featured on Moda Bake Shop. When you get a chance, please visit Karen's blog, she is sew talented, I know you will be inspired!

I made the pillow using the Little Black Dress 2 by BasicGrey by Moda Fabrics. I thought/hoped the neutral colors would really make the applique colors pop!

The amount of applique seemed to be perfect for a novice.. like me! I have machine appliqued more than hand appliqued. You'll see in another photo later I really need to work on my hand applique stitches!

A spring or summer setting came to mind for the tree, so I bought this package of wool charms and variegated thread.

The applique shapes were easy to cut out! I bought a heat and bond applique paper so there were no need for pins!

I cut out leaf shapes with felt first, in order to get an idea of the placement.  I wasn't ready to cut into that precious wool just yet.

Oh! I hate showing you a close up of my hand stitching, but it's only fair to show the good, the bad and the ugly. I did restitch some of it, my uneven stitches adds character to my pillow.. right!? (don't answer!)

Getting ready to quilt the pillow front, I knew I wanted to free motion quilt the white space around the tree! Karen's quilting is absolutely gorgeous and I'm not an experienced free motion quilter to even come close to her talents! I was happy to just get through a meandering design!

After hours of practicing on a scrap panel and ripping out 2 other tries of a meandering stitch on the pillow front, the third time was more of a success!

Oh! another close up, but here it goes... the meandering stitch of the completed pillow. I love how it turned out and how it decorates my sofa! I plan to make a log cabin companion pillow with the remaining jelly roll strips.

I hope you've enjoyed my version of Karen's pillow, if you haven't checked out her original yet please do so at her blog or at the Moda Bake Shop website.

Blessings!
Gina