Pillow Talk Swap 10 {Finished}

My partner's cushion for the Pillow Talk Swap round 10 is done! It will be winging off to it's new home (along with a few yummy scraps) later in the week. 

The cushion/pillow top is made using four Schoenrock Cross blocks, following Leila's fab tutorial. I used a lot of Flea Market Fancy by Denyse Schmidt, a bit of Simply Colour and a lot of Architextures (the greens and background fabrics). 

I decided to quilt it fairly simply (since there is so much going on in the patchwork). I've densely free motion quilted straight lines in the background areas, radiating out from the points, and echo quilted just inside the edges of the green areas. This has made the 'flowers' pop really nicely.

The back is more FMF, with a covered zip closure (using the great tutorial on Sew Mama Sew - it works brilliantly every time).

 I'm really happy with how this turned out - I'm now just hoping my partner love it as much as I do :o)

The rest of the week is bee blocks and some secret sewing ;o)

xx Jess

Crossing

I had a bit of child-free time today and got quite a few cross blocks made. I put together the four Schoenrock Cross blocks for my Pillow Talk Swap 10 cushion - feedback on the first on Flickr was positive so I soldiered on with the other three. I really love the secondary pattern created by the green bits. I'm hoping my partner still likes it, because I've got some ideas on how I want to quilt this baby :o) Still playing around with placement, but I think this is my favorite arrangement so far.

In a moment of perfect timing, my copy of Tula Pink's City Sampler book arrived (finally!) just as I finished putting these together. I've been not so patiently waiting for it to turn up, so I got stuck in straight away and made my first couple of blocks.

Block 1

Block 2

These little guys are totally addictive - they are 6.5" blocks so some pretty teeny piecing, but it is loads of fun picking fabric for each block. I think I'll make a few more tonight :o)

xx Jess

Market Maze Quilt Top and a Giveaway!

Just after Christmas last year I started testing a quilt pattern for Alyce (of Blossom Heart Quilts) and she has just released the pattern, so I can finally show you my top and tell you a bit about the pattern. Thankfully I've only had to wait a week or so (I'm not good at waiting, or secrets) ;o)

I honestly loved making this quilt - putting it together is kind of like doing a puzzle. So. Much. Fun. The way Alyce has designed the blocks is seriously brilliant - there aren't many seams to match up and the piecing is really easy as long as you use an accurate 1/4" seam. And pins. Lots of pins.

I used my Denyse Schmidt stash for this one (mostly Flea Market Fancy) - I ended up adding in a few different prints from the ones I originally picked out, just to add a few more warm tones to it. I'm calling mine Market Maze (thanks to Mr 5's immediate reaction of 'Mum, it's like a maze quilt!', quickly followed by 'is it for me? It has my letter all over it!').

There are four size options in the pattern - I made the lap sized version and it finished up at about 62" x 66" so a great size for snuggling under once the weather cools down (or anytime if you're addicted to quilts like my kids!) Even better, it is made using 2.5" strips, so it's the perfect Jelly Roll quilt :o) You could even use a JR for the background!

The pattern is now available in Alyce's Craftsy Store. 

But luckily for you, Alyce is giving away two copies of the pattern to my readers :o) If you'd like to win a copy please leave a comment on this blog post - I'd love to know what fabric you'd use to make it. And because I love you, my followers get a second entry (just leave me a second comment letting me know how you follow me). If you're a no-reply commenter please leave an email address so I can contact you if you win.

I'll pick two random winners next Monday 21st January.