Wednesday 5 February 2014

A private swap

Just before Christmas Julianna and I came to an agreement that we'd do a private swap and make each other a cushion/pillow cover.

I am a huge fan of Julianna's work - her choice of colour and fussy cutting prowess leaves me with a dropped jaw every time I see one of her creations.

She had said she'd like a cushion cover in the same colours as this gorgeous mini quilt she made.



And I was fairly vague with my preference and just said I loved this mini quilt she'd made.



So we set to work.

I had one false start where I made something but it felt like I had made it too quickly so therefore back to the drawing board to try and make something more detailed and complicated.

I turned to the book mentioned in this blog post and this block in particular.



Not one to let a little bit of Japanese come between me and a quilt block I scanned the diagram (in the top right of the page) into my computer and then enlarged it till it would make a 10" block (four together would make a nice 20" square cushion cover), printed it off, made plastic templates and set to, cutting all the pieces individually and hand sewing them together.

My seam ripper saw a lot of action. I felt the colour placement wasn't quite right and on more than one occasion I got the colour placement completely wrong. We both love Suzuko Koseki fabric so I made sure there was some of that in there.

I bound it in a leopard print just because and ta dah, I was done.



I used monofilament thread to do a very small grid pattern all over.



It was quite alien to me to think about each piece of fabric and how they would flow. I'm more a grab and go kind of sewer but I actually enjoyed the process and by the end I was so pleased with how it looked.



We both put our parcels in the post on the same day and quite by chance, they both arrived at their new homes yesterday.

And this is what I received.

Sorry, I don't have the correct size form for it yet so I stuffed a larger one in just so you get the idea


Beautifully constructed, beautiful machine quilting (with some pretty feature stitching) and thoughtful piecing which includes my initials and a nod to being British. Julianna actually does a much better job of explaining her thought process behind it on her blog.

The back is gorgeous too and I love the finishing touch of the two buttons.

Linking up to WIP Wednesday and Finish It Up Friday


I thoroughly enjoyed the swap.

Thank you Julianna.


33 comments:

  1. No, I thank you, Alison! It was your idea to make a swap and that was it! When I look now at our swap, I think I shouldn't ask you for making pillow that matches my mini-quilt and give you a "free hand". So be ready to next swap in the second part of the year:D

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  2. Wow to both but I think I like yours more Alison!

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  3. both gorgeous! Wonderful swap :-D

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  4. Love the way you visualised a central focus from the Japanese pattern block. You took their pattern one step further.Outstanding

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  5. They're both gorgeous - so vibrant. Definitely what's needed on these grey and miserable days!

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  6. Both are completely fabulous creations! Any cushion bound in leopard skin print is going to win my heart :-)

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  7. Beautifully done! So you basically made this using epp techniques? Your use of colours and fussy cutting is amazing.

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  8. You both made such beautiful cushions I would call this swap a super success.

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  9. Both cushions are just WOW :)

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  10. they are both stunning pillows. love the rich colors

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  11. Both the pillows are fantastic, what a wonderful swap.

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  12. What a great idea...the swap! Both pillows are just gorgeous!

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  13. Both pillows are amazing !!! The colors are so energetic!!! I love them all!!!
    Greetings from Poland
    Kamila

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  14. Fabulous, just fabulous! Best, Kate

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  15. Looks like you both have something special! Lovely work!

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  16. I think you both got lovely packages. How fun!

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  17. I would take all of the pillows!

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  18. AMAZING! There are so many beautiful things on this post.

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  19. I also collect Japanese books that I can't read, LOL. But their illustrations are SO GOOD! I use cookbooks like this, cuz I love their cuisine, as well as arts and crafts, sewing and quilting books. I'm sure this has to do with our having lived in Japan for a few years. Your cushion is beautiful!! WIP-ing with you at RunningHen.blogspot.com

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  20. Bloody hell! That's all I have to say ;)

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  21. Two beautiful cushions and two great jobs!
    I love the colours and the fabrics!
    greetings Marle

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  22. Wow! Both cushions are lovely! The detail and thoughtfulness you each put into these cushions is amazing. The hand piecing of the Japanese block is beautiful.

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  23. Two beautiful cushions - both perfectly patched to the quilts used as inspiration. A lovely swap.

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  24. Both simply gorgeous. Well done!

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  25. Oh my, you did a beautiful job. The design is very well thought out - I love your fabric choices. And the quilting is absolutely perfect. All of our swaps should be as successful.

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  26. Wow! So vibrant and happy! Both are wonderful. =) What a great swap! Thank you for sharing!

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