Thea’s Puzzle – A Quilt & Pillow for Deborah

A

I have been horribly absent from blogging.  All of you who work outside the home, keep the home fires burning, sew, craft AND keep your blogs current – my hat’s off to you.  I have been quite busy sewing however.  Pictured here is a gift that’s been a long time in the making.  Let’s talk about  color.

Almost a year ago, my very dear friend Deborah requested that I make her a lap quilt, for her bedroom.  Looking through her room, I noticed a hydrangea print and a gray bedspread.  Purple was going to play a big role in the quilt.  I’m really not a purple person and figuring out the design was going to be a challenge for me.  I first started with squares – my favorite.  It didn’t seem organic enough.  I started again with some free-form piecing.  It seemed really wrong.

Third time’s the charm right?  I came upon this great pattern on Amy Butler’s website.  It’s a free pattern to download and I think the only time I’ve ever followed a pattern without changing it.  I am really happy how it worked up and I enjoyed all the different colors of lavender and dusty shades of lilac.  I only used 2 prints and the rest were my favorite solids, kona cotton.  Then some minimal zig zag quilting and a gray binding and I was finally able to give it to her.  I also made this little pillow…

Tied up with a vintage button – I finished the gift in just under a year after she asked for it.  ACK!  That’s not exactly fast, but better late than never, right???