Tuesday, March 1, 2011

I think I've conquered Cathedral Windows...

First, I have a winner to announce!  Have you seen all of the fantastic Sliced Coins quilts?  Hop on over to the gallery to check them out.  This quilt along has been so much fun!   Drumroll, please...the winner of the $25 Sew Fresh Fabrics gift certificate is... Katie!  Katie, I'll send you an email to get all of your details.  I can't wait to see what fabrics you choose :)
Over the weekend, I was a very busy bee, between sewing and attempting to research how to make Mr. Don't Call Me Betsy's diet a dairy-free one.  After much poking, prodding, and testing, we've learned he's way beyond lactose intolerant, he's violently intolerant of anything dairy.  Trust me when I say that reading labels at the supermarket with a toddler is really and truly unfun.  I did, however, manage to get a good bit of sewing done.

I've officially finished my Cathedral Windows pillow for my Urban Home Goods swap partner.  Yay!


My partner has a thing for black and red, so I went for a black, white, and red cathedral windows pillow for my main item in this swap.  I've seen so many different Cathedral Windows pieces in this last year that have been so inspiring to me, and I've been wanting to try this style of piecing for a while now.  It was tedious, definitely, but nowhere near as difficult as it seems.


I used a two-part tutorial that Heather wrote a while back, and I definitely recommend it.  I love Heather's writing style, to begin with, and it's no different with her tutorials.  Everything is very straight-forward and there are many pictures to help you feel like you're on the right path.  Cathedral windows definitely involve a lot of ironing, which is not high on my list of fun things to do, but with the right music on my iPod, almost anything can seem enjoyable.


It was a lot of fun to put this pillow together for my partner and I hope she'll love it as much as I do.  A part of me sees another one of these projects in my future, either a mini-quilt or a pillow, for my sewing room.

For my smaller item, I decided to make a little mug rug, using some of the scraps from the pillow and then some. I had really wanted to make some with a rainbow of colors, because that's the color scheme that I'm apparently very into at the moment, but it's not my partner's listed cup of tea, so I thought I should stick with this color scheme that she mentioned.   I spotted lots of bento-box-style quilts in my partner's favorites, so I thought I'd do a little rectangular twist on a modified bento box block, and here's what I came up with.  I think it's pretty cute.  I backed it with Kona Black and sashed and bound with Kona White, and I'm really pleased with how the straight-line quilting turned out on this, too.


Two swaps down, one swap to go - next up, Make Mine Modern.  I'm really excited about what I've been sketching for this swap, can't wait to get started on it next.  Happy sewing!


I'm linking up today with {Sew} Modern Mondays over at Canoe Ridge Creations.  Go check it out to see what everyone else is making in a modern kind of way :)

{Sew} Modern Monday at Canoe Ridge Creations

I'm also linking up with Blogger's Pillow Party again this month, make sure to check it out, there are so many gorgeous pillows there!

Blogger's Pillow Party

24 comments:

  1. Your pillow looks so wonderful!! Especially with the cathedral windows! My friend and I are tackling a cathedral window quilt next month, I'm glad to hear you say it wasn't as difficult as it seems!

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  2. I love the the graphic look especially with those color choices. Those cathedral windows turned out gorgeous. I'm sure your partner will love it!

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  3. i LOVE that pillow! CW is such a great technique with a wonderful look!

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  4. Love your cathedral windows! I really need to give Heather's tutorial a try.

    P.S. Thanks for the giveaway win! I'm super excited.

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  5. Whew! Cathedral windows - they look great! Definitely on my to-do list this year...

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  6. Your pillow turned out so great, Elizabeth! And I love the mug rug.

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  7. Your cathedral windows are inspiring! I love how they turned out--and the mug rug is adorable, too. :)

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  8. Both items are beautiful! I'm especially loving your pillow. Great job!

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  9. This pillow is awesome! I think you've just convinced me to give cathedral windows a try. The outcome is just stunning!

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  10. Nice! I love it and I'm sure your partner will too!

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  11. don't you love conquering those projects that only seem too hard to complete, the cathedral windows are beautiful! Nice finish!

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  12. Wow, the pillow and mug rug are so nice. Congrats on conquering such a daunting technique!

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  13. That pillow is beautiful! I'm so impressed by cathedral windows, but not brave enough to try them any time soon!

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  14. I went on a diet a number of years ago called 30 day total body makeover. I wouldn't necessarily reccomend the diet but she had some really great lactose free recipes in the book. Maybe your local library has a copy. My favorite is the fiesta rice.

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  15. I have a good friend who's daughter used to be allergic to egg and dairy. She has since grown out of the dairy allergy but she still has her blog up, and it has useful info on it:
    http://veganswhoeatmeat.blogspot.com/

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  16. Congrats on the catheridal windows the pillow looks great. I am also glad to hear your quilt along went well. I wish I could have joined but as always too much going on.

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  17. You have totally ROCKED the Cathedral Windows! That pillow (and the mugrug) is awesome.

    I am so sad that I was too overcommitted to join your quiltalong - lovely prizes, lovely participants, lovely quilts. Congratulations on that success!!

    p.s. going dairy-free will likely be challenging but I'm glad you were able to figure out a solution. Gut issues are no fun.

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  18. So beautiful, Elizabeth! Cathedral windows are on my list of blocks to try:)

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  19. Lucky partner of yours, the pillow is gorgeous! Love the fun red and black prints you chose.

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  20. Yay to Katie! :) And this pillow is just wonderful! Can I be your partner?? Pretty please. Thanks for linking up to {Sew} Modern Monday!

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  21. Your pillow is lovely! Popped over from Stitched in Color. I'm entering a pillow too!

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Thank you for leaving a comment for me! I appreciate each and every one of them and try to respond when time allows. Your comments totally brighten my day :)


Welcome! I'm Elizabeth, mom to a mood teen boy and a chatty six-year-old girl and I sew for my sanity. Let's get to quilting, shall we?
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