It was a pillow sort of Christmas

Click here for One Monthly Goal January Link-up

I made 4 pillows in December - one for me, one for mom, one for my son and one for my daughter! Each of these are very different and all were quite fun to make!

Pillow for me and pillow for mom

Back in the summer, I made my daughter a quilt for her bed (Playful) that used 75 of the 100 blocks in 100 days QAL.  I took some of the remaining blocks to make a pillow for her bed.  Stuffed inside is a regular bed pillow.

I saved all the small scraps from this project and sewed many of them together for the pillow back.  I used my pillow zipper tutorial to finish it off.

For my son, I wanted to make a pillow for his couch using the same colors in a quilt I had made him last Christmas.  I chose a fractal design called the Hilbert curve for this one. To quilt, I stitched around the inside edge of each shape in matching thread.

I'm finding am really enjoying creating pillows and see more pillow making in my future.  These 4 pillows plus these three (below) - made earlier in the year - make it a 7 pillow year which is 6 more than I made in 2016!

 Michigan and Triangle MQG pillow exchange

Fathers Day

I'll be linking up my pilllows with  Freemotion by the River,   WIP Wednesday's,  Let's Bee Social, Midweek Makers.  Needle and Thread Thursdays, Finish it Up Friday and Finished or Not Friday. 

Have a wonderful day! Patty

One Monthly Goal - January Goal Setting Link-up

Happy New Year!

New to One Monthly Goal?  Welcome!  To join in for January, publish a blog post, an Instagram post or a post on Flickr where you share a picture of your project, some words about your goal and include a link back to this post.  Then come back at the end of the month and share your results.

You can read about the event and the rules on the main event page.  Sign up to receive email notifications when the One Monthly Goal linkup is open.  Think of it as a helpful reminder!  Did you read all about the sponsor announcement for this year?  We've got an amazing line-up of designers and really great sponsors.

We have three great sponsors for January and there will be three (3) winners this month plus a chance to earn an entry for the bonus prize!  New this year is a chance to earn a bonus prize for the quarter - each time you link up a goal & a finish in January, February and March earns you an entry for a bonus prize which will be awarded in early April.

Fat Quarter Shop offers a tremendous selection of fabric, notions, books and just about anything you will need for your project. Consider their Sew Sampler box to receive a monthly surprise delivery of fabric and fun.   Fat Quarter Shop is offering a $25 gift certificate to one lucky participant.

Make Modern is a digital magazine launched by a collaboration of quilters based in Australia. Their magazine is filled with modern quilt designs and a wonderful source of inspiration. Make Modern is offering a 6 month subscription to one lucky participant.

Aurifil is home to a beautiful rainbow of thread in all weights, perfect for any of your sewing and quilting needs.  My favorite product is the designer collection boxes which coordinate with various fabric lines.  Aurifil is offering  a thread set for the first quarter bonus prize.

Amy Friend of  During Quiet Time,is our featured designer for January.  Amy is a pattern designer, author and fabric designer.  She mixes two of my favorite things together - improv and paper piecing - in her wonderful quilt designs. 

I just love Amy's designs and really enjoyed each of her books Improv Paper Piecing and Intentional Piecing.

Amy's fabric line is Improv for Contempo Studios (part of Benertex) was introduced in Spring 2017.  It features beautiful prints with small scale designs perfect for paper piecing.  Bundles of the fabric and coordinating Aurifil thread pack are available in Amy's store. 

Photo and quilt credit to Amy Friend.
(top row):  improv fabric & Catawampus from Improv Paper Piecing book
(bottom row) My Tribe from Intentional Paper Piecing book

You can visit Amy on her Blog, on Instagram, on Facebook and find her patterns and fabric in her Etsy store.  Amy is offering one lucky winner three (3) PDFs patterns of their choice.

My goal for January is to finish my Magnolia Mystery quilt.  I've got the center bit together and need to figure out the final size and do some quilting.

Now it is your turn to link up - what is your goal for January?  (A goal could be to finish a quilt but it could also be to attach a binding.  Whatever it takes to help you move forward and make progress on your projects!  And as long as the project involves a needle and/or fabric, you can link up!)

Make sure you visit the One Monthly Goal event page for the specific requirements for links and social tags. 

And remember, to be eligible for the prize(s) by random drawing you must linkup at both the goal setting and the accomplishment linkup in a given month.   (The One Monthly Goal accomplishment linkup will be available on January 26.)

Make sure you add a link to this OMG post so others can follow where you are linking.   Let's make that easy -  just paste this into your post:  

Elm Street Quilts One Monthly Goal January Linkup.

An InLinkz Link-up

Thanks for linking up!

Have a wonderful day! Patty

My Best of 2017

Click here for the December One Monthly Goal Finish link-up

With just a few days left in 2017, it is a perfect time for reflection and revisiting favorites from this year as we get ready to wave goodbye to one year and welcome the next.

Cheryl @Meadow Mist Designs is hosting a Best of 2017 link-up to highlight our 5 best blog posts of 2017.  (For reference, my 2016 post).

I really love sharing my creative journey through my blog.  I meet new friends and have a written record of everything that I've made.  I am so glad you've come to visit!

I made lots of quilts in 2017 but my favorite quilt finish is the one I made for my mom in celebration of her 80th birthday.  I collected signatures and messages from everyone in the family and choose a design that highlighted the signatures.  It was really special to see her put the quilt on her lap and read every message.  Happy Birthday Mom!

You can also read more about the process of creating a signature quilt on this quilting tip post.

Every year, I run a blog link-up event called Bag It.  I share new bag tutorials plus the work of some talented designers.  This year's event was bigger than ever and so much fun.  From my new batch of tutorials, the most popular tutorials are the Project Bag and the Sewing Machine cover.

In addition to bag tutorials, I've posted other quilting tips throughout the year.  My most popular quilting tip is Prepare your Quilt for Binding.

A goal from 2017 that will become even more of a focus in 2018 was to get  a magazine publish of one of my designs.  I was thrilled to be part of Quiltmaker's 100 Block Volume 16 issue with my block Scattered Triangles and it is my favorite (and only!) magazine publish.

Finally, my most popular posts are the link-ups associated with One Monthly Goal.  (If you haven't participated in One Monthly Goal, check out the sponsor announcement for 2018 and give it a try!)

Goals for a given month need to be something associated with making with thread, fabric or yarn.  You don't need to actually finish a project each month - for example, you could have a goal to make ten blocks from a project along.

For this Best of 2017 post, I revisited all my monthly goals for the year and created a collage of some of the projects that were my One Monthly Goal projects.

Some of the quilts I completed are pictured above -  Goldilocks, Galaxy, and Autumn Hexies (top row), Woodland Animals &  Our Land (middle row),  Playful, Be Bold  and Christmas Holly (bottom row).

Thanks Cheryl for a chance to link-up!

Happy New Year to everyone!   

Come back on Monday, January 1 and join the One Monthly Goal link-up.

Have a wonderful day! Patty