Pillow Progress

These random mod mosaic chunks from last time...

...finally had time to turn into this:

I chopped the above mess down to a 21" square and will eventually be a pillow cover for a 20" insert.  After I quilt it I will trim it down to its final 20 ½" before assembling the pillow.

Hand Stitchin' Some Binding

Binding has always made me nervous.  I've never hand stitched... anything.  I'm too impatient for it.  I've always machine stitched my binding... and I have tried a bunch of different methods.  It's still not perfect but they're getting better.  With my small potholder project I decided to take a stab at manually attaching it.

It took me a while to figure out the 'quilter's knot'.  Most of the instructions I ran into were:

• Step 1: wrap thread around needle
• Step 2: ????
• Step 3: profit

I found this little video which finally made sense to me: How to Tie a Quilter's Knot.

I figured out how to start the sewing, and sewing up the corners was easy, but all the tutorials had no instruction on how to finish it!  When I ran out of thread and had no idea what to do.  I found this video and followed it.  Does anyone have any other suggestions?  Is there an easier way that I don't know about?  Also my fingers hurt from pushing that stupid needle through. I'm assuming I need a thinner needle - but is there some type of tool that can accomplish this?

Finished:

This is Joel Dewberry's Modern Meadow with Kona Coal, Medium Gray, and Ash.  They measure approximately 7.5" finished.  Inside is a 2 layers of Warm and Natural sandwiched around a piece of bottomweight-canvas.

I wanted to play with the fonts again... so I added a bit to the back.  These are for our friend, Chef Greg, who's response to all cooking related questions no matter how complex is "It's really simple! You just..."

Saturday Night Sewing

Last night was dinner/sewing/Portal 2 night at our place.  And even though I would have loved to play Portal, the motion sickness factor is pretty much instant in that game for me (boo), so I stuck to sewing and teaching my friend how to make a quick little minky blanket for her daughter.

I really don't think minky is the easiest to sew with as a beginner, but she did great - especially since this is her second time sewing ever!

Here's her finished product!  I added the little strip of text because I'm still having fun trying out the fonts - and she totally loved it :)

(Measures approx 36"x44")

At the April Las Vegas Modern Quilt Guild meeting, we used Elizabeth Hartman's amazing Mod Mosaic tutorial to make blocks. This will eventually be another pillow, but here's what I have so far.  They will all be smushed together after I have enough to make a 22" square.