Pillow time!

This is going to be my year of using my fabric. No, I am not making any grand "use only the stash" commitment, but I want to enjoy my beautiful fabrics EVERYDAY so I am going to make things for my home to USE them. Here is my first finished project of 2011. I love it.
Yesterday I was able to spend most of the day sewing and quilting ALONE! I spied this sheet at an estate sale about a month ago. There was a tiny glimmer of turquoise in a back closet and I snapped it up as fast as I could (there was a flat AND fitted queen (maybe a full, but it is so huge.) I clutched it close under one arm as I walked through the rest of the sale. I kept thinking that someone would stop me and tell me that they were theirs first. That is how much I love them. SO MUCH! The fabric is very soft and worn in some spot, so it is perfect to add some color to a quilted project.
I thought that a fully quilted pillow would feel nice so I practiced some free-motion alphabets on it. It was my first larger quilting project on my new sewing table (my machine now sits flush with the table) and it was FABULOUS!! No more catching on the small detachable quilting surface of my Bernina! I just had to share. The colors really do perk up the sun/family room in our home.

Speaking of color, I am compelled to share pics of these 3 skeins that I found today on flicker (here, here, and here). I challenge you to look at those and not feel inspired to make a quilt or other project from those color combinations. SO BEAUTIFUL!

A few weeks ago someone asked me how I found great stuff on flickr, as it is such a HUGE site. I have found a few great swap groups and then from those I found people whose pieces I liked... then I went and checked out their favorites. Here are a few groups that I really like:

Doll Quilt Swap

Fat Quarterly inspiration

Colors

Collaborative quilting

Enjoy some color today!!

JMB