SCRAPBOOK OF QUILTS PILLOW ALONG: Week #5

Welcome to WEEK #5!!

We are working our way through my latest book, SCRAPBOOK OF FRIENDS, by making pillows for each block featured! Be sure to check out what my partner in crime, Carrie [HERE on Instagram] has to add to the festivities too.

Carrie and I love working together and have really enjoyed collaborating on this book project over the last couple of years but we pretty much always do something a bit different so you will ALWAYS get two perspectives to everything if you follow along with us both! Also, you will definitely want to see the MODA Blog Post HERE.

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WELCOME SPECIAL GUESTS:

We have a NEW GUEST joining us this week. WELCOME CHELSI STRATTON, one half of the fabric design duo with her mom Sherri, Chelsi is a MODA friend and a fun addition to our line up!

And of course KIMBERLY JOLLY is whipping up another fabulous pillow to add to mine and Carrie’s too. I tell you… we are accumulating quite a collection over here with these weekly PILLOW ALONG posts!

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THIS WEEK’S THEME AND PILLOW:

Our theme this week is AUTUMN and as many of you might already know… autumn is my favorite season and my favorite time of year. It’s the colors and the sights and sounds and the crunchy leaves and the pumpkin spice anything!

Oh and sweaters and scarves are right up there at the top of my FAVORITES list. So it wasn’t hard to gather a pile of my favorite fall-flavored scraps in tones of butterscotch and brown and caramel and orange and plum.

I mixed the scraps up totally random and paired them with my bucket of cream scraps that I seem to never tire of… or be short of either :-)!

• To see Kimberly’s pillow [Click HERE or HERE]
• To see Chelsi’s pillow [Click HERE].

As a quick SUMMARY reminder of how this is working each week:

1. We are working from our brand new book A SCRAPBOOK OF QUILTS and each week we are featuring one of the blocks in the book through a PILLOW ALONG, where we [and a few of our friends] each sew a different version of a pillow using that week’s block and theme as a way to inspire you to sew some pillows of your own along with us this summer!
2. Each week Carrie and I will both post a new pillow design or idea on Instagram.
3. Each week I will also post mine here on the blog and in my Facebook Group.
4. If you want to see the goodies the above mentioned designers have done, you will need to go to their IG feeds as that is where they are sharing. So excited for what everyone will share each week!

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MY PILLOW CHOICE & PATTERN FOR THIS WEEK

This week we are working with Carrie’s PIROUETTE block in the book.

• If you are following along, it starts on page 89.
• I used a large variety of my favorite autumn flavored fabrics. I might admit to cutting up quite a pile… enough for at least another pillow if not two. I might just send a little baggie of those to one of you [SEE GIVEAWAY INFO AT THE END OF THIS POST].
• When sewing them together into squares, the only thing I paid attention to was to not use the same color or similar colors in the same square. Other than that, it was completely scrappy.
• I added a bunch of cream prints for the outer portions and instead of doing one longer piece A and used all B’s instead so I could use up more scrappy squares in those background sections.
• I used one of the creams with the tiny little pumpkins in it for the sashing and scraps for posts.
• I used the pillow in directions in the book for this one with ONE SMALL EXCEPTION… as you might notice, my pillow is not a wreath as it should be but instead 2 Harvest Laurel Half-wreaths instead. Why you might ask? Well… let’s just say that I had a bit of mishap during the assembly portion of the pillow 🙂 :-).
• I quilted it with a small meander/stipple stitch.
• I added an envelope backing and used one of the “harlequin” prints from Pumpkins and Blossoms

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PILLOW TIPS & HINTS FOR THIS WEEK

THIS WEEK ITS ALL ABOUT THE ZIPPER!

So… we are turning this over to CARRIE today as she has so more experience and expertise in this department.

Now don’t get me wrong… I love a good zipper and add them to pouches and bags all the time. They used to scare me but they don’t anymore since I just jumped in and tried it.

In fact, I have a tutorial on how I add a zipper somewhere out there… maybe this will work CLICK HERE. But I have never added one to a pillow so am leaving this one in Carrie’s hands.

A couple quick things I will definitely share:

• I don’t use a special zipper foot, I just come as close to the zipper as I can.
• I always add little fabric tabs on the ends of my zipper so that it finishes nice and clean on both end of the zipper. Sometimes I have those be cute little accents and sometimes I just use the same fabric as the pillow.
• I usually use a neutral tone for my zippers so I have cream and tan zippers in almost every size imaginable.
• I like simple metal zippers without any bells and whistles.
• I LOVE zipper pulls… and collect all kind of little charms and trinkets to put on them especially on a quilty pouch.

Now let’s go check out Carrie on her INSTAGRAM and CLICK HERE for her YOUTUBE TUTORIAL and all of her knowledge about zippers in pillows :-)!

WEEKLY PILLOW GIVEAWAY:

Come check out my INSTAGRAM page to follow along on the #pillowalong hashtag and see the announcement of last week’s winner this week! Each week, anyone who posts a photo with some portion of what they are working on for the pillow along and uses the #pillowalong hashtag, will be entered to win a “special prize” from Carrie and/or I.

This week, my winner will also receive a baggie with my leftover autumn ½ square triangles with these exact same fabrics in hopes that they might become someone else’s much cherished pillow!

THINGS TO EXPECT EACH WEEK

1. Weekly inspiration by theme. AUTUMN THIS WEEK.
2. Weekly hints and tips. WE WILL TRY TO GO IN THE ORDER YOU WILL NEED TO KNOW ALL THE THINGS IN MAKING A PILLOW. SO THIS WEEK, WE ARE TALKING HOW WE SIZE COVERS AND INSERTS
3. Weekly prizes. We will have a prize each week on INSTAGRAM and a few here on the BLOG too so stay tuned!
4. Weekly friendship as we sew pillows together! Since they are pillows and they are small, you can actually finish a pillow each week and have a fabulous collection by the time you are done… really!!

Sounds like a perfect way to spend the summer, don’t you think?

A FEW FAQ THAT I HAVE GOTTEN SEVERAL TIMES SO HERE ARE THE ANSWERS:

How do I enter the GIVEAWAY?

See above for more info. But basically all you have to do is be working on the pillow for that week in some way, post a photo and use the hashtag. It can be anything… from a fabric pull to a few parts sewed to a block, anything really!

Do I have to make pillows to join?

No! if you want to work on one of the quilts in the book as we work on pillows… GO FOR IT and as long as you post to the hashtag, you can still be entered in our weekly giveaways.

What are the hashtags?

If you want us and others to see what you are working on [any progress shots are fine… and of course finished pillow tops or pillows too], then use the hashtags #pillowalong and #scrapbookofquilts

I don’t have the book yet. Is it too late?

No at all. Grab a book and join us. Making pillows is always fun and there are so many projects in this book that you can start with!

Join our FACEBOOK GROUP if you haven’t already [CLICK HERE] as we will be working on it there as well as here on the blog each week.

See you next week with the second set of pillow inspirations and pillow hints and tips.

Joanna and Carrie too… along with Kimberly, Susan, Susan, Anna, Greg, Chelsi and Melissa

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Scrapbook of Quilts Pillow Along:

Week 1: Set Up

Week 2: Patriotic

Week 3: Neutral

Week 4: Two Color

Week 5: Autumn

Week 6: Halloween

Week 7: Christmas