Hello again: another Black & White quilt

My but it's been a long time since I've shared anything here...seems like years ago instead of just a mere eight months!  Much has happened (we moved!) but in those busy months I have managed to keep creating, both for work and for fun, and thought I would share one of my favorite projects today.

You may recall that about a year ago I shared a black and white quilt that I made.  It found a home with a fabulous friend of mine, and after it sold I started thinking about another one.  And as it happened, I found myself at the Quilting Connection in Ames, (aka fabric heaven!) and lo and behold they had a lot of outstanding black and white prints that came home with me.  Here's what happened to those prints:

I got a little crazy this time and put some gray in with the black and white.  Notice the adorable retro pickup-truck print--how cute is that?  I also made the hubby a Christmas stocking out of that print. He wasn't quite as excited as I was about the truck fabric, but he managed to look interested for a moment or two.

I wanted to do something rather unexpected for the back of the quilt so I let the top sit for a couple of weeks until the right quilt back presented itself to me.  That's how my process often works: I just wait for the right fabric to find me.  And it always does.  In this case, it was this unbelievably cool bird print that I found at Stitch:

The inspiration for using yellow binding came from Maureen Cracknell's blog, which is one of my very favorites; she's an amazing quilter.  She showed a photo of a recent quilt of hers which she had bound in yellow and so I thought I would use yellow on this quilt.  Love how it turned out.

I made this quilt as we found our new home and as the weather began to change from winter to spring.  The black and white reminds me of winter and the birds, of course, are the quintessential harbinger of spring.  And here at our new home, we are lucky to have lots of birds visiting our yard and birdfeeders all the time.  That's just one of the many things I love about our new home.  I'll be sharing some more about our new house as I get some pictures.

With spring comes the Farmers Market as well, and this year  I will be there on opening day, which is May 2.  If you're in Des Moines, please stop by my booth on 4th street, north of Court Avenue, and say hello!  I'm looking forward to being part of this wonderful event again this year, which marks 40 years of the Downtown Des Moines Farmers Market.  

Happy spring to all and bring on the warm weather!

Fabric Fun: Pillow Covers

Last week I finally figured out how to sew pillow covers, something I'd been wanting to do for quite a while.  It's been a pillow-cover making frenzy ever since!

This is the first batch I stitched up.  I used a variety of fabrics, both new and vintage.  The three with the big pink flowers that you see here are from a vintage tablecloth that I've had for a long time but rarely ever used.  We're just not a pretty tablecloth type of household.  I hesitated before making the first cut, but after I finished the first cover, I was totally happy I decided to do it.  I love how this fabric works as a pillow cover; I think it showcases the beauty of this vintage piece so well. 

My design process for these might best be described as completely and totally random.  I had purchased a Robert Kaufman charm pack last week at Stitch here in Des Moines, and decided to see what I could come up with from it.  The colors weren't my usual palette so it was a good little challenge:

And since I'd opened that charm pack, I grabbed a few more pieces from it and paired them up with a vintage pillow case that I happened to have, because I'd bought a stack of them at a garage sale a few years ago:

I really, really like this one.  I love how the modern fabrics work with the vintage.  Like they were all part of the same collection. 

Yesterday I tried one more idea I'd been toying with, which will come as no surprise to those of you who know me:

I just couldn't resist.  The red floral print is from a bundle of yardage I got at an estate sale last summer.  I had no particular project in mind when I bought it, but it was too good of a deal to pass up. 

So that's what's been happening around here.  Now back to my sewing machine!