I love the precision of paper piecing, once I remember how to do it again. (Every Time!) It allows for crazy things to be pieced, like the eye on this flamingo – that is only 3 or 4 stitches across each side. I have so much respect for quilters who “regular-piece” mini things!
This pillow started with the backing fabric a couple of years ago. I found it while on vacation in Florida at Byrd’s Nest Quilt Shop. My parents’ saw some flamingos on their honeymoon (I think!) and it has become “their animal”. Since their 40th wedding anniversary was this January I decided they needed a flamingo throw pillow.
The pattern is from Quiet Play – my go-to for paper piecing as she has made so many patterns, and lots of them are free! I picked this one up as part of a monthly zoo animal block blog post. She was giving away one free block per month and I happened to get in for the Flamingo. (If you want to get it now you can purchase her Zoo Animal Bundle. Or you could purchase this Geometric Flamingo on its own.)
To get the flamingos to face each other, I printed the pattern once correctly and a second time using the mirror-image setting on my printer. Then, I made them and sewed them together down the center.
The front is pieced from my solids stash, most of which is from my sponsor Sew Sister’s Quilt Shop, purchased while I was part of their Kona and Colour Wheel Club. The quilting is simple, straight lines in blue. I took my time deciding the quilting colour and I think it turned out ok! Though I should not have quilted right through the black of the eye. Next time I’ll plan differently.
As I sew more of them, I am realizing that throw pillows are super fast, good scrap destashers and fun to sew. They make great gifts, especially for kids’ birthdays. They can be personalized to someone’s favorite colour and even include their initial. Plus it’s a fun “quilty-break” between other projects. My pillow forms are from IKEA, pretty inexpensively, which works out to an “almost free” project most times!
Hope your summer is sew-ing well. 🙂
See you next time! Sherri
OH MY GOODNESS I saved that block when the series was being published 🙂 I just checked and it was the only one I saved, lol. LOVE your pillow and the fabrics you chose 🙂 You could always dab some black permanent marker onto the couple of stitches on the eyes if they really bothered you, but I think they look fine the way they are 🙂 My sewy friends and I hit Ikea every couple of months for ladies night out – we call it going to Sweden for supper 😀 We comb through their fabric section, and I buy their unbleached muslin – it’s quite a bargain! I shall look closer at the pillows during our next visit – I would love to make a pillow like this – thank you for the inspiration! (BTW – I get to go to Sew Sisters every couple of months as well – they have the best remnant bin EVER!)
It was actually before we were engaged and when I went up to Vancouver to meet dad’s parents. We had a day at the park in Vancouver BC. A very special getting acquainted day. Fun!
Love it!! What a sweet gift to give your parents as a reminder
Amazing.. I don’t know what to say else. Realy. Amazing. The pillow is beautifull, I guess it takes a lot patience to make something like this.
This is seriously amazing!! You are so talented!