Hydrangea Pillow - version 2

The other day I finished up an art pillow, using the "confetti" technique - this one features hydrangeas which is similar to one I created before, with a new twist: FOLIAGE!!
I decided that hydrangeas really do have leaves, contrary to MOST depictions -
and it was really fun to see the colors come alive when the green was added!

Before: (version 1)

After: (version 2!)

Closeup of one of the leaves:

Also on this version #2, I added a little flower adornment - it features a vintage-style metal and rhinestone bloom-shaped center, with layers of the different fabrics I used in the actual pillow cover - plus, a very special hand-dyed vintage lace piece (variegated greens).

I kind of like the green! That could be because the warmer weather is finally coming - I think I have "Spring Fever!" We just moved to a new house (after living in a 3rd floor apartment for years and years!), and there are baby sprouts of green coming up everywhere in the gardens - I'm so excited to see them popping out of the ground!!  I can't wait to see what kind of plants they really are!! I feel a bit like the "Little Prince" waiting for his rose to be revealed - I'm so lucky to have plants and flowers again - it's great, great fun : )

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So, my "tip of the day" is:  

Add a little bit of GREEN to your next project!

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Silk Sari Ribbon Owl Pillow

Tonight I finished up a previous project - a little Owl, which I made into a pillow tonight. I made the owl using silk sari ribbon textile art, leftover from creating pillows, along with bits of colorful fabric, vintage lace, and vintage jewelry pieces.
I layered the owl on a broze hand-dyed fabric, trimmed the edges with brown velvety ric-rac style trim, and made an overlapping style back for ease of putting in a pillow form.
I'm really happy with this little pillow! Maybe I should make one for myself!! : )

Fabric Art Pillows - "Mrs. Hoot!"

My mom had the cutest idea - creating a little owl art quilt pillow. It began with the fabric which you see on the eyes of this whimsical little owl - she looked at it and said "This fabric would make perfect owl eyes!!" So, she just began free-cutting shapes and fused them together - then added bits of dainty vintage lace, and vintage jewelry pieces - and look how sweet it turned out!!

Mrs. Hoot has dressed herself up for a little party, making her own "Altered Couture" style of vintage clothing - (she's obviously been reading Belle Armoire magazine) - all dressed up in her finest pretties and jewels. Wonder what kind of party she'll attend? : )

This owl pillow features silk sari ribbon textile art remnants (leftover from my art pillows on etsy), bright printed fabrics, vintage lace and jewels, rose-shaped acrylic cabochon eyes, free-motion embroidery, and 3d layering for a really unique little pillow on green damask weave fabric.

This pillow sold the very day I listed it on etsy, so I created another -

this might end up being a very fun series!! : )

Sometimes leftover scraps from old projects make the *best* embellishments for new projects!

~ Enjoy!! ~

Another Sari Ribbon Pillow!

Here is the new square-shaped sari ribbon pillow, part 2 of the custom etsy order I'm working on.
This one is to go along with the round one (previous post) and still includes aquas/blues/purples for the sari ribbon colors. I did a lot of extra beading on this one because I had so much fun with the colors!!  I like the way the edging around the centerpiece turned out too - I used several different novelty yarns/fibers and twisted them together, and couched them down around the edge with a zig-zag stitch.

Also - on this pillow I added a couple of extra special touches, including sewing another border around the outside edge - although subtle, it gives it better shaping, plus reinforces the overlap on the backside of the pillow a bit more - to allow a bit more tug and pull as it is stuffed with a pillow form. Also, on the overlapping fabric on the back side, I added velcro closure, to make sure that the case will be completely secure.

Here are the photos!! : )

Last, this is how they look together!

Silk Sari Ribbon Pillow - Custom Etsy Order

I met another wonderful person on etsy, who had the vision of using my silk sari ribbon pillow in a new and challenging way - and I'm so pleased with how it turned out! She had purchased new linens for a bedroom in royal blue, and wanted me to use only aquas/blues/purples for the ribbons, keeping the black background.
This wasn't quite the challenge - as these are my favorite colors as well! : )
The challenge was to create a *round* pillow instead of square - and I love how it turned out, so much that I might have to make one for myself!! I'm so happy she had the creativity to envision this pillow with only those colors being used, and round instead of square - not everyone can look at a photo of something and imagine it as something else entirely!! It was very inspiring.

Here is a shot of the pillow which she looked at originally,

or the "before" shot (which is also in another post on my blog):

Now, here are the photographs of the pillow I created, using her ideas!

(Please note: I have difficulty with my camera (or perhaps it is my monitor which has poor color quality), capturing the aquals/teals in any piece I photograph. To me, in person, this pillow has many more aquas and teals...I hope it is visible on other monitors, as I didn't play with the color balance on these photos at all like I usually do.)

This is created using high quality black cotton as the background, which I layered on top of fusible interfacing to help give the front side some shaping for its final form, as well as some sturdiness for sewing on layers of the silk sari ribbon. I had a lot of fun going through all of my skeins of silk sari ribbon to find all of the aquas/blues/purples - and I *love* how they look all layered together!! We opted for no trim, because I felt it would only detract from the design - it is already very textured and layered - a piece of textile art!

I did quite a bit of additional embellishment with hand-beading, and created a center of layered fibers sewn in swirls around the center, with some purple raw silk ribbon cut into a circle and layered for the centerpiece background. I tried using several different large beautiful buttons for the center - I even tried silk flowers, flowers I created with ribbons, layered fabrics, beading, etc - the center was a very tough decision!  I eventually rummaged through all of my embellishments, and found the perfect piece of "bling" - a vintage jewelry piece that was in the shape of a flower, with the beautiful royal blue stones - which would match the color of her bedspread - perfect, if I do say so myself!! : )

Soon I will be posting another pillow similar to this one, except this time square - I'm excited to see how the two pillows will look side by side. I'm sure it's going to be gorgeous!

Silk Sari Ribbon Pillow

Today I finished up a little project using more of my WONDERFUL silk sari ribbon - ( get it at http://www.etsy.com/shop/NorthcottWilson) - delightful stuff!!

This is a black cotton broadcloth base with a squared center panel of rows and rows of layered silk sari ribbons machine-stitched and then quilted into the pillow. The edges of the square are trimmed out in more silk sari ribbon combined with fancy fibers, twisted and couched down with zig-zag stitching.

I love the "painterly" effect that this ribbon gives!!

I put this one on my own etsy shop:  http://www.etsy.com/shop/heathers3stars

Next time I want to make this same pillow, but with beading in addition to the center panel, plus some silk ribbon rosettes, and loopy fringe - if anybody out there has any ideas on how to create my own loopy fringe, let me know! : )

"Impressionistic Style" Art Quilt Pillow

Using the same "Impressionistic Art Quilting" style, I created a pillow for my fiance. His favorite color is PURPLE - which he refuses to wear - so this was his Valentine's Day present : ) I knew I wanted to use the same sort of style that I learned in the class I took with Ann Loveless, however I wanted to create an image for the front of the pillow that would look less like a landscape and more like - well, just flowers, in all different shades of purple. This is what I came up with!

It was my first real attempt at sewing a piping edge on a pillow, and I was very happy with the results. I looked up some videos on youtube.com for how to sew a piping edge on a decorative pillow, and some women had so kindly shared their tips and how-to videos! For the binding and the back I used a hand-dyed batik cotton which worked out very well. Also on this piece I used a piece of PURPLE tulle instead of black, to add to the overall "purpley" shading on the pillow.

A close-up view of the created pillow top using chopped up bits of fabric:

And last, here is how the back looks:

(I love this batik fabric!!)

I wasn't going to upload these to my blog, thinking maybe he would want this pillow "all to himself" however tonight he took a look at my blog and said - very disturbed - "why didn't you post my pillow?" So now that I know it won't offend him, I'm happy to share!! : )