Bold and Brave–Challenge 3 of Project QULITING Season 9

This week's challenge at Persimon Dreams was to take Bold and Brave by the horns and complete a project in a week.

I'm not usually a bold person, but by golly, I sure am a brave one!

I've conquered many fears in my years on this planet and I needed to conquer one more this week!

Enter the Orange Peel Template! I bought this set over a year ago and needed to kick my apprehension aside and dig in!

I also needed to make a Galentine's gift for this coming week,

so I merged the two thoughts and got going!

Several years ago, I made this piece of art that hangs in my sewing room. I found the inspiration for it on pinterest.... a hole that I often get lost in.

Back then, I simply cut the "leaves" from scrapbooking paper by hand without a template and glued them down on a painted canvas. 

Looking more closely this week, those leaves really looked like "orange peel" shapes!

I was cooking with gas now! I brought out the rest of the Riley Blake Raspberry Parlour jelly roll that I used for my Valentine Pillow and chose the lightest strips for the background fabric. Sewing those strips together and then cutting up again to make a patchwork top was easy as pie and a quick sew. (Many apologies for the poor lighting!)

All ready for quilting!

I used a lightweight craft batting which I feel is perfect for table runners. 

Using a soft pink thread, I quilted using straight lines on each side of the seams. 

I failed to take photos of the pile of petals I had cut, but I have lots leftover for another snowy day project.

All petal fabric came from my stash (yeah!) and was backed using

Lara Buccella's Crafted Applique: New Possibilities technique.

(Please come back, Lara...we miss you!)

I love her technique as the edges will not ravel.

I played with the petals FOREVER getting a look I was pleased with. 

Then I sewed them down using my walking foot and a straight stitch

around the inside edge of each petal. 

Notice that one purple petal? 

That's purely intentional. 

It's a sign that I was there!

I used Riley Blake's Lovebug Love Script for the binding. 

Some lucky friend of mine will go home with this table topper this week! 

I ~almost~ hate to part with it!

OK, I'm lying. I want this for  myself. 

Measuring 31" x 18" .

Made in my home in Dubuque, Iowa.

3 layers of material, with applique on top. 

If you like my project, 

please vote for me 

I am #95!

at Persimon Dreams Bold & Brave Challenge

Linking up with:

Freemotion By The River's Galentine's Day

Quilt Fabrication Midweek Makers 111

Inquiring Quilter Wednesday Wait Loss

Put A Little Love In Your Quilt Blog Hop!

Today, I am among a wonderful group of bloggers who are sharing their projects for the

Put A Little Love In Your Quilt blog hop!

It is hosted by the fabulous Carol S. at Just Let Me Quilt.

The only rules were to sew a project that has a ❤ heart ❤ on it! 

I could do that!

I  have long admired Amy Sinibaldi's Merry and Bright Cushion Cover at Nana Company.

Even though her cushion /pillow is made for the Christmas season, I used the pattern tutorial to make a Valentine's pillow! 

Using a jelly roll from my stash called Raspberry Parlour by Riley Blake, I knew it would be perfect! 

I started by choosing a phrase that I wanted to machine embroider on the ivory colored strips. These strips flank the rows of square patchwork pieces. 

Narrowing down a font and size, along with getting those letters lined up takes me forever! 

I don't have any embroidery software, so I just wing it. 

I embroidered using a dark brown thread rather than black which seemed too  harsh.

I cut 2.5" squares from the jelly roll strips, sewed them together into rows,

then into a rectangle to include my embroidered saying. 

It all looked great, but I knew I still needed a heart somewhere on this pillow,

so I cut a 💗 template and set it in the chosen spot. 

I also machine embroidered a lacey-looking heart in that spot,

then added a bit of scrap batting to make the heart poofy. 

I first stitched the heart applique down giving it a raw-edge, but didn't like it much.

I used some dark brown embroidery thread and started hand-stitching,

adding in some pearl beads every few stitches to give it that extra "pop"!

Using the same embroidery thread, I hand-stitched along the edges of the ivory strips.

I love the sweet touch this adds!

The back of the pillow is a simple folded edge with a pretty fabric strip from the jelly roll.
The 2 pieces overlap.

This makes it easy for me to re-use the pillow form for other pillows

as the seasons and holidays change. 

I made this to honor my wonderful husband of almost 35 years!

I will truly love him "forever and always"!

💜💓💖💗💘💙💚💛💟💓❤💕💜

Be sure to stop by the other bloggers to see their fabulous projects

and find some giveaways along the way!

February 5

Life in the Scrapatch

Freemotion by the River

Marjorie's Busy Corner

Cynthia's Creating Ark

Vroomans Quilts

That Fabric Feeling

It’s A T-Sweet Day!

Elm Street Quilts

February 6

Creatin' in the Sticks

Quiltscapes

Bejeweled Quilts

Creative Latitude

Fabric Scraps

Just Sew Quilter

Ms P Designs USA

Made By Marney

Beaquilter

Tu-Na Quilts, Travels, and Eats

February 7

Kris Loves Fabric

What About Rheema?

Bumbleberry Stitches

Selina Quilts

Quilt Quest

Hazel’s Daughter <--You are Here!

Quilt in a not-Shell

Words & Stitches

Sunshine Reflections

Vicki’s Crafts and Quilting

February 8

Sew Incredibly Crazy

KaHolly

Moosestash Quilting

Kwilt Krazy

Kwilty Pleasures

Patchwork Breeze

Home Sewn By Us

Sew Many Yarns

Seams To Be Sew

Just Let Me Quilt

If you've made it this far, you deserve to enter a drawing for a super terrific prize!

I am giving away a $20 gift certificate to

Needle & Foot Fine Fabrics owned and run by Bernie K in California. 

Be sure to stop by Needle & Foot and check out the awesome fabrics and

handmade products Bernie has to offer!

 Enter the Rafflecopter below!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

I am linking up with: 

Inquiring Quilter's Wednesday Wait Loss

Triangulation–Challenge 2 of Project QUILTING Season 9

I've taken part in Kim Lapacek's Project Quilting Challenge for the last few years and have enjoyed it so much! This year, I missed the first challenge, but am taking part in the second one! Challenge #2's theme was "Triangulation". Who doesn't love triangles?

I wanted/needed to use my stash, so I brought out one of the first jelly rolls I ever purchased: Moda's Primitive Gatherings. It's no longer my taste, but some of the colors are right for my home. I pulled what I liked best and also found some Moda "reddish" fabric that matched! Winner!

Looking through pinterest and google images for inspiration, I came up with an idea to make triangles, but didn't quite know what I'd do with them. I just needed to get going...this had to be finished in a week!

I used a diamond template to cut several diamonds from my "reddish" fabric. I then cut these in half to make triangles. Using the selected strips from the jelly roll, I learned through trial and error, the length of each side needed to be:

14"--13"--17" in that order.

Above is the triangle with the measured border. 

Each strip left me with these scraps  after trimming.

Not much!

I played with the triangles trying to get a look that I liked.

Neither of these appealed to my eye. 

But this one did!

I sewed like a MANIAC on Saturday to get this baby finished!Quilting was done in triangular shapes and in "the ditch". 

It was late at night that I finished hand sewing the binding. 

Is it perfect?

Nope.

We won't go there.

This table topper measures 33" x 56".

It is 3 layers with a light polyester batting

and a cotton batting.

Made in my home in Dubuque, Iowa.

I do like the modern feel the triangles give

to these "primitive" fabrics. 

If you like/ love this project, please consider voting for me in the link up! I am #111 in the list.

Linking up with 

Persimon Dreams Project Quilting Challenge 2 Triangulation