continuing on my current quilting kick, i made a pillow for my husband’s company holiday party. they do a Christmas decor gift exchange/yankee swap type thing every year, and this year i decided to add to my quilt block repertoire and make a pillow!

granny squares are the hot new-old quilt block, did you know? first Jessica made one for me as a pillow for my birthday (which i posted here), then Jess posted her progress on her middle daughter’s new big girl quilt and linked to a great tutorial on how to make them. that did it, it became a “must make.” i figured a pillow would be great practice and the fabric would be fun to figure out. i cut my squares at 3.5″ each and i added a 3″ sashing around the edge to frame the pillow (3.5″ sashing would’ve been better though – bit of a squeeze). the pillow is around 18″ x 18″ finished.

i didn’t pay as close of attention to the tutorial as i should’ve and did a little extra piecing, and i also cut myself with my freshly changed rotary cutter blade during the process, but it still came together in just a few hours and was a fun design to make.

i did sort of a mix of traditional and more modern prints in Christmasy colors of red and green, with lots of polka dots. the inner square is from a fat quarter of lizzy house leaves and berries in cocoa that i got at bolt a while back (here’s some on etsy!), surrounded by pearl bracelet also from hello pilgrim and two different versions of moda essential dots (i first used the red ones on the amelie dress, and the cream ones i think i got on clearance at fabric depot).

it’s always hard to show quilting on light fabric. i outlined the squares on the outside edge of each, then ran a second line of stitching echoing the outline around the outside of the block. it created some cool diamond and triangle shapes.

the back is just an envelope closure with a button to make sure it stays put.

it’s a bit risky to bring a handmade to an anonymous gift swap; there was stealing allowed and part of me was hoping it’d get stolen a couple times to show the time spent (and blood spilled) was worth it!*

my husband works at a family business though, and my sister in law hid the pillow under the table to prevent it getting stolen! i figure that’s just as good, right? she wanted it to come home with her, and she made sure that happened. so i know it went to a loving home. 😉

just when it ‘s time to take photos of inanimate objects (which should be a snap), the 2 year old can’t resist playing with the ornaments and photobombing my photoshoot. silly boy.

what are you making this holiday season? anyone giving any quilted pillows? they’re a fun way to practice your quilting without a huge time commitment! just one block, some quilting, and you’re done. totally fun (unless you slice your fingers – be sure to roll the cutter AWAY from you! AWAY NOT TOWARDS!! sewing is dangerous!).

be safe out there, you guys.

*I promise I did not bleed on the pillow!