Thornflower pillow

Know what?  I need to play along with more challenges.  This was fun!

The end product is quite unlike anything I would have designed from scratch on my own.  Limitations, rules, boundaries - whatever you call them, working within a defined framework is one of the springiest boards for creativity.

My Thornflower pattern was inspired by the Tales of Cloth Shape Family Design Challenge,  which runs through the end of September (in case you're wondering if there's still time to play).  By my experience it takes 10 days for a package of paper pieces to arrive from Jodi's shop in Australia to my home in the United States.  In the meantime, you can be choosing your fabrics!  For the challenge, I developed this spiky flower motif with turned jewel shapes encasing a 1" hexagon.  Little equilateral triangles splice the edges together, leaving echo triangles in their wake.

After English paper piecing all of the shapes, I attached the piece to an already-quilted Kona Teal background with about one million pins.  Then I machine appliqued the entire work, including the floating triangles so everything is as secure as can be.

The pillow is finished with an invisible zipper and a few flannel scraps for a cozy pillow back.  With any luck the heads around here will land on this very inviting pillow back.  It's my favorite trick for pillow longevity.

I wonder, is anyone else participating in the challenge?  I'd love to see what you've come up with - you can share a link in the comments.  Isn't it endlessly astounding how many clever ways there are to do this quilty thing?  I have a bunch of ideas now for what's next.  Some quilts to finish, another couple pillows and a very special work in progress to ressurect and reinvent.  More soon!

Oh, plus we're starting school again this week.  I'm nervous, but glad.  Here's to August!