Sewing for friends

It's so nice to have talented friends here and abroad. You get to suggest swaps and get packages in the mail. I sent off a package to Corinne (PiecedbyPeace) in Germany. She asked for some "boxes" to keep scraps etc in while sewing. Colors suggested were green, a bit of red and white. I have made a few boxes in the past and have had varing results. Using a new pattern from Ayumi Takahashi's book "Patchwork, Please!", I modified her "My Scrappy Box pattern", so that the box could be folded flat for shipping, thank you IKEA. I also ended up made 2 boxes of different sizes and various coordinating but not matching patchwork.
This is what I ended up with:

nested boxes, the inner box (taller) is from the original pattern.

 For anyone that wants to mail these boxes without incurring cost prohibitive postage, if you (at step # 9) sew into the side seams, about 1.5 " from the top edge on each side, a small elastic hair band, you will create a way to hold the sides up without ladder stitching the sides closed (step #15). All you then have to do is add a button to the adjacent side panel and loop the elastic around the button.

side buttons added to ease with shipping

end buttons added

These can be unbuttoned and folded flat for shipping and once your friend gets the box, if they like, they can ladder stitch the sides.

I did use some fun fabric for the box linings,

the "toile" fabric reminds me of the designs on some old fashioned plates. The one I chose has 2 quilts hanging from a clothes line strung between 2 trees. Kinds old fashioned and cheeky at the same time.

Sliver Quilting and X-factor pillows….

Circles, this "round" was all about circles over at the X-Factor pillow swap.
I decided to try a technique new to me, Sliver Quilting from the book, Sliver Quilts by Lisa O'Neill.
I thoroughly enjoyed myself, even read the directions this time, although I confess I didn't follow them precisely. This pillow is made from 4- 12" quarter circles.

Unstuffed pillow, showing quilting detail and my favorite striped shot cotton binding

 It's stuffed with a 26" pillow form and I think that's the right size if you want your pillow to be nice and fluffy, like here.

front

back- invisible zipper
although I'm guessing if you stared even a little bit you can guess where it is hiding.

The Details:
Title: Kaleidoscope Roulette
24" x 24"(unstuffed)
constructed with shot cottons, LouLouthi, and Zen Garden cottons and a circular, bias cut, satin accent
Hidden zipper closure on the back
Central FMQ, circular and ray quilting around the perimeter with  complimentary Aurifil threads

Central shot cotton covered button.

I used masking tape to indicate quilting placement.
There were lots of threads to bury.

the quilting detail stands out in this photo

close- up, front, circular and ray quilting

central FMQ with shot cotton covered button

Muslin backing of quilted front, you can see the overall design much better