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The Gemstone Pillow: A New EPP Pattern
It was one of those creative kismet stories…
I was noodling in my sketchbook, playing with octagon shapes for a new English paper pieced quilt block. I drew an octagon that was a little elongated, and the thought drifted through my mind: "Huh. That looks a lot like one of those emerald-cut gemstones."
…So I kept noodling, and before long, it looked exactly like one of those emerald-cut gemstones. And I had the makings of a new EPP pattern.
The very next day (I kid you not), RJR Fabrics asked me if I'd like some of their Cotton Supreme solids to work with and blog about. And I was all: "Ummm, YES PLEASE."
And here's the result: The Gemstone Pillow, my latest EPP-and-applique pattern.
I do love how this project turned out. If you've played with some hexies, this is a project to challenge your EPP skills a little. We're working with odd shapes here, but fear not – the pattern templates tell you everything you need to know in order to get all the pieces arranged correctly. Really, if you can thread a needle and sew a straight machine seam, you can absolutely make this pillow.
I could see this design in so many cool variations – you could make those gemstones all the same color. You could use just two colors. You could use shades of grey and make them all resemble diamonds. You could put your gemstones on a print background. You could arrange them differently. The patten gives you all the templates and techniques, and you can take off from there.
You can get all the pattern details over at my shop. And you can see what my fellow blog-hoppers have made over here.
It was awesome to work with the Cotton Supreme colors here. The success of this design relies on having enough contrast between the light and dark values of each color, and RJR has so many hues, I was able to get a perfect set. At left is a list of all the colors I used.
The Cotton Supremes are lovely to work with for EPP. They're nice and soft, and hold a finger-pressed crease beautifully, which makes for easy, precise basting. I've got some scraps left over that I can't wait to use in other projects.
(As you can see, Pushkin found them nice for Laying Upon as well.)
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Comments
I love sapphires! Because they're my engagement ring, and they symbolize loyalty. Plus so many colors!
I absolutely love how this turned out! What a fun project. I'm a sucker for amethyst :)
My favorite is the ruby because my grandmother gave me a ring with a ruby in it that she had as a child.
My favorite gemstone is ruby...I even have them in my wedding ring because I love red. Your jewels are so clever...I love the way you changed color values to make them look like they are sparkling. svonfumetti at yahoo dot com
This is absolutely stunning. My favourite gemstone is diamond, because it is a chameleon and takes on all the colours of the rainbow.
My favorite is a deep, rich Ruby. Love the red. Great pattern.
Beautiful project, you made the most of the colors!! Diamonds are a girls best friend!
My favorite is amethyst ... my birthstone!
I love rubies because their rich red color is so lovely. But when it comes to fabric, I love many colors!
I love this! It reminds me of my late mother's engagement ring which was emerald cut. Jewel to es are my favorite palette.
Love the green gemstone! Looks just like an emerald
More recently I have been dazzled by deep blue sapphires. My paternal grandmother left her sapphire ring to me, and my husband gave me a Sapphire ring on our 25th wedding anniversary.
PS - spectacular gem stone project!
Wow! That pillow turned out amazing! I love Rubies -- such rich colors, but emeralds, oh those are gorgeous, too.
Your pillow turned out so pretty, Diane! And the gemstones remind me of the ones in Legend of Zelda - so this project could easily appeal to the gemstone-lover and the gamer - what fun! :) I don't have a favorite gemstone, though I am partial to fire opals with lots of blues and greens.
Amathyst, because I love the color
Emeralds. Green is my favorite color! Though I've always been in love with rocks of all kinds--especially the crystal formations. Our local rock museum (Rice, PDX)has one of the largest ruby crystals ever found and it's color and size are amazing.
Beautiful very realistic looking
Morganite paired with rose gold, extremely lovely :) and your gemstones look so so great!
I like rubies.
I love the gemstones! And I see they also have the Pushkin seal of approval. ;)
ooh - this is just beautiful. My favorite is my birthstone - amethyst -which is also my son's birthstone AND my husband's birthstone. We have a celebratory month in February!
My birthstone is sapphire, so that's my favorite. But, I also love peridot, because it comes from olivine, which comes from deep within the earth!
And, your Gemstone pattern is amazing. It's so cool how the colors really give it a 3-D effect. I bet it's even more impressive in person!
My favorite is the sapphire. It is my birthstone, my mother's birthstone and my husband even added some sapphires to my wedding band.
How creative and unique! That pillow is just genius!
My favorite gemstone is the ruby...my birthstone. It brings me good luck...like winning this prize!
I love these, what a great idea! I don't need to be in the contest for fabric, but my birthstone is aquamarine, so I guess if I have a favorite, that's it…but it's hard to choose!
Love the dimensional effect. My favorite is Sapphire, the deep color and reminds of my grandmother's rings.
Sapphires-they're my birthstone and one of my favorite colors.
My birthstone is my favourite. Amethyst. Purple is my favourite colour as well.
My favourite gemstone is Amethyst. This is also my birthstone. Purple is also my favourite colour.
I love the colors of a ruby but I don't have a favorite. You did a wonderful job. This is stunning.
I love, love, LOVE this project! My daughter spotted it on my computer and has already put in a request for it (and for Pushkin, but I told her he's not available). And my favorite gemstone is amethyst - because PURPLE! :-)
I love Opals, because of the rainbow of colors and because they are my mothers birthstone.
Blue diamonds. Your pillow look stunning. Thanks for the chance.
Ruby it's my birthstone:)
Sapphires! Because I really love blue!
I'm an April baby and so mine has always been the diamond. More probably because of my mother who was always telling me how lucky I was that I WAS born in April so that I had the diamond for my birthstone. Gee only the most expensive so that you never get one except when you get married or on a lot of sites your birthstone is now called a cubic zirconia which is not a gem stone. I still love it though. After hearing from my mother my whole childhood telling me how lucky I was, how can I argue with that. I just don't know how you could do a diamond on the pillow? I do love the pillow though. I also like the double hexi-type thing going on. That looks like a lot of fun.
I forgot to leave my email, sorry.
lovebirdmom at gmail dot com
I love garnets- my birthstone and also so deep and rich in color.
allisonpogany@gmail.com
So beautiful and unique. You have a great gift, there is no way I could ever do something like that. My favorite jewel is a ruby, but I do love all of them. Thank you for sharing.
I love garnets since they are such a beautiful deep red color- plus they are something I can actually afford! Thank you for a great pattern and giveaway!
What a beautiful design! I like the diamond! Thanks for the giveaway.
I love emeralds. I'm a big fan of green.
rsgrandinetti (at) yahoo(dot)com
I love peridots because green is my favourite colour and peridot is my birthstone.
Oh my goodness - there are so many colours in the gems! My favourite gemstone is probably a diamond. Particularly the little one in my engagement ring!
Your pillow is gorgeous, so real looking!! My fave gemstone(s) is Sapphire and Amethyst because I love blues and purples. Thank you for a "gem" of a giveaway!
sew4you57(at)gmail(dot)com
Sapphires of course! My birthstone and they come in more colors than just blue, which suits my magpie nature very well, thank you!
Hi, love this giveaway!
My favorite is my birthstone>Garnet !
Thanks for sharing!
Ruby, because that was my Mother's birth stone.
I love the 3d effect you achieved! The colors are yummy!
I forgot to tell you my favorite gemstone! I love amethysts. They are my birthstone and my favorite color purple!
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