Bloom Pillow

First finish of 2011! And it's only January 6? That's crazy talk. But it's true. Well, okay, it's just a pillow. But still! January 6!

My little pink practice Dresden block for the {Sew} Beautiful Bee turned into this happy flower pillow for Miss E.'s room. Per Cherie's instructions, I made the original pink Dresden using this tutorial by Elizabeth Hartman on Sew Mama Sew. The only difference is that we are using the Fat Cats ruler instead of the Easy Dresden ruler, which is recommended in the tutorial. The Fat Cats wedge ruler makes a Dresden with 12 petals instead of 20.

After making the pink Dresden, I made a second Dresden in green (with wedges a half-inch larger than the original), and doubled them up, offsetting them so that the green petal points were between the pink ones.

Then I top-stitched around the edges of the Dresdens, and attached both of them to the background so that the ends of the petals weren't sewn down. It gives it a little texture and dimension that I like. (I quilted the white background with wavy-line quilting before attaching the flower.)

Miss E. loves it! I've been meaning to make her a throw pillow or two for ages. Thanks, Cherie, for finally making it happen! Miss E. thanks you, too. : )

And, I'm joining the Bloggers' Pillow Party at Stitched In Color! This pillow is my January entry. Head over to Rachel's blog to see lots more pillowy goodness.

Edited to add: I'm also linking up with Sew Fabulous Friday at a Girl In Paradise!