I couldn’t be happier with the end product. I believe the pillow will live in our living room, allowing me to enjoy it on a regular basis. I have been thinking about making a tutorial for this project. Is anybody interested? I have a few smaller projects to tackle before I could make it happen. If there’s interest, I’m willing to invest the time.

I want to mention that instead of an envelope back, I used an invisible zipper. I followed the recently published instructions by Cynthia from Meringue Designs. I’ve installed invisible zippers using a variety of methods. By far, Cynthia’s instructions produced the best results, and they were easy to follow. Yea!

And Calypso likes it too…

1. union jack 2, 2. ringo pie union jack, 3. Union Jack, 4. union jack quilt…victory garden, 5. Mug Rug Top #1, 6. UJ top completed Jan2011, 7. UJ top completed Jan2011, 8. It’s the Royal Wedding Tomorrow!, 9. Union Jack Block

Well, I’ve noticed them. For reasons I can’t explain, I’m really  drawn to the design. Perhaps, I’m influenced by our recent trip to Victoria, BC and one royal wedding.

To get the concept out of my system, I’m making a Union Jack pillow out of Central Park fabric. Since I want to use an IKEA pillow, I used this perfect graphic from Wikipedia to draft a design for a 24″ x 16″ pillow form.

On Tuesday night, I start St. George’s cross and went to bed please with my progress.

On Wednesday morning, I was comparing my design with the image from Wikipedia. Ouch! I’ve made a mistake. See the white middle?

It shouldn’t be there. I need to make St. Andrew and St. Patrick’s (diagonal stripe) crosses first. Then add the St. George cross to the corner section. Ugh. This means I need more fabric. In the past 24 hours, I’ve made too many cutting errors with the “white” fabric. Pine Needles, please have what I need. This time I’m buying half a yard. Just in case.

Until I get to the fabric store, I’ll work on the diagonal crosses. This time, I’m going to practice with less important fabric before I cut into Central Park fabric. Lesson learned!

I’ve been working on this pillow for my bed over the last couple of months. I really thought I’d finish it in March. Boy was I wrong. I finished it last week. It now resides on my bed.

And when I turn my back. Calypso claims it as her own.

At a guild meeting last week, we exchanged pincushions. I made a pear using Heather Bailey’s pattern. Loved the pattern. It was easy to follow, and it included helpful sewing tips.

And last but not least, I finished my bee block for May. Now I just need to get it in the mail.

It took far longer to get to this point than I anticipated. While I’ve done improve blocks, this is the biggest improve piece I’ve completed. At first I struggled with letting going. I worried about using a variety of fabrics and overall composition.

By the time I got to the second pillow, I found a bit of a groove and just went for it. I did learn that triangle pieces create problems down the road. Add with caution. I might just be ready for a wonky log cabin.

Last night, I quilted the pillows. I think it took about 10 minutes to do each one, light speed faster than the piecing experience. I live life dangerously when I quilt pillows and don’t pin my quilt sandwich together. Sometimes a back piece gets fold underneath, and I end up unpicking a bit. For the most it works for me. Tomorrow, I’ll add the backs and start the binding.

I printed my tag on inkjet fabric sheets. I like to use Printed Treasures. I included my blog logo. I can’t decide if I crossed the narcissistic line, although anybody who keeps a blog has a bit of healthy narcism running through them.

To install the grommets, I cut holes in the tag with an X-acto knife. I bought my grommets at Joann. It has been awhile since I purchased them. I believe they are are in the notions aisle. Now I just need a bit of ribbon.

I even pulled out my glue gun to assemble the flower. I don’t think my glue gun has seen the light of day in years. I see many more Kanzashi flowers in my future. They’ll be attached to everything.