I was having a conversation with a friend a while back about our sewing styles.

She likes to take raw materials and piece together something new. No pattern. No tutorials. Just experimenting and creating.

I, on the other hand, generally like to leave the hard work up to other people. I prefer to let them take the time required to go through the trial and error of creating a pattern. I don’t like ripping things apart and recutting and resewing. And I like to know that if I start a project, I’m going to end up with a usable final product — not a half-finished heap of fabric that I’m tired of working on but can’t bring myself to throw away. I’m pretty practical that way, I guess. So, really, I’d chalk up any of my successful sewing projects to being able to follow directions well.

But, lately, I’ve wanted to break out from under the restraints of following directions, and decided that improvisational quilt blocks — turned into pillow covers — would be a great place to start. I started by going to Tallgrass Prairie Studio to read up on on how to creating wonky log cabin blocks, then shut my laptop, pulled out my fabric scraps, and got to work.

After a few of those, I went totally directionless and just started piecing fabrics together. I’m really happy with the way the blocks — and resulting pillow covers — turned out.

I can’t get enough of this Alexander Henry elephant fabric.

And I really love the spring flavor of this one. I can’t wait for some color to start appearing in my yard again. There will be greenery and flowers again once all this snow melts in another month or so, right?

Now, these pillows, plus a few others, are all for sale at The Shop Next Door! I’m planning to try some other quilt piecing techniques I’ve bookmarked next — zig zags and patchwork circles.