First Finish for 2015: Grey Improv Pillow

My first finish for the year and it feels great! for the past couple years, I've made something for my co-worker's ringette team's fundraiser. First it was a quilt, then a pillow and I decided to make a pillow again.

I used the Improv under the Influence that Krista featured in her MQG Pattern of the Month "Chess on the Steps," and taught in a recent workshop for the VMQG. I thought the grey could use a little pop of colour, so I added the flanges when I pieced the improv strips together. I'm really happy with how it worked out!

I quilted it with Aurifil 40wt in a gorgeous green colour (#3320) using a motif inspired by Christina Cameli's newest book Step by Step Free Motion Quilting. I used my walking foot to quilt the wavy green lines, most of which were quite organic. I made two lines in each section parallel. I then went back and free-motion quilted some pebbles in between them.

I used more of the green on the pillow back.

And finally, I added an invisible zipper as the closure (though it's not that invisible).

The pillow cover measures around 16" square and I've stuffed it with an 18" pillow form to make it nice and plump.

This is my first 2015 Finish Along finish as well!