I told myself once before that I would not do another of these. There are a couple of reasons for this:

1. It takes away time I should be using more productively.... but it's so FUN!

2. I put undo pressure on myself to get things just so. And I've gotten burned in the past with not receiving the same in return (or not receiving AT ALL in return).

3. *and this is the most important* I only have so many seating options in my home and there are way too many throw pillows as is. Every time J sits on the couch, he tosses a pillow to one of the unoccupied arm chairs (or vice versa).

So, when I saw the sign-ups on Flickr for the 10th round of the Pillow Talk Swap I was wooed. Against my "better judgement." But so glad I participated, as there is a great energy among the other participants (as much as one can gauge energy over the internet, that is). And most everyone seems as excited and involved as I am, bringing their A game.

But even if you bring your A game, sometimes it's hard to know if that will be the direction that the recipient wants. I am hoping that what I have come up with will find a happy home!

Arriving here has been quite a journey. Several sketches, fabric pulls and further editing, reading all of the responses to all of the photos posted in order to glean the reactions from my secret partner. It weighs heavily on a person!

fabric pull #2 - mostly rejected, but helped immensely with narrowing down

However, deciding what to use for the backgrounds was more of a challenge, for some reason, and held me up for quite a while. I've been going through some serious second-guessing issues lately. First on the commission I'm doing for my brother and B-I-L, and more immediately on this swap. And sadly, I was getting no answers on the site. Or rather, I was getting some lovely answers, but not necessarily from the right person.

And yesterday I decided it was up to me to decide.

So I have moved forward and finished the pillow to send with its little extras (including a hand-printed BINGO game about my fair city of Portland!!)

*One of these things is not like the others...*

So I made my decision and got to the piecing. Have I mentioned that I have a lot to work on with curved piecing?? Not one of my fortes but better than some other options! And thank goodness for being able to finesse some of the errors with quilting!!

Stuffed with the ONE 20" pillow form I have, usually occupying the cover I received from Brittany in the Pillow Talk Swap #4!

And then there's the drastically different back...

Taking a little more sedate, sophisticated approach for the reverse (if a connect-the-dots print can be considered sophisticated).

... and the little extras. I'm excited to pass these goodies along, and it all fits in a USPS Flat Rate envelope! YAY!

I hope she loves this. Don't know what else to say about it. I'm glad I finished on schedule (barely) and only noticed 1 serious mess up, which I'll happily be pointing out to it's new owner, but don't dare to reveal to the public at large. ;-) Thanks for stopping by!