Friday Finish - 3 log cabin cushions!

Remember the log cabin blocks I made as an exploration?  Well they are now 3 quilted cushions for the sofa!

Yes it has been a week of pillows around here!  A quilted pillow is a really fun quick project and I really enjoyed making these.  I'd been wanting to try out matchstick quilting so all 3 got the walking foot treatment!

The first one was quilted in a diagonal line.  I marked straight lines 1.5" apart to keep me aligned across the pillow and spaced the quilting 1/4" apart using my piecing foot.  Does this qualify as matchstick?  I was tempted to go again between the lines at 1/8" but really I thought this little project didn't need anymore.  I really like the texture it creates.

For the other small cushion I straight line quilted it vertically using the seams to keep my quilting lines straight. 

This one looks overstuffed for a very good reason!  Wilbur the wrecker was left dozing on the sofa while I was happily in the kitchen quilting straight lines.  Believing the happy hound to be asleep, I didn't hear him ripping apart my 16" cushion insert!  Stuffing everywhere, it was unrepairable, so wanting to see my cushion completed I've stuffed it with a 17" or 18" insert.  It is a bit much and I'll have to buy a 16", I think!

For the last cushion I wanted to try spiral quilting.  I've not used this technique before and having watched Jacquie Gering's lesson on Craftsy I thought I'd give it a try. 

Suzanne from our Thursday night sewing group (which we are now calling Just Threads!) gave us all a gift of a protractor and I thought it would be perfect to get my spiral going.  Thanks Suzanne!

I marked my first line in chalk and then picked a point to veer away for the second.  Using the 1/4" piecing foot I kept the spiral line on the edge and turned clockwise which kept the bulk of the quilt moving away from the needle and not bunching up in the throat space.

Even for this 24" cushion top, it took a bit of time and my right hand was constantly turning the quilt.  It got a lot easier as the circle got bigger.  If I were to do this on a full size quilt I'd space it out more maybe 1" to 2".  1/4" is nice on this size but used a lot of thread!

I did make a mistake on starting.  In my enthusiasm to get going I just got stuck in.  I should have started at a seam but I started in the middle of a pieced section and tried to resew it later.  It's not as smooth as it could be.

But not that noticeable in the finished cushion as a whole so I'm living with it.  Lesson learned for next time!

I had great fun with the backing!  This fabric is from Ikea and I think its meant for kids to colour in with fabric markers but I just like it a lot.  There's a lot of variation in it from windmills to sea creatures.

I cut the backs 2 pieces at 24.5" x 18" for the larger cushion and 16.5" x 12" for the smaller cushions and used 0.5" seam allowance to make the envelope backs. 

I used this piece for the back of one of the smaller cushions.  There's even a little dog with a kennel almost as cool as Wilbur's!  I love this farbic.

Speaking of dogs, photo bombed by Charly.  Can I ask Gordon to cut the grass so you can find your ball?  Sure, no problem pal!  (I've got hayfever and that's the story I'm sticking to!)

I really enjoyed this project and of the three the purple spiral trail is probably my favourite as you can guess from the amount of photos!  I made mine kind of improv with 1.5" strips up to 5" until it was 19.5" square and then framed with a 3" border.  I'm working on a pattern but the piecing went together like this if you want to try it yourself!

linking up with Crazy Mom Quilts and