WIP Wednesday - Patchwork Cushions!

My good friend Sarah asked me if I'd help her make some patchwork cushions to spruce up her spare room.  While I was wandering around the Limerick Quilt shop, I spotted a charm pack of forty 5" squares the shop had put together, from Flo's Garden by Andover fabrics.  I only went there to buy new blades for the rotary cutter but when I saw the gorgeous pinky corals and cute woodland theme I thought straight away of Sarah. 

So last Saturday, we got stuck in slicing up the home dec. weight fabric Sarah had bought and the charm pack of Flo's Garden.  Don't they co-ordinate perfectly?  The stripy fabric will be the same used for her curtains and the floral surround is from the same collection. There will be two of these traditional looking cushions with the pinwheel in the centre.

Our friend Mary, and her 2 1/2 yr old Maeve (my youngest Godchild!) arrived to see how we were getting on and joined in the fun.  I think we have the makings of a fabric lover here!

And a dog lover!  Girl after my own heart!

So while I was making pinwheels and adding stripey borders, the girls got to work pulling apart the rest of the charm pack and the co-ordinating home dec. fabric to make this applique cushion cover.  It's the free pattern from Tula Pink called Coastal Cruiser.  I just love this pattern! 

We had to piece some of the charm pack squares together to get pieces big enough for the VW Bus and the girls had great fun deciding on what to use for the lights and windows.  I talked Sarah through how to use the fusible paper.  Didn't she do well?

So to finish them off, I'm going to sew down the raw edges with a zig-zag and quilt this one in straight horizontal lines.  As it's made from the same fabrics, it should co-ordinate well with the pinwheels even if it is a less traditional design.  I've the batting and backs cut to make an envelope back for them all, from the neutral check fabric in this block above.  For the 2 pin wheel cushions I'm just going to do some light quilting with a wiggly free motion stipple design.

There will be one more applique cushion to complete the set, (yes a dog!) but we didn't get it finished on the day.  All in all I think we did well for 6 hours work!  

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