After last week’s cushion top, I received the best compliment, my 5-year-old son asked if I could make him a cushion. I started the strips and posted on Wednesday my start with the “space” themed cushion top using “Constellations” by Lizzie House for Andover.
When sewing the strips together, I realized that I can take advantage of my errors purposely inaccurate alignment of the squares (and the wonky star) 😉 and we have a cushion we are calling “The Wonky Universe”.
I can say this about working with postage stamp squares (and probably other squares too)….It doesn’t take much for the strips not to align just slight errors in cutting and probably inaccurate seams makes all the postage square not line up.
The quilting on this one I went with dark blue straight lines radiating from the wonky star, which is our sun, to kind of represent orbits. These lines were alternating to make sure the softness was left in the cushion cover. I also added yellow lines both horizontal and vertical directions through the sun.
When I showed my son this morning his response was “AWESOME!!”. It made my day 🙂
I am linking up with Amanda Jean @ Crazy Mom Quilts for Finish it up Friday.
Quick update: After seeing the amazing cushion from Adrianne @ On The Windy Side, I asked how she gets her squares so aligned….she gave this great advice:
- accurate cutting helps a lot. Personally, I don’t find pre-cut charms or mini charms very accurate, and I find the pinked edges make it difficult to line them up accurately. I would recommend cutting your own squares or cutting down pre-cuts so they have straight edges.
- sewing a consistent 1/4″ seam is a matter of practice. Sewing lots and regularly (like at least an hour most days) will help you get better faster. I’m not sure that my 1/4″ seam is exactly a 1/4″, but after a lot of practice, it is at least consistent. If you’re not already using a 1/4″ foot, it is worth the investment. I can’t sew a consistent seam without one.
- when accuracy is important, I use a LOT of pins. I line up the seams I want to match and pin through the seams. Depending on how big the squares are, I might also put a pin (or 2) between each pinned seam. I also pin in a slightly unusual way (I didn’t realise this until I started sewing with friends!) – I put the pin through the fabric perpendicular to the edge, with the point towards the edge I will sew along. If you put the pins back from the edge a little bit, you can sew along without removing them as you go.
- I don’t usually pre-wash or starch my fabrics, but when I know something might be tricky (like the Essex linen in black I used for these cushions), I do starch just for that extra bit of control.
I hope you go over and check out her blog :-). Have a good weekend all.
Factotum of Arts 
Again – until you show the close ups it is hard to see where seams aren’t matched – the overall impression is of uniformity. Most of all – it looks great! However – I like the tips on getting straight seams (given I am a bit slap-dash in my approach sometimes!)
Thank you – the distance shots you’re right, you can’t see it :-)…..after making this one, the first one was amazing. The most important thing is that my son liked it. Next week no pointing the flaws I promise….I did like the fact that we could call it the wonky universe.
I love the name!
I have to agree–this is totally AWESOME. I love, love the star. I didn’t notice the flaws until you pointed them out. If we are not quilt-policing each other maybe we should be less hard on ourselves! (I just finished a block with a nasty place right in the middle. I squinted at it and LEFT it. Only I’ll see it, I think.)
Thank you. My goal in trying all these things is really to have fun and learning things, so as I tell my 5 year old its all about doing your best and at least trying, right 🙂
Just noticed you comment on ‘On the Windy Side”. You can purchase some Noteworthy fabric from here http://www.redraspberryquilts.com. I recently made a bag in some of the fabric I purchased from there. You can see it on my blog about two posts ago.
Love this fabric line so much..I have some in my stash as well;) I adore that star in the cushion and how you did the quilting.
I usually cut my own squares as well from yardage. I do have some charm packs,but not a lot.
Thank you 🙂
Stunning! I adore the Constellation line and your pillow is just perfect for it!
Thank you
Heart!! Love 😉
🙂
It is awesome! Great way to show the fabrics!
Thank you, I am now looking at the final product and I really like it. In fact I might have to change how I was going to do the matching quilt. 🙂
Very cool! Well done!
Thank you 🙂
I love this, especially the yellow quilting!
Thank you. I love the choice of doing the two toned quilted lines as well. The yellow finishes it nicely 🙂
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