Cushions Anyone?

I have to admit I’ve been having some fun with smaller projects this week.  I didn’t think I would be into making things like this, especially since you will rarely see a cushion in my own house.  But I learn over and over again to “never say ‘never’ ” (no, I didn’t have to put that in quotes, but I decided to give the grammar-sentence-structure-correct-punctuation lovers like myself some eye candy with those single quote-within-a-quote marks!  You’re welcome.)

Apparently, people have cushions.  Some people have lots of them and some people even change them out for seasons, holidays, or just because.  They show up on beds and chairs and couches everywhere, just not in my house.  I’m not opposed to cushions; I don’t have an aversion to them or anything.  When I’ve had the odd one or two lying around in the past, they’ve always just seemed to be in my way.

First of all, I no longer have a couch, basically because the space requirement versus function doesn’t suit my needs (ie. having space for my grand piano is more important than having a place to watch tv lying down, which I, like, never do – oops, I said “never” …) and my recliners are just way more comfy and practical.  They have their own built in cushions so adding more for decoration just seems unnecessary.  Having cushions on my bed for decoration would just mean I have to pull them off every night and put them back on every morning and I think I’m already doing pretty well just getting the bed made on a regular basis when I’d rather be quilting.

But I digress …

Cushion covers are a wonderful way to use up fabric I might have left over from quilt projects. (Don’t anybody jump on me here for having leftovers when I’m a self-proclaimed NON-stasher!  Let’s face it: it’s pretty hard to not have any leftovers after one hundred and thirty-eight quilts to date!) Cushion covers are like little mini quilts and I can use up different threads, try out new techniques and do a variety of things in a day which is a change up from working on one quilt for hours.  So I’m glad that so many people love cushions!

Here are some photos of my most recently finished ones.  I had some batiks left from the big star quilt I showed you a few days ago and they were just asking to be made into a funky cushion cover with quilting as wild as the color combination!

I back the cushion fronts with muslin, so thought I’d give you an inside view 🙂

This next one is made from a piece of floral fabric left over from a quilt gift I made not long after I started quilting. I fussy cut a few flowers from a remaining scrap to appliqué in the black centre section and then thread painted the words.

These last two started with a brand new Kaffe Fasset charm pack that I ordered but never really liked once it came – go figure – until I separated the pieces and found a configuration that worked.  The first is all Kaffe, after weeding out the pieces I was least fond of, and the second shows the remaining Kaffe charms to which I added grey squares, giving them a bit of a break from each other and making them more palatable 🙂  I like the modern looks that resulted from these decisions!

Speaking of trying various techniques, I’m very excited about a couple of new things I’m going to be experimenting with in the near future, as soon as my supplies arrive.  You’ll be hearing about them eventually …

P.S. I know this rocking chair sitting in my porch looks great with a cushion on it.  True confession:  I do have a couple of cushions that sit on chairs in my porch because I saw some irresistibly cute owl themed tapestry covers in a store one day so I dug out a couple of old cushions and stuffed them.  Why do I feel the need to come clean?  Integrity, people.  The end.