Today I’m miniaturising my Plus Side quilt pattern to make a Christmas cushion.

The Plus Side quilt pattern can make many different quilts, depending on fabric choice and block orientation. Here’s 3 quite different versions of the one quilt:

At first I thought I would make a Christmas quilt. However Australian Christmases are very warm, so I decided to scale down the pattern and sew a cushion.

Some math reworking was required, but once that was done I pulled out my scraps and got to work (these blocks can be made with layer cake squares 10″ x 10″).

The majority of my blocks were Christmas green teamed with low volume or silver fabrics. I had a pair of blocks in white/silver which I didn’t end up using as I felt they were a bit too light.

I had some fun playing around with the orientation of the blocks, using value to form designs.

Cross design:

Offset radiating diamond:

Diagonal stripes:

Checkerboard, dark centre:

Checkerboard, light centre:

I don’t know what to call this one:

Centre radiating diamond:

Eventually I settled on the centre radiating diamond layout. Then I set about moving some of the individual blocks around to get the effect I was after (and to make sure like fabrics weren’t touching). It’s always makes me laugh how much work it is to achieve a ‘I just threw this together’ random look.

I tried it with a light centre and then a dark one. The final layout was also when I decided to do away with the white/silver block pair.

Once I’d settled on my layout and sewn my blocks together it was time to quilt the panel.

At first I considered a radiating design, guided by the diamonds in the layout. However this would have required thread burying and my Christmas cheer didn’t extend that far. So instead I fell back on trusty cross hatch quilting, which was easy given all the squares in the patchwork blocks to act as guides.

Once the Christmas cushion was quilted and had a zippered back, it was ready to be stuffed with a size 20 (20″) pillow form.

This Plus Side cushion also plays very nicely with my green Scrap Magnet Christmas pillow. You can read more about that pillow in this post here.

I suppose I should sew a red Christmas cushion variation now, just to even things up on my couch.

That might be a job for next weekend.

If you already own The Plus Side quilt pattern, you will have received a pattern update with an addendum detailing how to downsize the pattern to make the mini patchwork panel.

I have amended the pattern listing to include the addendum for all future sales.

The Plus Side can now be made in mini, baby, throw, twin, queen and king sizes!

Happy sewing,

Kirsty x

Are they Christmas pillows or are they Christmas cushions? I’m not sure, but I do know I love them, no matter what they’re called!

These Christmas pillows were made from my Scrap Magnet quilt pattern. The pattern has instructions for a single block (as well as a lap quilt and an oversized block baby mat), which is perfect for a mini quilt or a pillow.

I used an 18″ pillow form in mine and it is nice, snug and plump.

Choosing fabric colours

When I first had the idea to make a Christmas themed pillow from a Scrap Magnet block I began thinking of red and green. I decided on having a single colour theme for each cushion. They would look nice and Christmassy together, but it also opened up the option of using them on their own in the non-holiday period.

I chose silver as my background fabric and kept the accents in black, as they added to the Christmassy feel.

However, if your response to Christmas decorating is to go hard or go home, then you could look at making each pillow in both red and green. A self contained piece of holiday goodness, as per these mock ups.

Quilting the Christmas pillows

Once my two blocks were sewn it was time to contemplate quilting (for a second) before deciding on a cross hatch.

These blocks are so easy to cross hatch as there are so many squares to act as a guide. If you like your cross hatching to be spot-on then you could use a hera marker to draw in some guide lines. But I just went for the organic look and did mine by eye.

I’ve used a dove grey thread as it blended well with all the fabrics.

I find I don’t have much time for any quilt designs that aren’t organic these days. Am I lazy or sensible? A bit of both, I suspect. 🙂

Sewing the pillow backs

Once my pillow fronts were quilted, I chose some coordinating fabrics for the backs.

One of my backs came together beautifully. Look at the pattern matching across this zipper! I did not try in any way to achieve this, it’s a Christmas miracle.

Before I could get too excited though, I then sewed the zipper in the red pillow’s back and went to sew it to the pillow front.

Uh oh. That didn’t go quite so well. Rather than rip out the zipper and sew it again with correctly sized fabric I decided to add a couple of strips either side. Thankfully the fabric print hid the additions quite well. Catastrophe averted.

These pillows are now happily decorating my couch, waiting for some company.

If you’d like to make a Scrap Magnet Christmas pillow of your own, you can find the pattern here in my shop.

Happy sewing! (and remember, less Christmas cheer and more measuring when sewing your cushion backs) 🙂

Kirsty x

P.S. If you’d like to see a different Christmas cushion I sewed, check out this post here.

ETA: The random number generator has declared the winner of the 2 spools of thread to be: Kathy E! Congrats Kathy, check your inbox for an email from me.

It’s all happening in today’s post – flying geese, fussy cutting, a friend’s new book and a chance to win some Aurifil thread! What a great combination!

The lovely Alyce of Blossom Heart Quilts has a new book called Mini Masterpieces out now. You can find it on Amazon here.*

I *heart* mini quilts

I love mini quilts. So when Alyce mentioned she’d be doing a Blog Hop to support the release of the book I asked if I could participate. Lucky for me, she said yes!

The book is great at leading you gently through a range of blocks which you can then use to create some gorgeous little mini quilts.

Mini quilts are fantastic as skill builders. You can try a new technique without having to commit to a huge quilt. All the mini quilts in this book could be used to make wall art, a cushion cover or a table topper – small, useful items.

Alyce asked me to sew up the flying geese sampler block from the book.

Choosing my fabrics

For me the fun always starts with fabric selection.

I knew I wanted to fussy cut with this beautiful Pat Bravo fabric* from her Artisan range.

Then I needed some accent fabrics. I plucked out some of the colours in the print – navy, pale yellow and white.

I knew the flower print had to form the mama goose (due to its size). Then I did some rough auditioning to see which fabrics I’d use for the baby goose and the background.

The following layout is the one that won the audition. (I realise now that I forgot to audition the white fabric for the baby goose. Oops.)

Sewing my flying geese blocks

With my colour scheme settled, I fussy cut my large geese blocks. I rummaged around in my ruler drawer and found a rectangle that was the perfect size. Of course, it was one of my Bloc_Loc flying geese rulers*. Even when I’m not using them for block trimming, they come in handy for fussy cutting.

A little bit of sewing and the blocks took shape.

Mama and baby goose, ready for action.

And here’s the completed flying geese sampler block:

And here’s four of ’em:

Flying geese block layout options

While I didn’t have enough time to get these whipped up into something, I did have the chance to play around with layout. I’ll make a few more blocks and turn them into a cushion over the Christmas holidays.

Here’s how they look laid out in several different orientations.

Do you have a favourite? Mine is the second one, where the mama geese are having a chat. I’m sure they’re holding tiny little margaritas.

Let me show you the stellar line up of bloggers who are participating in this Blog Hop. Then I’ll tell you how to get yourself in the running to win some Aurifil thread, wahoo!

Awesome blogs to visit…

Here are the fabulous sewists participating in the Blog Hop for Alyce’s Mini Masterpieces book. These blogs all contain a wealth of information and inspiration. They’ll also give you another chance to win some thread, so yay! Pop over and visit.

November 18 – Simple Squares
Sarah from Sarah Ashford Studio – @sarahashfordstudio
Janice from Better Off Thread – @betteroffthread

November 19 – Strip Piecing
Molli from Molli Sparkles – @mollisparkles
Sarah from SariDitty – @sariditty

November 20 – Snowball Blocks
Ali from Arabesque Scissors – @arabesquescissors
Kitty from Night Quilter – @nightquilter

November 21 – HSTs
Andrea from 3rd Story Workshop – @3rdstoryworkshop
Caitlin – @caitlinpolden

November 22 – Flying Geese
Kirsty from Bonjour Quilts – @bonjour_quilts (You are here!)
Karen from Karen Lewis Textiles – @karenlewistextiles

November 23 – HRTs
Jemima from Tied With A Ribbon – @tiedwitharibbon
Rebecca from Bryan House Quilts – @bryanhousequilts

November 24 – Simple Curves
Nicole from Modern Handcraft – @modernhandcraft
Ava & Neve – @ava_and_neve

November 25 – Complex Curves
Elisabeth from Elisabew Quilts – @elisabew
Samantha from Aqua Paisley – @aqua_paisley
Christopher from The Tattooed Quilter – @the_tattooed_quilter

November 26 – Improv Curves
Aurifil – @aurifilthread
Nicholas from Quilts From The Attic – @quiltsfromtheattic

November 27 – Applique
Lauren from Molly And Mama – @mollyandmama
Sedef from Down Grapevine Lane – @downgrapevinelane

November 28 – EPP
Sharon from Lilabelle Lane – @lilabellelane
Jodi from Tales of Cloth – @talesofcloth

November 29 – FPP
Kristy from Quiet Play – @quietplay

Win 2 spools of Aurifil thread!

All you have to do to go in the running to win 2 spools of beautiful Aurifil thread is to leave a comment on this post before stroke of midnight on November 29.

The two thread colours I have to give away are 2140 Orange Mustard (the gorgeous golden yellow that would suit my sampler block perfectly) and 2021 Natural White (good old, ever useful white). You can see the yellow on the left in the photo below, and the white on the right side.

So please leave a comment. You can just say hello, or tell me what is your favourite small thing to sew? Do you love mini quilts too? Or are you more into pincushions or placemats? I want to know!

Leave a comment and I’ll draw out a winner (randomly) on November 30.

ETA: The random number generator has declared the winner of the 2 spools of thread to be: Kathy E! Congrats Kathy, check your inbox for an email from me.

Happy sewing, all. And congratulations on your beautiful new book, Alyce!

*affiliate links. If you purchase through one, thank you so much for your support of Bonjour Quilts. These small commissions help me pay for my hosting fees.