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You are here: Home / Blog / Plus Side Christmas Cushion

Plus Side Christmas Cushion

December 2, 2019 By Kirsty 10 Comments

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:

Rainbow Plus Side quilt pattern by Bonjour Quilts. A FQ friendly quilt pattern in 5 sizes.
The Plus Side quilt pattern by Bonjour Quilts. An easy modern quilt suitable for beginners; pattern available for sale.
The Plus Side (quilt pattern) by Kirsty at Bonjour Quilts. Made in Carolyn Friedlander's Carkai fabric line

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:

Mini quilt or Christmas cushion layout option - for a scrappy Christmas cushion.

Offset radiating diamond:

Mini quilt or Christmas cushion layout option - for a scrappy Christmas cushion.

Diagonal stripes:

Mini quilt or Christmas cushion layout option - for a scrappy Christmas cushion.

Checkerboard, dark centre:

Mini quilt or Christmas cushion layout option - for a scrappy Christmas cushion.

Checkerboard, light centre:

Mini quilt or Christmas cushion layout option - for a scrappy Christmas cushion.

I don’t know what to call this one:

Mini quilt or Christmas cushion layout option - for a scrappy Christmas cushion.

Centre radiating diamond:

Mini quilt or Christmas cushion layout option - for a scrappy Christmas cushion.

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.

Mini quilt or Christmas cushion layout option - for a scrappy Christmas cushion.
Mini quilt or Christmas cushion layout option - for a scrappy Christmas cushion.

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.

Cross hatch quilting on a scrappy green Christmas cushion.

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

A scrappy green Christmas cushion, sewn from the Plus Side quilt pattern by Bonjour Quilts. Layer cake friendly in the mini/cushion size.

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Comments

  1. Cynthia Gottlieb says

    December 2, 2019 at 10:42 pm

    I just Loe all the different ways you worked up the pillow! The Off-side was my favorite but the one you paired with the Christmas one is fabulous! Thanks for your creative inspirations!

    Reply
    • Kirsty says

      December 3, 2019 at 7:20 am

      The offside diamond was a close second for me!

      Reply
  2. Tina Stout says

    December 3, 2019 at 3:46 am

    I really like the checkerboard layout, both dark and light. But your final choice for the pillow is stunning. How awesome to get so much variety from one pattern!!

    Reply
    • Kirsty says

      December 3, 2019 at 7:23 am

      Thanks Tina, it’s always a lot of fun seeing the effects of colour and value on a design. Just a few turns of a block and the layout can look so different. Although it does make it hard to settle on a final design!

      Reply
  3. Sheryl Kaplan says

    December 3, 2019 at 4:04 am

    Hi Christie, I think your unnamed block looks a bit like an hourglass. All your cushions came out beautifully. What a clever idea to add strips on your red pillow back! So time saving as well.

    Reply
    • Kirsty says

      December 3, 2019 at 7:20 am

      Thank you, Sheryl!

      Reply
  4. Jan says

    December 3, 2019 at 6:12 am

    Hi Kirsty,
    I just love the cushions with the variations in the Plus quilt pattern. It has given me confidence to try them and to try fabric combinations…..just beautiful. I think a few pillows with the same fabrics but the different arrangements would look wonderful . I am buying the pattern ( if I don’t already have it). Merry Christmas, Jan

    Reply
    • Kirsty says

      December 3, 2019 at 7:17 am

      Thank you Jan, there’s certainly a lot of fun to be had playing with these blocks. And that’s just in one colour family – it would be interesting to introduce other colours as well. Happy sewing! 

      Reply
  5. Aileen says

    December 3, 2019 at 6:51 am

    It looks great. I agree that the silver blocks were just a bit too light. I loved seeing all the possibilities. What a great pattern!

    Reply
    • Kirsty says

      December 3, 2019 at 7:18 am

      Yes, they were very pretty but just too light. I actually thought the dark blocks were too dark as well, but in the corners I think they balance out quite well.

      Reply

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