Saturday 2 August 2014

The first of three cushions


This is my first finish for the

Finish Along 2014


I am making three cushions for the chairs in my living room. I'm practising machine quilting techniques and experimenting with layout on a small scale.

The first cushion is finished and in use.

All three cushions will be 16" square and of off-white Bella Solid (I don't know name and number, I'm afraid) with 2.5" strips of anonymous modern prints I received in a giveaway last autumn.


I did FMQ in the print panels: a freehand design of flowers and leaves worked with Aurifil 40 cotton in pale pink. This was not such a good choice as it hardly shows against the busy fabric pattern.
quilting detail
For the off-white section I did matchstick quilting at 1/4" intervals using the 1/4" mark on the walking foot.which didn't produce a consistently accurate result. Here I again used Aurifil 40 thread, in off-white (2309), pale dusky pink (2564), pale blue (2846) and pale yellow (2123). The contrast between the threads is very subtle, but maybe you can distinguish two lines of yellow followed by four lines of blue in the photo below. The contrast is a bit too subtle, as it hardly shows.

quilting detail
Altogether I'm pleased with the result, even the subtle colour changes in the white section; more contrast would have detracted from the impact of the central panel.

I'm linking up with:

at Quokka Quilts
Happy sewing

Marly.


11 comments:

Serena @ Sewgiving said...

What a great way to put your practise work to good use :)

Vireya said...

Cute cushion! I actually like the subtle colour change in the quilting thread on the white sections. It isn't immediately obvious, but it makes you take a closer look.

Laura said...

Oh what IS that fabric? it looks almost Amy Butlerish... Lovely finish. Thanks for linking up!

Dasha said...

Nice quilting Marly!

Lisa J. said...

I also like the subtle colour changes in the matchstick quilting. What I can see of the fmq in the bottom photo looks really good.

Marly said...

Thank you Lisa, but really it's like the curate's egg: "good in parts"!

Gina said...

Lovely quilting xx

Jo Ferguson said...

The cushion is beautiful. I love the subtle look of the different threads, it adds to the texture.

Jo Ferguson said...

The cushion is beautiful. I think the subtle difference in the threads, adds texture.

Anonymous said...

Very pretty :)

Lara B. said...

The quilting on your pillow is beautiful Marly.