Thursday 28 November 2019

Christmas Crafting

For the last couple of  years I've been wanting to make Mum a Christmas cushion to add to the decorations in her room at the Aged Care Facility she lives in.  Finally, on a whim, I got in and made one after seeing a picture of one made by Gemini Stitches, which was, in turn, based on the Scrap Jar Stars tutorial.

I have quite a little Christmas fabric stash, over a range of styles.  Some dates from when we were first married and I attended some craft classes and we made Christmas decorations.  The fabrics have almost progressed from just being "dated" to almost being classed as "vintage" or "retro".  Anyway, they worked beautifully for this cushion.  I did buy the fabric for the  binding, but everything else was from stash.  Some of the fabrics came from Mum's stash too.  I particularly like the little koalas.  The  striped fabric in the bottom right hand square features in a few of Mum's Christmas projects, including one of her aprons.


I kept the quilting simple, just outlining the sixteen patch, cross hatching the small white squares and echo quilting the star.


Even though the fabrics are old, I think it has a nice, fresh, modern look to it.  


A simple envelope closing finishes off the back.

The cover finished at 15 inches square and I used an 18 inch cushion insert.

I liked the finished product so much that I decided to make a second one for us.


It's pretty much identical.  However, there is a different fabric on a couple of the star points, as there wasn't enough of the one I used for Mum's.  Also, you may notice that I have tapered off the corners of the cushion.  I was always taught by Mum to do this as it stops the cushion having really pointy corners.  I wasn't sure how it would work with a bound cushion, but thought I would experiment.


It worked better than I thought.


Once again, I just used a simple envelope closing on the back, but there wasn't enough of any one fabric, so I just decided to use two.  It works fine for the short time the cushion will be out on display.

I really enjoyed making these cushions and now feel inspired to try something else.  We'll see how I go, or if I run out of puff.

10 comments:

Maria said...

Two gorgeous Christmassy cushion .
Will look great in Mums room and in your home too!
Great use of your scrap fabrics.

ButterZ said...

Wow these turned out great.

Jenny said...

Your Mum will be thrilled with her lovely new Christmas cushion. Yes, the koalas really are cute, aren't they. How nice that you made yourself a matching one too. I have a Christmas cushion to construct, this will be joking the others in the caravan for our caravan club Christmas rally. Better get busy, I think.

kiwikid said...

Beautiful cushions for you and your Mum, well done, great too you have used fabric from your stash and fabric that is meaningful to your Mum.

Fiona said...

Two gorgeous cushions.... so cheerful …. great tip about the slightly rounded edge... I hadn't heard that one...
Hugz

Ali Honey said...

A great result!

June's Jottings said...

Oh Janice your cushion covers are really lovely and I am sure your Mum will like hers and it will brighten up her room.

loulee said...

Your cushions are lovely. What a lovely way to use up treasured wee scraps.

Anonymous said...

You are inspiring, love the cushions - Rose, NZ

Raewyn said...

Your mum will be delighted with her cushion and I'm not surprised you needed one too! I hadn't heard of the tapering of the corners before but it makes sense and looks great!!