Hey Birdie!

What to do when there is no space available any more for wall hanging, and you’re wanting to work on a small quilt? I recently noted I haven’t ever made quilted cushions, so that’s were my focus for small projects has turned now.

Hey, Birdie is the first cushion cover I’ve made for a sofa (I’ve made a couple for my bed before). So much fun.

When it came to the quilting itself, I realized that though there are many tutorials and classes out there dealing with free motion quilting, there is very little when it comes to quilting applique projects. Enter the Craftsy/Bluprint platform to the rescue, where I found the subject of quilting applique in several classes.

If you are interested in exploring this subject, check out Lori Kennedy’s class: Creating a Quilting Plan: Approaches for Any Quilt. One of the lessons in this class deals with quilting applique, although it basically addresses echo quilting and quilting around applique shapes, and not so much what to do with large applique shapes.

Leah Day covers it more in depth in her class: The Free-Motion Effect: Designing Custom Quilting. If you are looking for ways to deal with different larger applique shapes, she has some great ideas.

The most complete information I have found on this subject is in Amanda Murphy’s class: 20 Fressh Applique Techniques. She dedicates a whole lesson to quilting options for applique projects, where she walks you through several different projects and how she decided to quilt them. One of the class projects is a cushion with a large floral design, where she shows you in detail her thought process as to how to quilt each shape. Lots of ideas here.

So when it came to my own cushion cover, I applied some of the ideas from these classes. I appliqued all my blocks and assembled the top. Made my quilt sandwich and then proceeded to quilt it.

First things first, though. Since I had printed out all the patterns, I used those printouts to plan the quilting. Great idea.

I pretty much followed my quilting plan. For the background, I used several fillers, just for the fun of it. And love the way this project turned out.

Some close-ups…

I have enjoyed this project so much I’m making the pattern available today on the Angie’s Bits ‘n Pieces website, for subscribed members and for a limited time. Enjoy!