The Vegetable Pillows

Pattern: Again self designed. These were the first pillows I ever made. These pillows are probably ~22" square. When I couldn't find a single color for the sashing, I decided to use two and make them complementary (cornerstone fabric is sashing fabric in the other and vice versa). I don't remember where I got the idea for the borders, but I do remember not having to buy any extra fabric to accomplish it! I had matching fabrics in my stash already! The border is an inner strip of green, an outer strip of green, and an inner row of paired squares, except that every other square is the same green fabric--making the colored squares"dance" against the green. The green fabric's print makes all the seams less noticeable.

Fabric: I found the vegetable fabric at the store and I thought it was so terrific, I bought a yard or two and was determined to make something out of it.

Batting: Thin polyester batting, with white flannel backing.

I believe I used a muslin backing in order to do the initial hand quilting (but with no binding). Then, the pocket for the pillow was made between the quilted cover and the flannel backing. I sewed three edges to make the pocket then used the flannel to bind the edges. The fourth edge was sewed closed by hand. As you can tell, I didn't follow a pattern. I just faked it. (Actually, the back was made of two pieces. If you really must know how I did it, drop me a line.)

Notes: These live at our house on the couch in the family room. Color-wise, I prefer the pillow on the right. I hand quilted around the vegetables which was fun (see picture).