Wings of whimsy

I've been waiting to show you how I finished the chevrons I made combining strips of quilting cottons with linen (shown here).   The last time I showed you a sneak peek, I was at the quilting stage.  I had so much fun using my vintage Singer 201 to free motion quilt swirls and circles using Aurifil 50wt. in colour #2835 (perfect colour match with the Sandi Henderson cotton).  The areas I wanted to emphasize were stitched multiple times - sort of a layering of threads to add colour onto the linen and to draw your eye to the design, just a bit more.
 

Once quilting was complete,   I added a zippered backing (using more Sandi Henderson fabric from my stash - oh, how I love her fabrics!) and then used some Kona in Pond to make binding.
 
 
I made not one,

 
but two cushion covers! 


What was with all that quilting of circles, swirls and such, anyways?
 

 
The idea was to stitch mirror images of the design, so that each cushion becomes one half of an picture.  Meaning that when placed together you will see...



 a butterfly!


Granted you have to look to see that each pillow is quilted as one half of a butterfly, but believe me, it's there.  Hindsight on this project is that I should either have quilted in heavier thread or simply stitched my design onto plain linen.  Next time, right? ;o)   That's not to say that I'm unhappy with this finish.  I love trying new ideas, such as those random chevrons, or trying a different style of quilting (I drew the butterfly on paper and then had to transfer the design onto the cushion cover for  my free motion quilting). 
 Last, but not least, I'm loving the pillow inserts I bought today, especially for these new covers (which is why I was waiting to share this finish). These are the duck down pillow inserts from IKEA (couldn't believe how inexpensive these are) and  I have to say how impressed I am with them.  All my other pillows have poly-fil inserts and although that works, I have to say, the down inserts add something extra - especially for larger sized pillows.  I'm glad I waited to show you this finish, because they looked rather sad before the down inserts.
I don't know about you, but I love a plump pillow. ;o)

Wishing you a happy weekend!
 
I'm linking up with Amanda Jean of Crazy Mom Quilts
for
 Finish it up Friday!

and with Lindsey
for



Fort Worth Fabric Studio Blog


and with Kim
for

Comments

  1. I can see it, the butterfly is awesome!!! I really reeeeally like these. They are pieces of art! The green thread is amazing on the grey linen.

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  2. I agree- a down filling is quite luxurious! And your butterfly quilting is the great finishing touch to your pretty chevrons!

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  3. Such a clever idea!!! They look great. I wouldn't change a thing.

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  4. Gorgeous pillows! I love the butterfly quilting... Such a cool idea.

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  5. I see it! What a great idea! So pretty!

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  6. I noticed the mirror image right away, but didn't see the butterfly until you pointed it out. I love it! How big are these pillows?

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  7. I love how it makes a butterfly! Your quilting is beautiful on these pillows and they look perfectly plump!

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  8. oh these are lovely and SO creative!

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  9. They look great... I love the chevron bits all cut into the linen like that. Really lovely quilting idea too!

    I really love those IKEA pillow inserts too, though I had to stop buying them, lest I fill up my house with pillows and leave no room to live. (Well, not quite. But I don't use them on my bed, and the couch can only handle so many. When I first started sewing I was scared of zippers, so all the cushions I ever made had the inserts sewn directly in... now I've gotten on the zipper bandwagon so I can swap out cushion covers.) (I mean, I know you can do the envelope style too, zipper free, but I never did master that - I always wound up with gaping backs on my cushions, got ticked off, and then sewed them up entirely.)

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  10. love the color mix, those pillow just look elegant!!!

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  11. Gorgeous pillows! Love the butterfly quilting, such a nice effect :)

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  12. These are totally amazing! LOVE them!

    You are amazing too!

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  13. What fun quilting. I love how these look and I bet the pillow forms are great. Next time I get anywhere near an Ikea I am going to stock up on a few things.

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  14. The pillows are just perfect - but the two-part quilting is spectacular! As I was looking at the individual photos I thought the quilting looked butterfly-y (new word!), but it never occurred to me that you had gone and created a fabulous new technique! Those cold Alberta winters are certainly kick-starting your creative juices, lol!

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  15. Beautiful quilting K, and you know I love your scattered chevrons.

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  16. Beautiful, and yes, i saw the butterfly! I love the way you've gone over the quilting more than once, great effect

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  17. OK - where do I even start with this one?

    1) Mustard and linen. Yes, yes, yes.
    2) Broken chevrons. Yes, yes, yes.
    3) Teal quilting. Yup, you betcha.
    4) Said quilting is mirror image on each cushion = butterfly = I'm finding it hard to breathe.

    Nothing but love (and maybe a little jealousy...) over these ones. :-)

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  18. you are way too critical of yourself.
    a neat idea.
    clever in the fact that if you separate the cushions it doesn't matter because you have two individual cushions of interest
    lovely colourings and stitching

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  19. Just beautiful! I saw the butterfly in the picture of the two pillows right before I read that it was a butterfly.

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