Tidying up after making Love Large, I pondered what to do with the bonus triangles cut away while shaping the heart. Should they head to the scrap bin or the orphan blocks collection? Maybe they could become a small bonus project?
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| Bonus pillows to go with the Love Large quilt |
I toyed with the idea of a runner or table topper, then decided I really didn't need another runner. I could use more variety in pillow covers for the throw pillows on my couch though. I'm tired of looking at the basic brown ones that came with the basic (but comfy) brown couch.
The left and right pillows in the photo above were easy enough to plan. They used the offcut triangles from the large stitch-and-flip corners of the Love Large heart. I needed to trim the background one to match the size of the strip triangle, sew the diagonal seam, and trim to the right size for my pillow form.
The center one took a little more thought. I made HST using the offcut strip triangles and background triangles, then experimented with 2 block x 2 block layouts. These are just the ones I took pictures of. You could also make a classic pinwheel, or lay them all out with the purple triangle on the lower left. I've included multiple bonus project layouts at the end of the pattern for inspiration.
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| 4 possible layout for the bonus HST |
I decided to add extra stitch and flip corners to the plain halves of the HST using extra purple scraps. I would have made them larger, but I was limited by the size of the scraps. Still, it adds a little something to the center of the pillow.
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| Bonus block from bonus HST |
So there we have 3 square pillow tops ready to go, fairly quickly. The sane thing to do would have been to cut backing panels from a single fabric for the back of the pillows for a quick finish.
I was not sane. I had more scraps of the purple fabrics just sitting in a pile looking pretty. This is why it took me longer to finish the pillows than it did to make the quilt.
I couldn't just piece scraps together willy nilly. I had to overthink things and plan. Consider every scrap and decide what would be the most effective use of them. I did math and shuffled scraps again. Several weeks later I finally stitched the last stich in the pillows.
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| Backs of the bonus pillows to match Love Large |
Despite all that planning, the backs didn't turn out the way I pictured them in my head. The middle one is simple, no scraps in sight. The other two lack the symmetry I was aiming for. The center strip was supposed to run exactly down the middle between the pieced strips. It's particularly apparent on the pillow on the right that it does not run down the middle. What happened?
I like to make zippered pillow covers that are easy to swicth out with the seasons or my mood. That center strip is actually the flap that hides the zipper. When I planned the two panels that make up the back of the pillow I forgot that the flap would not be centered on the zipper, but sewn into one side of it and extend further past it on the other side. My planning and math were based on two panels the same size, tied together by the zippper exactly in the center. That's exactly where the zipper lies, just like I planned, but the flap isn't centered on the zipper so it's off center, not as I planned.
The pillow on the left had a couple of extra snafus. First, the strips of purple squares were not supposed to have a strip of background between them. I cut the background fabric parts too narrow, 1/2" less than my notes said. I needed to make up the 1/2" so I slipped an extra background strip in there. Second, I sewed the first panel to the zipper with the wide strip of background by the zipper, opposite of what I planned. By this point I was ready to be done so I left it and flipped the second panel to match. Seeing them now I think it would look better the other way around and wish I had taken the time to rip and resew, but it doesn't bug me enough to take the pillow apart and redo it!
I've had a few offers to take the pillows off my hands if I'm not happy with them, but their slight wonkiness has grown on me. On days when the lack of symmetry bothers me, I'll just make sure the pillows are showing off the front side.
What would you make with the offcuts from the Love Large pattern? Let me know in the comments.
Happy quilting,
Joanne
PS: The quilt is NOT a twin size, but it has enough length to be a good bed topper, draping just over the foot of the bed if I pull it way from the headboard and let the pillows fill the space at the head of the bed. A plain white blanket underneath can be a bedspread while the throw adds the colour.
