I've used the leftover fabrics from the We Are Family quilt that I made for Alfie to make a matching cushion for his nursery. The original quilt pattern is by the Australian designer Susan Smith, and these gorgeous fabrics were in a kit supplied by Pincushion Pantiles. My favourite "animal" from the quilt was the polar bear, so it was the obvious choice for the cushion! Once the appliqued centre was stitched in place, I just added strips of fabric in a log cabin style, some of the strips if they weren't long enough, giving it a very scrappy feel. The borders were added using the same fabric that I used for the borders of the quilt...
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...I like adding a zipper to the back of my cushions, and made a "scrappy" flap to cover the zipper opening. A message from Nanny was hand embroiderd on the flap, and I also added a tiny little appliqued polar bear - I just drew the face and ears freehand, using the larger templates on the pattern as a guide. A piece of fabric was folded over double, with the folded edge being machined to the zipper. The upper flap was topstitched, then machined to the upper edge of the zipper, making the cushion back...
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...the front and back of the cushion were then stittched with wrong sides together, and the raw edges bound with a double fold binding which was machined to the front of the coushion. This was then folded over to the back and hand stitched in place using laddder stitch. A plump feather pillow is popped inside, and it's all ready to be gifted to my little grandson, Alfie.
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