DIY Cushion

I wanted to do a small cushion for my daughter. She likes to hug it while travelling by car. So I did these minin cushions which measures 9 1/2" square. You can design it as per your wish. It is very easy to make. I made covers for the cushions with the cathedral window quilt I made as part of Desi Quilter's Quilt Along(QAL) Project.

Whit cotton fabric is the best choice for cushions. Buy white poplin and cut four pieces each measuring 10" * 10". The finished cushion will measure 9 1/2". The extra 1/2" goes for the seams.

Keeping two pieces right sides facing each other, stitch along the edge with a 1/4" seam.

Leave a gap of 4" on one side for inverting and stuffing.

Cut the corners for sharp finishing. Be careful not to snip the seam.

Invert the fabric inside out through the opening. Use a sharp pencil to make sharp corners.

Stuff the cushion with synthetic cotton filling. Start from the lowest part and fill it tightly to get a neat finish. 

The finished cushion looks like this.

Thread a needle. Knot it up. Start form one side of the opening. Insert the needle from inside to out on one side.

Now insert it on the other side inside out.

Continue this zig zag stitch until you come to the other side of the opening.

Pull the thread to close the opening. Finish with a knot.

The cushion is now ready.

Quilted Coaster

This is my first quilted coaster. I tried it in a monochromatic theme. I will give the step wise pictures for doing this coaster. I used three printed cotton fabrics and a solid for binding. As I am new to quilting, I followed the tutorial of binding from Crazy Mom Quilts Blog. You can refer it to know about the technique.

First I drew a pattern on a white sheet which measures 6" * 6". For the different fabrics I used different colours so that I can get an idea of the finished quilt.

As the theme is monochromatic, I chose the fabrics with shades of blue.

For 1 coaster you need:

Dotted Blue Fabric: 

3 1/2" *2"- 4pieces 

2" *2"- 4pieces

Dark Blue Dotted Fabric:

2" *2" - 4pieces

Light Blue With Floral Prints:

2" * 2" - 8pieces

Place a dark blue square on the rectangle right sides facing together and draw a horizontal line as shown.

Stitch along the line and leave 1/4" and cut the remaining fabric.

Open the triangle and press it.

Place another square on the rectangle right to right as shown.

Stitch on the line and cut the fabric leaving 1/4".

Open out and press. You get one flying geese. Prepare the other three.

The two squares must be fixed like this.

Join the squares with a 1/4" seam, open and press.

Join it with the flying geese like this.

Arrange the four squares on a table.

Join the two pieces adjacent to each other with a 1/4" seam. Open and press.

Then join the two rectangles. Open and press.

Cut a backing fabric to the same size as the block.

Keep wrong sides facing each other and stitch all the sides.

Cut the binding with the solid fabric. Stitch all over the sides mitering the corners

Finish back with a blind stitch.

Coaster is ready.

Quilted Mat

The 4 star blocks I prepared for the QAL in Desi Quilters group is assembled into a mat. I gave a 1 1/2" border with a white fabric and finished it with a yellow binding. The back has a blue cotton fabric. This is my first quilt project and I am happy that it came out nice.

These are the individual stars I prepared earlier.

Flying Geese Star

Marble Star

Ohio Star

Variable Friendship Star

Star Blocks-Quilting

After completing the first star block, I attempted the remaining three star blocks. These are the next QAL(quilt along) blocks from the Desi Quilters blog. The step wise instructions are given by Elvira of Chez Vies. 

Marble Star: Instructions can be found at DQ Blog.

Ohio Star Block: Step Wise Instructions Here

Variable Friendship Star: Instructions Here

I have successfully completed the QAL for July so far. Now I need to make some cushion covers using these 4 stars. I will share with you once the project is done.

Quilting- Flying Geese Star Block

I studied Fashion Designing but now I am a home maker. I have been thinking of starting a blog which concentrates only on arts and crafts for long. For the past two years I have been blogging about food in my blogs Gayathri's Cook Spot and Gayathri's Kitchen Basics. When Veena introduced me to a group of enthusiastic quilters in Face book, I became interested because I am new to quilting. The group is called as Desi Quilters. When I read the blog there were so many QAL(Quilt Along) projects for this month. This month's QAL is done by Elvira of Chez Vies blog. I tried the first block and it came out very nice. So I am starting this blog to share with you my experiences with quilting and other arts and crafts. 

Elvira's Flying Geese Star Block:

Materials Required:

Blue Printed Cotton Fabric

4 pieces measuring 3 1/2" * 3 1/2"

1 piece measuring 6 1/2"*6 1/2"

Yellow Printed cotton Fabric

1 piece measuring 6 1/2"* 6 1/2"

White cotton fabric

4 pieces measuring 3 1/2"* 3 1/2"

The step wise tutorial can be found at the Desi Quilters Blog.