Finn the Fox Cushion

I've been meaning to make some cushions for our living room sofa for a long time, but I've waited, worried that they will have some sort of food or playground dirt smeared all over them by the kids. But I'm at the stage that whenever I look at the ones we currently have, I cringe with embarrassment. Nothing would give me more pleasure than dumping the lot of them in the rubbish bin.

I've seen a lot of handmade cushions around lately - the Pillow Talk Swap happened recently so many bloggers I follow posted about their creation and the one they received. Melissa from Ms Midge, a fellow Melbourne blogger, also announced her Cushion For Christmas blog hop, and some of my favourite quilting bloggers are involved so I was keen to take part.

Things are pretty busy around here at the moment and haven't had much sewing time, but I managed to put this together over the weekend. I started off with my special Finn McTrickster screen printed panel by Aussie designers Cat & Vee.

My Finn panel is a neon purple colour, so I wanted my border to be really bright. I pulled out a few bits and pieces I had lying around and put together a patchwork border with 2 1/2" squares. It didn't measure up exactly and I wasn't in the mood for precision and perfection, so the border is a bit wonky in parts.

The finished size is approximately 15" square and I've used a 16" cushion insert inside because I like quite a full puffy look.

The back is a bright pink zig zag home decorator fabric I picked up at Spotlight. The extra weight just adds a bit of sturdiness to the cushion, especially as I decided not to quilt it. I considered it, and there is cotton batting underneath the front of the cushion, but I just couldn't decide how to quilt it, and I didn't want to stitch over Finn so I left it alone. I made an envelope back for this cushion cover but next time I think I will try a hidden zipper.

You can see Finn's true colour in this picture - the purple is quite a lot brighter than the picture above. I don't know why I've been so nervous about cushion covers up until now - I think I've seen so many amazingly detailed quilted versions that I've felt a little intimidated? Maybe. I'll definitely try a quilted cover soon, I have some quilt blocks that would be great as cushions. I'd also like to try adding a binding to future cushion covers - it adds a nice finished look.

Can't wait to add some serious colour to my living room! I have a few more Cat & Vee panels so I might make a series of these!