Liberty Granny Square Pillow

Today I'm so excited to be a part of the 

Liberty Stiles Pillow challenge,

hosted by Sew Mama Sew blog.

It's always a great day when fabric arrives at my door,

and this special delivery all the way from London

was received with a big old "Yee-haw!"

There were 8 fat quarters of the lovely

Liberty Stiles fabrics shown here.

For the Sew Mama Sew challenge,

we were asked to use at least four of them

to make a pillow.

{I chose to use the top 5 prints in the stack.}

I had a vague plan in my head,

and I cut a whole bunch of little pieces...

1" squares of white

stitched into triangles on opposite corners

of printed 2" x 3" rectangles.

When I put the rectangles together, though,

I was less than impressed.

The whole block only finished to 9" x 10"

and I was already too bored to make more

of those little blocks.

{Here's how they looked, lined up on my cookie tray, before I stitched them together.}

I pouted for a while...took a nap...then paid a visit 

to my Pinterest boards for inspiration.

Look what I found on my Pillows board...
a modern granny square pillow from s.o.t.a.k. handmade!

From s.o.t.a.k. handmade blog

I have a soft spot in my heart for the Granny Square

quilts lots of folks made last year,

using this Blue Elephant Stitches tutorial.

Svetlana used a single Granny Square block to

make such a simple but dramatic pillow!

It seemed to be just what I was looking for,

to show off the vibrant prints

against a fresh white background.

I spent next to no time cutting out the 3" squares

and stitching them into the block.

Once I trimmed the block,

I added mitered borders using two of the green prints.

I backed the finished block with some Pellon 987F fusible fleece

and a square of muslin to make a quilt sandwich.

Quilting was simple...

straight lines 1/4" away from the seams of the granny square

and parallel stitching along the borders.

Sweet!

Uh-oh...this pillow needed a good-lookin' backside, too.

{Don't we all?}

I picked up my rejected block,

stitched on some wide white borders,

and added soft support with Pellon ShapeFlex 

SF101 fusible interfacing.

Normally I make a pretty flap to cover the zippers

on my pillows,

as described in my free tutorial for making pillow backs.

This time I didn't need...or want...a cover

for that hot pink zipper.

{Wow!}

I left the zipper exposed,

and I am so in love with the way it sets off the back.

{My little "eamylove" label looks pretty cute, too, I think.}

I always enjoy a good challenge,

especially when it involves pillows and pretty fabrics.

Thank you, Sew Mama Sew, for choosing me to participate!

I think I'll settle down now with my Granny Square pillow

and a nice cup of tea in my white Cath Kidston mug.

I'm in the mood for a little bit of hand-stitching these days.

Stop by any time to see what else I'm making.