You see, my lovely mom had a birthday recently. I thought I would make her a few cushion covers for a new couch my mom and dad just added to the living room. The furniture in this room is quite neutral (three pieces in cream or beige or caramel golden brown), so we thought adding in a few quilted cushion covers would brighten the room up while keeping them in their decorating comfort zone.
The pop of color in the room comes from the quilts I made them. Mom's quilt is from 2011 made with French General prints. I can not find this same line of fabrics in online shops, but thankfully French General is quite consistent in their color choices. I picked up a two FQs of reds, one of the darker blue and a yard of a small print neutral to use in the cushions, so I am ready to go there.
Dad's quilt was made A) to be a man quilt and B) to coordinate with their neutral living room color scheme. It's far outside my normal choice of bright rainbow fabrics, but it suits him and the room quite well. I gave away all of my scraps from this project, but I know this line is a Makower basic that is still available in shops. I can scoop some up without a problem.
So, here is the challenge given to me by Mom: to make 2 cushion covers (for 18x18 inch inserts) that combines the fabric from both quilts in one combined quilt block.
1) Have you ANY idea of a block that would suit these two lines? Mom loves cathedral windows blocks - she's lost her mind if she thanks she's getting cushion covers with cathedral windows!
2) What fabrics would you use from Dad's quilt to coordinate with Mom's French General reds/creams? I can't see how I could include the blue, green and grey, but I could work with the browns in combination with Mom's reds/blues. Would that still be coordinated enough?
3) Would you make two with the same block or would you make two totally different cushion covers?
They don't want it too bright or too dark (this is not how they're making a design statement) but they do want it to be a pretty splash of color on their couch. Any ideas are welcome! Thank you!
P.S. Mom and Dad subscribe to my blog via email. They are going to be very surprised to find themselves here in this post. Hi guys! Talk to you on Sunday.
9 Feb 2015: Edited to add a comment from my mom:
What a surprise to find us featured on the blog! Cindy did an excellent job of describing the “problem”. We both love our quilts and cuddle up with them every night, so we’d like some colorful pillows that work with both quilts and add a little sparkle to the room. Also, I do love cathedral windows but that’s not a requirement. Thanks to all of you for your suggestions. I’m sure we’ll love our new pillows. Thank you honey.
16 comments:
Economy blocks perhaps? I think picking up the cream and blue from your Dad's quilt would coordinate well with French General. I'd also be tempted to go for the same design for each cushion, but change the colour placement. Good luck with whatever you decide
so hard to tell on photos, but woulc the grey, green and cream from dads go with the red from mums? i'm thinking just the red would be enough since its so vibrant compared to the makower? if those worked i'd maybe do two cushions eith the same number of hsts but different pattern layouts?
Could you do an orange peel block to get the look of cathedral windows?
I think what Sarah said is close to what I was going to say but better, so I'll just chime in and say I like her idea :)
I am in agreement with Sarah. From the photos it looks like the greens and Browns would match the colors of mom's. As far as blocks I'm thinking something with lots of HST. I don't know block names but I think that would work. It would mix up the colors a bunch.
They earthy colours have me thinking something applique like a tree with a red swing or a some red flowers? If sticking with geometric I like the orange peel idea. With some hand quilting it would look really lovely.
First off I think that it's awesome that you made them such neat quilts! Quilter's families really are quite fortunate, aren't they? I was looking at the two quilts and three colors popped for me-a soft gray, soldier blue, and cranberry. If it were me, I'd rather have two different pillows just for interest. Enjoy making them!
First thought off my brain is front side of cushion for mom (cathedral windows!) with flip side using dad's colors (also cathedral windows for some continuity.
Personally, I would go for simple so as not to compete with the pattern of either quilt. Perhaps a square of red and white toile, small frame of red, then a frame of warm tan, medium blue piping, warm brown backing. Or a variation thereof. Whatever you choose, I'm sure they're going to love it.
not suggesting anything in particular but I really love your dad's quilt. I think I would make two separate design cushions
Maybe alternate economy blocks with pinwheels: pulling shapes from bith quilts.
Esther
I think this is a hard problem. The browns and the white from your dad's quilt can surely be added to the fabrics you have from your mom's quilt. I was thinking if you made one with the string block from your Dad's quilt and one with the squares set on point from your mom's quilt they would go with both. But on the other hand, if your mom wants cathedral windows, then I wonder if one strings and one cathedral windows would work too? Both the quilts really are wonderful.
Both quilts are gorgeous! I think I would work with red and cream from your mum's and blue and green from your dad's keeping the green to just a small amount. I think I would make a block like the one I have called four lips here http://sewmeblog.blogspot.co.uk/2013/05/last-two-blocks.html and make the green the small square and alternate the other colours on each cushion so that one has a red centre cross and the other a blue, though both cushions will have both colours in. Might make moe sense if you look at the block. And, if you are interested in the block I can look to see of I have my maths notes somewhere to send you. Just an idea but I'm sure you will come up with something beautiful no matter what you decide.
What a bout making the same blocks from the quilts but swapping the colors, that way they match but are the different colors? It's hard to tell the colors, but is there blues and greys i both quilts? If so, you could also just use the both blues and combine them.
Hey there, did you see by any chance the two completely different colour cushions I made for my sister that were both the same design? I wasn't sure how they would look together or to be honest how they would be received either!!! But she absolutely adored them and they do look fab in her sitting room. I didn't blog about them but they are in my instagram feed if you have the energy to go a searching xx
I would do matching designs, but I think everyone else had good colour suggestions!
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