Malka Sunflower Pillow Cover

I started with the background pieces on this project, though I did have a general plan in mind. I was picturing a square pillow cover with bright, warm flowers made from hexagon sections. Malka Dubrawsky has a quilt called Modern Baby Quilt in her book, Fresh Quilting, made from these shapes and they look rather like Dresden Plate blocks in some fabric combinations. With the warm color way, they also look a lot like sunflowers. Here is another mini quilt she made with her own happy and colorful prints.

Sometimes I have made blocks like these and wished I had chosen different fabrics for the centers. Working from the outside allowed me to audition a few different looks for the middles.

Too busy

Too white

Just right

The piecing is all done by hand (English paper pieced) with the quilting and the rest of the construction done by machine. I always think hand quilting will fit better with a hand pieced project (purist!) but all of the layers create such a stiff fabric that I don't enjoy it much. Machine quilting also seems to add strength but really, there are so many stitches that I bet the hand stitched parts are just as strong. Most of the quilting is in the background, echoing the flowers, the edging is piping (yay, I love piping!) and the back has a hidden zipper under a flap.

Finished size: 18" x 18"