The Dashwood Fabrics 'Birdsong' fabrics are a lovely range in soft greys and blues with mustard yellow contrast featuring birds, leaves and a gorgeous landscape double border fabric. I used a fat quarter of this border to make a quilted cushion frontwhich is very popular with visitors to the studio! Here's a tutorial on how to make the cushion. 

You will need:

1 Fat Quarter of Birdsong Border fabric

1Fat Quarter of any Birdsong fabric for the cushion back

1 Fat quarter fine calico

18" square of Vilene H630 Fusible Fleece

18" by 21" piece of lightweight fusible interfacing

Cushion zip at least 19" long

Threads to tone with the fabrics

18" cushion pad

Instructions

Trim the Border fabric and calico to 18½" square. Lay the fusible fleece on your ironing surface with the fusible side up and lay the border fabric on top with the right side up. Press with a hot iron to fuse. Layer the calico beneath the fusible fleece and glue or pin in place. You are now ready to quilt the panel.

I used a silver Aurifil 50 thread for quilting the hills with my walking foot. I then changed to my Free Motion Foot and quilted around the clouds.

To stitch around the sun and along the grassy section I swapped my top thread to a mustard yellow. It's easier to stitch the grass by turning the cushion so that the grassy section is vertical, then stitching sided to side, gradually moving down the section. After quilting trim the finished panel square.

Prepare the cushion back fabric by fusing the interfacing to the back of the fabric, then insert the zip. I have seperate instructions for inserting cushion zips which explain how to add a flap to hide the zip. Click here to download.

To finish place the front and back of the cushion cover right sides together checking that the zip is partially open. Sew around all four sides. Trim the corners then turn the cover right sides out. Insert the cushion pad and admire your work!

Happy Stitching!

Hazel