Gear Block Cushion

I figured out what to do with the gear block I made last month.

This was a challenge where we picked up a zip-lock bag of scraps that another guild member had put together and make anything at all for her.  The name of the owner of the scraps was hidden in the bag, so I didn't know who's bag I got.  Unfortunately there was a mix up on my part and I thought this bag of blue scraps was an extra so I didn't get it done in time for the meeting.

It's 24 inches square, so I made it into a really big cushion for Heather, the guild member who's bag of scraps I got.  Once it was quilted and put together, it's about a 22 inch square cushion.

The back is an envelope style back with a built in tie to keep it together.  Once I had sewed the front and back together, I bound the edges like a normal quilt, so I didn't turn it inside out. 

I used up all the scraps of blue in the zip-lock bag - even the ones I didn't like - and had to add in some of my own scraps of blue to have enough for the binding and ties.  I added all the white fabric.  It's all white on white prints from my "traditional quilting" days.  Now I just use solids, so this was a great way to use up fabric that was just sitting in my stash.  The gear side actually has 3 different white on white prints and I added in some blue scraps on the back in the lower left corner.

The lining is a poly-cotton (!) from my days working at a bias tape factory.  Really, I did one summer making bias tape and piping in a sweatshop off Main Street here in Vancouver.  I could take home the triangle ends of all the ugly fabric we used.  Now I sew a diagonal seam in it to get it back to a non bias square that I can use.