Modern Plus Sign Quilts Pillow Project
Posted by Cheryl Brickey and Paige Alexander on Mar 22nd 2018
We, Cheryl Brickey and Paige Alexander, are so excited to join the family of Stash authors and share our love of the plus sign quilts—with you. The plus sign is a timeless design, having adorned quilts and been used in logos for more than a century. In our book, Modern Plus Sign Quilts, we share a modern take on the plus sign design, with sixteen quilt patterns, from baby up to queen-sized, using traditional, paper piecing, and appliqué techniques.
We would love to share another design with you today, a simple plus sign pillow called Candy Plus. Candy Plus is a 20" pillow design with a plus sign surrounded by scrappy squares that is beginner-friendly. The surrounding squares can be from a charm pack, scraps, or other precut fabrics.
Use your favorite method of finishing the pillow, such as a zipper closure, buttons, or an envelope backing as Cheryl did. You could also finish the pattern into a mini quilt or wall hanging.
This version of the pillow was made using Kaffe Fassett shot cotton in Blue Jean and various white, cream, and gray solids and low-volume prints. The batting used was Warm & White by the Warm Company and Aurifil thread was used in the piecing and quilting.
To make the pillow you will need:
Piecing instructions
1. Cut the plus sign fabric into 1 rectangle 4 1/2" x 12 1/2" and 2 squares 4 1/2" x 4 1/2".
2. Arrange 4 surrounding squares 2 1/2" x 2 1/2" into a 2 x 2 layout. Sew squares into rows then sew rows together to make a block 4 1/2" x 4 1/2" (Fig 1). Repeat to make a total of 20 blocks.
3. Lay out the plus sign pieces and blocks as shown in Fig 2.
4. Sew blocks and pieces into rows, then sew rows together to make the pillow top 20 1/2" x 20 1/2" as shown in Fig 3.
5. Layer the quilt top, batting, and backing. Baste and quilt as desired. Our Candy Plus pillow was quilted with a cross-hatch design.
6. Finish your pillow top into a pillow using your favorite pillow-finishing method.
If you would like to receive Candy Plus and two other plus sign pillow designs in a Trio of Plus Sign Pillows in PDF form (created by Cheryl), sign up for the Meadow Mist Designs Pattern Newsletter.
Visit Cheryl's blog, Meadow Mist Designs.
Visit Paige's blog, Quilted Blooms.
