Did you know that not all of our National Parks are on land? It’s true! Today we’re excited to share a super fun pillow featuring the Biscayne National Park in the Florida Keys!
Biscayne National Park encompasses coral reefs, islands and shoreline mangrove forest in the northern Florida Keys. Its reefs and islands are accessible only by boat. Dolphins, turtles and pelicans live in Biscayne Bay Lagoon. The underwater Maritime Heritage Trail links dive sites, most of them shipwrecks.
Sounds dreamy, right? We fell instantly in love with this Pillow Panel, which features beautiful artwork highlighting three very nautical National Parks.
I decided to make this large 28″ Euro size pillow the same way I made THIS ONE. I simply added a border of Confetti Cotton solid in Riley Black + another border in our Peacock Shabby Basic. Then, I trimmed the entire pillow top down to a 27″ square. I made this smaller than the 28″ euro pillow form because it is a down pillow. Down pillows are super soft and squishy – my absolute favorite – but because of that softness, I make the pillow sham smaller to give it some structure and tightness, if that makes sense. If you like your pillow shams really loose, go ahead and trim the square to 28″.
For the pillow back, I used our Large Black Hashtag Basic. You can follow this fantastic TUTORIAL for making the envelope pillow back.
I had fun doing some free motion quilting on the front, following the shape of the water and outlining focal points, like the giant sea turtle.
Here you can see more of the free motion quilting. One of the fun parts of free motion quilting these fabric panels is that each will end up being completely unique. Just grab your machine and sew where ever your heart takes you!
I decided to bind this pillow the same way I would bind a quilt. I wanted a nice black outline to echo the black border and really frame the beautiful pillow front. I don’t love using piping, so binding was the next option. It looks like piping, but for most quilters, it will come much more naturally then piping.
And that’s it! Another fun National Parks project! Make it as a gift or as a way to commemorate your own family memories.
National Parks, by Anderson Design Group, is available now at your favorite local and online quilt shops. Pick up yours today and share your makes with us on Instagram using #nationalparksfabric, #rileyblakedesigns, #iloverileyblake, and be sure to tag us #rileyblakedesigns.
Thanks for stopping by!