Good Morning Sunshine Pillow

Earlier this year I converted my guest room into a full-time home office, replacing a bed that took up most of the room with an olive green velvet sleeper sofa from Edloe Finch. (The back lays down like a futon, but it looks much more like a regular sofa than the typical futon. It's firm but comfortable.) After months of it looking pretty bare, I decided to start making toss pillows for the sofa. For the first one, I used a template from the Good Morning Sunshine free quilt pattern from Heather Ross and Windham Fabrics:

I resized one sunburst template to fit a rectangle down pillow insert that I already had on hand. The toughest part was figuring out the rays -- what colors to use and in what order. I decided on a neutral background with the cutest tiny rainbows on it (from this bundle that I picked up at local Mountain Creek Quilt Shop) and a collection of solid raspberry, pink and coral scrap strips. The mustard yellow sun is also a scrap.

For the back, I pulled out a fat quarter of Tula Pink lady bugs that couldn't be a more perfect color match. I'm not sure how I got so lucky, but it pays to have a fabric stash! I also decided to put a zipper in the bottom seam in case I ever want to remove and change or wash the cover. I used this tutorial from Wren Collective and it worked like a dream.

I'm really happy with how this pillow turned out, and it looks so nice on the sofa every time I enter my home office. Now I'm brainstorming other pillows to add and considering a knitted or crocheted one to add some texture. I'm sure there will be more quilted pillows, too!