You know that square motif I’ve been telling you about that had me so excited? Well, here it is. It’s called Granny Square In Bloom.

I used the squares to make a cushion for my very good friend Liezel, as a birthday present (you can see her photography blog here).

She reads this blog and follows me on Instragram so I couldn’t post regular photo updates. I gave her the cushion yesterday which means I can finally reveal it to my lovely blog readers. The cushion was a huge hit! I’m so glad that I could make her happy with something handmade.

Liezel went home and took these photos of the cushion in it’s new home.

As you can see, she has a bird theme for the cushions on her bed. I wanted to stick to her theme, so I used three Red Robbin buttons. Aren’t they cute?!

Nitty-gritty of the cushion:

• Yarn: Stylecraft Cotton Classique in White, Rowan Handknit cotton in Ice Water, Raspberry, Linen and China Rose.
• Crochet hook: 3.5 mm
• Pattern for the front: Eight traditional granny squares of 4 rounds each in white, finished off with a row of SC. (Each of the four colours were used for two squares.)  Plus the eight 3-dimensional flower squares which are my own design. I call it Granny Square in Bloom squares. The pattern is available for free on the Photo Tutorials tab, in this blog post and also on Ravelry. I didn’t add a row of SC on the flower squares.
• Pattern for the back: Traditional granny square of 19 rounds. Each colour round is seperated with two white rounds. I edged the granny square with SC in Linen.
• Construction: The 16 squares which together forms the front, and the three side seams were sewed together with a slip stitch seam as described here on the Simply Crochet website. For the opening I slip stitch-joined up to the first shell on each side so that it would form neat corners.
• Inner: Microfibre 16″ inner bought from Design-a-Cushions. Design-a-Cushions recommend purchasing an inner one inch bigger than your cover. I therefor made sure my covers were 15″ squared. Doing it this way gives you a perfect puffy cushion. I can highly recommend Design-a-Cushions. They are my favourite cushion inner supplier in the UK.
• Red Robin Button: Natural Shell Zakka buttons that I bought on eBay from this seller.

I thoroughly enjoyed designing the square, knowing that my friend will be the very first person to own something made in that design. Liezel, I hope you have the sweetest of dreams when you’re resting your pretty head on the cushion.

Lots of love

Jou maatjie, Natasja