Choosing a colour palette

A cushion for Lotta :: Matching Pegs
4 Years ago I made a cushion for Lotta, for her to sit on when she is on the couch.  Although it was for a dog, I made it to blend in with the other cushions, and not look particularly doggy.  The one you see up above is a new one, and below is what the 4 year old one looks like now.
Lotta's old Dog Cushion for the Couch :: Matching Pegs
Sadly, after 4 years, it looks very doggy.  Definitely time to make a new one.
The first thing I did was pull out a whole lot of fabrics which toned in with another of my couch cushions (the one you can see in the top photo, on the right).  I wanted a lot of variety.  Using a feature fabric to inspire you is a great technique, if you are ever stuck for a starting point.  Even though I didn’t use any of this feature fabric in my doggy cushion, (it’s scale would be too large anyway) picking the colours this way makes the 2 cushions harmonize wonderfully.
A pile of harmonious fabrics for a quilt :: Matching Pegs As you can see I went with plumy purples, apricots and oranges, buttery yellows, a range of warm greens and some taupe browns/greys.  I made sure there were a range of lights, mids and darks, as well as a variety of scales of prints.  The taupe/grey fabrics echoed the background colour of the feature fabric.  A few of these fabrics didn’t make the cut,(because the scale on them was too big) but most of them are in the finished cushion.  When in doubt I just held the fabric up against the feature cushion, and if it clashed, it was out.
Seam experimentation, pressing the seams open :: Matching Pegs
I have been loving all the equilateral triangle quilts I have been seeing for the last year or so, and this cushions was an excellent way for me to experiment.  For some rows I pressed all the seams to one side as I went.  For other rows I pressed them all open.  I found the latter to be easier to manage when it came to piecing the rows together.
Yay, the intersection is perfect! :: Matching Pegs
It helped me when it came to lining up the points, and amazingly, some of the intersections are perfect!
Wonderful hippo backing fabric for the cushion :: Matching Pegs
I found the cutest backing fabric for the cushion, a very fine corduroy.  I quilted the cushion-top onto a piece of old blanket with straight line quilting, (with orange thread) before I assembled the cushion.  I finished the edges with orange binding, just like a quilt.
An equilateral triangle cushion :: Matching Pegs
I’m pretty pleased with the end result and so is Lotta.  I enjoyed this foray into equilateral triangle piecing so much that I have a whole quilt on the drawing board, and a pile of fabrics waiting to be cut.

Have you made anything with equilateral triangle piecing?

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