Quilted Tule Pillow

Thanksgiving is coming up here in the United States.  I thought it was a perfect time to make a thank you gift for a very nice friend who has helped me out lately.  I asked another friend of hers to give me some feedback on what fabrics she liked, and Leah Duncan came up.  I chose these lovely Tule prints and set on my way.

I used Jeni Baker's Arithmetic quilt pattern here.  I love simple patchwork, and I love that Jeni has taken squares up a notch by providing a grid for aligning them in a cascading plus sign pattern.  That pattern was super easy to follow and took out all the guess work.  I quilted the pillow top in dense straight lines for texture.

The back is more Tule, with an envelope style closure.  I am not the biggest fan of florals, but this is one floral print I can really get behind.  Leah Duncan just does them so well, and this navy print is one of my favorites.  

The pillow cover measures 18 inches square.  I wanted it to be more "stuffed" so I used a 20 inch pillow insert.  But, funny story, this is one of the Granat inserts from Ikea.  Which apparently is not actually 20 inches.  Should have measured the insert I guess!  So the cover still fits, but it's not as full as I wanted.  I am just glad I didn't make the cover 20 inches.  I have used these inserts quite a few times an have never experienced this problem, so I am thinking maybe they changed them?  Oh well!

I hope my friend likes it.  I really am grateful for her help and kindness!