Pillow Shams Inspired By A Table Runner

About 10 years ago, I made pillow shams for our bed out of some floral fabric that pretty much coordinated with all of the quilts I've made for the bed.  But after 10 years of washing and sun exposure, they were worn out.  The fabric had weakened in some areas so much that it was torn and disintegrating.  So new shams were in order. 

I set about making them, with my design inspired by this table runner pattern by "Quilted Cuties" called Hopscotch. The table runner is 16" by 36" and made out of mini charm squares and some background fabric.  I made some modifications to get pillow shams that measure 20" by 26" and used fabric from stash, cut into 2.5" squares.

Here's the end result...

...and the pair of shams on the bed with the quilt I was trying to coordinate with.  I made this quilt about 15 years ago and it's the post-Christmas quilt in the rotation so usually in use roughly January-March. 

This quilt is a "blended" design that used a lot of different fabrics, all in shades of muted pink, rose, green, and pale yellow.  I found two of the prints (the green floral in the center and pink next to it) still in my stash (I must have purchased them at least 15 years ago!) and added a couple of yellow florals that are newer but mix with those in the original quilt very well.  The background is a tiny yellow floral on ivory.

I did the quilting myself, on my domestic machine with the walking foot, quilting in the ditch for a  cross-hatch effect.  It was not difficult as there wasn't the bulk of a regular quilt to wrestle with, and I am pleased with the result.  If you look closely, you can see where my stitching leaped out of the ditch in a few places but I think it turned out quite well. 

These shams don't coordinate well with the other quilts I use on this bed so I will have to come up with at least one more set.  I have some ideas but nothing that has "jelled" yet.  While I mull that over, I'm turning to another small project.