Bachelor Button Quilt Pillow

I just finished a UFO and am so happy with the way it turned out!

On impulse, I bought a kit from Sweet Treasures Quilts in December 2020, to make a block called Bachelor Button designed by White Barn Quilts that could be turned into a pillow.  The fabrics in the kit are from the Holliberry line for Moda by Cory Yoder.  I knew I wouldn't get it done for Christmas 2020 and I ended up piecing the block in February 2021, then put it aside to finish later.  

I didn't finish it for Christmas 2021, so officially an UFO!  But it is ready for Christmas 2022 now.

I had the finished block but it needed to be quilted and then turned into a pillow.  I quilted the block in a grid pattern using the walking foot for my Bernina machine.  Someone with more free motion skill could do some quilting that would better enhance the design, but I managed to keep the lines straight and am happy with how it came out.

The kit included fabric for the pillow back and the binding.  Binding provides an effect similar to piping the edge of a pillow.  I like the look in this case and that's how I wanted to finish it  but it meant I could not do my usual thing of inserting an invisible zipper in the bottom seam.  

The directions were for an envelope back but I bought a zipper and did a lapped zipper closure on the pillow back.  It is fairly unobtrusive with this patterned fabric.  

If you would like to try a zipper like this, there is a good tutorial here and Sherri from A Quilting Life has a YouTube video how-to here.  

I filled the pillow with a Fjadrar pillow insert from Ikea; they are filled with feathers and I find them more firm and comfortable than the poly inserts.  But they do come in only two sizes:  20" square and 26" square.  I actually prefer to buy my pillow inserts a little bigger than the pillow case so they fill more firmly but I think the 26" would be too big; this pillow is 20" square.

So, a UFO taken care of and a finish ready for Christmas.