A Sunburst Granny Square pillow

Hello friends! It’s a rainy and cool spring Saturday for me, so I’m taking the opportunity to stay indoors and get caught up. Early this morning I started a new crochet project, then I moved to the sewing room and cut fabric for a table runner, and now I’m popping in with an overdue blog post. I finished my Sunburst Granny Square pillow earlier this month, and it turned out even better than I had hoped!

You may recall that I began making these Sunburst Granny Squares back in March, when inspiration struck as I was vacuuming in our guest room. My Star Watch quilt lives in that room, and I’ve always loved the color combination in that quilt. It became the color inspiration for this pillow project.

If you’re new to crochet like I am, the finished pillow might look difficult.  But I assure you it wasn’t.  I used Erica Arndt’s YouTube Tutorial to make the nine Sunburst Granny Squares. Then I joined them together using a single crochet on the back side, just as Lori Holt describes when she makes her granny square pillows. After the nine were joined, I bordered them with one round of white granny square stitches, then three rounds of taupe granny square stitches, and then three rounds of navy granny square stitches. At that point my piece measured about 14” square.

Finally, I bordered the entire piece with a navy scalloped edge using a tutorial from Hooked by Robbin called Shell Scalloped Edge (Easy!). With the scallops added, the piece measured about 15 ½” square. Doeesn’t it pair nicely with my On Point Pillow in Nantucket Summer fabrics? That is a free tutorial if you are interested in a fun and quick sewing project!

I am not the fastest crocheter, and I really wanted to enjoy my pillow right away. So, I decided against the method where you crochet a pillow back and then join the front and back together. Instead, I sewed my own 14” pillow form that has a white front and a denim blue back. I used scrap fabric from my stash and filled it with fiber fill. Then I hand-stitched it to the back of my crocheted pillow front.  (I did a sort of running blind stitch like we do when hand binding, catching a bit of the pillow fabric and a bit of the yarn in the last navy granny square round.)  I’m amazed at how easy it was, and it looks nicely finished on the back side as well!

For this project, I used Scheepjes Stone Washed yarn in sport weight from Jimmy Beans Wool.  Here are my color choices: Moon Stone, Canada Jade, Sodalite and Axinite. My hook of choice was the Clover Amour G 4.0mm.

This Sunburst Granny Square pillow was a joy to make for so many reasons. It was inspired by one of my favorite quilts, the color combination is so lovely, and I learned new techniques. You are probably tired of me hounding you about this, but if you are even slightly considering picking up a crochet hook, I say, “Go for it!” You’ll be glad you did!

Have a great week ahead, quilting and crocheting friends.  Be sure to get carried away doing what you love!

~Taunja