The Goodbye Cushion

The neighbours that live across the road from us are selling their family house and downsizing by moving into a smaller and more easily maintainable unit.  Consequently for the past few months they have had the arduous task of cleaning out 30 years worth of 'stuff' that is no longer needed with some items going to Lifeline, some being sold at a garage sale and a lot just thrown in the rubbish bin.  I was fortunate to be given some fiction and non-fiction books and fabric lengths but best of all a tangled mess of stranded and perle threads, ribbon embroidery threads and lace which I happily sorted one Friday night and spooled onto cards whilst watching a favourite movie on TV (mmm...that's how exciting my Friday nights are these days).  Anyhow, amongst the fabrics were cut out pieces (shown below) - some already partially embroidered and beaded - that apparently were initially meant to be made into a stuffed teddy bear for her three daughters when they were young.  With time constraints, lack of motivation and inclination over time, they were all but forgotten about until the big clean out and my neighbour (knowing that I was crafty inclined) thought I might be able to use them.  Well...was she right about that!!

However, it wasn't until I took a closer look at them that I realised the huge amount of work that had already gone into these pieces and felt that I shouldn't really be accepting this when she had done so much herself and it was then that I decided to create a goodbye gift for her.  My first thoughts when studying it was what a beautiful crazy quilted piece they would make and so I set myself the task of making them into a cushion.  

First I carefully washed the pieces individually to eliminate the musty smell of sitting in the back of a cupboard for so long before grouping the colours to work out how many pieces could be used according to their shape and embroidery keeping in mind to distribute the colours evenly for both sides.  Two pieces of calico were cut to a pre-determined size and both sides of the cushion were worked at the same time ensuring there would be an even amount of fabric pieces to cover both sides.  I was really surprised how after trimming to straighten the edges of each piece that the overall size needed to be decreased so it turned out to be a wise decision.  Where the off-cuts had beads, I kept these for use later on.

These photos show the almost completed patchwork for both sides and highlights the use of the embroidered and beaded pieces. 

Once all the patchwork was done, time was then devoted to embellishing the seams and/or any bare sections with either embroidery, beading or any other interesting form of embellishment.  My two main criteria right from the very beginning were to use as much of my neighbour's threads, beads, ribbons and lace and to also enhance her work by copying the stitches she had already used as much as possible so there wasn't a definite and obvious distinction between her work and mine.   Her use of basic stitches - herringbone, lazy daisy, feather, etc. - set a good starting point for me and these were incorporated as well as using some of my own.

After completing an intense 6-7 weeks of constantly working on the project at every possible opportunity, the cushion was bound with fabric (a piece that was given to me by her) and the insert sewn into the cushion before being slip-stitched by hand.  

One completed side of the cushion...

... and the other.

... and just a couple of close-ups.

I took the cushion to my neighbour last Wednesday and the emotional tears and impromptu grateful hug told me her true feelings of this gift.  

I will miss her and her family when they move on as she has been a wonderful friend over the almost 28 years that we have lived here.  We've had fun conversations, shared happy occasions like weddings and births of grandchildren (hers not mine), supported each other during sad times and given friendly waves to each other when in the yard watering our gardens.  I wish her and her husband much happiness and good health in the next phase of their lives.

Ros 

'Friendship and support from friends is something which is a source of tremendous inspiration always and to everyone' - Nelson Mandela

A Bed of Roses

Today I would like to share with you an embroidery project I recently completed - one which gave me much pleasure to work as it incorporated basic stitching techniques, beautifully coloured variegated thread and a flower design.  Anyone who knows me by now will understand my undisputed love of flowers - any flowers - and this rose floral design was something I just couldn't overlook because it was discovered at a time when I had just bought a new doona cover and pillowcases for our updated bedroom and you guessed it .... the bed linen set consisted of roses - antique roses to be precise.  My creative imagination immediately knew it would make a perfect addition to the bed as a rectangle cushion.  And so the fun began.

The pattern is one of Aunt Martha's hot iron transfers where the design is cut and placed on fabric to your own specification.  My choice of hand dyed Australian threads from Cottage Garden Threads were Wattle Blossom (309) - gold, Ash (201) - green, Grand Ridge (411) - purple/brown and Dahlia (909) - pink. These were worked entirely in double strand over the whole design and as you can see by the following close-up photos, the variegated thread helped create an interesting and natural colour blend.

I chose to stitch the roses (Dahlia) and bird (Wattle Blossom) in stem stitch and the rose leaves (Ash) outlined in a small blanket stitch with vein detail in backstitch. The daisies (Grand Ridge) were worked in a very fine chain stitch with satin stitch centres and straight stitch for the detail and the daisy leaves (Ash) in satin stitch.  The rose stems (Ash) were also stitched in stem stitch.  

All was stitched on a natural cream homespun fabric and as I had found a perfectly matching length of rose design fabric, decided to use that as the backing for the cushion and used a couple of pretty buttons from my stash to secure the flap after placement of the insert.  

I guess it only seems appropriate to highlight a project depicting roses so close to Valentines Day, but this beautiful cushion adorns our bed each and every day of the year and is a constant reminder of the many hours of relaxation that went into its creation.

Ros

'Earth laughs in flowers' - Ralph Waldo Emerson

Cushion Talk

From the outset, one of the main objectives when creating my designs has always been their practical application.  Projects on the Projects Page of my website offer ideas and with just a little imagination or tweaking, beautiful and personalised items can be stitched with that wow factor.

For some time now, I have wanted to stitch one of my designs on a cushion cover so over the last couple of weeks have experimented by using a slightly larger count of more durable open-weave linen.  One thing I would like to point out when stitching on a larger open weave fabric is that in order to obtain better coverage and depth of colour, it's probably best to use three strands of thread for the cross stitch and two strands for backstitch. With the addition of ribbon sewn diagonally across each corner the design is framed simply but elegantly. Basic finishing instructions are given on the Projects Page, but this cushion was backed with red poplin fabric and a zipper opening to enable the cushion insert to be removed and the cover to be gently hand washed should it become soiled.  Of course imagination dictates how this cushion cover could be otherwise embellished eg. buttons, beads or extra stitching around the border.

Projects like this make beautiful statements, are feature pieces and refined works of textile art and therefore, most advisedly, should be kept well out of the way of men or teenage boys who simply don't appreciate the fact that they should NOT be used for pillow fights or to put their grubby, smelly feet on!

Ros

'You can only find out by trying' - Greek Proverb

Groovy Babe Cushion

Today is a special day in the family with our daughter celebrating her 24th birthday and as my designing and stitching time has been drastically affected this year due to my Dad's health issues requiring my support, I thought I'd share the gift stitched for her a few years back.  Our daughter has always been a modern young lady, interested in fashion and bright colours, so this particular design suited her personality and tastes perfectly.  

Groovy Babe was one in a series of fortnightly designs from Cross Stitch Magic by Eaglemoss Publications where the graph, instructions and suggestions for materials and stranded cottons were provided as well as applications for each design, however, on this occasion I altered the colours to suit what was available in my stash at the time.  I chose to stitch the design on a panel, use contrasting fabric and a buttoned back enclosure enabling the insert to be removed and the cover to be carefully washed should the need arise.

The cushion is still lovingly displayed after all this time along with Groovy Babe's quirky posture, facial features, hair and dress sense.  

Ros

'That which is loved is always beautiful'  -  Norwegian proverb