cushion Olle

This was quite a quick project; the cushion, which you saw a start of in my last post, is finished, 

and I am very pleased with the new addition to our sofa.
The twelve crochet buttons (although not perfect, as this is the first time I have made crochet buttons) add a nice embellishment.

The pattern is by Stephanie Haytink and you can find it on Ravelry .

The wonderful weather of last week has gone, 

and now we have what the weather men call "typical April weather", 

much cooler with showers, and worse is apparently on the way 😞; the heating is back on...

But the nature won't be stopped and our little garden is marching on...

I am specially pleased about this new addition to our garden.

You might remember that last autumn we had to take down the quince tree, because it was just growing too large for our garden. I was really sorry to see it go; I love the fresh velvety leaves and delicate spring flowers; and the fruit, of course. 

But I have found out that you can get a dwarf variety which can be grown in a pot, 

so a couple of month ago we managed to get one.

And here it is, very happy, with quite a few flower buds!

©pleasureinstitching.blogspot.co.uk 2010-2019

wool cushion

This WIP has been around for quite a while, but I finished it at last and made it into a cushion.

The embroidery is done in wool thread on wool felt. Most of the embroidery is done in a chain stitch, and some satin stitch.

The design comes from this book by  Karin Holmberg.

The postman brought a fabric parcel from Germany yesterday, 

from the nice ladies at Cotton & Color
(because what ever I am doing, I am always thinking about another project 😉).

As Vreni rightly pointed out in her comment, the shop (and webshop) is in fact in Switzerland, on the border with Germany; my parcels are always posted in Germany.

I like their website, it is very easy to use, the selection of fabrics very much up to date, the colours true, the service is prompt and efficient. And you can still buy only 25 cm length; I find that some web shops one has to buy half a meter min.  

They have a huge selection of fabrics (they claim more then 5,000!). With so many fabrics in one place, paying little extra postage seems quite justified, considering that I can end up paying more if buying from more then one supplier here in UK, as I rarely seem to find what I am looking for in one place. 

The weather forecast for the week ahead is not good, 

the sewing room is going to be the best place!

*** Just a quick note re Margaret's comment below - I have ordered from this website several times and never paid more then the cost of postage for a large letter, well below 5 Euros; no other cost is involved. 

©pleasureinstitching.blogspot.co.uk 2017

surprise!

Well, it was a surprise for me. While sorting out through some fabrics in my old trunk, I found a very old UFO which I forgot about, a patchwork block. One of my first ever patchwork attempts, all hand pieced and already quilted (not very well) - and then forgotten for many years.
Luckily I found the same red check fabric as in the middle of the block still in my stash and used it for the border- and new cushion was born today!

© pleasureinstitching.blogspot.co.uk 2012

I wish you all a very good week!

apple cushion

You might remember the lovely Stof "apple" fabric I bought last month, which is from their "Party in Paradise" range. I did not really know what I wanted to do with it, so I played with some ideas for a while and the result is this "Apple Cushion".

The shades of Kona Cotton Solids matched perfectly with the shades in the apple design.

Last week I just popped in a fabric shop to get a small piece of green fabric for the Fernhill project.

I came out with more then I planned. They had just taken a delivery of this beautiful Christmas linen fabric, also by Stof. I have no idea (yet) what I am going to make, but I just could not walk out of the shop without it. Could you?

sweet, sweet home

Thank you so much for your patience, your lovely comments and your emails about my holiday pictures. Being away 3 weeks from work, home and garden of course takes its toll, and it means a lot of catching up. The garden looked like a jungle, very "green" due to all that rain while we were away. All seems back to normal now - "what holiday?" I will also try to catch up with you all as soon as I can, to see what you have been up to in my absence!

I have not been idle while away, I took some stitching with me. I can't show you all of it just yet, some is a present not yet given, but you might remember this stitchery for a cushion, from a design by Lynette Anderson, I started before I went away. I finished stitching it on holiday and made up the cushion today.

I seem to have some problem with the Blogger since back, the spellcheck doesn't work and also some uploading is not going that well. Anyone else with the same problem?

cherry cushion

My oldest UFO, my first ever needlepoint tapestry, is starting its new life as a cushion.

This was a very good exercise, because this was the first time I stretched a finished needlepoint tapestry, and I realised how important it is to do this job right. I have not done it as well as it should be. My corners are not quite square, so the tapestry is a bit wonky and as a result it was not easy to fit the embroidery into a square piece of fabric. I will know better next time....

when a quilt is a cushion

I thought I should try to reduce my stash of fabric, so some time ago I decided to make a quilt, using stash fabrics only.

So far so good.

By the time I was stitching the 5th block, I lost interest.

Another UFO?

Well, there never seem to be enough cushions. So 4 blocks became a cushion. It was also a good place to practice some embroidery stitches. 

I am yet to decide what to do with block no 5. Any ideas?

In the meantime, our weather has returned to normal for the season and we are at last having enough rain. We even had some large hailstones over the weekend. Everywhere is looking green and lush ( including the weeds! ).

I have taken a few more pictures in the garden.

This little fuchsia was pruned hard last autumn and was overwintering indoors. Now it just could not wait to produce a flower. A dancing fairy!

      

infinity cushion

The start of this project dates to 2008, when this copy of the Inspirations magazine came through the letterbox. I just loved the cushion. To be very honest, I love most of the projects in Inspirations, an Australian magazine, published by the Country Bumpkin, but of course, one can't do them all.
But I knew I have to make this cushion, called Infinity, by Kris Richards of Australia, and I wanted to make it in that fabric and colour. I knew this combination of fabrics would probably be quite difficult to get her in UK, it was a lot more simple to order the fabric directly from the Country Bumpkin.

It has taken me all this time to complete the cushion, with other projects in between, but here it is at last!

 
 
 
 

 

finnished project

A cushion with hardanger applique finished at last.

crazy patchwork cushion 2008

I made this cushion in a Guild workshop, I hope to make another one soon, perhaps even a quilt?