Three Cushions and a Rainbow…

Hello there… are you having a good Summer?

I’m not sure how the end of August is very nearly here. How did that happen so fast! I don’t know if it’s the same where you are but the mornings have started to feel slightly cooler and at the weekend I heard the first of the geese fly overhead on their noisy journey. This is normally a sign that the Autumn is approaching and for me one of my favourite times of year. I have the same sense of excitement as the Spring and I think it’s that back to school feeling of new beginnings that makes me like the Autumn so much.

Little Pickle and I managed to visit our favourite local farm a couple of weeks ago and picked a huge bowl of raspberries and blackberries and a small bag of plums. They were delicious and there’s nothing like eating fruit that is still warm from the sun.

  

Over the past few weeks I’ve worked on three different cushion commissions. The first was for a very special lady who was turning 80. I was very lucky to be given a completely blank canvas and decided to reach for some Liberty squares and embroidery threads and came up with this…

      

     

The cross stitch pattern came from a book that I first mentioned here and I used the scraps of water soluble canvas I had left over from a free magazine gift to complete the design. There is something sooo satisfying about pulling off the jelly like scraps of waste canvas when they are wet.

The next commission was for two new babies and the brief was rainbows, hearts, stars and flowers. One for a boy and one for a girl. Now then, I’ve made a rainbow cushion in the past and it very nearly convinced me that sewing wasn’t for me. I vowed that I wouldn’t make another one…no siree, never ever! Well…that didn’t last longer than about five minutes…I decided that this time things would be a bit simpler and straight forward to save not only my sanity but the sanity of everyone in our house! I had great fun ordering nearly all of my supplies from the wonderful Pretty Fabric and Trims and matching up a selection of threads. After lots of cutting and stitching the following cushion babies were born…

      

Welcome to the world Zosia and Kenzie!

   

   

         

   These cushions were also my first cushiony collaboration with my super talented friend Jo. Do you remember the apples from my last post? Well Jo was able to use her fabulous crochet skills and made me the crochet hearts and stars for these cushions. It’s the first time that I’ve added crochet decorations and I’m so pleased that I did and very grateful for Jo’s suggestion!

   

In between the Summer sunshine there have been a sprinkling of showers that created some beautiful rainbows. Look at this one taken from the window in Little Pickle’s room. I love how bright the colours look against the inky grey sky.

I hope that you have a lovely weekend. We’re heading away for a few days on Monday and I can’t wait to be near the sea again.

I’ll be back soon with news of a mini quilt and a Minecraft Bag!

Enjoy the Bank Holiday and see you soon.

xxxxxxx