Playing with Roses

I have two more cushions underway - the front panel of one is just about to go in the washing machine before being tumbled - it should have been in there already but after going around the house gathering up some whites to go in with it - I left it out!

I'm a bit stuck with the other until the postman brings me some more Italian Quilting wool. I was hoping that the little shop where the wool came from originally still stocked it but it wasn't to be - still who can be surprised - things do change during the course of 2 decades! Just hope the Anchor stuff is similar to what I've been using - I have no idea what brand it was.

Some weeks back we saw these cushions in one of the major high street chains but at £30 a piece they were beyond our budget.


I had a good look to see how they were constructed and continuing with the textural theme ..............


My little sample is about 2" wide so I can see that I'm going to need very long strips to get to a decent size flower without a break - not sure where I'm going with that as I'm supposed to be using whatever I have in my stash and I have a feeling that too many compact little roses might look more like a bridal accessory ............... we shall see!

Accessorising

The dust and paint fumes got to my respiratory system and caused havoc for the best part of a month. However, this past week I have started to feel better so it's time to get on with some accessories for the living room. Here is the first cushion .............


I love the texture and shabby chic essence of faux chenille quilting even if cutting the channels through all those layers is rather hard going on the fingers.

Another coiled fabric bowl - this one's for keeps!

Not Much Going On ................

There isn't any textile stuff going on here at the moment. Over Easter our son and nephew knocked down the chimney breast in the living room and whilst it's all plastered now there is quite a bit of sanding and lots of painting to be done which will have to wait a while now as my husband has had an operation on his nose since - paint fumes won't be a good idea! Will just have to be patient until we are a bit more sorted.

Whilst I don't have anything current to show, I like to look at the pics in other people's blogs so here's one of some scrumbles that I started back in January. I got this far but then got sidetracked when the book arrived. Not sure what I was expecting really but was quite disappointed. More a booklet than a book and nothing much in it that I hadn't worked out for myself and I'm still going to have to work out what to use for a base and how to shape a bag unless I buy one of the recommended pre-formed thingys. Lovely eye candy though!

PS The PC is currently housed in teenage daughters bedroom so I only have limited access lol!

Seam Treatments

All the seams now have the beginnings of some stitch on them. I've not used silk velvet in any type of crazy patchwork/quilting before and probably wouldn't do so again if I remember (it would appear to have a mind of it's own) and find something else for contrast texture instead!

Elegant - yes the jacket pattern is Gina but I'm not sure "I do" elegant these days lol! I was aiming for the look of the brown view so will have to rethink fabrics having bought some silk over the net which turns out to be totally the wrong colours from what I wanted!

Vogue 7907

Amongst my Christmas presents (chosen by myself) was this pattern ..........



I've done a mock-up with an old duvet cover and have to confess that I'd actually wear this (pity about the random stripe lol!) - very shabby chic! Both views use exactly the same pattern pieces - the look depending on the fabric used ....................



Only problem is, the slightest breeze or much movement and the folds in the collar/frontspiece are all over the place. I could use a single fastening in the centre but I have a feeling that the collar is too big and floppy for that to be very effective ..............

Maybe no fastenings at all but a few invisible stitches to hold the folds in place ????

Crazy Patchwork

Looking at the fabrics that I had out for the elephant the other week, I thought they might make a nice cushion so on Saturday thought I'd spend an hour roughly patching them together before getting out of my nightclothes - it took 8 (minus minimal breaks for refreshments)!

It's something to do in the evenings and is going to use a large chunk of my hand dyed threads. Now all I need is a volunteer to sand the edges of some Shisha mirrors! I'm really, really pleased with this photo - taken outside on an overcast day - I'm learning all the time!

Meet "Homer"

Injecting some colour into this urban madness ..................

20# wire was much more manageable though perhaps a touch flimsy if the legs are too long - his are a little shorter. See Nellie's blog for her free bird pattern.