Last year I made a very special cushion for a very special friend, using a picture of her with her mum, who had sadly passed away earlier that year. I never really appreciated how much Fran liked it, until she asked me if I could make another one, using a picture of her with her mum, for her aunty Margaret's birthday..... .....Fran emailed me a picture of her with her mum, which I then formatted into gray scale ready for printing onto a sheet of EQ printables fabric. I gathered together a collection of cream and white fabric, and some lace and sketched out some design ideas, and set about making it up. I quilted the whole of the cushion in a mixture of straight rows, and angular spirals..... .....I had a good old rummage in my button tin, looking for an assortment of old buttons that would compliment the fabrics that I'd used. I made a covered zipper backing, using a soft grey floral fabric. I also used a piece of this fabric with some white and creams for the scrappy binding too. And then one of my labels was added to the back for the final flourish. The binding was stitched in place by hand. Well Fran was really pleased with this, when she collected it yesterday, and I hope her aunty Margaret is too!!
4 Comments
One of my colleagues, Juliette, had commissioned me to make a memory cushion for her husband's birthday. I borrowed one of her wedding pictures, scanned it, formatted it to black and white, and printed it onto an EQ printable sheet. This was then surrounded by a collection of white and cream fabrics, and embellished with vintage lace and buttons, and quilted..... .....I added a zipper with a flange to cover it on the back, and used a half-inch finished double binding, made with 3 different fabrics for a scrappy look. Then one of my labels "made with the hand, given from the heart" was added to the back, and the cushion was finished! Juliette was really pleased with this cushion - it looks great!
I've had a fantastic week away in Yorkshire, and will share all my pictures and stories on here during the next week, but firstly here is something that I took with me on my holipops! Last year I made Philippa a cosmetic bag as a small gift, and this year I decided to make her a cushion. I had already emailed her to see if I could "borrow" a picture that was on her website - it was taken by her father, when Philippa was 5 yrs old. I added the usual lace and buttons and lots of straight row quilting. This shows the back, with the binding sewn into place by hand, and a covered zipper. Oh and yes, one of my labels too... ...and here is the front of the finished cushion. It was such a beautiful sunny day when I left for Yorkshire, it was difficult to get a photograph without the sun getting in the way! Philippa was really pleased with it, and we had a super week on the course with her - I feel full of design ideas now - what a shame I've got to go back to work tomorrow - I could easily spend a creative week at home making crafty plans and putting all my new ideas together!
Here is the finished cushion that I made to celebrate our Silver wedding anniversary - I used a photograph from our wedding album, and used a mix of cream and white fabrics and some wide crocheted vintage lace for trimming and used an assortment of buttons for embellishment too. I also added a prairie point with a button, using some inspiration from a wall-hanging in issue 01/2013 of a Norwegian magazine, MyQuilt..... .....I used 2 different fabrics for the back of the cushion - some cream fabric that I just LOVE and also part of a an old duvet cover that had worn out but I couldn't bear to part with - this was an old Laura Ashley duvet cover that we'd had for a wedding present! I also inserted a zipper, using a flap to cover it with, as this looks neater than leaving the zipper exposed, oh and one of my "made with the hand, given from the heart" labels was added to the back too of course! I was recently asked to complete a commission for a pair of 2 "Memory" cushions. I had already made a similar pair of these cushions last year for my niece to give to her sisters-in-law as they had lost their mum - they loved them, and one of the sisters-in-law, Lorna, asked me to do a similar project for one of her friends and her friend's sister, whose mum had recently passed away. So, I set too with my box of cream and white fabrics and threads and vintage lace and trimmings and buttons. I didn't want the cushions to look identical as I never make 2 projects exactly the same, but I did use some of the same fabrics in both cushions. A plump feather pad inside and they were completed. Oh and I added a small label to the back of the cushion too. Hope they like them! Last year I made several cushions on this theme using photographs - I printed the photographs onto special sheets of fabric (my favourite brand is EQ Printables) and added vintage lace and trimmings and buttons, and used a variety of old and new fabrics to give them a vintage feel. Simply ages ago I bought a beautiful hand embroidered linen laundry bag from a vintage market - and it had been laying on my bed, with a feather cushion inside, with the top of the laundry bag turned over and was using it at a cushion. It's really old, and some of the linen had started to fray at the seams, so it was time to perform a little bit of surgery on it and breath new life into it..... .....with a few slices with my rotary cutter, a bit of stitching with my sewing machine and a zipper, and here it is as good as new, albeit a little bit smaller!! Looks fab piled on my bed with all the other cushions! This is the latest Red Brolly design that I have stitched, and have decided to turn this into a cushion cover for a very special friend - actually she's a very NAUGHTY friend too, but if I say anything more it will spoil the surprise..... .....I really wanted a red and white spotty fabric for the borders, but when I saw this fabric in my local quilt shop I knew it was just perfect for this project! This fabric is called "Vintage Modern" and is by Bonnie and Camille for Moda. I love this range of fabrics, and this really compliments the red stitchery design beautifully. I then layered a piece of calico with some cotton wadding and the cushion top, and quilted it very simply using "stitch-in-the-ditch" using a cream Mettler quilting thread..... ....and what a surprise when I looked in my box of zippers - a dark turquoise zipper that works perfectly with this fabric! I used the zipper foot to put this zipper in, and didn't need to pin it in place. I used a grey Mettler quilting thread to sew in the zipper as it blends in with the background colour of the fabric..... .....as you can see, I've added a label to the backing fabric - and used a spotty turquoise print from the "Vintage Modern" range for the double-fold binding. I think it looks fab!!..... .....and here is the front of the cushion. I really love it - it is going to be very hard to give this away!! I hope my friend likes it as much as I do!! I've been busy over the past few weeks stitching gifts for friends for Christmas, and this is going to be sent off somewhere very cold!! The stitchery design is a pattern by Leanne Beasley - I had made the centre piece months and months ago, and finally got around to finishing this cushion! I had made the original centre and both inner and outer border with "Simplicity" by 3 Sisters for Moda. The back of the cushion is also made with "Simplicity" fabric and I couldn't believe it when I found this in my fabric box with a zipper already sewn in place - I just had to trim it to the correct size and bind the sides. Once the binding had been machined onto the right side of the cushion, I stitched the binding to the back of the cushion by hand. Add a label? Of course ..and finally completed, here is the cushion front. I'm really pleased with this, and I'm sure my friend will love it too - now I just have to get a few more gifts made and I'll be all ready for Christmas!!
A few weeks ago, I was in Cyprus with Mr F and lots of his family to celebrate our niece's wedding. Michelle was one of my bridesmaids, and now she's all grown up and as you can see from this photograph, she was a beautiful bride. I really love this photograph of them, and wanted to make a very special present for them - so I set to work with fabrics and thread and lace and buttons..... .....firstly I edited the photo into black and white to give it a vintage feel, then I printed the photograph onto inkjet fabric sheets, by EQ Printables, and added all my usual bits and bobs to make a truely unique gift. I used some vintage lace to trim this cushion, and some old buttons. Once the back and front had been completed, I machine sewed around all four sides about one eighth of an inch away form the raw edge to keep everything together, then added the binding..... .....I used a double-fold binding, which was attached to front by machine and then hand-stitched in place to the back - I like to finish off by hand, as this gives a lovely neat finish. One of my labels as a final flourish? Of course!..... .....congratulations to the happy couple Simon and Michelle! Thank you for letting us be part of your wedding celebrations! Hope you like your wedding present! My daughter Beth has asked me to make a cushion as a birthday gift for her boyfriend's grandmother as she'll be 80 years old. So I set too with the usual assortment of cream and white fabrics and trimmings and buttons, and the lace trimming is the very last piece of lace that was leftover from when I made Beth her Christening gown, 20 years ago! Beth and her boyfriend were very cunning and managed to get a photograph of Hazel emailed me to me ready to print onto fabric. The printable fabric that I prefer is the inkjet fabric sheets by EQ Printables. The photograph they chose was one that had been taken on Hazel's wedding day. I just love these vintage photographs - they look great teamed with lace and ribbons and buttons. I was amazed at how much Beth's boyfriend looks like his grandfather. And his grandmother looks absolutely beautiful..... .....well what do you think? I emailed a picture of it to Beth, so she could see how I was progressing, and Beth was really pleased with it - I hope Hazel will like it too!! |
About me...Hi - welcome to my quilting blog! My passions are my family, my dog, my friends and sewing, not necessarily in that order! Archives
July 2023
Blogs I followUK shopsThese are the UK shops that I use to purchase my quilting supplies - fabrics and threads etc.
Australian linksScandinavian links |