Well I've been very busy, and the remaining scraps of "Sanctuary" by 3 Sisters for Moda have been put to good use! I'm using the "Waverley Bag" pattern by Leanne Beasley (although this project will be a cushion rather than a bag!). Stitchery designs were traced with the use of my light box and a Micron Pigma pen. Weaveline was fused into place on the back of the stitchery squares and all I needed to do then was to put the kettle on for a cuppa and choose some embroidery threads! The stitchery didn't take very long, and I spent a few evenings watching TV getting this part done...
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...next was the applique. I traced the applique designs onto some fusible applique paper, fused it to the wrong side of the fabric, and cut out the shapes leaving a scant 1/4" margin all around. The glue-stick and paper method of applique really suits me, and the shapes can then be glued onto the background fabric to hold them in place temporarily instead of using pins. The applique shapes can then be stitched down, and I used a neutral coloured YLI silk thread for the applique and a Clover Black Gold applique needle. The front of the cushion was then spray basted (with 505 spray) and was ready for quilting! I don't usually use polyester wadding for my projects (apart from pellon, a felted polyester that I use for bags and table runners) but I found a small square of this in my box of wadding pieces and it was the perfect size!...
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...this was quilted very simply with stitch-in-the-ditch around the 9 mini blocks, stitch-in-the-ditch around the inner squares and finally quilted around the appliquéd heart and the appliquéd daisies. I've used a pale pink King Tut variegated thread shade 956 and a Schmetz Topstitch needle size 70. Inspired by Leanne's style of quilt labels, I decided to add a "label" on the cushion backing. I used the same pink DMC embroidery thread, shade 601, that I'd also used for the stitchery on the front of the cushion...
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...the back of the cushion was made with 2 different fabrics from the "Sanctuary" collection, and I inserted a zipper under the flap of the yellow print. Single fold binding, which was machined to the front of the cushion, was then folded over and hand stitched to the back of the cushion...
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...and here's the finished cushion. This was a really nice project to stitch - it combined some of my favourite techniques - applique and stitchery - and it was quicker than making a quilt! I'm putting this one away as it will be a gift. Maybe i need to make one for myself!
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