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Spring Cushion Stitchery

26/5/2025

A new hand seing project is a set of seasonal patterns by the Australian designer Lynette Anderson. The first one is Spring - the stitchery design has been traced onto the background fabric (one of Lynette's neutrals) using a Micron Pigma pen in a sepia colour with a very fine nib - my favourite is a size 005. I've decided to use DMC stranded embroidery threads for the hand embroidery, in the colours suggested in the original instructions. The bees have been filled in with Colonial knots - I was taught how to stitch these by Lynette way back in 2010 when I did a couple of workshops with her at my local quilt shop. Sadly the shop closed down several years ago, but I've never forgotten what a patient teacher Lynette was...

...once the majority of the hand embroidery was completed, I added the hand applique. Both the house and the beehive have some surface embroidery, which was stitched after the applique had been secured into place. The original pattern has instructions for both making cushions, and making a wall hanging that incorporates all for of the "seasons" - although I've decided to do my own twist on this project, so watch this space as I need to complete the summer, autumn and winter designs.

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Welcome Home Pillow

16/5/2025

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This pattern, Welcome Home Pillow by Lynette Anderson Designs was purchased several years ago from Cross Patch here in the UK. I've used a piece of background fabric from my "Lynette" box of fabrics for the stitchery. A piece of lightweight interfacing has been fused to the back, and the design traced using a lightbox and a Micron Pigma pen with a very fine nib - my favourite is size 005 in a pale brown colour. I'm using a selection of DMC straded embroidery threads, in colours that were suggested in the pattern, with just a couple of substitutions. I always use a wooden hoop for my hand embroidery, to keep the fabric taut. This pattern uses very simple embroidery stitches, mostly back stitch, cross stitch, lazy daisy stitch. These sheep are filled with Colonial knots (I find these asier than French knots) which makes them look very woolly...

...the house, with it's embroidered veranda and windows, is hand appliqued into place. I've picked out 3 fabrics from Lynette's High Meadow Farm collection for the patchwork squares - these have been in my stash for several years so it was about time I put them to good use. These were also purchased from Cross Patch way back in 2017 as a bundle of fat eighths - they'd been packed away in one of my "Lynette" boxes of fabrics, and when I toook part in the Declutter Challenge earlier this year they were rediscovered - and this was the perfect project for them...

...the patchwork squares were machine pieced together and machine quilted using a dark green Aurifil 40wt thread. I've used a piece of fusible Vlieseline H630 for the wadding, that was leftover from a previous project. The embroidered panel was then pressed on a wool pressing mat with a warm iron, and hand appliqued into place on top of the quilted pillow front. I've used one of the feature prints from the High Meadow Farm collection for the back of the cushion - this has been lined with another print that was included in the bundle of fat eighths. As you can see, I've used the same neutral patterned fabric for the top half that I used for the stichery panel on the front of the cushion, and I've hand embroidered the name of the pillow, Welcome Home, along with my name...

...once the back and front were assembled with a zipper fastening, I've added a narrow double fold binding to cover all the raw edges. After machining this to the front of the cushion, the binding was then folded over to the back, and stitched in place by hand using a ladder stitch. I do love a stripey binding! This was constructed using a different method to the one in the original pattern, as I like to be able to remove my covers incase they need to be laundered...

...and here's my completed Welcome Home Pillow - I've filled it with a soft feather pillow. I always use pillow forms that are a couple of inches bigger than the size of the cover, to keep it looking plump. I'm hoping the recipient will enjoy this one as much as I enjoyed making it!

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Woodland Secrets - Quilted and Bound

2/5/2025

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Another quilt top that has been waiting to be quilted since the summer of 2023, is this pretty design by the Australian designer Lynette Anderson. This was originally purchased as a kit back in 2018 from Cross Patch - the kit included the pattern, and fabrics from Lynette's Peacock Manor collection. The hearts, which have been hand embroidered using a selection of Valdani variegated starnded embroidery threads, and the hearts were then hand appliqued onto the background blocks. I decided to keep the quilting very simple (arthritis doesn't allow me to do the more detailed quilting that I love) so machine quilted around each applique heart...

...then the blocks were all machine quilted using the stitch-in-the-ditch method. I've used Aurifil 40wt thread shade as it blends well with both the backing fabric and the fabrics in the patchwork blocks. The binding was machined to the front of the quilt, with neat mitred corners. The binding is folded over to the back, and stitched in place by hand using the same Aurifil 40wt thread that I used for the quilting, using ladder stitch...

...I'd bought the backing fabric, which is also one of the fabrics from the Peacock Manor collection, from Poppy Patch when the top was made in 2013, and had enough leftover for the quilt sleeve too. The picture below shows how I've pinned it in place, level with where the binding has been stitched in place. Once the top edge of the sleeve is stitched to the backing of the quilt, making sure that the needle goes into the wadding but being careful not to stitch through to the front of the quilt. Once the top edge of the sleeve is secured, the fabric is pulled up so the top of the sleeve is then level with the top of the binding, and the lower edge, along with the sides of the sleeve, are also stitched in place...

...and here's my finished quilt, ready to display in my sewing studio. I still need to stitch the quilt label, so Ill be doodling some ideas for that over the weekend.

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Spring Cushion Stitchery

Welcome Home Pillow

Woodland Secrets - Quilted and Bound

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