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!!

Some of you may or may not know, that I am lucky enough to have three sisters, and that one of my sisters, Lisa, is even MORE crafty and quilty than I am. She has been quilting for much longer than I have, and her work is always amazing. She does all sorts of crafty stuff, and one of my other VERY crafty sisters, Becky, has helped her with her blog. (Becky bought my domain name for me and made my blog for me and started me off with all the technical thingummy staff a few years ago as a birthday pressie - and I haven't looked back!!). So I am proud to be able to blog about Lisa, otherwise known as ericka eckles, and say please please PLEEEEASE pop over and have a look at what she's up too. I'd added a link to my sidebar too, so she's easy to find. Oh and she has a website too www.erickaeckles.com incase you're interested in buying any of her wonderful things!

It's Tuesday again already!! I haven't posted anything for "Sew Cute Tuesday" for ages, simply because I haven't had anything to share, but all that has changed this week!! I've had several emails from blog followers asking me to show you a bigger picture of "Sew Laugh Love" (pattern by Leanne Beasley) so here it is - hopefully this is going off to be framed this week, so will show you lots more pictures when it's returned. Anyway, I'm now off to have a browse on the Better Off Thread blog to ooh and ahh at all the other crafty goodies on display!

Well I'm still trying to be very good, and finishing my projects-in-progress before I start anything new, so the next project on my list of things that I really NEED to get finished (apart from several quilt tops that need to be quilted!!) is this Beehive Sewing Book(pattern by Lynette Anderson Designs). This was started back in August 2010 when I attended a class with Lynette Anderson. She was here in the UK and was at the Festival of Quilts and also ran several workshops at various quilt shops around the UK. Well as soon as I heard she was going to do has a couple of classes at my local quilt shop, Quilters Haven, I just knew I had to go - and my friend Eva came over from Norway too - we had a really great time!! Lynette was a super teacher, very patient, full of fun and energy, and does the most incredible intricate work. And if you're reading this Lynette, yes I'm still stitching those little "Colonial Knots" that you taught us to do!! And Lynette is going to be at the Festival of Quilts again this year and I need to take this to show her how beautiful those Colonial Knots look hehe!! Anyway, now I really must get on and some more flowers cut out and several leaves cut out and do a little bit of stitching - looks like I'll be busy for the rest of the day!

Well it's finished - all the stitchery has been done, the borders are on, the applique has been neatly stitched in place by hand, the the final flourish - cute little white buttons secured with coloured embroidery thread. This is called "Sew Laugh Love" and is designed by Leanne Beasley. I originally bought this as a kit online from an Australian store, Quilt Fabric Delights a couple of years ago and finally got around to sewing it. It's also available from Coast and Country Crafts in the UK. This has been very therapeutic while I've been taking it easy for the last couple of weeks. I'm going to get this mounted and  framed, to hang on the bedroom wall. I'll share some pictures of that when it's done!

I must be feeling better - this is my second blog post of the day!! Well I've had a good old rummage through my button tin - I've got lots of really old buttons in my tin, lots of them were on my daughters' clothes when they were little girls, and I couldn't bear to part with the buttons so snipped them off when the clothes wore out, some were given to me by a friend of my mother-in-law, and the other day my mother-in-law gave me her button tin too!! Anyway, it means that I've found the perfect little buttons to sew on this stitchery project (pattern by Leanne Beasley). I've really enjoyed each stage of putting this together - the stitchery, choosing the fabrics, the applique - and choosing the buttons!!

The applique is going well on this project (pattern by Leanne Beasley) - I managed to find a reel of silk thread for this, and a packet of Clover Gold Eye applique needle - it certainly does make life much simpler if you have the right equipment for the job! I used a technique  involving steam-a-seam which was cut to the exact size of the applique shape and ironed onto the back of the applique fabric. Then I removed the backing paper, folded the edge of the fabric over, and finger pressed it into place - and finally hand stitched it to the handkerchief linen, using VERY small stitches, and making sure the corners of the squares and rectangles were all folded in neatly. I didn't need to iron the shapes into position before stitching them on, as the steam-a-seam held it in place. The edge of the steam-a-seam also gave me a nice neat edge to fold the fabric over too - so I'll definitely be using this method again. Next job is to sort through my button tin, to find some tiny flat buttons to embellish the stitchery squares and rectangles.

This stitchery sampler, "Sew Laugh Love" (pattern by Leanne Beasley) was the perfect project while I've been recuperating! Following surgery, I was told told to rest, which was extremely difficult!! and so spent several days doing nothing very much except some hand sewing, and this is the result! If you've been following my blog and my FB page, you will have seen that a little more progress was made each day. I found a gorgeous bundle of fat eighths in my stash that I'd had for simply AGES and my daughter Alice chose these two for the borders and the applique. Well the borders are on - now for the applique!

If you've been following my blog, you'll have seen my slow but steady progress on this stitchery project - "Sew Laugh Love" - the pattern is a design by the Australian designer Leanne Beasley, and I ordered it a couple of years ago from Quilt Fabric Delights, in Australia. This was a kit, with pre-printed handkerchief linen, and a selection of gorgeous Cosmo threads. Well the stitchery is finally completed!! Now all I have to do is to find some fabric fro the applique and the borders, so I need to sort out the fabrics in my stash, otherwise I might have to go shopping for just the RIGHT fabric!!

The "Tour de Fibre" continues, and I've been enjoying the nice weather and stitching in the garden. I've finally reached the bottom corner of this stitchery design, "Sew Laugh Love" (pattern by Leanne Beasley). I originally ordered this kit a couple of years ago from Quilt Fabric Delights in Australia, and it came complete with pre-printed handkerchief linen, a copy of the pattern and a selection of beautiful Cosmo embroidery threads. It is also available from Coast and Country Crafts in the UK, which is where I buy most of my stitchery patterns from. Now please excuse me while I carry on stitching!