The Unveiling...

So what do you need when you get new sofas? New cushions!!! Especially when it's your birthday...
So here they are, I made 2...for my lovely friend A...
Both are made from grey felt (very cheap), then buttons from my never ending stock of buttons and LARGE buttons I got from my local Fabric Land...

Using the excess after cutting enough for the cover I cut out circles, in 3 different sizes, then chopped them in half. Drew round a side plate in the middle of the front of the cushion, then started applying the petals. I pinned each one in place, around the circle, then ran the sewing machine around the bottoms to secure them, then I repeated the process, pinning (to hide the sewing from the previous layer), sewing, pinning, sewing etc...after about 3 rows I made a slight pleet in the petal to add some height...and then the very centre I rolled the petals and hand sewed them in place...This was VERY time consuming, but VERY effective...no wonder they fetch so much in the shops!!!

I also made a second cushion, using the same technique to make them, then drew round a heart stencil, and then sewed on about 75 buttons to fill in the heart....I do love the finished article, but wish there was a faster way to sew on buttons!!!
What do you think?

Much going on...rubbish me for not posting!!!

Paperchains for my birthday, just to pretty not to share...they were a kinda expensive purchase, considering they are just paper, but...they are sooo pretty, and it made 10m of paperchains, so they should look pretty on Sunday!!!

Some of the beautiful fabric I got brought back by my Mum from the states has made it on a cushion cover...It is soooo beautiful to chop up the big flowers into a small quilt seemed like sacrilege so I cut the flower out and then hand appliquéd it on...I tried various machine techniques but none seemed effective enough or worth risking a beautiful flower for.

The fabric was from Quilthome.com and designed by Anna Maria Horner from her Garden Party Range.
I just used blanket stitch and some lovely Rayon embroidery thread, I think I might secure it a but further with some more detailing in the middle as it is such a large piece of fabric, it is moving a bit...but you get the idea...
p.s. doesn't it go well with the origami cranes above it? :-)

And finally, I finished a quilt I made at least a year ago, it just needed a bit more quilting and then needed a binding. I did buy some a while ago, but annoyingly guessed about 20cms too short...so I bought some more and actually measured it this time!!! funnily enough it worked this time!!!

I have used this quilt as a practice of pretty much everything, it was the 1st quilt I machined pieced, machine quilted using stitch in the ditch and fully machine binded. LOTS of lessons learnt but it still turned out well enough for me to proudly put it on the back of the sofa!!!
Soooo that's pretty much all of the crafting that has been going on in the last week, I will endeavour to be better and post more regularly!!!