Daisy Do Cushion

Hello there!

How is 2019 treating you thus far?  Have you got the January blues yet or are you enjoying all the newness and freshness of a blank year of possibility stretching ahead?  I've read so many "New Year, New Me, New Goals" blog/social media posts and magazine articles lately that I don't know if I should feel inspired or overwhelmed by them!  If I'm honest, life here feels a little more "same old, same old", but perhaps I will have some new things ahead for me, too.

My WIPs list isn't looking quite as "same old, same old" as I thought it might.  Looking back through my posts here, I'm surprised to discover that I finished 5 quilts last year and a mini too!  Of course, most of them were already well on their way to a finish before 2018 began, but yes, in spite of how hectic and unpredictable life has become, I pushed them over the finish line, which means my WIPs list looks a little more manageable going into 2019, and maybe even with wiggle from for some new things :-)

I had a nice long break from work at the end of the year and made use of the post-Christmas part of that to prep some little projects I want to stitch this month - some to finish old projects, some new.  For me, with time always so tight,  a few good preparation sessions really boost my productivity on evenings where I can actually crank up the sewing machine.  I'm hoping to find more preparation time in 2019 to enhance my machine time - fingers crossed.

First for 2019 is picking up on a little project started back in the unexpected heat of 2018. Last summer, on a lovely relaxed weekend with my sewing besties,  I had a go at hand-piecing for the first time.  I don't seem to have shown my efforts here, but encouraged by and provided with a few handy hints from Trudi, I tackled the 'Daisy Do' flowers from Jen Kingwell's book, Quilt Lovely.

I was very happy with the resulting flowers which I always had in mind to make into a little cushion (as long as they were acceptable, of course).   Jen's book has a whole quilt top of these beauties, hand-pieced together but, given my limitations, I decided to play sensible and just make two.  I also opted not to piece the flowers into the background fabric (mainly because I didn't want to recalculate the templates).  Instead, I used needleturn appliqué to stitch them onto some pretty ivory self patterned fabrics.  It worked a treat and then all that was needed were little QAYG borders to bring it up to size.

It's hard to have an idea of scale from these floor pics, but this is only a wee cushion at 14" square (it fits the small IKEA IRMA filler cushion).  I completed the cushion panels with a little perle hand quilting to stabilise and accentuate the daisies. The big stitches were a very satisfying finish!

Obviously, my 'go to' covered zip backing wasn't going to work with this double faced cushion, so I added an invisible zipper along the bottom.  It has been a VERY long time since I did one of these, but I was taught well and had my old class notes to refer to, so it came out respectably, all things considered.

For such a small project, this cushion cover had everything thrown at it - hand piecing, needle turn appliqué, perle hand quilting, machine piecing and an invisible zip.  What's not for me to love?

So, 2019, what's say you and I do some stitch dancing a little more often this year?

Yes?

Sounds like a plan then!!