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| Circular portholes |
We have a front and a back, or a back and a front depending on your preference.
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| Heart Porthole |
I know that two useful cushions could have been made from these FQR porthole samples but realistically I don't have the space for two cushions and I wanted them to pretty up and make comfy my sewing chair. A few rounds of simple borders and a hidden zipper and I have averted the all-too-easy phenomenon of samples being chucked in a drawer never to see the light of day again - feeling quite virtuous about that!
The portholes weren't the only FQR projects that I worked on over the hols too. At the mid-point of our break my son discovered the joys of painting by numbers and commandeered the small table in the cottage we rented to create his masterpieces! After that, my sewing machine didn't make any further appearances but it did "encourage" me to work on the embroidery I had started at the retreat.
I cannot tell you how much I enjoyed having time to play with new stitches I'd never tried before (lazy daisies and stem stitch). Handstitching is so entirely therapeutic to me. I'm sure there's some profound psychological explanation for it, but whatever it is I am really thankful for it's calming and restorative influences. Perhaps I should really be thanking the painting by numbers for providing the opportunity to get on with some, instead of grumbling under my breath about the plans that I didn't complete!
If anyone is interested in this little pattern, it's downloadable as a free pdf from nanaCompany here. I have yet to decide what the embroidery should become - a cushion? a small wallhanging? a pouch? If you have any suggestions I'm happy to throw them into the mix. For now, I'm just pleased that the embroidery worked out so nicely.
Come back tomorrow for my last holiday stitching post and I'll show you some work I did on new quilt tops (prior to loss of sewing table).
