Counting down

As the Fashion, Embroidery and Stitch Show at the NEC approaches alarmingly quickly it's time to focus the mind on what we'll have on our stand.

I've been putting the finishing touches to a few more mini cushions today. They are about 8inches square with a little folded insert at the edges.

Maybe I should call them my Cannibal Collection as they have all been made by chopping up old quilts. Old though only in the sense that they were made a while ago and have served their purpose (which was to feature in an exhibition). Since then they've been hidden away wondering if they'd ever see the light of day again. This original quilt of hand dyed fabrics with applique, free motion quilting, hand embroidery, metallic pastel and beading has now been digitally embroidered with new motifs. Whew - that's a lot of techniques!

I had so much fun with these I had to search for another likely old quilt that I could cannibalise to make this cushion. I could drown in quilts if I wanted to - there are so many so it doesn't take long to find a candidate. The butterfly embroidery is a Husqvarna design worked in Madeira rayon and my favourite Madeira soft metallic machine threads.

There's only simple quilting with a bit of fabric painting on this one before the butterfly is added.

The mini cushions will all have a better shape when the gaps are closed now the stuffing is in place. It's my least favourite part of the making but obviously essential.

With more serious work in mind I've also spent hours and hours on the mad heron quilt ( no proper name for this work yet but I'm sure something will suggest itself soon).This is just a tiny detail but I think you can see how the digital print has captured the quality of the painted collage from my sketchbook. The collage papers were sprayed with paint to achieve that delicate mottled colour. The whole heron quilt top and its sister piece is on our SiX and Friends blog if you'd like to see quite how demented the heron really is! You'll need to scroll down past Laura's Origami hands and Annabel's portrait of Steph in Still Life with Orange to find them but if you haven't seen either of those pieces you're in for a treat!

Hope you're enjoying a pleasant weekend - bye for now!
Linda