Monday, July 1, 2013

A Fresh Sewing Day Debut

After weeks of procrastination, I pulled out some fabric on Saturday to start on a gift for a very close friend of mine.  And then I changed my mind - a million times over.  So I cleaned the house.  And then when I was ready to think about starting again, the teenager called to say he'd stacked his BMX and had cut himself open!  I relinquished the thought of getting anything done for the rest of the weekend as I sat watching him get stitches whilst he played on his phone.  Yep, times have changed.

Anyway, today I pulled out the wonky star pieces I had managed to cut out, scrapped the other bits I'd started putting together, and used the KISS method (keep it simple stupid).  

Because I'm hoping this cushion will give some comfort to the recipients, I made it European size - approximately 23" square. So it's a big mumma!  The best part about that is there was LOTS of room for creativity on the free motion front.  And this is how it turned out.....

star

I decided on swirls, and added four small stars to represent family members.  I really enjoy this kind of pattern, it's quite cathartic, and for me - very unplanned and fluid.

star1

I love the way the silver/grey Aurifil thread shines off the navy blue fabric.  Yes, it does show up any "imperfections" in the quilting, but the shine makes up for that!

star2

My next dilemma came with the backing fabric choice.  I had originally chosen a navy and white chevron, but then found this Michael Miller that's been sitting on the shelf for a year or so.  I put it out to my IG friends, and the lovely Alyce voted for this - so that it was!  I'm soooo glad I went with it!  It's also bound in the same print.

I've never been nervous as such about gifting my handiwork, but this is a really special gift, for a really special person (which for obvious reasons I can't go in to now, in case they're reading this post!).  And I really am just hoping it's okay.

So this is day one of the school holidays - and I managed to get this done.  Hooray for play dates and quiet children.

Today I'm linking up with Lily's Quilts - Fresh Sewing Day - for the first time!  If you're new to my blog, have a look around and feel free to leave me some feedback!

Lily's Quilts

8 comments:

  1. What a beautiful cushion!! The quilting is amazing!

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  2. It's beautiful Midge! Your quilting is perfect xx

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  3. What a lovely quilting! Checking over from FSD.

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  4. Gorgeous pillow and quilting!! It is well suited for the 4th of July which we celebrate here in the U.S. this week with the star and fireworks backing :)

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  5. Your cushion looks fantastic. Don't you just love it that it's now school holidays. I'm hoping to get to the sewing room this afternoon!

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  6. What a gorgeous cushion and your quilting is amazing.

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  7. Your cushion is beautiful, I LOVE the quilting it works perfectly especially the little stars...so cute!

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  8. Catching up with my blog reading and, bam, there's this beauty. Love love love the fmq - somewhat Starry Night-van-Gogh-ish. Awesome! I'm always nervous about gifting my handiwork, too. Even with my sister who has loved everything in the past three years. At least, there's this sweet release once we get a posivitve reaction. ;)

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Thanks for taking the time to leave me a comment - I read each and every one of them! xx

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