Miniature Patchwork Cushion

This morning I checked my email and discovered that, as I slept, my little miniature embroidered crazy silk cushion had sold to a buyer in the US.

This is a lovely little cushion, one of the first I stitched and I had mixed feelings as I placed it in the box to post to its new owner in USA. Most of my miniature pieces are put up for auction or sale as soon as they are finished, if I don't, I get a little attached as they begin to look more and more at home in my own collection.

However I make these miniatures with the view in mind that they will be part of, and belong in other collections. There is something very satisfying about that for me too.

The sale also reminded also that I had not yet blogged about my recent trip to Arbroath and the wonderful group of ladies who invited me to do a 'workshop with them on the 'Crazy Patchwork Cushion' on Sunday 11th May. 'The Angus Puffins' as they are collectively known, made me feel very welcome and we had a very busy day cutting our, piecing and stitching. I must say that only 3 of the ladies were accomplished needle workers the other ladies some had stitched before and some hadn't so on the whole it was a very tricky & in their own words 'challenging' workshop. I had not taught this particular workshop before and so it was a learning curve for me also. I think we all had a lovely day, the buffet lunch was delicious which was provided by all, consisted of two delicious home made quiche and a selection of mixed salads. Dessert was absolutely out of this word creamy raspberry cheesecake which was about 3 inches thick (probably added the same to my waistline) and a lovely bowl of fruit salad with lots of berries which gave it a lovely crimson colour and taste devine.I learned a lot from teaching the workshop I learned that not everything that I take for granted is easy for other people to do & that they might want to go about it in a different way. I also learned that it is better to buy packets of Bondaweb rather than 'off the roll' as it separates and causes all sort of problems. ...... if any of the ladies are reading this, I thought about the problem all the way home and I now know there is a better way to get around it and not loose tiny sections of almost invisible Bondaweb when the backing doesn't want to stay put! I also learned that there are so many different colour combinations possible with these little cushions, no two ladies had the same set of colours or indeed matched with the same threads and it was lovely to see the variation and how it can be used to design a cushion for any time period in the miniature world. Well done to ladies who had never sewn before I was very impressed with their results! Although none were completed by the time I left, the ladies have assured me that they will all complete their cushion projects and send me some pictures so I look forward to that.The other reason for this post is to say that after all the writing of the tutorial for the Dolls House & Miniature scene magazine (issue # 160 ~ still available on back issue) and doing the workshop I have been working on & hope to make this available as my 5th kit & 1st embroidery kit very soon.

Watch this space .........