After two weekends of minimal productivity on the cushion-making front, they are done at last!

I have a throw and two cushions, the last bought on the trip to Washington, on the sofa already, and though these cushions don’t go with them brilliantly, I think they’re okay. It’s a rented flat and one day I’ll have my own decor and they’ll fit with something in that, I hope.

The buttonholes are going to take more than a little perfecting, but I like to think they’ve improved with practice…

I followed the instructions given by Tasha on her blog ‘By Gum, By Golly’ (http://bygumbygolly.com/2013/09/buttonholes-by-hand-vintage-sewing/), which I found just through searching for something like ‘how to make buttonholes’ – great tagging! And it’s a great website, makes me wish I could use my sewing machine well enough to make clothes rather than just struggling with straight lines. Her piece on making a pair of jeans is  amazing, I can’t even think what being able to do something like that must be like.

Anyhow, buttonhole practice –

As you can see, I didn’t manage to position the slit evenly between the top and bottom lines of stitching, with the result (not shown here) that there wasn’t room to do the bottom row. Anyway, I got the general idea, and it took so long to do that one that I thought I’d just have to use the cushion covers as the training ground – after all, they’re for our home and not a gift for someone else, so it doesn’t matter as much (though I like to make them the best I can, it’s a sort of affliction).

These are the last two, not even alas but not too bad, and better than the second of the finished buttonholes (on cushion no 1) which is really gappy at the edge so the gimp thread shows through.

Ideally I’d have used gimp thread that was the same colour as the overstitching thread, but it was the nearest I could get on ebay without spending a lot more. I’d never heard of gimp before I read the blog post, so looked it up online in case it means something different in UK to US, and to see where I could buy it. Turns out it does have another meaning, though that may not be a UK/US thing but the same in both countries, but which comes higher up in the search results, and which I don’t want to buy… I shall certainly tell the police that if they come calling.

The last two weekends have been a non-starter for getting anything done, due to other commitments (e.g. spending most of the day with parents-in-law last Sunday then the evening preparing for something work-related for Monday) so I was relieved to have finished cushion cover no 2 this weekend; I like to think I would have managed it even if a stinking cold hadn’t forced me to stay indoors all weekend, even cancelling my driving lesson, but I’m sure it has helped. Don’t like to think that that’s what it takes!

I’m pleased with the finished results, far from perfect as ever, but I’m pleased to have proved to myself I can get two x 14 inch cushion covers from a bundle of 4 fat quarters (and reduced price in a sale at that!).

Here are some photos before the padding was inserted:

And these are the finished items:

 

To try and psych myself back into the autumn quilt – the ‘first patchwork quilt’ of this blog’s title, still unfinished – I took a photo of all the blocks completed, laid out together. Depressing! It’s all so orange, which was not the idea… All I can think is that I have to make more blocks, without orange in them, to try to even it out. And again consider whether to use sashing. It’s difficult to have any enthusiasm for it and to keep (or restart) momentum when I can’t envisage an end result I’ll like. Stupidly, I knew this would be how it would turn out but I kept going anyway, because I liked making the individual blocks so much – well, you reap what you sew…

Finally, and this has nothing whatever to do with patchwork, but sharing makes me feel better, I joined a new ball of yarn into the jumper sleeve I’m knitting, only to find about a a foot or two in that the yarn was about to break, so I cut out the broken part and rejoined it, which, incidentally, I’ve done with balls of this yarn before. After this happened three times in succession I pulled out all the little sections and joins, and proceeded to check the rest of the ball. After these many sections of yarns, I gave up and found another ball – what a swizz!

Rowan yarns should be ashamed, that is a bad batch. I only hope I’ve enough wool to finish the garment; it’s taken me nigh-on 18 months so far, so fingers crossed.

Finally finally, my husband’s made a model tree to accompany / set off something else he’s made. I’m impressed, so thought I’d share: