CHARM ABOUT YOU

A few weeks ago I visited the Whitworth Art Gallery in my home city of Manchester. I was so inspired by the exhibitions that I was going to write a post, life kind of took over and it's been sitting in my drafts. Since we are now on lock down and most of us are staying home, I thought you might like to see a bit of artistic inspiration from the 'Tapestries' and 'Unreformed: Wallpaper and Design Diversity' exhibits, amongst others. 

The colourful mural above was created by Ibukun Baldwin, showing a little about how tapestries are made and reinforcing the skill involved. I also really love the colours in this piece.

From bold and modern to an absolute classic beauty from Morris & Co. ...

These cushions are huge, they make my huge sofa look small! I backed them with oval elements in chocolate cherry, stabilised with wadding and stuffed with ball fibre filling. I hadn't used that filling before but I love it, much softer than other fillings I've tried and it shed fibres a heck of a lot less. I will be using it for all my stuffing needs!

The colours of the oval elements go so well with the panels and although I was terrified to even touch such a special project it felt good to complete them and let my friend enjoy seeing them in her house.

It's been a good month, here are my other finishes from June:

Now I'm panicking because the Finish Along link is already open and I'm determined to cross at least one more finish off my list. Yesterday I managed to stitch up most of the footstool I'm working on but filling it is definitely a two person job so I need to enlist hubbies help to get it done. He's busy expanding his business (more on that soon) but hopefully I can grab him long enough to stuff a footstool!

For now, I have some serious sewing to get done!

A friend recently commissioned me to use some Emily Peacock needlepoint kits her friend had finished and make them into cushions. Her friend stitched the panels so beautifully and sadly has since passed away so these hold huge sentimental value for my friend. She doesn't sew and although was originally going to finish them herself she trusted me with the job. We discussed background fabrics and looked at home dec weight but there wasn't any that she fell in love with. She decided upon Oval Elements in Chocolate Cherry (available here and here) and it suits the panels so beautifully. I have used some wadding on the back to give it more cushion and they just need stuffing and sewing up. My friend will use these decoratively and hopefully they won't be subject to too much wear and tear. I should have these finished soon so will get some good pictures!

Yesterday I managed to get Collette's Bee A Brit Stingy blocks finished. She requested wonky log cabins using this simple tutorial. The bright colours are going to make a gorgeous quilt! Sorry for the late night pic but I had to get them ready to go in the post this morning.

I'm making headway with other projects and though I was planning on listing them today I think I'd better just get on with it all since the Finish Along Q2 deadline is fast approaching!