Cushion cameos

Well, I am now firmly ensconced in home made crafting heaven. While I am waiting for the curtain rails to be installed, I am making cushions.

I like pillows made from old blankets, but I very much wanted to avoid the stereotypical bird (fantail, pukeko, duck in flight) motifs adopted by so many New Zealand crafters.

I made these pillows to counterpoint this trend. What I particularly love about them is that the signs of middle age have been well preserved in these cameos of myself and the manservant: the sagging chins, the thin scalp, the outline of reading glasses, even the uneven zig-zaging under the chin looks a little like whiskers.

And the thrift involved is stupendous. All three pillows are recycled, the grey fabric is scraps, the thread leftover from other projects, the blanket a stained one abandoned at the Sally's which I carefully cut around, and even the fabric stabilizer to hold the cameo's taught on the fabric was purchased at Hospice. Satisfaction.

I have other crafting cliches I plan to refresh:  several Word Art projects in mind that are keeping me very amused but buntings, I believe, are beyond redemption. A feel a challenge coming on!

A word please about cushions. Cushions should have a zipper so  you can remove and wash as required. My pet hate is reading some lifestyle magazine that says, "just make yourself some quick and cool cushions by sewing round 3 sides on a machine and slip stitching the fourth side close. " No please, don't do that, really. 

Righty ho, more cushions, then squabs, then back to curtains!  I also had a lampshade project in the works because I bought some beautifully ugly ceramic lamp bases on Trademe - but the person sending them to me did not pack the box tight, and instead the lamps were allowed to bang into each other, all the way up the country. They arrived a shattered mess: the loss of money is one thing but finding just the right lamp base only to have it destroyed by lack of packaging is heart breaking.

My kingdom for a stack of crushed up newspaper and a fragile sticker!

I deliberately arranged the silhouettes so me and the manservant would face junior. At this stage of our lives, it's like we are having a conversation with him. When he hits adolescence,  it'll be like he's answering us back.