Pillowpalooza

I am not a natural seamstress in any way. I hate sewing so much that I can barely speak coherently about it, and I certainly can't speak coherently while I'm doing it.

But when I set my mind to it, I can turn out some pretty cute stuff.


This sachet was entirely hand-sewn, including the part where I got it all sewn together and was about to turn it right-side-out and then realized I'd made it so that the hanger was on the inside. Yeah. But I fixed it, and it looks great now. The butterfly pattern is from issue #248 of Cross Stitcher magazine.

And now, the cushions, all sewn on The Machine this morning:


And Your Bird Can Sing (embroidery pattern designed by moi) ...


... Caturday (embroidery pattern here) ...


... and Caravan (cross stitch pattern in issue #238 of Cross Stitcher).

I love them, and I'm just chuffed to bits that they turned out so well.

I'm especially pleased with Caravan, because I was seriously on the ragged edge here. When I cut out the pieces last week, I left myself absolutely no room for error; I cut everything with exactly a quarter-inch seam allowance, and really, why did I think I'm suddenly capable of sewing a perfectly straight line that's exactly a quarter-inch in from the edge? And what made me think my edges were straight?? But I managed, somehow. It turned out beautifully, as did the other two, with which I did leave myself a little room for error so I wasn't quite as worried about pulling them together.


Bird has the same green fabric front and back, but Caturday has this lovely swirly red backing (as does the sachet, which I forgot to include in the picture), and Caravan has this great 60's turquoise that pretty much matches the Beetle on the front.