cushions and embroidery

This week has been an interesting mix of emotions, activities and weather. The weather has scrolled through bright and sunny, very windy, and heavy rain but on the whole the weather has been dry. The emotions have been running riot as Scamp one day appears close to death and the next can't wait to get out for his walk. Casso as an elderly cat needs more peace and quiet than he's had this week but is holding together fairly well. We are all a little worried that Casso will die at the same time as Scamp. From the activity side there has been work but I did take some sick leave due to a chest infection. I managed to catch that early and I'm feeling better and ready for work tomorrow. On Friday evening John and I visited Kew gardens in the evening for their orchid festival. There has also been some sewing.

At the beginning of the week I cut out the pieces for two cushions. Last weekend older daughter identified she needed new cushions and I had a very cute pattern. 

The fabric range is called love me. I had already used a couple of pieces in a quilt I made last year so I substituted similar fabric from my stash. These will get stitched this week. Whilst hunting the fabric and pattern for these cushions I found 2 fat quarters I'd bought purely because I liked the designs.

I found time to get my light box out and trace all the patterns for the stitch along from Crabapple Hill studio to celebrate International Embroidery month. I have quite a few to complete in order to catch up but here's what I've finished to date. The whole piece is called the neighbourhood and all the stitcheries are birdhouses.

I need to stitch the stand on the next one

These are two I shall continue to work on today and hopefully get finished. Although these are small pieces they do take a fair amount of work.

I'm using up the left over scraps of fabric from other embroidery projects as I'm trying to create as little waste as possible. I'm also using my left over floss from previous projects. I haven't stitched some of the stitches used in these pieces in years so my trusty stitch encyclopaedia has been put to use this week. I can't remember the last time I used fly stitch!

I have also made a start on the tortoise block for the baby quilt. I was going to trace out the Noah's Ark pattern but I forgot I needed to increase the size to 160% so I'll do that this week.

I've slightly moved the flowers so the tracing marks show but they will be removed when the piece is complete.

With grandson due in May I also wanted to knit a little jumper for the autumn. I found a pattern online and will start it this week. It will be perfect for working on while I have a lunch break at work. Without something to work on or a book to read it is tempting to carry on working during the break.

I'm linking this post with Kathy from Kathy's Quilts for her Slow Sunday Stitching I love the beehive pattern she's stitching this week.

Tomorrow I'll share the photos I took at the orchid festival. There were so many varieties.

Take care

Lyndsey