A Cushion For Agnieszka

A little while ago I blogged about the cushion that Agnieszka made for me, and I am - unfortunately - really late in getting one finished for her. There is no secret about this cushion as I gave her a choice of projects a little while ago. I started Sunrise/Sunset for her, and then second guessed myself and started this one instead. For once, I was right to second guess myself.

This cushion was an experiment. I wanted to push myself out of my comfort zone and make something a bit different. It didn't all go to plan but nothing happened that I couldn't adjust too. And I learned a few things along the way. Ideally every project we did would allow this to happen.

The tear drop shape is a porthole as learned from Lu Summers at the first FQ Retreat. She told us to stay clear of points and there is a good reason for this. I wrestled with this bugger but ultimately I believe I won the battle. The curve worked pretty well, better than hoped, only the linen got all wonky and out of place so I had to trim the cushion top quite a bit to get it square again. Next time, if there ever is a next time, I would cut the linen wider and longer than required to allow for any twisting of the fabric from my less than perfect sewing.

I backed it with a bright green corduroy. And I  made a feature of the zip because (a) I like the way it looks, and (b) it is so much easier. (The truth will always get out.) I used Aurifil 50w 2600 - a very pale grey - for every aspect of this project. It is almost chameleon like the way it disappears into different colours. The quilting was as you go - obviously - for the cotton sections, and then I matchstick quilted the linen.

The hand stitching was with perle cotton 8w. I used a stem stitch to give each line enough definition against the heavily quilted linen. I like the way these lines are almost like narrow cording.

As this whole project took me out of my comfort zone I am really happy that it came together cohesively in the end. I hope Agnieszka likes it when it reaches her home because I was so lucky to receive a very beautiful cushion from her and would like to reciprocate in kind.

Susan