Scotty Dog Patchwork Cushion

This is my latest finish. I took part in the embroidery challenge (redwork) on stitchers showcase and decided to make it into a cushion. The pattern in free to downlown at the Bustle and Sew blog here who also have other lovely patterns both free and to purchase.

I found a piece of cream fabric in my stash and pinning the pattern underneath, traced the design onto my fabric, with a water soluble pen, using a lightbox. I only have a small lightbox, originally bought for paper crafting, but it did the job.

I used DMC 498 stranded cotton to work the design in stem stitch and after washing to remove the pen marks, trimmed it to the required size with a rotary cutter.

I have a lot of small fabric scraps leftover from other projects so after working out the size to fit around the front panel, making sure they lined up at the edges, made patchwork strips and sewed them to all four sides.

After that I made some matching binding, a back panel with three buttonholes and put the whole lot together. This was my first time trying redwork and I am glad I took part in the challenge as I have something very different from my usual makes and have extended my stitching repertoire at the same time.

Happy stitching,

Shirley

Airedales on the March

Sunday was the autumn walk of the East Anglian Airedale Terrier Club. Here we are gathering in the car park before setting off on our walk through Thorndon Woods Country Park in Suffolk. Normally there are also other breeds, owners second dogs, but this time there was only Higgins who really stood out and a tiny Welsh Terrier (fourth from right), who is really just like an Airedale in a convenient, easy to use size!

The walk was longer than we have done before (about four miles) so we were all tired on the way back and the boys fell asleep on the car ride home.

The pictures look a little dull but it was actually quite a warm day for the time of year. Don't suppose that will last for long though and I have knitted two lace stitch scarves for when it turns a little chillier. The pink one is from a free pattern on the Knitting Daily website. The flower has a brooch pin on the back so it can be worn separarely.

The other is a vintage pattern from my collection and I have used a variegated mohair yarn.