Sweet violets

During my recent shopping trip to London with my mother and Bunny, I managed to detour the ladies to a shop just for me:

Of course I couldn’t leave Liberty without a little bag of goodies! Oh, the shop is delectable! All those beautiful floral fabrics, the endless rows of ribbons and notions...I could *easily* spend a fortune there, but I showed fantastic restraint (This time. My mom was keeping an eye on me.).

What’s in this sweet little parcel? Wanna see?

Silky soft cotton in a gorgeous ditsy floral, and my favourite violet fabric!

Now, I know what you’re thinking, “Here she goes again, that newbie seamstress adding to her stash of fabric, and she’s still learning how to sew and quilt!”

Well, I’ll have you know I’ve already used some of the violet fabric! That’s right, I was at the machine this weekend. I made something!

Today is a special day, a dear friend’s birthday, someone who is partial to violets. I think you might know her

Happy birthday Jooles! I met this lovely lady perhaps five or six years ago, introduced by a mutual friend who thought our creative minds would get along well. How right she was! I taught Jooles to crochet, she taught me to sew. I remember when she first mentioned thinking about blogging, and then she convinced me to do the same! And what do you give a talented, crafty blogger and businesswoman?

A handmade cushion to rest behind her back at the end of a busy day! I had a brainwave a few weeks back, when I was looking at the purple dotty fabric. I copied Jooles' header, enlarged it a bit, printed and traced it onto the fabric. I wasn’t sure how it was going to look, but I started with the little bird

I decided a satin stitch would be best, as it’s so small. I did long and short stitch for the scarf, to make it a bit more textured like the ones she knits. And I managed teensy French knots for the eyes, with one strand of floss!

I had *so much fun* stitching this! I want to snoop around other blogs to see what else is possible...whose birthday is next?

I did the lettering in simple back stitch, rather than stem stitch, because I liked the stitchy look of the letters.

 

I actually didn't know what I was going to do with this when I finished the embroidery, but when I got the violet fabric I wanted to incorporate it somehow, so a cushion seemed the obvious answer.

I played around with the fabric, layering it this way and that, over a small, 12” x 16” cushion. I liked stripes the best.

I did an envelope back, learned when I did my first cushion at Christmastime for Bunny.

I dropped off the gift this morning and am happy to report that Jooles was very happy indeed! (*phew!*) Pop over to her blog and wish her a happy birthday!

Goodness me, I LOVE to give presents! I already have some other handmade things in mind for other friends, now that I’m gaining confidence in my crafting...

Chrissie x