Cushion Fest

It has been raining a lot here in the past few days.  Not just drizzly rain either:  it's been full blown, torrential downpour; complete with thunder, lightening, and skies so dark you would swear it's 9pm all the time.  There's nothing to do when the weather is like this except go down to the basement and sew.

For once I am getting ahead of the game and making some cushion covers for upcoming seasons.  I found these lovely poppy window valances at the thrift store and thought they would look great on the couch come fall.

I still have a crush on those cozy, sweater pillows.  After making these ones last year, I knew I wanted to keep going.  I have been collecting sweaters with stand-out stitch patterns for the past few months, and this week I turned them into four more pillows.

I *almost* can't wait for fall so I can get them out.  I'll take a nice long summer first though!

This last cusion is for using now.   It has been in the works for so long, I don't have the heart to put it away for another few months!

The pattern is a cross stitch one from the March 2014 issue of Cross Stitcher magazine.  I wanted to work it in needlepoint with wool instead of cross stitch.  I was pleased at how quickly it worked up, but then I ran out of white and had to order more.  It didn't match up, so there was much unpicking and two more orders of DMC ecru to wait for.  I am happy with the end result, though I see my piping skills could use a bit of further education in the finishing department!

In between all the rain my peonies have been blooming.  There is so much silken petal goodness going on around here I am in flower heaven!  I'll leave you with a few photos.

Thanks for visiting!