Monet's Garden pillow

Monet's Garden pillow
Originally uploaded by allisongryski

So you know when you have energy for a new project that's just bubbling over? That's what happened with this pillow. I was obsessed with it and kept pondering the layout in the pictures. The funny thing is that I ignored the results of the poll (and the pictures)... both my sweetie and I preferred the border layout and I think it has something to do with seeing it in person. It's just not so photogenic when gloomy weather forces me to use a flash. I think it makes the contrast of the light squares with the border seem more pronounced than it actually is.

In any case, my enthusiasm for this cushion continued unabated. First I sewed the front together and thought I'd stop there and maybe take it fabric shopping for the backing. But then I started thinking about using fabric I already had, so I draped a couple options on it. A little later I picked the purple flower vintage sheet (used to back another cushion already).

I wondered whether I might buy a zipper and wait to finish it. But my mind couldn't let it go, so I planned a button-envelope style back. Quick as you please, and I'd cut it out and sewed it together. The needle-position dial on my sewing machine is broken, so I thought I'd figure out button-holes another day. But a little pause, and I was at my machine with a scrap of fabric, figuring out how to fudge a button hole. The button holes turned out a little homely, but they're mostly covered by the pearly buttons I picked out of my button jar anyway. So with several pauses, I finished the whole cushion today and I feel ever so pleased with the result.

You may notice another vintage-sheet-based cushion cover behind it... I didn't make that one. Anyone looking at my flickr stream will have guessed that I recently visited Amsterdam, and this pillow cover was a find in a vintage clothing/goods shop there. I'll post about Amsterdam eventually, but I took a monumental number of photographs and I'm still working on uploading them all.


Rijksmusuem Garden Lion
Originally uploaded by allisongryski