I’m nearly finished the canvas work sampler that I’m working on at the moment but I completed this cushion cover a while back. It’s a very simple design as you can see.
I love quilts and this is based on a traditional American patchwork pattern. It was quite relaxing to do and I was able to use up a lot of odds and ends of wool left over from other projects, so it was all very economical.
This pattern came from the lovely book- Mary Norden’s Needlepoint. I think it’s quite a good book for beginners.
As you can see I changed the design slightly to make the fences go all around the houses.
The pattern is called Home Sweet Home.
Ok, Katrina, this is getting ridiculous. I’ve decided you must be my long-lost sister! Your needlepoint is beautiful! And I prefer the way you extended the fences. I used to do needlepoint, too, but haven’t for many years (hard on the eyes, too many cats to eat the yarn / needles). When my three nieces were small and had a dollhouse, I made petit point Oriental rugs for them. I worked from a graph, rather than painted canvas, and loved the way the designs would magically appear. I love working with colors, but am definitely not a painter, so needlepoint satisfied that. You’ve inspired me to dig out my materials and lock myself in a catless room to get back to something I love doing!
Joan/sis,
It so happens that my dad was in the Merchant Navy during the war and spent 6 months in New York! But I’m sure you aren’t that old! I hadn’t thought of cats being a nuisance like that, it was my kids that drove me to stop knitting because they sometimes decided to ‘help’ me with it if I hadn’t hidden it well enough.
I thought of doing dolls house rugs in petit point but of course they aren’t required for forts and garages. No girls= no dolls house and my niece only liked Cindy things.
I would love to be able to paint too but can’t, I’ve done some things on painted canvas in the past but I prefer to have a blank piece of canvas and work from a chart and then you have the freedom to change things a bit if you want to. I hope you enjoy your stitching.
I guess we can rule out being sisters: I wasn’t born until 1952 and my mother never went to New York City. So, we’re just soul sisters!
I do enjoy your posts. I like hearing about the lives of other people, especially people who don’t live in the U.S. The little everyday things interest me. When we used to travel, I loved to go to grocery stores, hardware stores, office supply stores, places like that, to find out what things were available in other places. Fascinating! I got some crazy paperclips in Italy!
And I like your book posts; they’re concise and give just enough information about the book to help me decide if I want to read it. Some other blogs give such detailed information that I don’t need to read the book because I already know everything about it!
Joan,
Well, it was a long shot, but soul sisters can be better than real ones.
We hardly ever travel nowadays, I couldn’t stand all the security stuff involved.
Crazy paperclips! I have some multi-coloured striped ones, is that crazy?
Thank-you for your comment on my book posts because I sometimes think that people probably think that I’m a lazy b. as I tend not to write much. Some people go at it like they’re doing a dissertation and as you say it means that there’s no point in reading the book.
Cute cushion!
Stefanie,
Thanks, I was pleased with it when I finished it, which is quite unusual for me. Things often don’t turn out as well as they do in my head – if you see what I mean!
Lovely work! I love doing needlepoint, but it’s been years.
I just finished a quilt square that combined embroidery and photo transfer. I can’t post a picture to my blog yet – it’s to be incorporated with a bunch of them from other ladies I know by a quilter into a coverlet for a mutual friend who is undergoing chemo right now, so it’s a surprise. As soon as she receives the finished quilt, I’ll post a photo.
Pearl,
What a lovely idea, I’m looking forward to seeing the finished quilt on your blog! I’m going to have a go at a patchwork quilt sometime in the future.