At the same time as I have the feeling (as with every larger commission) that I will never finish this work, I enjoy doing it with all my heart. Now that the patterns of the quilts are finished, and two of the quilts have their wadding and backing quilted on as well, I am busy sewing cushion covers. I could sew two pieces of fabric together, buttons on and that is that. But you cannot do it like that; it is quick but completely pointless.
Naturally the cushions get the same pattern as the quilts. To get the cushion cover to the right size, the pattern has to be extended with x number of frames, in fabric that tones with the pattern.
Matching colours is for me one of the most important and most time consuming processes in patchwork. If I do not have fabric in the right tone, the pattern simply waits while I go through the fabric shops and the stores.
In a word, the pattern for the cushion cover is finished and to size. Now the wadding and lining have to be quilted on and some interesting backing worked out for the underside. Interesting means the one with all kinds of details. I do so like to fiddle in all sorts of small surprises.
The butterflies on Kirke's quilt are the girl's own wish. I decided to add a few rosettes as well, from the red silk blouse I could not bear to use in the quilt's pattern. Elsewhere in the world these little fabric flowers are called yo-yos.
I like little flowers like that very much. Wherever they fit at all, I stick them on. That is also why I bought a circle cutter, to cut the little circles more easily. In the evening in front of the television I sit and fiddle the flowers together.
The backs of the cushion covers come out patch upon patch, strip upon strip. But with a proper flat felled seam, that is finished on both sides. As the fastening I used the button plackets of the shirts, which I had not cut into strips for the pattern straight away. On some shirts I even managed to keep a whole front, and now pockets with their fastenings and a cheerful row of buttons decorate the backs of the cushions.
The patterns of the four quilts and the cushion covers.
