A short break from commissions, and I took on the broken saddle pad that had been moping in the corner of the cupboard. My daughter brought it some time ago in case I could do something with it. The pad itself was still quite all right; only the binding was fraying and in places the fabric had worn a little thin. I unpicked the old binding from the pad and the maker's logo fell out into the rubbish by itself.
I had a mischievous idea of making something more cheerful out of a grey pad, to cover the few worn spots.
I quilted the flowers onto the pad with my patchwork machine, and just before the last flower was quilted on, the machine gave up. The densely felted padding was simply too much for it. I cleaned it and oiled it and changed the needles and threads, but the machine stood its ground. It will not sew material that thick any more, and that is that. It simply would not link the stitches.
So in the end I quilted the last flower on by hand. The binding is a double layer of thinner canvas, and I sewed it on with the leather machine and special strong thread.
I hope the girl likes it, and of course the horse too.
