52 Crafts in 52 Weeks ~ Week Forty {and why I love being at home...}

It is so exciting to share the fortieth craft in my fifty-two week craft challenge!  This challenge was of course meant to be completed by the end of 2013, but as we had a rather busy year last year, I didn’t quite manage to stay on schedule...

 This year I set myself a few crafty things to do over a longer period of time, such as my cross stitch project and embroidered cushion...  I shared a few photographs of the beginning stages back in May in this post...

I was delighted to see this sweet cushion come together after all the hours of love I poured into it.  My dear mother saw an idea for a cushion very similar to this one in an old magazine of hers.  I then took the idea and added my own personal touches and used my own design for the embroidery...

I just love how it turned out and I am so inspired to make another one or two or even three...perhaps a few for gifts and maybe even some for sale, we’ll have to see! 

A lot of time and effort went into this cushion.  First of all I had to choose and cut out all the little squares and sew them all together on the machine...then came the lovely part of drawing the design lightly and carefully onto the piece of patchwork... 

Such cosy hours spent by the fireside watching Sense and Sensibility and Larkrise to Candleford while I stitched to my heart’s content...  After the embroidery part was completed, I made two little flowers out of felt and sewed them to the cushion, as well as two crocheted flowers which I bought from our local haberdashery (I haven’t learnt to crochet yet).

Lastly I stitched on two butterfly buttons and a flower button and created a little ‘flight trail’ for the butterflies with embroidery cotton.  And let me not forget dear Ladybird who was secured to the cushion cover with fabric glue.

After this was all done, I made a cushion inner to fit and a backing piece out of light pink polycotton which I sewed to the front embroidered piece......

How special it felt to stand back and admire the finished project and reflect on all the happiness that went into creating it... 

If I do decide to make another cushion (and I am certain I will for I enjoyed this one so much), I will most definitely share a few photographs of it with you! 

I am simply longing to go through all the gorgeous fabric on the shelf and decide which colours and patterns to work with this time...

 I love creating and this is one of the reasons I treasure being at home so much...  I have the opportunity to pursue my interests and delight in the pleasures of sewing and crafting in the comfort of my dear home!  And I have my mother (who is a constant inspiration to me and comes up with such wonderful ideas) to discuss things with, as well as my sisters and dad who are all praise and admiration – I could very easily become conceited I think :)    

And one of the ways I find great joy is in creating...I prefer my hands to be busy rather than idle – I find I am so much more contented if I have a project in my workbasket to pick up and put down throughout the day.

How about you...in which ways do you find joy?

~ I hope all my dear readers are having a beautiful and blessed day today! ~

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