Stitching Sundays 8

 I can't believe I have been joining in with Stitching Sundays for 8 weeks - where has the time gone?  So, on to my next project. 

This image was one I saw in a magazine showing someone's sitting room and my eye was immediately drawn to this appliqued cushion.  Ah, I thought, I could do this using little bits of felt!  So, off I went, made a background piece of felt, cut out leaf shapes, messed about with placement of said leaves and finally pinned them in place, fully intending to get them sewn.

 Here it is, pieces pinned, ready to sew.  There it sat...waiting...being ignored...moved round the room...for about a year...until Stitching Sundays happened and I finally decided to get on with it!  I was then faced with the decision of how would I sew the leaves on?  Would I add any stitching to the background?  If so, what? I scanned the felt into my computer and printed out four little versions, so that I could draw on top of them.  This was something I did a lot of when I did my art course, and I found it really useful.

 Above are the first two designs drawn on.  The top one shows different decorative patterns on the leaves.  The second shows a stitched background line, joining the leaves together.

 The third one shows a spiral effect on the background and the final one shows more lines on the background, giving a 'bunch of flowers' look.  After some deliberation, because I do like the spiral background, I (with Chris' help) decided on the second version - the lines sewn on the background, joining the leaves together.  I am going to make something using the spirals though, but that's for a future project.  It was really helpful to see the designs, without having stitched anything that would need to be undone.

So, having decided on the design, I am stitching the leaves on, using a sort of stab stitch. I have just completed the yellow and brown leaves on the top row.  I think I am going to enjoy this project, even if I don't know exactly what I'm going to do with the finished piece...centre piece of a cushion cover, or a bag, or just framed as it is...