Its Handmade Monday time again.

These days it seems that the only times I blog is when handmade Monday comes around again. 
Another busy weekend.  We were invited to a family wedding and our family is no different to anyone elses family in that there are several factions who are often pulling in opposite directions which can make family get togethers a trifle nerve wracking.  I did, sort of, try to wriggle out of it.  I sent the Wedding cushion I showed a couple of weeks ago in case I found a cast iron reason for not attending that would not cause offence. 
I know you all get where I'm coming from.
I couldn't blame the dog.
Hubby was quite well considering.
The roof didn't fall in.
We went.  Had a wonderful time.  Everyone behaved impeccably.  Loads of reasonably well behaved children, no one drank too much. food was great, and to top it all guess what was in the very centre of the gift table.  Yep.  My cushion.  So I think you can count that as this weeks success.

Pic of me walking out of the door ready for the 'off'

It seems to be the season for weddings so I had another cushion to make.  This one is going down south to a friend of No.1 son and partner.  She is a lovely girl who I first met about 20 years ago.  I used the same fabrics as before so 2 for the price of 1.  I have taken some pics of the detail this time to stop the boredom factor. lol.
The little flowers are 3cm across and crochetted in very fine cotton.  Most of the embroidery is done in single thread of embroidery silk, the writing is two rows in dif. colours to creat a slight 3D effect but I can't get that to show with my cheepo camera.

Right.  Here goes.

Thats me done for the day.  Do pop over to Handmade Harbour to view everyone elses work, you will enjoy your visit, I guarantee it.

Little gift for a big nephew.

One of my nephews is getting married.  He and his partner have both been married before and have children from their respective marriages.   They also have their own home as have been together for some time now.  All this makes it difficult to give a suitable gift, they already have everything they want or need, so I decided to do a memory cushion. Having made the centre panel I am looking for white curtain type fabric for the rest of the cushion.  Last time I got just what I wanted from Dunhelm's shop but they appear to have cut back on their fabrics and naturalaly mine is one of those that has disappeared from the shelves.
I only need half a metre.   I could purchase on the internet but will incur £5 plus for postage and packaging which is a bit grim on such a small amount.
I know just what you are thinking, why not buy more to make it worth while.  If I do that with the enormous stash I have in my shed someone else in our household will have a fit of appoplexy. Grrrr.

However, a few quick pics of the panel which is completely hand sewn (except the hearts) got them from my local Aladins cave of a shop.

I do regret not doing the horseshoe in silver now but it is too late.

I am going to offer this post as my contribution to Wendy's Handmade Monday.  Do pop along and have a look at all the other beautiful offerings.

Aunties rescued piece of craftwork.

AA (Ancient Aunt) decided she wanted something to do so sent for a small rug pegging kit, cushion size, and then discovered that at 86 she didn't have the strength in her wrists to pull the hook through the mesh so guess who got the job.
Actually it looks quite effective in real life, never was too good at photography even with my all singing and dancing digi camera but here goes.

She has not seen it yet and she certainly won't see it on here as she thinks these are 'magic boxes' bless her.
I am quite impressed with the 3D effect.  Wish I could tell you the make but it didn't have one on the box, strange that.

Handmade Monday and Kente Weaving.

Last year my lovely DIL Anna spent a little time in Ghana volunteering at Trinity Yard School.  As a token of her visit she brought me two small samples of weaving done by the older children.  This is called Kente Weaving and the fabric created is only worn on ceremonial occasions.  It has taken me a little time to decide what to do with these 8" x 4" panels but I finally sat down and incorporated them into cushion covers as a way of showing them off and preserving them.  The colours are amazing.
One is finished and the other is work in progress.

You must visit all the other blogs in this link and enjoy the offerings by the clever crafters who have joined Handmade Monday.  The link is www.1stuniquegifts.co.uk/blog