TGIFF

I have finished my Oakshott cushion, and it's Friday, so I'm linking up to TGIFF hosted today by Kristy at Quiet Play.   If you're visiting from there, hello, and thank you very much for looking in!

This cushion cover is my first attempt at piecing curves and I love the way it turned out.  

It's a present for my lovely mum (and dad!), to go in their newly decorated sitting room.  They live near the sea and the cushion was inspired by that, and also by the curves of the hills in mum's favourite picture of the downs where she lived when she was young.  It is backed in a piece of Lotta Jansdotter Little Florine, and I managed to work out how to put in a concealed zip not too shabbily.

I can't wait to try curved piecing again - it was fun to do and not nearly as difficult as you might think. I'm quite (pathetically) proud of these flat seams. 

It's been very stormy and wet, and I dashed out between rain showers to take some pictures.  It doesn't look too happy in this one but you can see the colours well!  Aren't these Oakshott cottons beautiful?   I just want my fairy godmother to know that I'm not at all interested in going to the ball - I'd be quite happy to stay at home and play with a bundle of Ruby Reds. [Updated to say: it turns out she was listening!]

Things I learned about curved piecing:

• To make matching edges, lay two pieces of fabric down both right side up with their edges overlapping, and cut through both with your rotary cutter.
• I didn't pin (I can never be bothered, which probably explains a lot), but held the two pieces loosely, right side together, one in each hand, lining up the edges only at the point just ahead of the foot.  
•  If you use each hand to guide the edges gently towards each other as you bring them in line with the side of the foot, they come together surprisingly easily.  
• Go steadily and relax.
• The most important thing is not to tug because it stretches the fabric and causes puckers. 

Don't forget to look at the lovely things on show at Quiet Play today.