Monday 22 June 2015

Wool sunflower cushions

While I'm still beavering away on Maria's quilt (going well today!), I have a couple of cushions to show you from a while back. I loved the sunflower cushion I made on the plain linen, and wanted to try a different kind of sunflower, just with wools and inspired a little by Van Gogh colours.

I collected a few bits and pieces of wool that I thought might work...




And shoved them in the washing machine with a packet of bright yellow machine dye. Some worked better than others, but then that's part of the fun of dyeing fabric!



And it gave me plenty of pieces for petals to create some sunflowers, just raw edge appliqued on to a simple wool cushion (made from an old blanket).

This one was a present for a very special friend.





But then I liked it so much and had plenty of scraps left over, so I had to make another!


I'm finding sunflower cushions much more successful than sunflower plants round here this year, we planted lots of seeds and, sadly, I don't think any of them have come up. We haven't completely given up hope yet though, so fingers crossed for the plant variety as well as the cushions.

Sally.

13 comments:

  1. Oh goodness, these are awesome. Love them Sally.

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  2. The dye gave the wool lovely depth and I really like how you carefully cut and arranged the petals to have the same pattern radiating out from the centers! What a bummer your sunflowers have not come up this year. Our tomato plants took a long time to get started, but they are finally looking like they might produce some fruit in another few weeks.

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  3. Stunning cushions, Sally!!! Love them both. I have some woollen blankets that I was going to donate to charity - rethinking whether I want to, now.

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  4. Love these! So clever to use all those fabrics, you must be able to envisage what they will all look like when made up together. The sunflowers are stunning Sally, what a wonderful gift for your friend X

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  5. Creative genius, at work! The plaids in the first cushion are mesmerizing - I want to look at it, over and over!
    Happily, sunflowers grow very readily here. I only plant seeds every four or five years because so many volunteer each spring. When they start to slow down, I throw in another handful somewhere. The birds rely on them in winter, so I keep them going. I hope yours pop up, too!

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  6. They're beautifully Van Gogh like and I love the changes the yellow made to the tartan - you have such a great eye for seeing potential in fabric!

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  7. These are beautiful, somehow cosy and summery at the same time. Can imagine them being also true compagnions in autumn, when the real sunflowers are gone everywhere.
    Love the warm shades of yellow you created by dying the plaids.

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  8. These pillows are so gorgeous, and as someone said such a brilliant use of those fabrics!! Yellow machine dye sounds a bit scary, but I've never dyed anything. I really love your bright red center on the pillow you made for yourself. Just gorgeous!

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  9. Wow these are so gorgeous! How to clever are you!
    Found you whilst blog-hopping, can't believe how much stuff you make!
    Would be great to see over at mine - emeraldcottage.blogspot.co.uk
    Jillxo

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  10. I can't believe how amazingly you can just whip up a project like that. Just beautiful!

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