More Cushions

I'm starting to think that cushions are my thing when it comes to sewing. Maybe because they are easy, the fiddliest part is the zip and it is put in right at the start so if you mess up it is easy to fix. Little dresses and such tend to need buttons and generally sewing the buttonholes is right near the end - if I messed that up the whole thing would be thrown in a drawer until I muster up the courage to try again!

So I will stick with cushions when I want a quick sewing project (or need room for more fabric). Plus since all my pets like sitting on cushions new ones are always a good thing at our house. The old ones get a second life as new indoor pet beds, then the old pet ones go outside for Trixie's kennel. 

Totally random story, but I have to share it; when Trixie was a puppy she used to drag her old bed around the yard until she found the perfect spot to have a nap - cushy beds are far more preferable to grass.

Now I have four new cushions for our couch, sized a little bigger than normal. Have you ever noticed that cushion inserts are quite expensive? Especially when you can generally buy two cheap pillows for $5. Granted, being cheap pillows means they don't have a lot of stuffing.

What I do is make a square cushion cover using the measurement for the shorter side of the pillow. Then just shake that pillow till the stuffing settles into a squared off shape and squish it into the cushion cover. Easy, and best of all cheaper than cushion inserts!

Woodburned Knife Block

Every time I go to Ikea, there are so many things I want to buy and by the time I get to the register I'm dreading the total. So I mentally take note of all the things I want so I can think about it for awhile before buying.

One of those items was their RETRÄTT Knife Block - an item I don't actually need since I already have a knife set with a block. Plus I wanted to burn a design on it and I wasn't sure if I could due to the lacquer.

Eventually I bought it of course, then it sat on my desk for ages because every design I tried to draw on it just wasn't right. Until I decided to get out my flower stencils and draw a few of those on. Then googled flower drawings and sketched a few of those in the gaps. So I started burning, drawing in more flowers, stems and leaves, then burning some more until I was happy.

Because of the lacquer, my pencil drawings rubbed off very quickly so I had no choice but to draw and burn flower by flower. Ordinarily I like my projects to be perfectly planned, but luckily this one turned out great and most importantly I enjoyed doing it.