Holiday Memories Cushion...

Whenever my daughter and I holiday in South Australia, we spend some time visiting the Fleurieu Peninsula. Whatever the time of year, we love walking along the beautiful beaches. South Australia isn't just wineries, although we do like to visit those, too. 

On one of those trips, six or seven years ago, we came across the remains of an old wharf. There was something intriguing about those old pieces of wood that remained in the ocean. How long had they been there? What cargo did the ships that docked there carry?

Behind us, as we sat on the rocks watching the waves, were man made caves in the base of the weathered cliffs. Somehow, I think they were once connected with the wharf.

This photo is the one I have chosen to use as the basis for my entry in the Holiday Memories Mini Quilt Competition.

I played around in Photoshop Elements, to see what effects I could create. My thinking was that if I simplified the photo, it would be easier to transfer the main elements to fabric.

Having printed the photos with the coloured pencil and the charcoal filters, I set about making my cushion. Although I had an overall idea as to where I was headed, I changed my mind along the way, so I didn't take photos of the process.

I was determined to only use materials from my stash and succeeded in doing this, even including the 14" x 14" cushion insert. 

• Cut four pieces of fabric 5" x 16" for the background.
• Sew them together at different angles.
• Trim the seams and press open.
• Trim to a square 16" x 16"

I roughly cut out the pieces for the wharf appliqué and fused them to the background. Instead of appliquéing them with a zig zag stitch as I normally do, I sewed once around each piece with a straight stitch and then stitched two, deliberately uneven rows of stitches.

Sewing uneven rows totally went against my traditional sewing background, but it was the effect I was after. You can see it's deliberate, can't you? I don't know what this technique is called, but I've seen it around a lot.

To represent the pebbles, I tried various methods of stitching, but couldn't achieve the look I was after. Out came the fabric markers and I scribbled the pebbles. It's not exactly what I wanted, but worked much better than the stitching.

The foam for the waves was much easier to to, with fabric paint and a paint brush. The faint clouds are done the same way. If I'd had brown fabric paint, I would have used it for the pebbles, too.

I've used bamboo batting, sandwiched between the front and another piece of fabric. Doing my first line of quilting, I could see I'd forgotten everything I'd learnt while making my first and only quilt. I hadn't increased the stitch length. It came back to me and I did lines of stitching on either side of the seams, missing the appliquéd pieces.

To finish off the cushion...

• Bind the cushion front.
• Sew up the cushion with a simple envelope enclosure.

I'm rather chuffed with how my cushion has turned out. It was a very quick, easy make and I really had FUN doing it. My holiday memories cushion is now proudly sitting on the lounge in our family room.

My daughter, Tash and I have had a few holidays down in South Australia. Here are a few photos from some of our trips. I know Tash took the photo of the wharf and she's most likely taken some, if not most, of the others, but I know I took at least one of them. In the second last photo, I can see Tash and her Nana, taken on a trip when we took my Mum down to this wonderful, little corner of the world.

Head on over to Celtic Thistle Stitches to see the entries in the Holiday Memories Mini Quilt Competition. There are some really awesome projects.

... Pam