Cushions are my latest obsession. I do go through phases. They are nice and easy to sew, and I can construct a couple while Kazuo is sitting at the table watching me sew if they are cut out the night before. Before Christmas, the only handmade Christmas presents I managed to construct were the two cream felt cushions I made for my mother-in-law. I based the covers on a design I had admired at the 2008 Rock n Roll Craft Show at Third Degree Glass Factory. I took them with me to London and got some inners from IKEA that fit beautifully and did NOT break the bank. They looked substantial.
Acquiring similarly priced inners in St Louis is nigh-on impossible. The cheapest I have found are twice the price of the IKEA inners, and much less robust. So, with tarting up our plain old living room sofas in mind, I made a foray to my fav local Goodwill and got me a bundle of cheap old cushions that I can recover. Not something I would do for a gift, but perfect for us as they are made of much better stuff.
Round one I managed to construct this week. I was fortunate to receive some of the lovely paua-style fabric from Cushla’s that I had coveted in my Christmas Wish List (thanks Mum!) and so I used a little to make panels in the centre of some black cotton. The cushions all have 12″ zips in the back so that they can come off and be washed.
One thing I want to know…how do crafty Mamas manage to sew with toddlers around? I know my mother used to set up the sewing machine inside the playpen and have me outside pottering about, but I don’t think that Kaz would have a bar of that, and besides, we don’t have a playpen. This week, I succumbed to food-bribery (to which I usually have a deep aversion), since I could not stop the pop from trying to use the foot control – kinda unnerving when the machine races away while your fingers are fiddling about by the presser foot! So I trussed him up in his clip-on high chair, and gave him a couple of these tasty crackers, and one of the tiny gingerbread men we got in the UK. Not a big treat, and nothing too filling, but diverting enough for me to sew up two cushion covers and keep Kazuo in a friendly state of mind. We even played hide and seek behind the sewing machine. But if anyone has any other bright ideas, then I am all ears. I can’t sew when he is asleep, it is too noisy in our wee apartment. And he is past being diverted by toys in the high chair, just throws them instantly to the ground.
Well, the cushions made it through production. Here they are cheering up our rather muted living room:
50 things for 50 
I love the pillows! The blue ones look like abalone shells!!
Really enjoying your blog, Fiona, and thinking about solutions to the sewing machine issue. Thought about putting the foot control in a cardboard box with a hole for your foot. Was just sewing some premature baby clothes yesterday (out of the most gorgeous merino) and thought of you, and was marveling at the speed at which my children have become big and don’t play with the sewing machine foot! But that doesn’t help you much at the moment!
Tarah – they are abalone shells…or paua as they are known in NZ, think we have mused on their kitsch-turned-chicness before, this borders on the former I think, but is suitably perky in our otherwise dull-toned lounge.
Ros – thanks for the suggestion, I have a box full of power cords under the PC desk, but K still goes for it…guess this too will pass. Looking fwd to pics of your teeny creations, sound delightful!