Small Cushions

Small cushions are one of my favourites.  I find them so versatile - especially when grouped together.

This lot live beneath my living room window, on top of storage boxes, which contain all sorts of craft paraphernalia.  (My craft room is bulging at the seams, so quite a lot of my materials are secreted away, all over the house.)

Some of this collection are simple patchwork, some appliqué.  My two 'local' grandchildren each chose one of them to be their special bed-time cushion.

The 'box type' cushions, on which they sit, were made from silk, embroidered brocade.

The central one is rather different from the others.  I used a crazy patchwork technique and embellished it with gold metallic zig-zag..

Central, crazy-patchwork effect, cushion

(All of the above were made by hand - before I decided to get to grips with machining.)

Several, similar, small cushions sit on the edge of my stairs.  Whether hand- or machine-sewn, I really don't think I'll ever tire of making them.

Wall hangings

If you're stuck for ideas/money to fill a wall space, wall hangings are a great idea.

I made this one from scraps of fabric, bonded them to a cotton backing, hand embroidered where the pieces met, then trimmed to make a square.  Each of these was bound, again by hand.  Then I simply stuck them firmly to thick scrap cardboard.

They're joined together with beads.  At the top, I added a curtain ring; at the bottom I attached larger beads and a tassel.  Voila!

You could, of course, with imagination, customise and vary the shape/size etc. of yours, and embellish to taste. With wall hangings, there's so much scope and little demand on your bank account.