Canvas work cushion

This is a canvas work cushion that I made a while ago. I learnt how to do this in a class at Nancy's Embroidery in Wellington, New Zealand.

Canvas work cushion

This cushion used a wide range of embroidery stitches. What makes it different is the padding used to raise up the large shapes, which are then covered with satin stitch.

There are layers of felt underneath the blue satin stitched oval.

More layers of felt under the green circle.

There were about six people in the class, and once we had completed the satin stitch on main featured circles or ovals, we used a range of stitches around the edges of them to highlight them. There was no pattern for this design, we were just taught the techniques and stitches, and everyone's cushions ended up differently.

Once we'd completely finished the featured circles and ovals, we filled in large blank areas by adding smaller stitches that didn't need felt padding.

 You'll see that my love affair with blues, greens and pinks has continued on from the Bargello cushions. In fact, I used some of my left over Perle 5s to make this cushion, plus some veriagated threads to add interest.

My mum kindly turned the finished canvas work into a cushion for me. I chose Kaffe Fasset Millefiore in blue for the border because I though it tied in perfectly. Once again, it's too good for general use, so it sits on a chair in the hall.

I'm linking up with Esther's WOWs, and Needle and Thread Thursday.