Wednesday 12 March 2014

Are you sitting comfortably?

I've spent a lovely evening with my sewing machine making a cushion. I saw the design a while back at crazy mom quilts and when I was browsing in a fabric shop last week I saw a mini charm pack 'Surrounded with Love' by Moda that was just crying out to be used in this pattern! 



I added a further strip on the back after a comment by a fellow quilter about having left over squares when using these packs to make cushions. 



I was totally de-stressed by the end of the evening until I noticed a few little marks on the cushion, I flicked them off only to discover it was pollen from these gorgeous flowers


Having now researched how to remove pollen stains,  I notice that a lot of people suggest cutting the stamens off but I think they add to the beauty of the flowers.

I found out that if you gently hover over the pollen with a piece of sellotape it 'jumps' from the fabric to the tape - just don't try and brush it off with your hand otherwise you end up with a yellow mark.


After a bit of experimenting on spare fabric, wadding underneath and some more pollen, I discovered that turps and sunlight cleared the mark, at least it did on my test piece. There seems to be a slight purple/bluish mark on my cushion this evening so I am going to put it in the sunlight tomorrow and hope this removes the blue tinge! 

I am linking up to Work in Progress Wednesday

and Lorna at Lets Bee Social

9 comments:

Anna said...

Lovely pillow. Good luck with the pollen dust.

Anonymous said...

Oh, good luck with the pollen! I love lilies, but they're a menace if you're trying to keep things clean!

The pillow is really lovely though and I hope the sunlight will get the stains out.

Lorna McMahon said...

Your cushion cover is very pretty! Gotta love those ideas that Amanda Jean shares on her blog. Glad to hear the process helped you to unwind! Sewing therapy.... Ahhh!

Fran said...

What a pretty project! Charm packs and cushion covers are my go-to stress reliever too, such therapeutic sewing :-)

Claire said...

Gorgeous cushion cover Sam - hope you can remove the mark. I love those flowers, but always cut off the stamens because when they fall they can mark everything and anything. Hugs, Claire x

Willow River Piecemakers said...

Amanda Jean spoke at our Guild a couple of years ago - love her stuff and her book! Cute cushion! Such pretty flowers - hope your stain fades!

Kels said...

I love the cushion! I've been looking for pillow designs, and I might just have to make my own of these!

Judy@Quilt Paradigm said...

Love the pillow! Really hope the sun will work its magic and the smudge disappears!

Jo said...

Wow Sam…you obviously have mainly strings to your bow…thanks for your lovely comment x