Patchwork Throw

Well hello again!

I am so, so, sorry, I have been absent for a couple of months now and I have really missed 'talking' to you all.  I will try to rectify this from now on!

We went on a 3 week touring holiday of Scotland in April and this was the beginning of why I have been away for so long.  I took a little bit of simple embroidery to keep me occupied and this is another part of why I've been missing.  Well it's finished now so I thought I would share it with you (actually it's been finished for a while but I just haven't got around to writing the post - but let's not dwell on that, I'm here now!!!)

We changed our sofa covers recently and whilst they were starting to look shabby there was still a lot of good fabric in them so I decided I would have a go at my very first bit of patchwork.  I wanted a throw to cover the new covers to keep them clean for at least a little while.  I think you all know how it is!! TV dinners, wine, crafts etc. they all take their toll :(

So I cut up 25, 12" x 12" squares to make a 5 x 5 square throw (it's just under 60" wide now it's finished) and embroidered a simple outline embroidery on each square.  Here is the finished article.

I chose to make a rag throw so allowed the seams to show on the right side.

Here are the top six squares.  Top left is a design taken from a pot a friend has, and the bottom left and right designs are taken from the wallpaper in the bedroom we stayed in at our friends' house at the start of our Scotland tour.  

Can anyone guess who the two famous people are in the top centre outline?

We visited the place one of them came from on our way south, just after leaving Scotland and my husband had his photo taken by his statue!  Any ideas?

Squares on top right of throw.

I like the poem 'Owl and the Pussycat' so hence the centre top design and of course I had to have a wine bottle in there somewhere!!!

The central square of the throw is a number 50 with 2013 embroidered below as both my husband and I have celebrated our 50th birthdays this year, and are having a great time doing so I may add!!  Bottom left is A Rennie Mackintosh design as I have a soft spot for his work and top right some fuchsias as they are one of my favourite flowers!

Centre bottom square is a thistle depicting Scotland as that's where I was at the time!

The bottom left square is taken from a photo of the viaduct used in the Harry Potter film that we visited when in Scotland.  My husband turned it into a line drawing for me (he's clever like that!)

Bottom left square is my own interpretation of a 'wee highland coo' copied from a little crosstitch coaster kit I bought on my hols.  I'm not very good at drawing and couldn't quite get the back legs right so I used a bit of 'artistic' licence and covered them up with grass instead!!  It doesn't do it justice on this photo but looks a lot better in real life :)

I really enjoyed stitching these outline embroideries.  I used Planet Penny Cotton as there are lots of fantastic colours to chose from.   Some of the designs were taken from this book and others were free off the internet.

Ooh, almost forgot!  This is the pretty fabric I used for the reverse!

and here it is in situ,'thrown' on the sofa!

Thank you for reading folks and I hope you like it.  Why not have a go yourselves?  It's a great way to recycle fabric, such fun to do and something that will be so very personal to you.

I shall endeavour to make sure my next post is not so long in coming next time!

See you soon
x

I have finally got around to linking up to Handmade Monday over at Handmade Harbour for the first time in months.  Hello everyone :)