Messing about on the Dark Side

I've been doing battle with Darth Sewing Machine again. Despite the damn thing taking me out at the thumb, I won.

Before Christmas, I missed two of my sewing classes - one through rowing with MFI and one because I was ill - and I had a couple of pieces of work to do. I think classes start up again tomorrow and, in my usual fine tradition of being organised and not leaving everything until the last minute, I decided to make a start on one of these projects today... after lunch in fact.



Above... some strips of material laid out next to some cord. A big clue to what I was making is at the top of the picture, no, not the bin. Below, you can see the material being wrapped around the cord and sewn up - though there were several arguments with Darth SM to get a tight enough seam along the cord.



The piping was then attached to a larfe piece of material. (This is "Ruby Hamptom Check" by the way and is a lovely mix of colour and texture - chenille squares intersperse the silky-feeling stuff. Oh, yes, I understand my materials, not).



Next stage... putting in a zip and attaching the other piece of material. She says this like it was easy. The big guns were brought in at this stage after relations between yours truly and Darth SM broke down. Damn thing maliciously attacked my thumb (though perhaps I shouldn't have had my thumb right under the foot) so I retaliated by snapping the needle (though this could be argued as being a bigger pain in the backside to me than the machine).

Those big guns? The BF arrived with a cup of tea and cake.



Can you guess what it is yet?



Above - inside-out.

Below - the right way around and stuffed.



Check out my piping - I'm well chuffed with it (having previously sworn that piping was a Dark Art and to be avoided at all costs).



I'll be taking the cushion to class tomorrow - largely to prove I've done some work. There was also a table runner to do before Christmas, but that didn't happen as I was finishing my Christmas knitting. I might do this next weekend as it'll make sure I actually get it done for next Chrimbo. That's the red cotton sheeting and cream starry voile on the left of the picture (below).



On the right is some brown material patterned with pale pink and dark pink circles that my friend Sian gave me. I think there's enough for a small cushion there.

In knitting news, I bought "Son of Stich and Bitch" last week. I'm hiding it from the BF as I can see him getting a few presents out of there. I'm really fickle with knitting books - the first time I looked through the book, I wasn't overly impressed but now I love it. I've also finished a baby hat and some child's socks from the remnants of the "Opal -Rainforest - Zebra"... but the camera is now having a hissy fit so no piccies.