Industrious industrial action

Yesterday I was on strike.  I take the decision to strike seriously so I was up at the crack of dawn to join fellow colleagues on the picket line and then I went on a march in town to meet up with fellow strikers from across the city.  The afternoon I dedicated to sewing and finished my two half square triangle cushions for my sister.  That's always the surprise about a day of striking - I end up at work earlier than usual to make my point and then dedicate dinnertime and early afternoon to the cause as well.  Come the afternoon I have to treat myself to focussed craft time and I must admit that I did enjoy having a little extra time to indulge in my hobby, especially as it was bright and cheerful yesterday.

I had never made patchwork cushions before so I am always glad to try new things and realise I am not limited to quilts.  These were especially satisfying to make because they were so quickly put together and from scraps, at that.  I really love how the white makes these fabrics look greater than they are.  As fat quarters I am not keen on these fabrics; they are not something I would choose but the white somehow makes me love them, which is a revelation.

Many of the projects I pin on pinterest have large amounts of white fabric, which makes me wonder whether I would like some of these projects without this component.  Perhaps some of my dubious fabric purchases would be put to good use next to white.  It's something I will have to try.  I think that using white could be a really good way of stretching out favourite fabrics which I can no longer get hold of.  If I have limited amounts of a beloved fabric using white would enable me to stretch the fabric out to make a quilt.  I quilted the cushions simply with tramlines and used YLI Machine Quilting thread in "sea mist".  The variegated thread works well both against the coloured fabrics and the white.

I definitely want to make more patchwork cushions but I want to learn how to make piping next time to give the cushions more structure and to frame them nicely.  I feel future projects coming on already.