Staffordshire Cats & Dogs

Oh my goodness, it seems like an age since I first thought about making some cushions inspired by Victorian Staffordshire pottery figures, but they are finally finished. I was rather tickled by the thought of them all lined up on a sofa with their ceramic cousins sitting on the mantlepiece.

Designing them proved to be much more of a challenge than I had imagined. My first mistake was to paint them full size only to find it was impossible to scan them into the computer. Careful photography, many hours on Photoshop, two fabric test prints and I was finally happy with the designs.

The embroidery turned out to be relatively easy ….
The problem was that although the critters and thread were highly portable and easy to work on, I did not always remember to carry my notebook to record the quantity of thread being used – essential for the kits! It also proved tricky to find enough time to fit the embroidery around all my other jobs. Thank goodness for my fabulous neighbour and good friend who stepped in over the summer and embroidered endless French knots on the poodle for me.

Today, I am on the final stretch writing the instructions for these creatures. Unfortunately my old, faithful computer did not appear to be aware of the looming deadline for printing and conked out two days ago. Thankfully I have a back-up drive and second computer BUT I no longer have my stitching software and my most recent uploads to iPhoto were lost – They just happened to be photographs of the steps to make-up the cushions – Arrggghhh!

It has been a rather frantic rush to embroider another fabric panel simply to be able to replace the missing photographs, but I have done it. Fingers crossed there will be no further mishaps – these chaps have an appointment at the Knitting & Stitching Show in less than three weeks time!