Flower Power

I finished drying the lavender which I took from my Mum’s overgrown patio.  It made a large bowlful of just the flowerets.

Then I made this flower shaped pillow from some remnants, and stuffed it with kapok.  I made some of the lavender up into small bags and buried them deep in the stuffing.

Then I sewed the flower up.  It is made up of six separate small cushions, five petals in pink and a centre in yellow, and the idea is that once each section has been machined closed, you run a second, sturdy thread along the bottom of all of them, pulling it tight as you go.  This puckers up the petals, both making them look more flower like, and closing them around the centre.  I couldn’t think of what to use for the thread because ordinary sewing thread would not be strong enough (particularly as I just finished the last of my decent gutenberg thread and was reduced to the shite stuff which came as a freebee with my sewing machine).  Then I had an idea and used a piece of thin fishing line which came as part of a jewellery making kit I bought years ago.  This is the finished article.

Actually, it is not quite finished because time permitting I am going to add a little honey bee to it.  Then it is being entered in the flower show (the craft section, not the flower part!) and after it has won its first prize I am going to give it to my Mum as it came from her garden.  I am joking about the first prize btw – last year nearly all the first prizes were won by the same person who I think must have super powers as she had made dozens of different things and they were all brilliant.