Autumn Leaves Applique – Bustle & Sew

The year has turned again and now it’s autumn. I love autumn, it’s time to be enchanted by Mother Nature’s new palette of colours and textures – fruits, berries and of course the autumn leaves….

Inspired by the autumn scenery all around me when I took the newfies out last week I decided to make a new cushion for the small bench by our front door. This has in the past been the place where everyone dumps their stuff upon entering the house – but no longer!!

I chose a selection of my vintage Welsh blanket scraps in faded autumnal hues, some gorgeously-coloured embroidery floss and a quote from one of my favourite poems .. The Land by Vita Sackville-West. Parts of it I find a bit heavy, but here and there are phrases that just sing out to me and this is one of them:

“Gentleman robin brown as snuff
With spindle legs and bright round eye
Shall be your autumn company.”

As usual I’ve used vintage linen mangle cloth as the base for my embroidery – it’s so strong, and a wonderful natural colour with some imperfections that simply add character to the finished work. The cushion was to be a simple pad so I took the measurements of my bench and cut just a little bigger for seam allowances.

….. scattered some sycamore and oak leaves in appliqued Welsh blanket – then added a little embroidery – more leaves outlined in stem stitch and some rose hips add a touch of brightness. Finally the quote – and can you see the robin’s footprints? I did think about embroidering the robin himself, but getting the scale and perspective right was just tooooo difficult!

The first person to sling their bag on here will be verrrry sorry!! If you’d like the templates and instructions for making this cushion then please do sign up to my newsletter as I’ll be forwarding these plus some other goodies to subscribers in the next few days.

Happy sewing everyone!!

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