I hear you saying, enough already with the cushion covers. The truth is I can't control it. I haven't actually bought a cushion for about 10 years because (a) I rarely like the ones I see in shops and (b) the ones I did like were $150 plus.
But now, I control the fabric, the cost, the timing and the cushion cover itself. And so all that pent up cushion buying is exploding out of me in no uncertain terms.
Zips now hold no fear for me. The zipper footer has been conquered. I can do zips on the edge and zips under a flap. I can do long zips and short zips. Ugly zips and pretty zips.
I can do plain cushions and flowery cushions.
And home made cushions are such great value. Although it has been pointed out to me that if I costed my cushion making activities by reference to my hourly charge out rate as a lawyer, then my cushions would be far from good value. They might in fact actually cost upwards of $600 per cushion including materials and labour. Like me, you should choose to ignore that uncomfortable fact as it takes a little bit of the fun out of the exercise.
On Sunday I thought - what about a collage cushion? This would enable me to use up all those old jeans and overalls and tops which little P keeps growing out of rather than giving them all to the Salvos.
So here is a boat cushion.
The base cover is navy cotton, the boat hull is from a pair of Gant jeans, the left side sail is from a pair of Boden overalls, the mast is some brown linen I found, the flag is a Gap T Shirt and the right hand side (or should that be aft?) is from a linen bag I had lying around.
I cut out a paper template first, and then used that as a base for the pieces. I found it helped immeasurably to iron the pieces with the hem folded in first so that the edges would not play up during sewing.
And then, feeling a metaphorical salty breeze in my hair, I had a lovely lunch for a friend's birthday here:
This is the kiosk at the end of St Kilda Pier, which was originally built between 1900 and 1914 and then completely destroyed by an arsonist in 2004. It was then rebuilt to the original 1904 plans. I don't usually like new things built to look old but this resurrection is respectful and appropriate and I can't think of anything better to go here.
The kiosk was run by a series of long term tenants, including a Mr Francis Parer, who lived in the kiosk for 30 years until 1930 and served 'fish and fruit luncheons without any intoxicating liquors of any sort' and the Kerbys (Colin Kerby retired in 1987 having worked in the kiosk since 1934 from a young age).
It was one of those perfect, windless 25 degree days in Melbourne. Little cotton clouds appeared then moved on south. The beach was crowded but not overly so. Rollerbladers, grungy locals, plump tourists and fishermen mingled on the pier. Little children splashed in the shallows and sunbakers (yes they still exist) slathered on sunscreen and settled down for an afternoon's tanning.
This is the view facing south-east from the pier on Sunday.
(Image of Kiosk and history from skhs.org.au)
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