Welcome back!

January–not April–has to be the cruelest month. It seems to me, a form of miserable madness, that in what is the gloomiest month of the year, and the time when we most need cheering up, we decide to cut all of the fun out of life and impose impossibly high expectations on ourselves. However, after the Christmas excesses, perhaps some self-restraint is called for and a few new year resolutions need to be made; mine are as follow:

• Go swimming once a week
• Design and make a new cushion cover each month
• Drink less–but better quality–wine
• Become a morning person (this will be tough: I am to mornings what the Grinch is to Christmas)

The reverse, showing some of
the antique stitching
and a little Dorset button I made
for the fastening.

Well, I haven't been swimming yet, but here is the first cushion cover. It's made using my pineapple block and some exquisite antique linens that were given to me by a very generous German lady, I recently met on a textiles course. We got chatting, and discovered a mutual love of linen and handmade lace, and since her daughter isn't interested in sewing (my heartfelt thanks go out to her for that) the mother decided to give some of her linen stash to me, on the condition that I put it to good use. I now have a drawer full of linen featuring hand-embroidered monograms and intricate pulled thread work–some of which dates back to around 1830. I promised the lady, that the linens wouldn't lie hidden in a drawer, and that I would use them in future projects. It's quite a responsibility, but I relish the thought of carrying history forward and combining pre-existing craftwork with my own. I only hope I can do the originals justice, although I can't imagine my cushion will still be in use a century, or more, from now.

Elizabeth,
x.