Cushions

I've been practicing different crochet patterns, in preparations for making a new blanket. I haven't been able to decide which I like best, but I've decided to turn these three samples into cushion covers. They'll either look lovely on the Adirondack chairs on the patio this summer, or they'll make super gifts for Marlene when we visit her in France in June (as a university student, I figure she might like something to decorate her rental with and these are in her favorite colors).

These are two cushions I made when the girls were very small. The pink one is made from a dress that I finally had to cut up and make something from to prevent Cheerleader from finding it and trying to wear it again. It was her very favorite dress, but plainly she had outgrown it! It's hard to see the detail, but I did some fancy applique, some embroidery and some crochet on them. There is so much scope for imagination in fancy cushions, and they always put me in mind of Anne of Green Gables. Remember in Anne of the Island when Anne and Priscilla were living in the boarding house with all the cushions?

"Miss Ada's cushions are really getting on my nerves," said Anne. "She finished two new ones last week, stuffed and embroidered within an inch of their lives. There being absolutely no other cushionless place to put them she stood them up against the wall on the stair landing. They topple over half the time and if we come up or down the stairs in the dark we fall over them. Last Sunday, when Dr. Davis prayed for all those exposed to the perils of the sea, I added in thought 'and for all those who live in houses where cushions are loved not wisely but too well!'"

I have a couple of photos of fancy cushions that I have purchased at various times, but for some reason, I am being prevented from uploading them into this post. I shall have to include them in my post (and rant) about El Guapo's Birthday Cheesecake.