Bloomin' cushion...

So this week, I have completed the berry toned background. 

And got the giant blooms sewn on.

And made a start with adding the stems...

As I work full time my crafting tends to take place in the evenings in front of the tv.

We've watched two films this week, Epic and Robin Hood...

I've now made a start on the foliage.

 I've tried to add some tones to the leaves, so they are not just a one dimentional colour. 

I did deviate from the cushion for one evening to have a go at the button flowers that I have seen online. I found it really tricky!

For the majority of my work I use a 4-5mm hook, but to fit through the buttonhole I needed to use a 2mm and thin embroidery cotton. This was so fiddly, and on my initial try it as coming out too tight and slipping away from the button. I unravelled and tried again this time adding more stitches on the round but it still didn't work out like the images. All a bit frustrating as it looked such a simple, quick project. I might persevere and try again using my usual size hook and yarn and find some way of getting it through the buttonhole!!

I have seen images by Sarah London of the apache tears stitch which is on my to do list!! So for my mood square this week, I thought I would have a play and see if I could get to grips with the basics of this pattern. It requires you to just work through the back of the loop on standard stitches and through the front loop 3 rows below for the stretched stitch. I like the way the square turned out as its quite 3 dimentional. It's just a shame my to-do list is growing much quicker than I can work!!!