It's been some time since I've visited this WIP, but this week I had good cause to get it out of the "WIP drawer" I have in our lounge. Yes - we have a drawer. Only the neatly-organised projects-in-progress make it into that drawer though, the rest are assembled in progress on the table, on the floor or generally arranged around my spot on the couch. I know. It's a crafty chaos. 

It was with good reason and much prompting that the Moroccan Cross Stitch Cushion made it's way out. This arrived this week. If you can't tell from my cryptic picture above, it's a giant bag of stuffing. The lovely Julie gifted it to me, and I lugged it home through the streets of East London. 

I've pieced the sides together. I sewed together the strips from my Amy Butler jelly roll (saved for a special occasion) and I'm rather pleased with the eclectic pattern mixing. I haven't cut the strips down to size yet - I think I'm going to make the sides around 20cm tall, which should cut down to about 17cm once I've sewn it all up.

The colours seem to go really well, so I'm glad I went with something a bit "louder" with bold patterns. 

Here are all the pieces together: the blue fabric on the right (before the cross stitch) is going to form the base of the cushion. I haven't cut the top and bottom circles out yet - it seems all very final to cut up a finished cross stitch design. Ah well, I've got a few days to come to terms with it: I'm determined to see some of these WIPs getting whipped before the new year is ushered in!

I really enjoy having different projects to choose from in my WIP drawer. Some days I can't bear the thought of focussing on tiny little crossed stitches and a bit of "big sewing" is exactly what I need. Other days, I don't even feel like that - so I do a bit of appliqué or a few rows of knitting while catching up on CSI. I initially started this "Wednesday WIP" series of posts to get these projects finished because I felt really bad about having so many, but in the process, I've changed my mind about it all. They'll all eventually get finished, and I'll start new ones to replace those. Works In Progress are a good thing; a creative process - they're to be enjoyed for the process of each one and the inspiration captured within the different projects, not hurried through like a to-do list!

At least, that's what I'll keep telling you if you ever visit me and see an overflowing drawer of "unfinished objects". Ho hum.