New mini cushion kits
Since completing the Henry VIII mini cushion, I then designed an Elizabeth I mini cushion and I gave her a jewel-encrusted dress which I was in two minds about whether to add seed beads to it or not! I went with not adding the beads and I'm happy with that decision as I think there is enough embellishment with the bright colours alone.
Then I did an experiment! I made a kind of 'rubber stamp' of a little quarter-inch square and used it to create this mosaic style painting using the mini cushion design as my template.
My next mini cushion was to be an explosion of Vintage Flowers and was inspired by a homes magazine I picked up that was full of vintage fabrics. I loved the range of flower patterns and combined a mixture of patterns and shapes into the one cushion, bringing them all together with a pastel palette.
My latest mini cushion was inspired by stained glass windows and after enjoying designing the characters of William and Kate in a previous mini cushion, I wanted the challenge of creating some religious scenes in the small 'petal' shapes of the design which would give me the opportunity of designing faces again. This Stained Glass mini cushion kit is full of vibrant colours and I loved stitching it so much that I'm now designing another mini cushion in the same style but this time showing scenes of the nativity so that it will be my new Christmas design (as I like to create a new festive one each Christmas).
As I was really pleased with how my Elizabeth I painting turned out I thought applying the same technique using this stained glass design might be fun too, so I did, and here's the result:
Magazine Feature
I received a copy of Cross Stitch Collection (issue 228 Nov2013) magazine in the post and to my delight I found my Love Never Dies mini cushion was featured, linking it to the Day of the Dead festivities that seem to be growing in popularity. Always nice to see my designs in print.
UK Handmade
In September I did an interview for the UK Handmade organisation, who were interested to know my background and what led me to take up a full-time creative career, and the article was published on their website. If you want to find out a little bit more about what makes me tick, here's the link to the article: http://ukhandmade.co.uk/content/road-less-travelled-sheena-rogers
EXCITING NEWS!!
I have designed well over 100 mini cushions since I started cross stitching and for every design I have stitched the mini cushion to make sure the colours and design appear exactly how I want them to which means I have amassed a wonderful collection of these little cushions. A couple of weeks ago I had a meeting with a lovely lady from The Beaney House of Art and Knowledge, which is a large museum and gallery in the heart of the city of Canterbury and holds many exhibitions of art and other creative items as well as having static displays of Ancient Egypt, Bronze Age and Stone Age artifacts, with porcelain, pottery and mounted animals/butterflies also being displayed, and to my delight, the museum would like to hold a display of my mini cushions.
I had a tour of the museum and was shown the glass display cabinets in The Drawing Room in which I would be arranging my mini cushions. The display will be on show during December and January for approx. 5 weeks. I will also be holding a 'meet the designer' session on one of the days so it would be lovely to meet customers and friends who would like to discuss my work or to just say hello to.
So the next few weeks will be spent working out how I will arrange my mini cushions, as I'd like to group them into sections such as 'Around the World' and 'Royalty' being just two examples. And I shall be creating several more mini cushions to add to the collection too.
Well, this was a longer blog post than my usual ones but there seemed to be a lot more news to share this time, which I hope you enjoyed reading.
Congrats on your good news! I love the Vintage Flowers design.
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