Prettification

Predictive text had a bit of a problem with that title!

A while back I wrote about titivating the gazebo which involved scraping and repainting/varnishing. I also decided that I'd do a bit of stencilling and make cushions from the yarn which was leftover from the crochet chain.

All done, at last.

Here's the second cushion, which is mine (the first one is here):

It's just a large granny square threaded with leftover crochet chain

By the time I'd reached the back I'd run out of every colour, except for a tiny bit of blue,  and so had to buy some more pink and pale yellow yarn. For the back I made a central panel in a mosaic stitch and then edged it with trebles and double crochet. I joined the front and back together with the same green yarn, held double, that I'd used for Mike's cushion.

Close-up of the mosaic stitch

I thought the centre looked a bit boring and so I did a circle of surface crochet to cover the ends of the chains

That's better

With the cushions out of the way I can reveal the stencilling:

Stippling the extra large stencil I used in the music room

Peeling off the stencil to reveal the design is always an exciting moment

Close-up

Of course, each cushion had to be photographed with its stencil! It was a dull day so the colours aren't showing very well in these photos.

Mike's cushion

Mine

Both, together with a cloth!

But that wasn't the end of it.

I'd already decided I didn't want to use the stencil on all three sides so just did the 2 outside panels. Mike and I were discussing what I could do on the inside panel and then he had a lightbulb moment - my mosaic mirror.

It was the first thing I ever produced in mosaic and it's not my best effort so I was rather unsure until he held it up for me. I'd used a stylised tulip motif along with my usual hearts so it fits in nicely with the garden. 

I like the way you see the garden reflected in the mirror

Side view

I took this before I cleaned the stencil as I thought it looked lovely against the black floor tiles in the Utility room

Next morning when I was filling the bird-seed feeders I glanced over at the gazebo. The sun was streaming across and it looked so lovely. I think the stencil has really enlivened it.

My mind's still mulling over what else, if anything, I need to add as I don't want it to look cluttered or fussy. I wondered about making some flowery bunting but Mike really didn't like that idea (men aren't as excited by that sort of thing are they!).

I also wanted to add a dangly candle chandelier from the central point inside as I've got lots of crystal beads that I could use, but it could get in the way as Mike's much taller than me. We tried hanging a few of the many different lanterns we use outside but they just didn't look right. You could argue that perhaps some small tea lights would look pretty along the open sections but they would get blown away and it would be boring to have to cart them out each time we wanted to sit in there in the evening. 

Hmmmm, this needs more thought. I'm sure the solution will present itself eventually.