A mystery cushion!

It was a 100% cloud cover day, somewhere on the teddy bear shaped isle of Ireland.....(no, really, it is, it's shaped like a sideways teddy bear!)

"♫...If you go down to the woods, today, you're in for a big surprise.......... a Teddy bears.....♫"

"What's that? A new cushion!! "

"Must..get...to...the..top....Damn it, I wish my knees could bend.....I wish I had knees to bend!"

Some time, A LOT LATER.......

"Flippin' eck! Next time I need to get a crate to stand on, that took forever to climb"

"Ahh, what have we got here then, THIS is definitely new!!! Looks a bit like it was made in the same manner as the rug actually, what was it called?...needlepoint!"

"Let's see if she has improved her stitches. Hmmm?,....er.......I'll just throw it down!! TIMBER!"

"Hello Bear. Is that new?" 

"Oh..It's you...er...yes, I'm just coming down to have a look at it, it was, er.. just lying there......"

"Ooooh, let's see it!! Oh, by the way.....don't tell anybody I can get off this wheely thing, I don't want to end up glued onto it forever, I like the freedom and, well, it is actually a bit cumbersome"

" Yes, sure Donkey, I SAW NOTHING, I KNOW NOTHING!! I hope your hooves are clean! Get a look at these stitches, they're unbelievably neat and tiny, which is strange, as Sarah's stitches are...uh...different."

"Oh yeah, you're right there Bear!"

"Yeah, look at that bit over there, by the wave thing" 

"yes...bit irregular here and there, stitches are a bit messy by that flower beside the border"

"I see that..."

"Yes..you know, do you think..... is it possible Sarah didn't make this new cushion?!"

"Where'd you get that from!" interrupted Becky

"Alright Becky, haven't see you in a long, long while! We just found this cushion, a bit earlier on. I see you're still not finished?" said Bear.

"NO, I am not!! But she needed an extra character. So far she has only managed to get my rear done, and a bit of the beard, leaving my profile looking a lot like Abraham Lincoln, despite the fact that I am a lady, and she said something about my back legs not being right, something about too fat, too stumpy, then she chopped off my ears as she said those were too thick." 

"Oh she did that to me too! She's going to replace them with fabric ones, they will look much better, honestly, look at mine, so much finer than fimo ones, that's how she did Bears' ears too"

"Easy for you both to say, you're finished.......well, except you Donkey, you've still to be glued on to your skateboard thingy"

"NO! NEVER!"

 "I wouldn't worry, she does takes her time getting things done, look at me, how many years has it been??....2? 3?...I'm freezing!!.........so, about this new cushion" said Becky.

"I love the design, it looks like a puzzle! It matches the rug perfectly, don't you think!"

 "indeed" "yes, it does, hmmmmmm yes " "absolutely"

"I really like the swirly border"

"and aren't the colours nice together"

"I think it looks like a flower"

"Yes."

"a Geometric flower"

"No, it looks like a maze, with a border of....maze"

"Looks a bit Moroccan to me, Tunisian perhaps?"

*inaudible*

"What was that, Becky?"

"....those stitches are much neater and tinier than this rug she made!"

"eh........yes, we suspect she didn't make this one!" admitted Donkey.

"hhhmmmmmmmm....well, if she didn't make it, who did?!"

"AARRGHH!! THE HEN!" shouted Donkey, jumping back, but remaining expressionless.

"Oh I am sorry, did I startle you? It's not my fault she forgot to take the photograph of my grand entrance into this story! So this is the new cushion, is it? Very neat stitchwork!! and a beautiful design, looks even better in person!!"

"and how did you know about it?!" asked Becky.

"Well, whilst you have all been in that practically abandoned house in the back bedroom, I have been in the much worked on conservatory in the front room, where she makes all of our possessions. She was busy in there making some seaside themed swap possessions for someone called Geneviève, in return for a needle point cushion for us!"

"Ooooooooo" cooed Donkey, Bear and Becky.

"Well then" said Hen, "this must be that needlepoint cushion from Geneviève, all the way from France. According to her etsy site, it is stitched on 56 count silk gauze so this cushion has approximately 3000 stitches, embroidered with real silk thread from Au Ver à Soie, so that is 56 stitches per inch, across and down, which means it has even smaller stitches than this rug on which we are all congregating, which is of 40 stitches per inch, across and down, so 56 count is 16 more stitches inside an inch than the 40 count rug...Do you follow?" 

".....................What's an etsy site?.."asked Donkey.

"Right, enough, could you please get your dirty feet off my cushion, Hen?!" shouted Bear,

 "and you can all bog off now! I have some very important sitting about doing absolutely nothing to do!"

"Don't be so obnoxious Bear!!  Who said it was your cushion anyway!" called back Hen.

"Well, it was on my chair, so it's obviously now my cushion" replied Bear.

"IT IS NOT YOUR CHAIR EITHER!" screamed Hen.

"IT IS, I was placed onto it, I am the only one here that is ever placed on to it, therefore.. IT MUST BE MY CHAIR AND THIS IS NOW MY CUSHION!" said Bear.

"Uhh...Goodbye then"

"Right, I'm off"

"Cheerio"

"Bye"

".."

WAIT.......not you, the story isn't over! :D

"It was a heck of a lot easier getting this down, it's quite heavy......what is it filled with, little glass beads or something!!"

I'm not sure, but I think so, said the narrator.

"I hope my leg doesn't fall off, it feels a bit loose on my right! I am never acting for you again!"

I have some glue for that, if you need it, said the narrator.

"And we'll just set you down...here....there!... PERFECT!" said Bear.

That looks just right! said the narrator.

It's fantastic, I love it!! Thank you so much Geneviève!! said the Bear (and the narrator)

The End.

Needlepoint cushion by Geneviève

Spindleback Armchair by Colin Bird

Needlepoint rug kit by Bobbie Schoonmaker

Geneviève has an etsy shop, Les Broderies de Genevieve, where she sells her own charted designs in PDF format and some finished items made from her own designs.  She regularly tell stories using her growing miniature collection, on her blog, Genevieve's miniacollection.

A little visual guide for any budding needlepointers out there, who are curious about the finished result of the various counts available. I only have three to use as an example, but I think they also happen to be the most commonly used in 1:12 scale work. The 32 count bolster is a kit by Janet Granger, the 40 count rug is a kit by Bobbie Schoonmaker, and the 56 count cushion is by Geneviéve.

P.s. Thanks to all of you that let me know that Blogspot is having issues regarding the reading list not showing up, I now know it is not a problem with my computer software, which is usually the case :D