Yesterday was sewing class and for the second time in two weeks, I missed it. The virus thingy that struck last Friday finally floored me. I have the sore throat, temperature that is all over the place, sore eyes, itchy ears and lungs and the cough-that-will-not-stop. So, I decided not to share with everyone at the class but to get to grips with my machine and make something.

I had some tartan-patterned material, given to me by a friend over 10 years ago and used for hand-made Christmas cards. Not wanting to ruin the new material I bought on Tuesday in readiness for yesterday's class, I thought I'd use some of the tartan to make a simple envelope-backed cushion cover.

I'm quite chuffed with the result, although I have to practice a lot more to make the needle sew in a straight line. I also need to work out how to wind the bottom bobbin with thread that doesn't contrast quite so much as the white on this less-than-straight hem. I did manage to match up the pattern on the top and bottom seams, a feat of which I am quite proud given that my head felt as though it's stuffed with cotton wool and my eyes were boiled.

The cover took about 2 hours to make, from cutting the fabric to putting the cushion pad inside.