The ring pillow that never was

I hand-sewed this ring pillow 5 years ago for my own use. For the clutz that I was, I was determined to sew the 'perfect' ring pillow since I could not find one that I really liked.

Alas! The photographer did not even take a picture of it.

I whipped it out for my youngest sister's recent solemnisation ceremony and asked if they would like to use it. My then-prospective brother-in-law graciously accepted the offer.

I immediately went about cleaning the ring pillow which was tainted with tiny yellow spots after being kept in the wardrobe for 5 years.

I googled for solutions without having to throw it into the washing machine and thereby destroying it, and I found one:

Wash it with lemon juice and hang it out in the sun.

I happened to have 'preserved' half a lemon in the fridge and took it out. I dapped the spots with freshly squeezed lemon juice.

When I brought it to my mother's place, to my utter horror, I saw that the lemon juice, when dried, had developed into patches of water marks! Not a pleasing sight.

In my desperation, I grabbed a piece of facial cotton, mixed some liquid detergent with water and dampened the cotton with the solution. After that, I wiped the ring pillow with the dampened cotton pad.

To my greatest relief, the water-marks disappeared.

I was so glad that my creation was restored back to its former glory.

Unfortunately, my brother-in-law did not use it, in the end.

They used this instead.

Well, I can only say that for all that I had meant it to be, my ring pillow never was.