Country Garden Stitchery

I've been busy sewing for our local art fair the weekend of December 1st. I've been using my Spoonflower samples to make the little pincushions above. I'm glad I made them in advance so I can enjoy them for a while. I like their cheerful colors and shape. Pattern is from Details by Des on Etsy. I've also made some small pouches for the fair. Perfect size for your purse to put whatevers in. This is made with my Green Coneflower fabric. This is very lively fabric and looks nice sewn up. I used the same zip pouch pattern and size but with my Foxglove Zen fabric. For the quilting I used sewing thread that matched the fuchsia flowers and liked how that turned out. I used my Fuchsia Blooms fabric for this one. This is the last one I made using my Love in a Mist fabric and think it might be my favorite. I had to take a break for the online Needlework Show that I participated in this week so hope to be back to sewing soon. These little projects are fun.

I found a fun pincushion pattern on Etsy from Details by Des and it is super easy and fun to make. I used some of my Spoonflower fabrics to make it and a commercial fabric. This is the bottom (I uploaded in wrong the order :) and I used my Blue and Green Dots fabric. The top has my Tropical Fish fabric with a little of the blue dot fabric for the fabric button. Really quick to make. The only thing I would do different is use more stuffing. It is good to use lots of stuffing for a nice full look and no puckers. I've been busy putting things in my shops for Christmas gifts. This is a handwoven scarf made of cotton yarns with glass beads randomly placed in the fringe. The weft is a wonderfully soft cotton ribbon yarn. I'd love to have sheets or a sweater made of soft cotton like that. Oh, and the online Needlework Show starts tomorrow! Hope you'll stop by and say hi.

I've been working on new designs for 2012 and some lavender came to mind. Lavender is one of my favorite scents and flowers. I have lavender sachets in my linen closets and will buy all the lavender scented house care products on the market...just smells clean and fresh to me. I like the brown and purple color combination and I added a little green and so far so good. My last two Christmas designs for the year. Burgundy silk hand dyed floss on white for the design above. I like the crisp clean look of it. I probably won't have it done by the Needlework Show but soon after. I finished this cross stitch design last weekend and made it into a table square using some flannels I had. I made it the same way I made the bluebird table square. I usually cut the squares to match the shape of the design after trimming it down a bit. Easy holiday decorations!

I picked up a collection of charm squares from Moda a while ago and the colors matched my new bluebird design perfectly so I decided to make a charm square table topper for a new decoration. Can you see him up there in the corner? He blends nicely I think. I trimmed the cross stitch fabric around the design to match a charm square and then sewed rows of the squares together. I didn't put any batting in the table topper. Just put a backing on it with a coordinating color. I had a very small 2x2 charm square from another set I bought and sewed that onto one of the squares for more texture. It is on the third row up from the bottom. I thought it was neat how the colors of the charm pack and my design went together since I didn't plan it. I like being able to use my stash and then feel good about buying more... I am saving my little bluebird pattern for the Needlework Show I will be participating in on October 20th. It runs from October 20-25 online so you can browse the participat...