Tulip Hand Embroidery Pillow and Blue Cat Greeting Card

 
I made a patchwork pillow with one of my tulip hand embroidery designs this afternoon.  Sometimes I don't sew my embroidery projects right away because I'm not sure what I want it to be or I don't have the fabrics I want to use yet.  I have a drawer full of fabric scraps so I picked out a few, mostly green, scraps to work with.  There is a lot of pink and lavender in the design so I guess I wanted to bring out the greens.  It was a spontaneous project...  

 
I put 2" strips on both sides of the embroidery piece and then made a strip of five 4" long strips about 2" wide and trimmed it on each end so it would match the embroidered piece.  I usually use 1/4" seams.  Then I put another strip on the end a little longer than my pillow form.  I usually lay the sewn piece on top of the pillow to measure, pretty easy and works good for me.  Then I added a 2" strip to the top and bottom the same length as the embroidered piece.  Cut a backing the same size, sew it together and hem the edges.  I like to put a pillowcase inside using some coordinating fabric so one end is open.  Then I put some ribbon or lace on the edge for a nice finish.  An easy way to finish hand embroidery, use up fabric scraps and have a new decoration for your home or a gift!      

 
A close-up of the embroidery and some of the fabrics. 

 
And I made a flower cat greeting card ~ Thinking of You card
Even in the digital age we're in, I think it's still really nice to send and receive greeting cards.  How about you?   Hope you have a great weekend.  Weather report here in Nevada is finally below 100 for a few days thankfully!  

Comments

Tatkis said…
Adorable patchwork pillow, and your cat card is so cute!

Hugs,
Tatyana
August 6, 2013 at 4:50 AM
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