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
Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Letters from Nora Progress and Green Nine Patch Block

Image
I am almost finished with a nine patch quilt block, although a cross stitched one... I think quilt blocks look great in cross stitch especially with variegated fibers. I've seen some neat designs featuring quilt blocks. There is a designer on Etsy who has quilt block type patterns with a black cat and I love those. I used some of my favorite colors from The Gentle Art in this one, I liked the green and purple combination. I am excited about my progress with my letter C from Nora. I have one arm left on the little fairy (lots of little petite stitches so I have to be in the mood with good lighting to work on her) but otherwise the design stitches up fairly quickly. This is the first fairy I've ever done and I'm already thinking of more I'd like to do.
Read more

Swan Heart Hand Embroidery Pattern

Image
My son used to live near Virginia Lake in Reno and we  would take walks around it and see all the birds and at that time there were swans.  The lake inspired this embroidery pattern and the sentiment of love that the birds convey. I hope you like it. Click here for Swan Love embroidery pattern details
Read more

Quilted Potholders Watercolor Art Fabric

Image
I bought a quilting pattern a while ago to make potholders/hotpads and I thought it would be great practice for quilting blocks and it was.  I used some of my Spoonflower samples to make some of them.  Spoonflower samples for all the pieces used in the one above.   This hourglass pattern stumped me a bit and I had to stay calm and get the seam ripper out :)  After looking at the design I assumed I knew what to do...I used some of my cabbage rose collection with some commercial fabrics in this one. I liked this pattern, it is very easy and I can handle the two triangle squares on two corners... I used my cabbage rose fabric collection for some of the squares in this one too.   These are all that I made.  I really liked the log cabin hotpad and used up several scraps and it turned out bright and cheerful.  There are a few more patterns in the collection I want to try.   Fun new thing for spring!
Read more