Country Garden Stitchery

I finished my redwork cross stitch pattern. I really like working with all one color. I can get into the "zen" of stitching and completely relax and stitch. Really enjoyable. This little pattern has mostly cross stitches so it is easy to do that. And if I want to stitch it again in another color I can (this is the second time I've stitched this pattern :). I think I will design a different one though rather than doing it a third time... I bought my fabrics to finish this pattern a while ago. I really liked the snowflake fabric with turquoise dots. It added just the right element of contrast from being too red. I have quite a collection of pillows now. I've started making them with the envelope backs so they are easy to remove and I can store them when the seasons change. Pretty soon I will be getting all of my Christmas decor out. Love to do that.

I don't like to waste anything and I have a little bucket I put all my fabric scraps into. I keep even very small squares to decorate other projects. That is how I decorated these bookmarks is little scraps. The fabrics are so cute now that I love to keep little snippets around for the color and pattern inspiration. I have a latte brown colored couch set so I wanted to accent with reds this summer. I used little larger patches and sewed them on randomly to the top before I sewed the back on. I went to yard sales a few weekends ago and found some hand painted canvas drapes. Such nice heavy fabric and a great painting job, I thought they would make great totes. I decided to upcycle the fabric into very big totes and line them with bright, bright fabrics with matching handles. I like the way they turned out.

I wanted to show the handmade gifts we recieved for Christmas this year. I love to get handmade items for Christmas, especially sewing and embroidery creations. My sister made me this pillow for my bedroom and I love the colors and the patchwork style. My daughter loves to bake and my sister made her this very cute apron. The fabrics are great and my daughter loved them. She loves dots... My stepmother does beautiful quilting and embroidery and I was so excited when I opened this gift, hand embroidered pillow cases. Her stitches are lovely and neat and wonderful colors. She made us a quilt several years ago with burgundy colors and these match the quilt. Very happy Christmas, hope you had a good one too.

I spent the afternoon sewing yesterday, the mood finally struck. I decided to make patchwork pillows from some of my latest needlework projects. I collect small snippets of fabrics, buttons, laces and such and they work great for these pillows. I like to visit quilt shops for the fat quarter sections. These are really easy to make, great for a quick simple project. Please check back during the online retail needlework show as I will have a new tutorial up on how I made the Christmas tree embroidery pillow. Oh, and hope to see you at the retail show too, http://needleshowretail.com/index.html