Flower Basket Pillowcase

The progress on the flower basket pillowcase with a blue ribbon has been gradual. In my last post about this guy, we had just finished with the majority of the satin stitching on the blossoms. The basket line work and the blue ribbon were also complete. Beginning with the right side and working to the left, the vines and leaves had only just begun.

Pillow Flower Basket 07Satin Stitch

You can see up close, how the satin stitching is beginning to work together. If you have problems with your hand satin stitching check this site out. It is kind of exciting to see how the satin stitch works, isn’t it? Sometimes, I haven’t done a stitch for a while and I get lost. When that happens, I just look it up on the world-wide-web. It is amazing how many high-quality little lessons are available to learn better techniques.

Pillow Flower Basket 08 Details

Progress is made on this as more detailed work gets done. Gradually, it becomes easier to see flowers as they come to life.  The Flower stamens, then outlining begins on the flower petals. I am actually using some really different outlines to see what it would look like. For example, see the maroon blossoms outlined with pale yellow. Hmmm.Pillow Flower Basket 09 In all honesty, there are so many shapes in this pattern that it is a little confusing at times. Am I stitching on a leaf or a vine?Pillow Flower Basket 10 Now, you can see that as more and more of the objects are filled with color it then gets easier to differentiate between a leaf and a vine.  Pillow Flower Basket 11

My plan of attack from here will be to complete the work on outlining and details. Little touches here and there will get it to look exactly the way I want it to. Zing! a pillow full of love, to lay your head on and sleep.

New Pillow Case

Pillow Flower Basket 01Embroidering a new pillow case in the evenings. It is a “Flower Basket” pattern from one of my many iron-on patterns purchased over the years from (Aunt Martha’s). I love the way this one has a little ribbon tied to the basket handle.

Pillow Flower Basket 01Really, I don’t know what kind of flower is portrayed in this design. Not taking the time to research it, I am using any color that I feel like for the flowers. If you do know what kind of flower this is, please let me know. In the flower petals, there will be lots and lots of satin stitches happening.

Pillow Flower Basket 03Now, you can see some of the gold flowers have the stamen (anther & filament) done in black lines and french knots, coming out of the middle of the flower.

Pillow Flower Basket 05I am using all kinds of different greens on the leaves and vines and a good mixture of reds, yellows, and pinks on all the flowers. This is the most enjoyable way for me to paint with thread, just do whatever I feel like. How about pink? Nah, Yellow-orange, yeah that fits right here.

Pillow Flower Basket 06You can see that the ribbon is one of my favorite blues, I have a lot of shirts in this color. We all know it takes some time to finish one of these pillowcases. But, embroidery is a lot of fun for my hands in the evening. A repetitious movement calms me as I take one stitch after the other. I almost can feel the presence of my Mom, Grandma, and Great Grandma in the room sometimes. We enjoyed sitting in the living room doing our crafts together and visiting as we listened to music.