Hooked on Needles

Angel Swap Gifts Ready to Go

It seems like just yesterday that I stumbled upon Helen's website Hugs from Helen and the intriguing Stitcher's Angel Swap that she was organizing. Being pretty new to this whole blogging thing, I had never heard of a swap and was very interested in participating. So I signed up along with somewhere around 200 other people from all over the world. Not long after that, Helen sent me information on the person to whom I was to send three stitching related handmade items. How exciting this was for me to be able to make something for someone I didn't know and will most likely never have a chance to meet except through the internet, and also receive something from someone else I don't know and will also probably never meet.

I got busy thinking and planning and anxiously waiting for the new designs that were being offered each week by some very talented designers, and I finally settled on what I was going to make. I've shown a little bit of what I made already, but here is the final gathering of the gifts before they get sent on their way to Australia.

The tote bag is a pattern I have made before which I found in a fabulous book on making all kinds of bags. It is fully lined and has two large pockets on the outside, one stitched with my original design of a wild-haired angel watering her button flower garden. This bag is also expandable and has a zipper to keep it closed.

The mattress pin cushion has the cute little Blue Wren's Nest design that Natalie of Cinderberry Stitches offered for the swap. Her design was for a little tote bag, but since I had already made a tote bag, I used it for the pin cushion. It was just too cute not to use!

The scissor holder is a design that Lynette Anderson offered for the swap called "Here Kitty" and that one was fun to do, stitching the little kitty and then putting it all together.

And then the last gift is the Fancy Beaded Scissor Fob which you have seen here before when I had my 100th post giveaway.

Besides all this, I also included a few other little items to fill up the box. I have not yet revealed myself to the person receiving these items, but if she's been reading my website then as soon as she sees the box with my name on it, she will know what's inside. I hope she enjoys having them as much as I have enjoyed making them for her. Could it be you? Perhaps!

Happy Stitching!

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Labels: embroidery, mattress pin cushion, scissor fob, scissor holder, sewing, swap, tote bag

Embroidered Mattress Pin Cushion

Last week I gave you a little update on my Angel Swap gifts and showed you a sneak preview of the embroidery on the last item I am making for this swap. Well, it is finished and I'll show you how I did it.

While cruising around and in and out of lots of different websites, I ran across this tutorial for a beautiful mattress pin cushion at Cote Passions which I am guessing is from France. Even though I could not understand one word of the writing, the pictures told the whole story. I just HAD to make one of those!

Then I came across another mattress pin cushion in the making at The Twisted Stitcher and after reading about the method, I knew I had figured it out correctly from the pictures on Cote Passions.

So I set to work.

First I took the entirely-too-cute Blue Wren's Nest design from Natalie at Cinderberry Stitches and traced parts of it onto my linen. Using DMC Perle cotton I backstitched the entire design. Then using the blue from the birds as my main color, I backstitched around the edges of all the pieces - front, back, and two sides.

This is what the linen looked like at this point:

It took a lot of counting and recounting and envisioning how the side pieces would go before I finally finished backstitching all of the outlines, but I did it!

Aren't Natalie's little birds just the cutest? I added the red blanket stitch edges on the back along with some of the lazy daisy stitch flowers so the little bird family wouldn't look so alone.

For the side pieces which I had stitched before I knew exactly how I would place them, I had to work the outlines off set from each other so the stems would end up on the long sides and the blank sections would be on the top and the bottom.

I stitched my initials and the year on the side section that would go on the bottom and the left, then I stitched the name of the wonderful lady who will receive this on the other section so her name will be on the top. Then I cut out all the pieces leaving a generous edge so the linen would not unravel.

Using the same blue Perle cotton of the embroidery, I stitched the sides onto the top with a whip stitch, matching up the backstitches from each piece. If I counted right, everything would fit perfectly.

When I got to the end of the first side piece, I stitched the second one on using the same whip stitch method, then continued stitching the top onto the second side.

Here you can see it is beginning to take shape. After the sides were stitched to the top and to each other, I stitched the back on in the same way, leaving the last little bit open until I had stuffed it firmly with batting. Then I finished stitching it up.

This is how the back looks all finished. Those little birds just crack me up!

And here is the front of the Blue Wren's Nest Mattress Pincushion. I just love the tree and the swirly leaves. The red flowers are pretty darn cute too. Thanks, Natalie, for sharing that pattern for the Angel Swap!

This project was fun and interesting from the very beginning and I loved watching it come together while sewing up the seams. Three dimensional sewing is something I find very satisfying.

Don't forget to enter my fall giveaway by October 14th for a chance to win a very nice pincushion bag and other fall goodies. Good luck!

Happy Stitching!

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Labels: embroidery, mattress pin cushion, swap

Time to Get Organized -- Hand Embroidery

Here we go with another administrative task. This page will keep a running list of links to any posts on Hand Embroidery projects, patterns, classes, helpful hints and the like. It will be available on the sidebar of the Hooked On Needles homepage for easy reference.

Hand Embroidered Irish Step Dancing Dresses

Embroidery How-To Posts

Original Embroidery Designs