Slow Stitching Project - Cushion Cover

I bought a scarf at the thrift store thinking of repurposing it.  I was not sure it was synthetic but it felt lovely.

Unfortunately, when I tested it a home it is polyester.

I am thinking of an upcoming show I thought I could create at piece with the scarf despite the fiber content.  Wrong!

I cut the fabric to 16x16 inches.  I placed a 12x12 piece of cotton at the back and invisible baste them together.

I then started my Organic Blanket stitch with my focal area offset from the center.

I chose green blue colors. I started a circle around a 2" shape.  I did several rows in a turquoise blue then did a circle of yellow then moved to a deeper blue, then another shade of deeper blue and ended with a dark blue around the last rows.  I stopped putting stitches whenever I reached the 12" mark.  The fabric passed the needle test but it is unravelling a lot.  I did place a sewing machine stitch line at the edge of the 16 inches.  That seems to be holding so far.

For the flower focal element I cut 2 flowers one from batik blue fabric and the other from turquoise cotton fabric.  I stitched all around the edge with running stitch to hold them together.  I then put concentric running stitches in the petals with the same blue embroidery thread. I cut a yellow flower from yellow cotton fabric and stitched this to the blue one.  When that was done, I stitched the flower and the magenta button to the center of the space I had left when I started the blanket stitch. 

I think I will create a cushion cover with this piece.  It will need to be lined with cotton in order to be sewn by machine.  It will just be a fold over envelope type cover. There should be enough fabric to finish the cushion cover.  Keep you posted.

2026 Slow Stitching Project - Page 3 - B1 Organic Blanket Stitch

Another page for my stitch book project based on K3NCloth Tales slow stitch challenge for 2026.

K3N chose Organic Blanket stitch for B1 and I am so glad.  I love this stich. She had done this stitch before and this weeks video clarified for me when to go through the legs with my needle eye.

I started with a shell shank Button in the center of my stitching. I chose Blue thread in several shades for the organic blanket stitch. I need to make longer legs but my piece of fabric is 7" x 8" big so not a lot of room. K3N has several great examples on her channel.

I cut a bird from blue fabric to applique on my piece.  I was looking for a Border stitch and chose Bosnian. Done in deep blue along the binding edge. I added a line of Back stitch in Turquoise Blue just for fun. I added some seed stitches below the bird to ground it.

2026 Slow Stitching Project - Page 1 - A1 Applique

I am following K3N Cloth Tales Slow Stitch project for 2026.

I am making a Stitch Book which will hold a sample of stitches as well as any techniques I would like to record as a reference.  I chose a piece of white linen for my background and a piece of thin cotton for my foundation layer.

The pages are ripped 8 inches wide by 7 inches tall.  The inch on the left is being left clean for the binding at the end to make it a book.  I tack the pages together so that I will have 26 double sided pages at the end.

I don't know how that will mesh with the prompts that K3N provides but we will see how it goes.

K3N's plans is to provide prompts based from A to Z.  One week she will provide the 1st letter prompt and the second week she will pick from the suggestions in the comments of the first video for that letter. 

The first prompt which I am labeling A1 is applique. Not surprising at all. I have added it to my piece as well.

I invisible basted my linen and cotton together.  Then I selected for small pieces of fabric from my stash to highlight the 4 stitches I had selected for applique. 

Top Left - Couching Stitch                       Middle - Overcast Stitch

Bottom Left - Blanket Stitch                    Top Right - Fly Stitch

The butterfly is a more realistic expression of what applique would look like on a project.  I had cut several extra butterflies for my cards last week so it was just sitting on my workspace so it was selected.

I chose the couching stitch to applique the butterfly.

There are some interesting suggestion for the second A prompt in the comments.  Will be interesting to see which one is chosen.

Sewing Project - Fabric Scraps - Scrappy Fabric

This fabric will amp up the look of the fold over card wallets. 

I picked a bunch of small fabric scraps in yellows, browns, and oranges.

I set my sewing machine to zigzag pattern #5 and the stitch length to just below 0 and stitch width to 4. It creates a blanket stitched look with the sewing machine.

I cut a foundation piece of thin polycotton broadcloth to 12 x 16 inches. I just placed one piece and stitched around and kept adding pieces. To have the looks the raw edge of the fabric needs to face left as I am stitching. I have started using up my spools of thread as mostly I use cones these days.  I emptied 3 bobbins during this project. Excellent. 

This piece is not trimmed.  My plan is to cut this piece into 3 pieces of 5 x 11 inches for fold over card wallets.   The process creates a new piece of scrappy fabric from fabric scraps.  Stash busting!!!

Here's a close up of the over stitching I did along the raw edges of the small pieces of fabric I used to make this new fabric.

It somewhat mimicks blanket stitch.  Choice of thread will determine whether it shows up a lot or just blends into the overall color scheme of the fabric.

I think I should have overlapped the fabric a bit more than I did.  When I made it into a wallet depending on where the fold was it was possible to have the background fabric show.

World Embroidery Day - Fabric Collage

World Embroidery Day 2025 is July 29th.

Only found out yesterday when Sarah Homfray mentioned it.

I decided to make a piece slow stitch art.

I chose blue and green fabrics on a foundartion layer with a bit of batting/wadding.

I practiced a few stitches I have not done for a while.  I moved recently and unpacking has been the priority.

I am happy with the piece and I am not sure how I will use but that is not the point.

It was a nice slow day.

 

Slow Stitching - No. 029 - Mandala

Getting caught up on my slow stitching challenge.

K3N Cloth Tales slow stitch challenge - week 29 - Mandala.

With many things packed away due to renovations I chose felt for this challenge. I added a white cotton foundation piece behind a 5" square of white felt.

I cut a turquoise circle then a yellow medium sized one and then a smaller green one. Felt allowed me not to worry about raw edges.

I started with the yellow lines on the green, then the white blanket stitch around its edge. The turquoise points on the yellow followed then the triple bird foot stitches in pink and purple thread on the yellow. The green back stitch outline along the outside edge of the turquoise circle. Followed with the long white stitches on the turquoise then the French Knots in the green wedges. Finally, the purple short and long stitches around the outside edge. 

Slow Stitching - Kite Coaster

I made this coaster for my sister who is celebrating a birthday.  

She likes to fly kites so I decided to put one on this coaster.

I cut a 4x4 inch foundation fabric. I cut my blue sky piece and then my felt pieces for the hills in green.  I cut a cloud. These pieces were basted to the foundation layer. Then stitched with a running stitch and a coordinating embroidery floss.

I cut a piece of interfacing for the kite and then cut the 4 colored quadrants and stitched them onto it. Once complete I stitched it to the coaster and added the kite tail. 

I chose a white felt for the back, white embroidery floss and the blanket stitch to hold the front and back layers together. 

Slow Stitching - No. 022 - Comfort Blanket

Slow stitching with K3N Cloth Tales Challenge.

Week 22 - Comfort Cloth and Blanket Stitch.

I created a small blanket.

I chose the flannel which defined the colors for the project.

I found my top layer and then cut some rectangles in red and black.  Some stitched with white or red.

I then used the blanket stitch again to assemble my small blanket to the flannel plaid backer.

It could have used a layer of batting as well but I only came to that conclusion once I was done the outside edge.

It is what it is.

I really like this one.

Small Tin Needle Cases

I found a few small metal tins at the ReUse Center and thought they could be used for Needle Cases.

You can see the Lipstick Needle case I made earlier.

I cut a couple layers of felt just the right size to fit in the box.   For this one, it was 2 pieces of blue and white for the back.  I blanket stitched around the edge and overcast stitched the join. 

I am debating whether the felt needs more adhesion to the box.  I will have a discussion with my sister.

There's enough room for a few needles and several applique pins.

Here's a small Altoid tin which has a hinged lid which is a bonus. No lost lids.

I chose white felt for the front and royal blue for the back.  I added blanket stitch all the way around the edge.

I added a line of stem stitch on the right hand side. 

These are a great way to carry a few needles and pins for a needle work project on the go.

It closes securely and will keep the sharps away from the bag.

I debated whether I wanted to disguise the branding and decide to keep it just the way it is

UPDATE:

In September as I was working on these needle cases I decided to alter this tin with Alcohol Inks to change the way it looks.  I think it looks a bit more artsy now.

Alcohol Inks in blue and yellow.  Allowed to dry then sprayed with spray acrylic sealer and then brushed on coat of Modge Podge.

This black tin is just a bit wider than the Altoid one. 

I cut a couple pieces of felt in sunshine yellow and an orange and stitched all the way around the outside with blanket stitch and yellow thread.

I added a bit of an accent in green along the left hand side.

The hinged lid is a bonus and it closes securely to keep the sharps away from the inside of your project bag.

Slow Stitching - Wool Brooches

I have acquired quite a few small pieces of wool or felted wool and decided to see if I could use my slow stitching to make brooches.

This blue one was my first one.  I chose to add a star in single thread where the 3 colors in the fabric met.  

Originally I had use white thread for the blanket stitch edging and that was not working.  I pulled it all out and started over.

It works much better to have dark blue edge stitching.

I like the uneven shape of this brooch.

 This brooch was stitched on a piece of felted wool which has various colors in it.  It was quite thick so I paired it with some grey fleece. I cut 2" circles from each fabric.  

I slow stitched my sunrise scene onto the felted wool circle. I then whipped stitched the 2 layers together.  I am not sure that whip stitching was the best choice as it has given the brooch an organic shape.

I hand stitched a pin back.

I chose some bright pink wool fabric for this brooch.  I had these iridescent flowers I had reclaimed from an old wedding item.

I stitched my stems on first then added my flowers with a frosted Ebead in the center.  I added some blue seed stitches to indicate sky.

I chose pink thread and used the blanket stitch to hold the 2 layers of pink together.  I chose to put running stitch along the bottom because I wanted to preserve the raw edge.

I then placed a piece of black felt on the back with whip stitch. 

I handstitched a pin back to the black then hid the stitching with a small piece of the same felt.

This is how all the brooch pins are attached  to make them as pretty as possible.

The small piece of fabric over the center the same as the back piece so it becomes quite invisible.

These may make it to the Christmas Store at the gallery in December.

Slow Stitching - No. 007 - Held together by scraps of LOVE

I am following the slow stitching challenge hosted by Kathryn - K3NClothTales.

The prompt for week 7 is: Held together by scraps of LOVE.

Here is my piece. This is a tribute to my Mom who passed away a year ago. Her favorite color was blue.  I traditionally made Mother's day cards in pink but changed it up to make them blue because that spoke to her a lot more.

In this piece, I  added a light blue layer of cotton to my foundation fabric with white shiny Viscose thread and a running stitch because these pieces will be eventually put into a larger fiber art piece.

I cut a foundation piece of cotton cut into a heart shape. I stitched various blue fabrics to the heart. I then used blanket stitch to attach the heart to my light blue fabric.  Then I added white French Knots to add some femininity to the piece. 

My Mom did a lot of work with scrap fabric and re-purposing fabric.  She sewed all our clothes when we were kids, she taught all her girls to sew, and made many quilts in her life time.  She put love in all here sewing pieces. She took her sewing machine to the lodge because it was a life line for her. She did embroidery and knitting as well.

Slow Stitching - No. 002

I finished my 2nd piece of slow stitching.

I am following Katherine at K3NClothTales on You Tube and Instagram. 

The prompt for this week is Balance - Light & Dark.

I chose 2 heavier fabrics in my favorite color combo - yellow and navy blue. I aligned the join on the center line of my 4 inch foundation fabric, pinned it and did whip stitches in both colors - yellow first then black next.

I traced the circle for the sun with a spool of thread then with a darker and brighter yellow embroidery thread 3 strands I stitched the half circle with back stitch and the rays with running stitch.

I added white stars to the navy bottom half.  The fabric was unraveling so I added a blanket stitch all the way around the outside edge with thread that matched the fabric color.

Oil Diffusers - Tree Scent Ornaments - Wreaths and Hearts

I decided to use some of the few balls I had left over from the diffusers I made last year.

I paired them with these vintage light reflectors that I got from the thrift store a while ago.  I was not sure what I was going to use them for but vintage at a good price had them coming home with me.

Here I added a white pearl bead, a snowflake bead then the turquoise felt ball.  Those were strung onto white crochet cotton.  I put 2 reflectors back to back. They have large holes where the light bulb would have gone through so I needed something large to make sure the assembly stayed tight.

I dipped into my stash of buttons and now I was looking large ones.  Yes, there were some that were big enough.  I coordinated the color with the felt ball in the front.

You can see on the back that there are these metal tabs so I pressed all those flat against the body of the reflector.  I then strung the big button, pull everything tight and put a few knots.  Trimmed the end of the crochet cotton.

They look like wreaths which fits into the seasonal decor.

These reflect the light really nicely and will fit into any Christmas decor.

The reflectors came in 2 different styles.

Ones with round petals and these on this ornament that had pointy petals.

Here I used a black felt ball and 2 white snowflake beads and decided to have the ball parallel to the center.  After stringing the snowflake beads I brought my cotton to the center of the fell ball to go through the reflectors.

Again, I found a large black button to finish off the back and ended with another set of knots to ensure the full assembly would stay in place.

Just another choice for scent on your artificial tree this season.