Embroidered Pillow Case

My Ex Mother-In-Law said she had seen one of her friends with a pillowcase that had her name sewn on it and asked if I could have a look and see if I could find out about them.  I am still not quite sure what she meant but thought I would try to do her something along those lines for her birthday this year.

She uses a pillow on her settee as a cushion so it woudn't matter about embroidering over it all (not like as if she was going to lay her face on it and get a pattern on her face).

I found a nice white cotton pillowcase in my local charity shop that looked brand new, the tag inside doesn't look like it had been washed.  I had a look on the internet for some ideas as I haven't done any proper embroidery for years, just labels for my quilts.  I used a couple of designs I found for some pretty flowers and then found a lovely poem that had a couple of lines about a pillow in it which was very appropriate so I wrote this out on the pillowcase and embroidered over the top of the words.  I also put her name on the top.

Here are a couple of pics of how it turned out.  It looks very big to me but I think that might be because it has a bit around the edge outside where the pillow goes sort of like how a frill would be but not frilly.

Here is a close up of the poem.

I think the writing could have been a bit straighter but all in all I am happy with the outcome.

Another Quilt

I have finished the quilt for my other Sister.  This one is a smaller quilt which drapes over the end of the bed which I think is called a scarf.

The colours don't exactly go with my duvet cover but should go with her brown, cream and white bedroom.

I bought the centre piece first and measured it as being 15 inches across then worked out that I would need 3 x 5" finished squares to fit across one side, adding on 1/2" for seams gave me 5 1/2 inch squares to cut out.

I had to have 7 squares each side of the centre so I made six strips with 7 squares in each strip alternating them from dark to light.  Then I sewed three sets of strips together for each end giving me two large rectangular blocks.  Next I sewed one block onto each side of the centre piece so I had one longer rectangle.  Then I sewed 2 strips with 17 squares in each strip and sewed these strips one on each side to finish it off.  It was quite easy to keep the seams together as I stitched, I just had to be careful when going past the centre piece to make sure the next seam would come in the right place.

I hand quilted the top piece together with the wadding and backing fabric by sewing diagonally through each small square both ways making a cross in the centre of each.  I missed out the centre piece until I had quilted everything else then I hand stitched around all the lines of the squares on the centre and the circle in the middle.

For a finishing touch I sewed some small pearl beads onto the centre piece but you can't see them in the photos.

Hoody No 2

Here is the hoody I made for my middle Grandson's birthday.  I used about 1 1/2 metres of fleece and the same in lining material.  The jacket is lined throughout.  I reckon its cost me about £15 to make including some toggles which I bought from my local sewing shop to put on the cords at hem and hood to stop them pulling through.

There is one thing I am not happy about and that is that I forgot to match up the checks on the pockets.  I had matched everything else like down the front either side of the zip but didnt even think about the pockets until after I had sewn them on and then it was too late as I had double sewn the corners to reinforce them.  Still, I am sure he won't moan about it.