one. two. tree...

Is it really March? No, it can't be - it was just January! My life in the spring is chaotic and overwhelming. Crafting and blogging are two of my sanity savers and it has been hard to get either of them into my schedule lately. [so, basically, I'm without sanity = crazy] I shared my block for the February swap with you here. I liked the challenge of being able to design my own tree and worked on several variations before deciding to send the one I did. I decided to turn the blocks that stayed with me into pillows [my current obsession :]

::tree #1::
This is my first attempt at needle sketching - I drew the pattern onto white duck cloth, then stitched over it with black thread, twice. I like the sketchiness of it [my mil said it 'looks french' which is good :] I raided my scrap box for the leaves and the little patchwork border. This guy is available in my etsy shop.

::tree #2::
This is like the primitive relative of tree #1.

The tree and the leaves are hand-stitched [I used a buttonhole stitch for the leaves]. Then I coffee stained the center panel. I already have a home in mind for this pillow.

Overall I really like how they turned out - I got to use my piping/cording foot and add my twill tape labels to them. They both have envelope style closures so that the pillow form can easily be removed.

note: can we say 'HELLO SUNSHINE!!' Finally the sun has seen fit to shine on Ohio and I am lovin' it! yeah vitamin d [I love when people talk about how hard the winter is because they don't get enough vitamin d from the sun - while I will give you that the sun is a source of vitamin d, the average Ohioan can stand outside all day even in the summer and still not get the amount of vitamin d that the body needs]