mother's day pillow

When we went to the International Quilt Festival in October, I picked up the wool felt appliqué pattern "Around the Garden" by Wendy Williams from Australia.  In fact, I met her and she even autographed my pattern book!  The quilt is ambitious, to say the least:

Whew!  All hand-embroidered, this quilt would definitely be a (long) labor of love.  I didn't want to jump right in with the quilt, so I decided on a pillow!  I bought a light box from a lady who used it in her film shop (before retiring), ordered some wool felt, and picked out my favorite houses and trees.  I started with the penny "flowers", picking random colors of felt and embroidery floss.  I added the bumble bee for fun, and the french knots to add even more color.

                            

Then I put on the houses and felt trees.  I used either a running stitch or whip stitch for the houses, windows, roofs, and doors.

                                           

I then quilted the pillow cover in a loopy free-motion quilting pattern, then used a stem stitch on the middle tree's trunk.  I added "leaves" of orange, magenta, and yellow, with hot pink embroidery floss.

                           

The backing is a home decor fabric plaid I picked up from Joanns, and the piping is green cording.  I added a zipper to the bottom, to make removal and washing easier.

  

Barrett gave the pillow a snuggle-test before we shipped it out to Cammy!  Britton made my Mother's Day card for Cammy, who is a connoisseur of original kiddy art, and Cammy received them today.  I think one day I'll try my hand at a pillow made entirely of the pennies - they are so cheery and happy!