If you remember, during the last winter storm series we had here in New England, I decided to drag out my old embroidery project. It's a project that basically only exists in case I get the urge to sit and do some needlepoint on some crazy whim.
However, that round of playing with needle and thread coincided with an event my friend was hosting and it spurred some creative juices.
That was the time I did my very first actual embroidery project, start to finish, using varying stitches.
The end result was a tote bag with my friend's logo on it. She loved it and I was proud of my work.
So that brings us to another friend. A mutual friend who was also in love with the bag. She asked if I could do a little something for her son. He is finishing up his masters (is that the highest degree? I forget, having only gone as far as associates, myself) in Scotland and she wanted me to do a bag with the EU logo (a circle of stars on a background of blue). It was my opinion that that would be best accomplished by just buying already sewn star patches to iron onto a bag.
Well, now her birthday is coming up and she is headed to off to visit her son and will be gone for her birthday, so a few of us decided to surprise her with dinner upon her return. She's hinting that she thought we'd do something before she left but we're playing the game of 'oh gosh...we're so busy...we forgot your birthday was coming up!' (because we're children)
Anyway, these friends all got together and got me an essential oil diffuser for my car (batteries or usb port, which is cool) and a couple bottles of oil. It was very sweet and unexpected. I wanted to do something special for this friend's birthday, besides the dinner. It's Cape Cod in June so dinner out is gonna be pricey so a handmade gift was the way to go...especially knowing this friend...she would love it if it was a crayon drawing of her cat! haha
Searching Pinterest is always my starting point. Leading me, ultimately, to the plan of a little monogrammed wall hanging. Simple. I found a pattern with a little bit of cuteness and a simple 'P' design.
I also found some border samples to play with, in case the letter alone seemed to plain.
I find transferring the design to the fabric is the hardest part for me. Once the design is drawn out, the rest goes pretty quickly on these simple patterns.
Over the course of the weekend, I worked on it while Hubby made dinner. My friend loves oranges and purples, so when I found the orange fabric that mimicked the leaves and petals of the monogram I was psyched to not have to shop for materials. However, my stash of thread is on the muted side so the shade I used for the 'P' was the darkest I had. I had to stop after work for a 52 cent purple floss to finish the job, on Saturday. Luckily (?) there's a Jo-Ann's fabric shop at the end of the plaza where I work, and I have to walk by it to get to my car, so...blinders on, b-line it to the back of the store, no lines, bing bang boom...made it out under a dollar!
Now it's 'done', except I'm still considering adding a little border, so it's not actually finished.
I will need to decide which method of finishing the back I will use. I could leave extra fabric and gather it in the back, or cut it close and hot glue it to the hoop, both options leave the back visible, which I think is cool when it's not messy. Or, I could get some felt to back the whole thing and make it clean and neat. Whichever I choose, I'd like it to be easy for her to hang.
But before all that I need to decide if this is actually finished.
There's the idea of a border to be considered so I've 'drawn' one in for comparison.(which i just realized I never cropped from my screen shot! lol typical.)
So can you help me out a little? How do you feel about the border...yes or no? Too little without, too much with it?
I'm basically thinking I'd mimic the vine but throw in a little more purple for the 'pop' factor, as well...