Gallery Post - Pillows

Another of my gallery posts: this one featuring throw pillows.  Back when I got really serious about cross stitching, about 25 years ago, I did a lot of pillow kits from Shepherd's Bush and folks like that.  Most were given away before I got my digital camera and starting keeping a photo record of my work.  I don't make too many throw pillows anymore, probably not more than 1 finish out of 15.  But I still have a fair amount.

This seems like an appropriate one to start with.  It's called All Wrapped up and was my first attempt at a flange pillow.  I learned a lot about how not to do a flange pillow on this one.

Snowmen are not one of my favorite subjects but somehow this tall fellow with his crazy scarf appeals to me.  Whenever I need to stitch a snowman for an exchange or a gift, this is the one and only chart I use.

This little patchwork pillow is made up of four Glory Bee Christmas ornaments that I found in a magazine back in the day.  I can't remember which magazine at this late date. it might have been Celebration.  It was the first Glory Bee piece that I did

This is another Glory Bee piece, entitled Flying Monkeys, a homage to The Wizard of Oz.  I display this during Halloween season for obviuos reasons.

This is another Halloween piece from the Wee Birds series [LHN, I think].  Autumn and Halloween are among my favorite themes in stitching.  The finishing technique, a tie on sleeve, is borrowed from Shepherd's Bush and allows for switching out seasonal pillow covers on one pillow form.  It is embellished with a dew JABCo buttons that you will see better if you click to enlarge.

This is a Homespun Elegance chart: another patchwork pillow.  Clicking to enlarge will reveal a pretty little bird Olde Brass Button among the letters and that the sheep at the lower right is made up entirely of French Knots.  Colonial Knots were called for, but somehow I have never mastered them.

This is a log Cabin style finish using an old Glory Bee free chart as its centerpiece.  The colorway has me thinking summer and the Fourth of July, so I usually display it then.

I don't remember the name of this chart but it is clearly one of the many pieces I stitched as a souvenir of our frequent visits to Maine.

Another Summer House ... probably a Little House Needleworks free chart.  In keeping with the patriotic colorway, I used the Log Cabin technique to finish it and embellished it with the shiny red star buttons.

I forget the name and designer of this chart [Heart in Hand, perhaps] but it is a sweet little thing with a pious sentiment.  I display it in my bedroom year round.

I believe this is yet another Litttle House Needleworks design.  There was a time when I stitched little else than LHN and Prairie Schooler charts.

This is one of my Secret Needle Night projects finished as a pillow.  I subscribed to Secret Needle Night for a little over three years during the Mona Best era.  Once Brooke took over I dropped the subscription as her style was just a little roo sweet for my tastes.

This a Shepherd's Bush pillow for February and March, hence the heart and the shamrocks.

This a Better Homes and Garden kit that I made up into a tooth fairy pillow for my grandson, Liam.