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Monday, January 2, 2012

New Year....

Well, we made it through Christmas and the New Year.  Although with both happening on Sunday...it seems like the holiday never ends....even if you are sort of ready to move on.

I haven't had much time to sew....


There are several things - in addition to my 'works in progress' - that I want to tackle this year...
I am not good at resolutions so I will just take it one step at a time...


 just cross things off my mental list as I go along....


But one project near and dear to my heart is the Rose and Star...Clare will be posting a tutorial and guiding the Starlets through the process of English Paper Piecing this fabulous block.  My fingers are itching to get started!!!

    
You can learn more about it here.....

Essex has a wonderful new linen blend {at least new to me}.  It is a yarn dyed linen blend and has a beautiful texture and color.  In the shoppe we have both the natural and black.  It was the perfect pairing for a pillow {and possibly} quilt that has been growing in my mind.


I have long loved the Red Cross Quilts from the early 1900's.  These quilts were used to raise money for the Red Cross which would in turn take care of the soldiers of WWI.

My pillow uses the natural yarn dyed linen as the background and the black yarn dyed linen as the cross....


The front is pick stitched with perle cotton {Valdani size 8....the best perle cotton in my opinion}  and includes a little heart of shot cotton...


The back closes with a couple of buttons....with Cross My Heart stamped in little patches...


Hope you all had a wonderful Christmas and a happy New Year....
Happy Monday :)
mary


24 comments:

  1. Hello Mary! Oh your works are just so beautiful! I love all these photos with little stitch pieces! And your last post is amazing! I wish you Happy and Creative New Year and all the best! x Teje

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  2. I love it! What do you use to stamp the words? I haven't found a good ink for that yet.

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  3. Very subtle! Love the texture but wondering if you have lost your love of colour now!???

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  4. Uh oh, Mary. I had considered a couple of other quilt-alongs. Until I saw this one, which captured my heart right away. That block is amazing. And so is your pillow!

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  5. Hi :) I like all here...lovely!! Happy new year <3

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  6. oh I love it I love it I love it!!!!

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  7. ooh, this makes the inside of my elbows go all wibbly ... (that's a good thing btw)

    wonderful Mary. Just wonderful.

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  8. Such a gorgeous pillow! Such a lovely phrase to use. I'm waiting for a parcel of yardage of the Essex linen/cotton. I decided to use it for my Love quilt. I like the look of bright colours against natural. The quilt along looks amazing. It'll be wonderful to see them popping up all over blogland.

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  9. I am in love with those fabrics, do you have any links to find them online?

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  10. Your pillow is beautiful! I love the simplicity of the design with the hand stitching! And the cute little red heart! Your work continues to inspire me!

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  11. Gorgeous as always....and your sewing's not bad either!
    I love words...especially on fabric!
    xxx

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  12. Mary, your cleverness never ceases to amaze me! Love your pillow very much...thanks for sharing about the fabric and the quiltalong, too.

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  13. Hi Mary, I have been following you for a little while and just love your gorgeous creations. And this one esp, so very simple but lovely, esp all the hand stitching. You and your blog are one of my favs and I know I am going to learn so much from you. Thank you for sharing so much. Tanya :-)

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  14. Mary! It's so Gorgeous and so perfect sweet! Happy New Year!! :)

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  15. Simply beautiful, and the quilting is fantastic.
    A great way to kick of the new year!

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  16. Hi Tabitha! I hope you find my reply here. I see that Pink Chalk Fabrics has the Essex Yarn dyed fabric on their site....

    http://www.pinkchalkfabrics.com/index.php?main_page=index

    Good luck! mary

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  17. That is beautiful, such a lovely post. I am going to go searching for the fabric now.

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  18. Happy New Year! I just love your Red Cross cushion, the quilting is fabulous.

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  19. I absolutely LOVE your pillow! And all your stuff! I will be bookmarking your blog!

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