Hi friends! Happy Friday! I hope you had a good week! I've been SUPER busy in the craft room and I have lots of good things to share with you soon! This weekend we have fun things planned at church, and also MORE crafting! Ha. It's been cold here (California cold) and we are nesting and catching up on movies and drinking lots of coffee. I do somehow appreciate the calmness of January after all the hoopla of December. Time to take a big breath, organize, and regroup. I enjoy the cold weather and I like it that my husband can rest and isn't out in the yard working all the time. And I like wearing sweaters! LOL. Next week is the first Greetery release of 2024 and I guarantee you're going to absolutely love it. I may go out on a limb and say it might be my favorite Greetery release ever!! (That's saying a lot). Cannot wait for you to see everything!! Stay tuned!!
Today's project is a Valentine Cross stitch I made! And then, I made it into a pillow! YEAH! My first ever cross stitch pillow! I have had a mental block about doing this for years. I am not super confident in my sewing skills. And I didn't want to ruin my stitching by messing up the sewing part! Usually I only use my sewing machine to sew on paper! But I watched a bunch of Youtube videos, and then went for it! I must say, for my first try I am really happy with how it turned out! Now I can make more, with the lessons learned from this one. So excited!
This pattern is one of three in the same pack! It's called Valentine House Trio. I decided to make the house with the birds/letter first because I love a mail theme!! The finished stitch is about 5x7 inches.
Here are the details about the stitching:
My little finished pillow!! This stitch was fun and easy! It went really quickly and I just love all the little details - the love letter, the swirls in the tree and the little bunting banner at the bottom. Really so much fun!! I used my own stash of DMC flosses for this one. When Floss goes on sale at Joann's I will buy a lot of them! And I have them separated in bins in my craft room by color family. I can usually start a stitch using what I have on hand here and rarely use the exact colors. I could very easily make this into an Autumn House or a Christmas House just by changing the colors!! Isn't that fun?
I love the little BE MINE words along the side!!
Here's a close up of the pom pom trim after I sewed it on... I think it's the perfect final touch.
The little birds with the letter is so sweet!
Here is the backside of my finished pillow. Gingham of course! You guys know me! Never enough gingham!
First I ironed my stitching and put interfacing on the back of it to make it nice and perfect!! I trimmed my stitching piece one inch around all four sides - one inch from the border of the stitching.
I trimmed my gingham piece to the exact same size as the stitching piece. (In hindsight I would also put interfacing on the gingham to make it have a little more body. Just preference) I put the two pieces back to back and sewed all around it, leaving about three inches unsewed at the bottom so I could turn it inside out and add stuffing. I was under close watch by my sweet furry friend Lucky!!
Checking my stitches!! I loooooove my aqua sewing machine!!! It's just perfect for beginners. Not too complicated but sturdy and easy to use. It comes in a bunch of colors too! It's in the supply list!! (It works great on paper lol, now I'm using it on fabric!)
I turned it inside out and pushed the corners out with a bone folder. I ironed it again to make it nice and pretty!! I love my tiny iron and ironing pad for this purpose - it goes right on my work surface and I don't have to have the ironing board and big iron set up in the craft room for such a small project!!
So far, so good!!!
Time to stuff it!! One tip I got from the interwebs was to add both poly fill stuffing AND poly fill pellets! So I added both types of stuffing to my pillow. The actual stuffing is fluffy and good for making it poofy. But, then it's very light and hard to sit upright. I put in about 1/2 cup of the pellets at the bottom of the pillow and that made a world of difference!! Gave it some weight and allows it to stand. What a cool invention!!
I hand sewed my pillow shut at the bottom using simple sewing. Then I added the pom pom trim by sewing it by hand onto the edge. I really didn't trust myself to try to sew it on perfectly so I just did it by hand. Didn't take me too long at all.
It's been super fun to share this project with you! I know a lot of you are fellow stitchers and I love that!! It's such a fun hobby and one of my favorite parts is that you can easily bring it with you!! I always have a project in my purse or backpack!! I have a couple more stitches to post before Valentine's Day - looking forward to it! You can see all my cross stitch projects by CLICKING HERE!
CLICK HERE to see all the supplies I used in today's project (Affiliate Links Used)!
This is a wonderful tutorial Wanda and I absolutely love how your little pillow turned out, it's beautiful. I really like your color combo for this and I hope there is a chance you might share. I am just getting back into cross stitch after 35 years and am on the lookout for smaller projects like this and I think this one is just so sweet. Also, I don't have much for Valentine decor so this will be the foundation/theme to start my collection. Love your sewing machine, the color is so cheerful.
Posted by: Laura Corkill | 01/17/2024 at 06:58 AM
Super cute pillow, Wanda! You did great and congrats on conquering your fear of machine stitching on your completed stitch projects. Once you feel confident in straight stitching on your machine, you will open yourself up to many new creative endeavors. Basic straight stitching is all that’s needed for so many machine sewn projects. When I was 13, my mom paid a neighbor college girl to teach me how to sew using a machine. It’s a skill I’m so glad I have! I must admit that cross stitching unnerves me. I feel like it’s so small that I won’t be able to see what I’m doing.
Posted by: Kathy F. | 01/13/2024 at 02:31 PM
NICE WORK, Wanda!!!! You did a BEAUTIFUL JOB on your pillow! Now, WHERE will you put it? ;) SUCH A LOVELY JOB!!! AND THANK YOU for the heads up about The Greetery coming release! I LOOOVE VALENTINES DAY things!!! Thanks for the "tip" about the Poly Fill Pellets! Hadn't heard of them before! ;) I LIKE your sewing machine too! REALLY, unless you are REALLLY into sewing, you only need a simple machine & they ARE EASIER to use! (JUST MY STYLE!) ;)
Posted by: Becky Green | 01/12/2024 at 11:44 AM
Pretty soon you will be able to sew your trim inside of the seam. I think this is so cute and that pattern would be so perfect for all seasons. Great job and I was glad to see Lucky's watchful eye on your work. Keep it up...
Posted by: Anne Sturgeon | 01/12/2024 at 08:49 AM
Wow Wanda! This is adorable!! I am not a fan of sewing either so I can relate to how you feel! Sending a pet for Lucky! What would we do without our fur Babies! Have a great weekend!
Posted by: Amy Burkholder | 01/12/2024 at 08:21 AM
Oh my gosh, Wanda this is so cute! I love it! I’m stitching some littles to make Valentine pillows and will be following your tutorial to make them. Thanks so much. Your color choices are perfect. If you have them, I wonder if you’d share your colors, I think I prefer yours to the called for colors, LOL! Again, thanks so much for sharing your stitching and I look forward to what you have to share from The Greetery…always so much fun!
Posted by: Julie Shaskin | 01/12/2024 at 08:07 AM
Wanda Wanda Wanda what can I say but your cross stitching it always beautiful.i love seeing what you make and how fast you seem to do them. They are always stunning. It makes me what to pick it up again. I haven't cross stitched for about 30 years. Thank you for sharing you beautiful work with us.
Posted by: Jessica Monte | 01/12/2024 at 08:04 AM
I love to see all your cross stitch projects, and congrats on sewing your first pillow! I have a cupboard full of all my cross stitch pillows made over the years and seeing yours makes me want to get back into it! Looking forward to your next paper projects, too! Happy new year!
Posted by: Dianne | 01/12/2024 at 07:57 AM
Wanda!! Wonderful Valentine's xstitch project!! I have never made my stitching into a pillow. Thank you for detailing your process and giving me confidence to try. You do beautiful work and it is always a real pleasure to see your projects.
😍😍😍
Posted by: Teresa C | 01/12/2024 at 07:47 AM
OHHHH WOW! This pillow is the sweetest! You did an awesome job! Thank-you for sharing the step by step pictures! I do love little Lucky keeping an eye on the process! At one point it looked like you pooped him out! He is the sweetest! I love the gingham on the back of the pillow and the added pop poms! I tell ya...what would we do without a Wanda in our craft world!!!!! :)
Sooo if you are saying the new Greetery release may be a favourite of yours...oh boy!!! I know it will be a good one!
Posted by: Christine Dol | 01/12/2024 at 07:26 AM
I love your little pillow, Wanda! So very sweet! And big congratulations on making your first pillow. You did a fabulous job on it. Loved all the step by step pictures. What a great idea to use a little Cricut iron. I don't have one, but I do have one of those itty bitty ribbon irons from years gone by that I have been known to whip out instead of the big old ironing board. I'll bet your iron might get a little hotter thoough. I always am so tickled to see cross stitching posts. Thanks for sharing!!
Posted by: Jeanne | 01/12/2024 at 04:12 AM