Getting Stitched on the Farm

A Sunflower Pillow

Sunflowers are always inspiring for me. I pick and pick and think of how I would like to portray their happy faces in my art and textile design. If only I had as much time as I had ideas. Here's a pillow I made last summer. I used the pink gingham fabric from this post (it's a heavyweight decorating fabric so the embroidery stitches sit nicely on top of it).

I drew circles for the centers of the flowers using coins as patterns. I filled them in with chain stitch which rotated around in a closely packed swirl. For the petals, I used fly stitch. Shiny cotton floss makes a nice contrast to the matte finish of the gingham. You can use my book Colorful Stitchery to figure it out for yourself!

Looking at this pillow on a short, dark winter day reminds me that the sunflowers will bloom again and the cycle of life will repeat.