Mother's Day Gift Idea

I have, amid the chaos around here, managed to put together a Mother's Day Gift Idea.  This is more idea and less tutorial.  However, it does involve some applique and sewing which makes it fun to create and fun to give.

If you are short on time this week, like me, then this simple project is right up your alley.  All I did was take this adorable lime green tea towel that I purchased at a local quilt store and embellish it with an applique from a book called The Garden Song from Art to Art which is available here.

If you are new to applique, I have a few tutorials here and here that cover the basics.  If you run into a jam, just email me and I'm sure I can help.

I originally tried making the tree out of a limey-er (sp.???) green and that didn't work.  I found this broween ( brown-green) fabric in my scraps stash and I liked it much better.

For the bird, I thought:  Blue Bird of Happiness.  It's really the Aqua Bird of Happiness, but it was the best blue I had on hand.

For the flower I chose a fabric that I could semi-fussy cut for the tree.

Once the design was secured to the towel, I used a narrow zigzag to stitch it down.  On the bird and flower I used white thread; on the tree I used a lime green to cause it to pop out.  

The ruffle was the easiest part.  I folded my fabric selvage to selvage and cut a strip 1" wide.  I set my machine on the longest stitch (5mm) and straight stitched right down the middle.  Then, I pulled up the bobbin thread, gathering the strip.  Next, I pinned the strip to the towel.  I reduced the stitch length back to 2.5mm and sewed the ruffle to the towel.

I did all of this before breakfast today.

Because the design is copyrighted and you would need the book to recreate it, I've also included a similar design I had on my computer.  You can access it here.   The same idea would apply and you could add a fussy-cut flower and ruffle to make it cute.  I also think some miniature rick rack would look fabulous added to the seam of the ruffle.


Enjoy,