Christmas Pillow Part One

I like to use my embroidery machine.  There is something soothing about watching the machine stitch out designs.  A gentle beep lets me know when to change thread color and the last beep lets me know the machine is finished.

My Janome 200E is smart.  It will let me know if the thread breaks, is threaded wrong, or the bobbin runs out.  This is good if I want to do something else while the machine is working.

I started the Christmas Pillow project, and worked until the center piece was finished.  I can't believe how good it looks.  A few scraps of material, some stabilizer, and thread made a wonderful little tree.

This is my second project from San Francisco Stitch Co.  It is called the FlipNStitch pillow.
I am doing this project because instead of a satin stitch to attach the fabric and hide the edge,  the stitching is hidden.  This makes the little tree look hand sewn.

San Francisco Stitch Co.'s version

The embroidery machine stitches the outline of the tree.  The hoop is removed, fabric is added, the hoop is reattached, and the machine stitches the fabric. The process is repeated until the design is finished.  Then the machine embroiders some decorations on the tree.

Here are some pictures to give you an idea of how the project is progressing:

Tree trunk and background on.  Tree bottom stitched wrong side to good side of tree.

Tree bottom folded to good side out

Next piece stitched and folded up.

And so on..

And so on...

Top background stitched on and folded back.

Square stitched to hold background down.

I satin stitched the square, then added the border.

Finished.  

The tree is shown on the fabric I am making the pillow from.  But first I have to cut the material into squares and stitch together to give the "quilt" appearance.  Then snow flakes will be embroidered on the squares with white thread.  Then the pillow assembly starts.

Thanks for stopping.