Pincushion in Blue

Embellished, originally uploaded by ivoryblushroses.

After a long stretch of working (nine out of ten nights!) I have a few days off at last! I've been stitching away on the second of the Sea Dreams pincushions, but found that this one wanted to go in a different direction. Rather than focusing on sea side elements, blue and white became the theme.

Years ago, my mother gave me a booklet of French embroidery designs. Rather than having actual patterns, it simply has photos of embroidery. One of the patterns had these fun bluebirds. They are the reason I've kept the booklet all these years. As I was trying to think of something to add to the white space on this block, I thought of those bluebirds and had to try one!

I had a lot of fun playing with ideas for seam embellishments on this. I am loving the combination of embroidery and beads with a smattering of silk ribbon embroidery added!