PATRIOTIC GERANIUM BASKET

Sunday was a sewing day for my mother, sister, and I.  That usually means that I will work on a wool applique project, but it's been so long since we had a sewing day that I couldn't remember what I worked on last.  My task on Saturday evening was to search my applique patterns (I've been "collecting" them for several  years) and choose one for my Sunday project, and I chose the geranium basket designed for the 2017 Summer Mystery Blog Hop by Primitive Gatherings.  By clicking the link, you can read all about it.  My basket doesn't look quite as neat as the designer's, but I'm pleased with it.  HUGE shout-out to my sister for cutting all of those tiny red petals for my geraniums!  I thought about using a die to cut them, but the pattern called for 92.  What???  At the very least, that would have required 46 passes through the die-cut machine since my tiny flower die was a thin one!

The original pattern had embroidery stitches for the red stripes, but I really liked the look of red wool and felt that it made the flag a more prominent feature on this project.  Besides, the last stripe on the U.S. flag is red, and that's what I wanted for mine.  I liked the look of the stitched stars on the blue field (as depicted on the pattern), but I knew that I'd make a hot mess trying to stitch star shapes and used die-cut stars instead.  One of the best things about being a paper crafter and owning a lot of dies is that they can also be used to cut fabric, wool, felt, etc.  Dies were also used to cut the USA letters, which turned out to be too large for my basket and required a different plan.  After finding a new place for the letters, I ended up not wanting to put a geranium under the "U".  I had already stitched a stem there, and covering it with a leaf wasn't quite enough, nor was the chain-stitched skinny stem.  Cue the yellow heart embellished with a Hotfix Swarovski crystal!

I haven't yet decided where this patriotic block will end up.  I am considering stitching it to a pillow cover or I could just finish the edges and display it in my home.  I have even thought about stitching some more patriotic designs to be used in a quilt.  There are many options, of course, but the pillow cover idea is really calling to me.  I'll be sure to post a photo if I decide to do that.