"Bird Quartet" Stitching Finished

I've finished the crewel embroidery on the decorative pillow from a kit called "Bird Quartet".  I had a difficult time following some of the color symbols and stitching in the smaller areas of the birds where there were a lot of color changes and outlining and almost set it all aside unfinished. I took a short pause from this embroidery to do some big stitch hand quilting and to do some embroidery on an easier project - "An Old Irish Blessing" and then picked this project up again with renewed interest mainly because it was still taking up space in my hand sewing basket. 

Piping and zipper were included in the kit as well as pillow backing fabric. Now I just have to make a 16 inch pillow form with some muslin and small cut up batting pieces. Then I will put together the pillow cover.  I don't really need a decorative pillow so when finished it will go into the gift box of items to give away. 

 At the end of 2025 I dug into a bin of items I picked up from thrift stores over a number of years before I retired over 8 years ago. In November and December I worked on a lot of little cross stitch ornaments. 

In January I pulled out this crewel embroidery pillow kit that had never even been opened to work on. You can still see the 95 cent price I paid for it at the DAV (Disabled American Veterans) thrift store. Actually, I probably paid less because I usually went on senior discount day for a 10% discount. 

I have already started stitching on another kit from that bin of thrift store goodies!

And sew on...

Slow Sunday Stitching at Kathy's Quilts