Pillows from Grandma (and Me)

Going through my late grandma's house, we've come across any number of unfinished craft projects. There were several projects that were embroidered for, but left unfinished- some needed to be framed to be hung on the wall, some were intended to be pillows that were never ruffled or backed.

For Christmas this year, for my family, I decided to finish some of those projects as pillows. The two that I decided to give my parents were originally intended to be framed and hung, but that's really not my parents' decorating style, so I made them into "charm pillows" (their term) for their couch. For theirs, I found some green-edged ruffle trim in my 'Trims' bucket, and I bought green (Mom) and yellow (Dad) fabric to finish them off- for the sides of the embroidered piece, and the backing.

The two that I picked out for my siblings were originally intended to be pillows- and they both came with their trims. The one that went to my sister ("little seeds of kindness...") also came with the fabric for the back. I did hers first, and without thinking, sewed the lace-ruffle on flat to the fabric, making it stretch around the edges, and pull and twist at the corners, and making me have to rip the stitches out and re-do. I planned better with the second one, and the trim I used for my parents' came pre-basted into itty-bitty tucks.

So for this project- my grandma did all of the embroidery, and she did the quilting for the top of my brother's pillow (far right). I attached the ruffles, and the pillow backing, and bought pillow forms for all. She definitely did all the hard work, I just finished them off.