My Patchwork Folk Art Pillow

It’s finally finished! I have been working on this for a couple of months now and it is done! This is the first of this type I have made so I’m really not sure what to think of it? I made a folk art pillow I shared in this blog for my mother in law Alice Mary for xmas this year but this one is a bit different. It started out as a Victorian patchwork pillow. I had all this material and started just cutting it up. I have a vintage button collection and old broken jewelry I’ve saved and the rest just kind of came together. The darker shiny maroon material is a dress my daughter wore to an event in high school. She HATED that dress and asked me to throw it out! Instead, it was used in this pillow. The back is just that. As you can see I didn’t stuff it too well.:( Here are some close ups… See that blue embroidered flower and the buttons and the metal leaves? That’s my favorite embroidery. The flower head is called God’s Eye and the leaves came from an old earring. The metal leaves and amber beads above, once again from broken jewelry, I made into a praying mantis on the left. It was a lot of fun. This was my attempt at a fan of material. The teal material is from an old nightgown I had! The outer edges of blue and white and yellow are an old hankie that belonged to one of my aunts….it had a hole in it. This was me experimenting with embroidery….I haven’t done it for 40 plus years! An odd colored sunflower that my husband says looks more like a strawberry I embroidered. Having fun with edging….got a little carried away…that’s why it took me so long! Close up of one side…… and another……………. and one with buttons… and trying more embroidery designs… Have you see enough yet?….Don’t worry…almost at the end!……….. A scrapbook heart sewn in….who would have thought?…. And last but not least, my ice cream cone flowers with little black antique shoe buttons and clam shell buttons above. Whaddaya think? Be honest now…..don’t hold back….I can handle the truth!….at least I say I can.:(….ha ha…. I thoroughly enjoyed working on this pillow…..it was soul satisfying. Now I am not sure what I am going to do with it?