Garden Sewing Box

In 2005, I was contacted by Carla A. Cantonica, publisher of A Needle Pulling Thread, a new Magazine promoting Canadian needlework. Carla asked if I would design and create a piece for the spring 2006 Volume 1 Issue 2 of her magazine. Apparently she had seen one of my fantasy fish pins that a friend had and liked it. I agreed to do something and the result is my Garden Sewing Box. This piece started as a sketch showing various parts of my own garden and evolved into the piece you see here. When I start sewing, things change as I go along and the drawings are sometimes ignored, modified and/or adapted to suit the evolving idea. But that is part of the creative process. This is a functional piece with an inside box that comes out for easy accessibility of my sewing tools. Included in the box is a small embroidered needle case to match the outside, pockets for various things and a pincushion. I found a jewelery magnetic clasp at Michael's that was perfect to stitch onto the inside of the box to hold my needle. The closure for the top is large hooks & eye that go together perfectly. The feet are made from thin cording knotted to form balls and stitched in place.The full pattern for the box are published in the magazine.
Since its publication, this piece has won a couple of awards:

• Award for Excellence in Craft for Technical Mastery from the Craft Council of Newfoundland and Labrador, 2006
• A National Award for Original Design from the Embroidery Association of Canada, 2007

As a result of designing this piece, my mini pics series, Flower Pots, was born. These are a combination of machine and hand embroidery. The containers are stitched and appliqued onto the background.





 Since the topic is flowers, here's some freebies to get you started on your own project:

• If you are into machine embroidery, check out Erica's flower pots and watering can
• Free hand embroidery patterns at Craft Gossip 
• Flower motifs from Needle 'N Thread
• Native American Inspired Floral Embroidery Motif from You Can Quilt This
• Floral Sampler from Coats & Clark
• Spring-Colored Felted Bowl by Sarah E. White, About.com
• Baltimore Album Basket by Judie Rothermel

This is just a small sampling of what's available. Have fun!