back to the sampler

After I finished the edges and covered up that wonky stitching(!) and rearranged the elements on the background a few times, I settled on my layout.

The tattered fabric flower and feather are from my son's wedding. I used these to make clips for the bridesmaid's hair and had a couple leftover. The lace trim below it is one of my favorites from my stash- pretty roses. I used 3 teeny tiny fabric yo-yos. I had purchased 50 of these in various colors on Etsy several years ago- they make great little embellishments. The beaded snowflake? I can't remember where it came from. Perhaps in a thank you package from one of my swappers? I decided to use just one button on the bottom, and it took me forever to choose one! As you can see, I went through the whole jar! (me and my button fetish!)

I then used simple needle and thread and sewed each item in place. Nothing fancy or professional, just some tacking stitches where they needed to be to hold the element down. With some embroidery floss I back-stitched the words "begin anew". I didn't use a pattern, I just free-handed it, counting the threads in the linen as you would in counted cross stitching.

On the back, I sewed on an old "made by" tag that I've had since I was in my 20's! I ordered them from Lillian Vernon or somewhere like that and they've been living in my sewing box all this time. They need to be set free!

SIDEBAR- The first 2 photos were taken with my phone, the last 2 with a really good Canon camera. I can't get over how much clearer and more true the colors are with my phone camera. Amazing.

Next, on to the packaging and presentation...