“SECRET” BIRTHDAY PROJECT

I made my mom (and dad) custom 14” needlepoint pillows earlier this year and they were a huge hit. so much so, my mom packed them in the car and drove them down to florida for the winter. she mentioned that they look better in their new england home which gave me the idea to make something for her big birthday this december that she can have in her florida home. hence the idea that it would be a secret project I couldn’t post about but, well… the best laid plans, etc.

my inspiration - my parent’s bright and airy living room

their home in florida is predominantly a pale palette of almost off -white with shades of green, and rattan furniture accents. I’ve been wanting to make a simplified version of my lulu design so this was the prefect chance to put my idea to practice.

I used a scrap piece of 13 mesh and tested out the fibers I had on hand (above, right) to see how it would work on an unpainted canvas. while I can paint and stitch circles in my sleep, I realized I needed thicker fibers if I was going to avoid painting it all out. I stopped in Stitch Boutique in Winchester, MA to beef up my supply of greens (above, left) and went to town. i was hoping to have it stitched so we could go pick out backing fabric together when I visited for my mother’s birthday in december, but unfortunately I only got half way through by the time I was leaving. I didn’t love gifting her a half-stitched project but I knew she’d get the idea.

abby’s puppy, franny, was zero help except with peppering the canvas with little black fur accents. 🙄 I started with silk & ivory’s #39 “butter rum” for the background color instead of my go to ‘pink lemonade’ but it really changed the overall color and didn’t work well with some of the bluer greens. so I back to my tried and true hue.

ta dah!! it looks great in each room in their florida home and I’m looking forward to picking out backing fabric with my mom while I’m visiting. and I’ve got so many ideas for a pillow (or five) for myself in different colorways for my bedroom but would paint the circles beforehand so that I would have more fiber options (wool vs silk vs blends). I wouldn’t necessarily paint the specific colors ahead of time but one medium tone shade so it would show through instead of the white canvas if I used a lighter weight fiber like silk.

it looks great in their bedroom, too.