Family Tree

This little wall hanging is making me very happy.  I love it soooo much.  And not just because I used my most favourite tea towel as the background.  Well you can't get much more perfect than a red gingham towel can you?  Especially one that already has pretty red crochet lace at the bottom.  Actually the top fabric is a tea towel too.  I guess you could say this is another project for my 101 uses for a tea towel book!

I feel there is something missing at the top of the hanging.  I'm not sure if it needs some lace too.  What do you think?  Problem is, it won't match the lace at the bottom.  But I'm not feeling comfortable with it like it is.

I haven't done a great deal of hand applique in my crafting life.  I really do enjoy it and must do it more often.  These wall hangings are a nice way to use it.  They are simple but very effective.  I think each of our girls bedrooms really must have one.

I'll make the next ones different.  I may even get the girls to design their own, but that usually ends up more complicated than I imagined.  They aren't too good at simple.  But I do like to be creative with my work and generally not copy straight out of a book like I have with this one.  I feel like I've cheated somewhat.

This little bird in the tree hanging belongs to Sophie.  I chose not to write our names on the birds as it just didn't seem right.  I'm mummy, not Sarah to her.  And if I wrote Mummy and Daddy then she'd feel silly having it in her room when she got older.

I handstitched everything before I blanket stitched around the edges.  It's much simpler to do this way.  I love all the embroidery on the different coloured fabrics. 

Here is the original work.  It's from the brilliant book by Alicia Paulson, Stitched In Time.  I would love to buy this book as there are so many wonderful projects in it.  I've taken to photographing all the wonderful ideas I see and just flick through my photos for inspiration.