Sparkle Slim Tree Pillow

Okay, so I know it is not Christmas time....however, once again (for me), it is Christmas in April. Several weeks ago, AccuQuilt was kind enough to send me three dies to play with and review - and late last night, I was busy playing!

I am a huge Sarah Vedeler fan...and if you are a quilter or machine embroiderer, then chances are you are familiar with her work. Sarah's amazing designs feature embroidered applique done by machine - and they are all incredible! She does a lot of work with vibrant, brilliant colors...using beautiful silk fabrics and luscious AURIfil threads. So why am I telling you all of this??....because Sarah teamed up with AccuQuilt for a line of licensed cutting dies and coordinating digitized designs for machine embroidery....and I used one of these dies and her embroidered applique for today's post.

The trees were cut with my AccuQuilt Go! Fabric Cutter, using the GO! Sparkle-Slim Tree die. This die cuts both the large slim tree ( 4 1/4"W x 13 3/16"H) and the small slim tree (2 1/8"W x 6 9/16"H). I love how precise all the pieces are....making it SUPER easy to assemble the applique. I wanted to to a little experimenting, so instead of the recommended silk fabrics, I used cotton fabrics...and making it easier, I used charm pack squares to give me a variety of fabric patterns. I also used only two colors of rayon thread for the machine embroidered applique, instead of the multitude of fabulous colors Sarah uses (one day I will have the gorgeous AURIfil threads to play with!). I wanted a more subdued look...more eye-pleasing with my home decor. After cutting one large tree and two smalls trees (in a matter of minutes), I debated over doing machine applique to attach the pieces...or using Sarah's GO! Sparkle Embroidery Designs to machine embroider the pieces....we all know how much I love to do machine embroidery, so I opted to use the digitized designs (Sarah's digitized designs are top-notch and very detailed, as you can see!). The combination of the fabric cutting die and the digitized software gave me QUICK and FABULOUS results - I was so impressed with both!

After getting the trees cut and machine embroidered, I decided to add a couple reindeer as a finishing touch! Using the same fabric line (Frosted Memories by Holly Taylor for Moda), I used my Slice Fabrique to cut the reindeer (using the 'Tis The Season design card)...then machine appliqued them in place.


Once I had the block done - I had to decide how to use it - I could have put it in a quilt...or a wall hanging...but I decided on a pillow, using a coordinating fabric for the borders and backing. The borders were cut easily with the GO! 3 1/2" Strip Cutter die. It is a large pillow - 20" W x 20" H - and will be the perfect addition to my holiday decor!

I feel blessed to have so many great sewing and quilting tools - they make projects like this so much fun...and allow me to create intricate projects with my crazy busy schedule. I have two more Sparkle dies to play with and review: Sparkle-Snowflakes and the Sparkle-Tree, so look for more fun holiday projects soon!