Throwback Thursday - 2004 (Part 7)

I'm keeping it simple today (since I'm under the weather), and sharing just this one project.

I'm generally not a fan of samplera, but this cute little design was tucked away in my stash, waiting patiently for me to find a reason to stitch it. I found the right time when my youngest daughter was to leave elementary school — a school our family had been a part of for 10 years. 

To mark the event, I decided to stitch something special as a going away gift for my daughter's teacher. My daughter had a great year, and I appreciate all her teacher did to steer my daughter toward excellence. I decided to give an apple to her teacher. I finished it as a pencil canister, complete with 15 colorful, sharp pencils.

I stitched the sampler on Banjo Cloth, a rustic fabric with a yellowish tinge to it. I changed the color of the letters in the sampler from the cream (called for in the chart) to a complementary color, a dusty purple. That way the letters could "pop" off the Banjo Cloth.

I used an empty Crystal Light container for the base of the pencil canister. I cut the fabric a bit larger than finished size, and just folded the top and bottom edges under. I stitched them into place with a simple running stitch in the same color as the apple's leaf.

I then held the fabric in place on the starting edge, the top, and the bottom with double-sided tape. Then I sewed the ending/overlapping folded edge to the starting edge with a hidden whip stitch. Simple and effective.