Cozy Scissors in progress

This project-in-progress is from Week One/Two of class, reverse applique, and is my second project I chose for this technique in addition to the dogwood blossom panel. It's meant to be a small needlebook/scissor holder, but I decided to change up the measurements a little and make it a place to keep my larger scissors I use to cut yarn while I'm knitting and crocheting. I got some pretty green-blue felt from Rachel in the student kit for the class; I wish I remembered what the color name was because I'm quite liking it. We were able to choose our color, and at the time this was my second choice but I'm glad I ended up with this one!

I am really making every effort to make most (if not all) of the projects for this class pulling from fabrics I already have. So faced with this choice and such an unusual color to match, I was pleased as punch to see that I had a print that coordinated perfectly with not only the felt but also with the pearl cotton threads I already have on hand. It is also nice because the print is small enough that some of the detail shows through the design on the front. I have many more fabrics around that have large scale prints compared to little details like this one. Serendipity! I obviously was meant to make this.

I sketched out a few design ideas before settling on this one. I was inspired by a few motifs from traditional Dutch embroidery designs I had 'saved for later' on Pinterest. Aha! Finally the usefulness of all those inspiring images is coming to fruition. While drawing on the felt, I had a couple challenges with spacing out the shapes properly, so those attempts will be hidden behind the fabric lining. Perfect.

I'm very much needing to force myself to put this down and do other things so I can enjoy (i.e. get used to) the slower pace of hand stitching. I tend to do things in large blocks of time so I can finish, or else I don't tend to come back to small projects and complete them. So this is a new challenge I've put to myself - put it down and save some for later!

Linking up to Freshly Pieced for my first Work in Progress Wednesday in a while!