Tulip crazed

It seems fitting to celebrate one year since the start of this space with a few of my favorite flowers.

Shortly after I cleaned up the card table and filed away my scraps from the tulip pillow top I just finished, this is what I found myself in the midst of: 

More tulips! These are modified from the Meadow Pillow I made for my mom last August during the handstitched class I took. In that pillow, the tulips were steam-a-seam'd on as a single layer of fabric. I chose to modify this time to give the flower more dimension and try another applique technique I learned on that project.

Each front piece is backed with muslin and turned in side out to form a slightly puffy, wonderfully dimensional flower shape. I wasn't sure the points would cooperate well with this idea, but they turned out just fine. 

I left off the extra piece to this one because this Floressence print is too pretty to cover up. I actually had another plan entirely for this pillow, one including many shades of pink, green, and neutrals for the flowers. But this little scrap took over and made me change the whole look. 

I'm liking where it's going. I've got a bit of handstitching to do on this one, now. Fun times ahead!

Linking up to Work in Progress Wednesday at Freshly Pieced