I'm embarrassed to say that I've had these photos for a year and not written up the post -- so here it is.
I wanted to make something for my choir director -- she quilts, and so I didn't want to quilt something for her just yet ... and so I thought of these Quaker-style pin-keeps that quietly show up around the interwebs now and again. It didn't need to be all from my stash, but it turned out that I could, and so it was frugal as well as plain -- also very Quaker. This seemed an entirely fitting quotation for a choir director and musician --
This was testing colors. The "Shepard's Blue" has a lot of purple in it (pretty, but not the effect I wanted), and "Blue Jeans" is a handsome mid-range blue, but I went with "Brethren Blue" (the wrapped one). "Collards" and "Schneckley" were my first choices for green and gold, respectively. "Lancaster Red" is definitely more scarlet than "Williamsburg Red," which has a slightly muted note to it, but I went with "Old Brick" since it played well with the other very-saturated choices.
The assembly is a bit fiddly, but fairly straightforward. Between the mat-board round and the needlework are two layers of cotton batting, just to give it a bit of softness. The needlework is gathered around the edges with small stitches, then inveigled onto the mat-board round, and stitched across the opening to keep it in place. I don't much like the idea of glue on needlework, and so I whip-stitched the two rounds together. The stitches are covered with a narrow ribbon, and glass-headed pins stuck in at regular intervals to hold the ribbon in place. (Historically, you could actually use this as a pin cushion, lining them up all around the edges.)
I was very pleased with how this turned out -- although I would rather that it was a bit smaller, this was the fabric I had, and the design and the beautiful colors are very pleasing.
I'm happy to share this chart, which also has finishing instructions (though without pictures) -- Download Pin Keep 1 (Make a Joyful Noise)
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