This week I started making my third needle book that I am going to call The Roses. I realized that I hadn’t yet shared my second needle book in the pages of my blog, and as I like to use this space as a record for my makes, I thought that needed fixing!
I started this needle book not long after finishing my first one. At the time I was making samples using 72 degree diamonds in EPP. I had some spare basted diamonds left over so decided to stitch up a little panel to become the cover of a new needle book. I used a light weight iron on pelon and pink gingham fabric to construct the cover with hand quilting done in a variegated perle 8 thread. I made the pink gingham fabric larger than the EPP pieced panel so that I could fold it over to create a neat bound edge.
I kept the pages inside to a minimum and not too heavily detailed. The first double page is made from a piece of hand dyed felt in a lovely soft pastel rainbow effect. I stitched down a floral motif from a vintage sheet with kantha stitch to one side and on the other page side created a pocket with another piece of vintage sheet. I also appliqued an EPP five point star, created using 72 degree diamonds to the over side of the pocket.
For the next page I took a piece of lightweight iron on pelon and backed it with a piece of vintage sheet on one side and on the other side a piece of modern quilting fabric with strawberries and two other pieces of vintage sheet. I did Kantha stitch all over in different directions and using different threads. I attached a cute little crochet flower in rainbow variegated wool that I had made many, many, many moons ago.
For the next page I stitched a piece of vintage fabric and vintage sheet together using a running stitch around the edge. To this I invisible stitched a pink crochet doily, folded it over so that it can be seen on both sides of the page.
For the middle page I used a piece of pink wool felt off-cut and to this I appliqued another 5 point star and stitched down a couple of small vintage fabric patches, with one of them folded over to the other side. I also stitched down another crochet flower I had made eons ago, stitching the tales from the flower across the page. To bind the pages together I tried my hand at the saddle stitch technique following along instructions by Dottie Bee in this video (you can skip to the 24th minute where she starts showing the technique). I really liked this method of stitching/tying the needle book together.
I love how this sweet needle book turned out and other than piecing the cover panel it didn’t take too long at all. Needle books like these really are a great way for using up those little bits of scraps and precious fabrics so that you can admire them time and time again. It also shows how EPP can be used in an application other than quilt making.
Happy Stitching,
Miss Leela x
P.S You can see me flip through and chat about this needle book in the YouTube video below.
72 Degree Diamond Paper Pieces – 5 Pointed Star
Pre-cut paper diamonds for use in English Paper Piecing.