Lavender and Lime (My Embroidered Bird Duvet Cover)

Before we left on our long road trip, I bought a yard of muslin, some lavender embroidery thread and printed off  some free bird templates available here from Martha Stewart.   By the time we had returned from our trip I was finishing up my last square.  Once home, I  bought some paper-backed fusible web and attached them onto a rose print fabric I found in a soft shade of lime. 

I stitched a length of ribbon along all four sides to permanently adhere them to the fabric. 

I just love how the distressed surface of this Terra cotta pot looks with the fabric. 

It holds a  lily of the valley that I will transplant outdoors after this year's last frost date here (around May 11!). 

I had such good luck with my seed started zinnias last year, that when I came across this unique color I just couldn't pass it up.  Perhaps a little dull compared to others, but I have in mind to cut some of these flowers to go in the room with my duvet cover. 

Before we left on our trip I filled 2 biodegradable egg cartons with some seed starter discs, planted a lavender seed in each, watered them well and sat them covered in the refrigerator where (finger's crossed) they will sprout in about 6-8 weeks time.  (Those are my basil sprouts in the foreground.)

Here's the finished duvet cover in our guest bedroom.  I used the same ribbon at the top to secure the comforter inside.

 Before leaving on our trip, I watched the video found here to learn the chain stitch that I used on all 9 of the embroidered squares. 

And the really exciting part for me was that 2 of our 7 grand kids now know how to do this too! This is our 10 year old grandson Michael working on a peace sign.  The other one that learned is our 8 year old granddaughter Grace.   I had so much fun spending time with them doing this. 

In between their trips going fishing with Grandpa that is.