Yes, I entered the Prudent Baby embroidery contest

And I'm so glad I did!

Not because I think I'm gonna win or anything like that. This is my first attempt at hand embroidery. No, I'm so glad I entered because I had a ball learning something new. I'm a geek like that. And even better, I just adore my finished project. Here's a sneak peak.

But first, the details: The contest was to "Use Your Words" and embroider a fabric object of your choosing with whatever words you like. The winner -- based on style, originality, workmanship and presentation -- gets a Brother Embroidery and Sewing Machine. My heart goes pitter-patter thinking about it.

So I busted out my embroidery floss, for basically the first time. I knew nothing of hand-embroidery. I nearly gave up several times because I couldn't even thread the damn needle. Have you ever tried to cram six strings of embroidery floss through a regular needle? Yes, I'm that idiot. I even joked about this on the Prudent Baby Facebook page, and one of the girls responded something along the lines of, "Oh haha, don't you just love needle threaders?" And I was like waaaah? Needle threader?!? Who knew such a tiny, nearly invisible little thing even existed -- and could be so damn useful? Why does no one tell me these things!

A trip to JoAnn's, and that stupid threader was mine. And once I got my damn thread through the eye of the needle, it was on. A few nights hunkered on the couch with my floss turned into this:

Here's another nice close-up of the embroidered words.

If you're not familiar, that phrase is the chorus of the Bob Marley song, "Three Little Birds," which is the theme of Jack's nursery. I love the message of that song for a baby, even if it is probably really a drug-induced one. I really don't want him to worry about a thing! 

 In the song, the birds are "...on my doorstep, singing sweet songs, a melody pure and true. Singing, this is our message for you-ooou-ooou." Hence the big brown felt door. I sewed it on with a decorative stitch.

I love the birdies. They're simply ironed on with Heat N' Bond. I bought the no-sew kind mistakenly, so I didn't add any stitching to them. I just hand-embroidered on their skinny little legs.

The festive flag banner is a nod to the Ikea curtains in his room. Also ironed on, and then the string was hand-embroidered. See how non-worried this pillow makes my sweet guy? Success!

 The back is an envelope closure back done in the same red-and-white polka dot fabric found in the flag banner. The buttons as eyes are hand-sewn on. I know they're a baby hazard, but they're cute, right? Worth it!

The pillow will live here in this chair. Our nursing-rocking-reading spot. Seeing the pillow there, it makes me so so happy. I really wanted Jack's room to have that personal made-by-mama touch, and I'm all at peace now. Cause it does, and I love it. 

It would be awesome to win, of course. But I am really excited to have this new skill up my sleeve. I'm thinking about enrolling in the Wild Olive embroidery class. I'm just itching to learn more.

So, do you love? If you also entered the contest, drop me a link to your project (assuming you blogged about it). I'd love to see!

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