early birthday gift

look what my sister made me for my birthday!
Isn’t she the best?

It’s a Union Jack pillow sham! I have been loving these ever since I first saw Rachel Ashwell’s version and then all the versions I have seen since.

Jemimah (my little sis) is an amazing seamstress and makes at least 80% of my purses. In fact this is the one I am carrying around right now. It is the perfect Fall purse for me!

Now she has made me this adorable, absolutely perfect pillow sham for my early birthday present.
The reason it is early (my birthday is not for 19 more days) is that Jemimah and her husband Adam are packing up everything they own and moving back to the States, after 2 years *at least* of living in Germany. Jemimah loves Germany, and I know this must be a bittersweet time for her. She got to see so much of the world during their time there and traveled all over. I am so proud of her for chasing all those dreams and seeing as much of Europe as she could while she was there. Wouldn’t surprise me a bit to see her end up over there again someday…

Of course I am SO excited that she is coming home for 2 months and then will be living only one state away for the next little bit. Until the Army moves them somewhere else …

But back to the pillow. I do not think she could have picked out better fabrics if she had tried. The fabric colors, patterns and mixture is absolutely adorable perfection.
I am most in-love with the blue floral with the tiny black polka-dots.
I think I need to buy this print in bulk and do a million things with it.

I love Jemimah’s great little details, like the zigzag stitch on the back and around the heart. She has that perfection gene that was lost on me when it comes to sewing (and lots of things.) I have to admit that I am kind of the queen of “good enough” and that is why I could never sew for profit.

But I am loving my hand stitching that I am doing right now. It is so soothing and peaceful, like my friend Tracy said. Even if it is not perfect. Right now I am working on adding lots of scraps and whatnots to an old pair of jeans. However, I will confess that the tougher fabric is starting to wear a callus on my finger. Maybe my Maw was right and I should learn to use a thimble? Maybe?