Congratulations to.....AMU from Kuwait!

I posted a few posts ago about my Hardanger and at the very bottom posed a little contest for anyone to guess which stitches I had missed.  No one played except my new friend Amu from Kuwait!

So, you are right and the winner and I have been working on a little EID MUBARAK banner!  I wanted to wait to post this but can't!  I will show the process as I have made a 'process pledge'.

I used some of my prized Pellon from America that I have been sitting on for years.  I finally got it out and the plan was to make 9 of these banners for the different families' houses and for my winner!

I screwed it up when tracing the words and letters as I get easily confused and then found a way to not waste all that Pellon.  You can see the lighter side of the letters or words in Arabic and then you will see little diamond shaped shapes that are more white.  These still have the paper on them and all of it should look like this.  But, a little bit of ingenuity and Parchment Paper (for baking) works a charm!

Once cut out, I ironed it onto the background fabric.  I again screwed up the parchment paper by getting it all sticky and interchanging each side until I wrote on my paper This Side Up!  Then, it worked, you guessed it, a charm!

Once the letters/words were ironed on properly in place, I had to sew around the letters.  I chose to do a straight stitch versus a zig zag.  BIG job!

The threads should be secured so I pulled all the threads to the back of the fabric and began tying them into knots by hand.  You can see some interfacing which allowed me to sew the letters without the fabric bunching up.  This is very important!

Then Ms. Uki came in to help me.  She did not stay long as I know Amu doesn't care for animals!  Yikes!

Once the letters/words were ironed in place, I needed to decide what to use for the back ground fabric.

I then sewed the backing on without raw edges and began to stipple quilt it in beige thread.  Stippling is an all over pattern that should NEVER cross lines.  You can do it tightly, which is stippling or loosely and that is called meandering.  There is a difference.

I then needed a binding.  I don't have ready made binding so got shopping in my stash of fabric to make my own.  I bought this nifty little tool in Dubai a few trips ago and it worked so well!

Once the right amount was made, I began to sew it onto the banner.

I then decided it was too plain.  I went to the shop and bought Swarvoski crystals in light blue and started to strategically place them.  It is still very plain though!

I hung it on our wall and my husband was so excited; he loved it.  He placed his 'orders' of what he wants me to make for the house.  Sweet.

I chose these yellow-ish and blue fabrics as Amu has mentioned that he likes these two colors.  I hope you like this!

CONGRATULATIONS AMU!

EID MUBARK!!