Embroidered pillowcases

As observant readers may have noticed, I have been on somewhat of a pillowcase kick for Christmas gifts. A couple of years ago I decided these would be great gifts for elderly parents as well -- those who really don't need anything. We usually give gifts of food to our elderly parents, but the pillowcases have been appreciated too. My mother spends a lot of time in bed, and it's nice to have a pretty embroidered pillowcase. Nurses and aides sometimes comment on them.. a nice conversation starter.

This year I decided to embroider one for my mother-in-law as well. The Lord provided this single pillowcase in the form of an unfinished project in an old sewing box someone had given me.

I made a set of these for my parents. Bought the cases at Walmart.

The design is a very old Workbasket magazine transfer; so old that it didn't transfer at all. I traced it onto tracing paper and then embroidered through that. Not my preferred method for such a detailed design, but it worked!

This set with the Queen Anne's Lace is one that I embroidered for some good friends.

The design is free from Posie Gets Cozy. You can download it from the "free" section in her sidebar. I want to do more of these, but when I do, I'll use the trace/embroider through tracing paper method. It should work very well for a simple design like this one. Wouldn't it be pretty on dark green or navy blue? I chose the brown because our friends' home is decorated in earth tones.