Happy Fall ! An Autumn Freebie

 

The weather has turned a corner here in my neck of the woods. It is nice and comfortable. The hot mugginess has gone away ,and it actually feels a bit like autumn time. 

 So yes! I am ready to shout  -Hello, Fall!  I am ready for some apple cider and to enjoy all of the fun filled activities of the season.   Well to welcome fall in I have a little design that I worked on over the weekend called "Hello, Fall".  

This design includes a big ole' acorn and a funky looking crow plus plenty of leaves to rake.  Like who doesn't want to rake leaves. 

If you have visited me before, you know that I love small stitches especially when they are quick. This one has a design size of 50 x 50 which on 14 count aida measures 3 5/8 " x 3 5/8". 

 I debated and debated on how to finish this little stitch.  I was going to set him aside, but then inspiration hit when I saw Drusilla Pendlebury's recent Instagram posts. Drusilla is an amazing talent. Her stitches are beautiful and so is her finishing.  And I am in love with her country style decorating. That is right up my alley. Well anyway, Drusilla recently showed some of her fall vignettes on her IG . She had this darling stitch hanging near her mantle shaped like an acorn. And that is when it hit me like a ton of acorns being hurled by squirrels. - A Hanging Acorn! Woo Hoo!  Thank you so much, Drusilla for the inspiration. Now if you haven't seen Drusilla's Instagram click right back to Instagram , look her up, and  hit follow. You will see some beautiful stitching. 

I ended up finishing mine into an acorn pillow wall hanging with a little pocket. I also added a small crow and some picks for embellishment. Here is my piece hanging on my pantry door with a pumpkin wreath. 

I haven't really settled as to where to hang this piece . Next I propped it on the quilts in the foyer with all of the other crow pieces. 

I even  hung the acorn on the overfilled peg rack in the kitchen with the other country pieces. 

Well he will find a home somewhere. Lol.

Now would you like to see how I finished this little piece? I will admit my acorn is lumpy and bumpy, but I am ok with that. I probably finished mine in a way that others might cringe at , but as long as it makes me happy I am good with it.

This is my acorn all taken apart. The bottom is a little bumpy where I turned under edges. 

Okay here we go with sort of a tutorial on the finish. 

  

From my dark and light brown fabrics, I cut 2 strips measuring 8 x 16" . To be honest mine was cut smaller but I found out the hard way it needs to be bigger . 

Using a 1/4" seam allowance, I sewed the 2 strips together along the width and pressed toward the dark fabric. 

Fold the strip in half. Finger Press and then cut the strip in half. 

I now have my template, and stitched piece ready to go. 

I  pressed the edges of my stitching under and centered where I wanted the stitching to be on one of the pieces of fabric. I placed mine below the acorn cap. 

Using 2 strands of DMC 838 floss, I blanket stitched around the stitched piece. Because my cross stitch was on aida, I was able to space my blanket stitches every 2 holes for an even look. I also added a secure stitch at each corner and every 5 stitches to prevent the blanket stitches from curling. 

I am half way there on blanket stitching. I DID NOT stitch the top of the cross stitch down to the acorn piece, but did just blanket stitched the edge which created the pocket. 

The blanket stitch is all done. Next I pressed the piece. 

I took both strips and with right sides facing each other. I pinned the pieces together. 

(Oops sorry for the upside down photo)    Using the template, I then traced my acorn onto my fabric. Cutting your fabric bigger makes a difference. You can see I need to make some adjustments. Lol.

( Lol now a sideways photo- What's up with me? )    Once I completed my sewing. I turned the piece under, and it is ready for filling. 

I filled my acorn with polyfil and sewed up the hole. I then used the crow template to create this big breasted crow to put in the pocket. 

I used jute twine from the Dollar Tree to wrap a few times around the acorn and gave the crow a bow too. The final step was taking some wire to make a hanger. I did not have any black wire so I spray painted mine. I wrapped it on either side of the acorn along the jute and added little buttons twirled around the edges. I can remove the wire, if I decide I no longer want to hang it.  I then stuffed the

 acorn pocket  with the crow and picks and called it a finish.  I am so happy with it and thank you again, Drusilla for the much needed inspiration. 

I would be tickled pink if you would like to add this little design to your chart collection and future stitch list. Now I am not tech savvy so the pdfs are in several downloads. 

For the instructions, click here .

For the color chart, click here .

For the black and white chart, click here. 

For the instructions on how I made my acorn, click here. 

For the acorn & crow pattern , click here.  You may have to adjust the size depending on how big you want your acorn to be. 

Thank you so much for visiting me, and I would love to you see your stitch or just to hear from you. You can always leave a comment here , tag me on Instagram using #pinkernpunkinquilting or direct message me. 

Have an awesome first day of fall and do something that you love!!

As always...

Happy stitching, ya'll

Melisa

Other fall freebies that I have posted are  Rosies' Pumpkins ,  Crow Creek Saltbox ,  Cornstalks, Pumpkins, and Chickens .  Just click on their names and you can go to the posts for the pdfs. Also check out the freebie section on my sidebar.