Every January I restock my kitchen with with a fresh supply of kitchen towels (tea towels).
This ritual brings me a lot of satisfaction because January, to me, is the time of year when I most desire to give the kitchen a deep clean and mini-makeover.
And I always begin with new kitchen towels.
At the beginning of last year I shared a tutorial (here) for adding pretty fabric trims to new tea towels, and throughout 2015 there were a few blog posts showing some I'd decorated with embroidery, but this year I'm adding applique for a change...
Back in 2012 I purchased a set of six Dunroven kitchen towels from the USA with the intention of adding a different stitchery embellishment to each one. These towels are 'gorgeous' and their quality is like nothing I've yet found in Australia so I didn't want to be hasty in decorating them. 
Sad thing is that these six lovely green, red and blue striped towels have been sitting neglected in my box of 'project ideas' all this time because I couldn't make a design decision, but as I'm shaking up my homemaker ways this year the time had come to 'use or lose' them.
So 'use' it is!
I began by drawing a bird and then a pot and finally three flowers and stems.
Then I chose fabrics from my Tilda scraps for each section of the design, traced the shapes onto Vliesofix, and fused the shapes behind my allocated prints.
After cutting away the fused shape and peeling off the Vliesofix I used the pattern sheet as a guide for positioning each shape in place on the tea towel...
Tweezers are great for correct placement of applique shapes...
You'll notice that I do not overlap my applique shapes as it the usual manner.
If you'd like to know how I do this you'll find one of my tutorials HERE.
After choosing coordinating threads for each of the fabrics I used blanket stitch to secure each shape to the towel. Always applique the tiniest shapes first...
Final touch was a double line of running stitch inside the striped edge of the Dunroven towel.
Simple things like running stitch add that little extra detail to a project, and it's so quick to do...
Now I have only five more kitchen towels to design and decorate!
But I'm not in a rush as these are relaxing projects to stitch in front of the telly with a Poirot or Marple, a mug of chai, and a nice thick slice of cinnamon loaf, don't you agree?
The pattern for "Bird in a Pot" is HERE in my shop.
Over the course of however long the other five 'yet to be designed and appliqued' patterns will also find their way to the blog.
Maybe I should sew a matching apron? Or tea cosy...
hugs
