DIY Life

I love strawberries, both as a food and as a motif.

Recently, two separate summery strawberry stitching projects were posted over at WhipUp within a couple of days of each other: a pattern and tutorial for felt strawberries from Mr. Monkeysuit, and a felt jam-jar topper with a strawberry applique by Amy at Lucykate Crafts.

Even though they aren't by the same person, they seem like a perfect pair to me! You'll find further suggestions for this adorable project, including links to supplies, after the break.

Why not get yourself some nice wool felt, the rest of the supplies, and a jar of Bonne Maman strawberry preserves? Eat the preserves on toast with your morning tea (this seems like the sort of project that people who have tea with toast and jam in the morning would like, though others may like it as well), and make a few strawberries each day.

The strawberries themselves are just half-circles of fabric that are gathered and stitched to make a cone shape; you add green leaves and embroider yellow "seeds." When you're done with the strawberries, you'll be done with the jam; you can clean out the jar, use it to hold the strawberries, and make the topper for it! Exactly as planned.

All right, so the above is a tongue-in-cheek suggestion. But it is how I envision this project, and how I'd accomplish it if I were going to try it myself. The idea of a cute Bonne Maman jar filled with hand-stitched strawberries and covered with a sweet decorative topper is pretty difficult to resist, huh? (Almost as difficult to resist as a real, ripe strawberry!)

Of course, if you're making jam yourself this summer, the topper makes a perfect addition on its own. You can even adapt the fruit motif to suit whatever kind of fruit or berry you used.

[via WhipUp: strawberries, jar topper.]