Ghosts of the forest

I love white birch trees. Now that most of the leaves have fallen from the deciduous trees in the forest straddling the edge of our property the birch trees stand out against the dark background like ghosts in the forest. The chalky white color of their bark makes them instantly recognizable and if you get closer you also see the familiar black markings that is their second most discernible feature.

I decided to try and interpret this look with my silk ribbon embroidery. The first item I made was a pendant. I used three different widths of white silk ribbon and stitched them with dark brown embroidery floss onto natural coloured burlap. I like the rustic look the burlap has.

Some of my teammates on the Etsy Oh Canada Team commented that they thought this would also be a lovely design for a pillow cover. I would have made it out of the burlap but there's an odd chemical scent to a large amount of burlap that I don't like plus it's not the greatest material to snuggle up to. So instead I used my favourite pillow cover fabric, dupioni silk, in a beautiful muted yellow colour.
To make a more 'country style' pillow cover I will seek out something similar to burlap but with a softer less scratchy feel to it such as linen or a cotton hemp blend fabric.