Appliqué a Friendly Cow: A Guide to the Brown Cow Wall Hanging Kit
Some quilt projects ask for weeks of cutting and piecing. This one asks for a quiet table, a needle, and a little hand stitching — and rewards you with a close encounter with a very friendly cow. The Brown Cow Wall Quilt Kit is a small appliqué and stitchery project built around templates, woolfelt, and floss, finished off with flowers on the cow's head and a copper bell that give the design its charm.
What This Kit Makes
The finished piece is a wall hanging top measuring 13 inches by 15 inches — a size that suits a kitchen wall, a sewing room door, a nursery corner, or a farmhouse-style entryway. The design is a single, characterful subject rather than a repeating block pattern: a friendly brown cow, decorated with flowers on her head and wearing a copper bell. Because the whole composition is contained in one small panel, every stitch you add is visible and contributes directly to the finished picture.
The techniques named for this kit are appliqué, hand embroidery, and stitchery. There is no machine piecing to square up and no large quilt top to wrestle through a machine — the work is in cutting shapes accurately, appliquéing them in place, and then adding decorative stitching to bring the cow to life.
What's Included — and What You Will Need to Add
The kit includes all the fabric, woolfelt, floss, pattern, and templates needed to complete the 13-inch by 15-inch wall hanging top, and the binding fabric is included as well. The pattern provides detailed, illustrated instructions for various stitch types, along with full-color templates, so you can see exactly where each piece belongs before you cut.
Two things are not included: batting and backing. Plan to supply a small piece of each from your stash — at this finished size, offcuts left over from a larger quilt are usually more than enough. You will also want your usual hand-sewing basics: needles suited to appliqué and embroidery, small sharp scissors for cutting the template pieces, and a way to transfer or trace the templates onto your fabric and woolfelt.
Skill Level and Time
This kit is rated intermediate, and the description is clear that it is not complicated. The intermediate label reflects the handwork involved — appliqué placement, embroidery stitches, and working with both cotton fabric and woolfelt — rather than any difficult construction. A confident beginner who has done a little hand stitching could treat it as a skill-building project, especially since the illustrated stitch instructions are included in the pattern.
Because the pieces are cut from templates rather than pieced to precise seam allowances, the pace is unhurried handwork rather than machine time. Expect to spread it over a few relaxed sittings: one to cut and position the pieces, and the rest for appliqué and decorative stitching. It is portable work, easy to pick up and put down.
Tips for Success With These Materials
Cut from the templates carefully. Pieces are cut using the templates included with the pattern and then appliquéd in place. In appliqué, the finished shape is only as accurate as your cutting, so take your time, keep small pieces labeled, and lay the full design out before you stitch anything down.
Let woolfelt do what it does best. Woolfelt holds a crisp cut edge and does not fray the way woven cotton can, which makes it forgiving for small appliqué shapes. Use sharp scissors for clean edges, handle pieces gently so they do not stretch out of shape, and test your stitch tension on a scrap first.
Use the stitch guide, then make it your own. The pattern's illustrated instructions cover various stitch types, so work a practice row before stitching the cow itself. Once the required pieces are secure, the description invites you to challenge yourself: add your own personal touches with stitches and embellishments not listed in the pattern. Outlining, texture on the cow's coat, or extra detail in the flowers are all places where a confident stitcher can sign the piece.
Small, finished, and full of personality, this is the kind of project that reminds you why handwork is worth slowing down for.
Shop the Brown Cow Wall Quilt Kit at Linda's Electric Quilters.
