Lavender Sachets and Pincushions

I've been making lavender sachets; this is one of the projects I promised to show you that requires baker's twine.  Two readers have told me that after seeing my post about baker's twine, they placed orders from Talking Twine and Trim--the etsy store where I got mine.  That's awesome, fiddlegirl8 and Lime Riot--I hope you like yours as much as I like mine!


I made these lavender sachets for two reasons:  first, I was trying to come up with new heart-shaped things for my other blog, 365 Sewn Hearts (I need a heart for every day of this year!); and I need stock for my little booth in a local shop.  This project was so perfect for both!  I've made lavender sachets before, but in a different style, so it was nice to make something new.  I had lavender on hand, so I jumped right in!


Sixteen lavender sachets:

The picture below shows how I started.  I printed out words and phrases on the computer, then traced them onto white fabric using my light box and a micron marker. I have an assortment of the micron pens, each with a different sized writing tip, so for different projects I can use whatever size works best with the font size I've chosen for my letters.

I cut out a bunch of hearts from various fabrics, and ironed interfacing onto the back of each to give the finished heart a more "solid" feel.  Then I cut out the words and phrases, and machine sewed them to the front of each heart.  I took all the hearts to my sewing chair in the family room and watched TV while I hand-sewed a running stitch with embroidery thread around the edge of each phrase, using the machine stitching as my guide.  (I always try to have some kind of handwork ready near my sewing chair--I don't like to watch TV without it!)

Then I chose two buttons to accent the front of each heart, and sewed those on.

Back at the sewing machine, I sewed the heart fronts to matching backs, stopping at the top to add two 12" lengths of baker's twine.  Then I turned them right-side-out, stuffed them with lavender, and sewed the openings shut. 

I packaged each heart in a ziplock baggie with my business card, and put them in a basket to take to Country Treasures.

I thought I had an endless supply of lavender in my closet, so I was surprised when it ran out before I had finished filling all the hearts!  I decided to turn the remaining hearts into pincushions.  To keep pins from poking through the back, I cut plastic food-container lids into heart shapes and put them inside the hearts before filling them with polyester fiberfill. 

The front and back of un-stuffed pincushions:

Eleven pincushions, all finished!

This is my favorite one, because I love the the print and colors of this fabric.  I think I will keep this for myself!

Giveaway PREVIEW

Sometime yesterday afternoon, my number of followers hit the 100 mark!  I'm so thrilled about that, and the timing is perfect, because my Seven Days of Giveaways celebration (in honor of 100 followers, and my blog's one year anniversary) starts on Saturday.  Today is a preview of what I will be giving away.

The whole kit and kaboodle:

There's so much stuff it will hardly stay within the confines of this blog!!  Each day I will post a picture of that days' prizes.  The first person to comment will get one of the bigger handmade items plus an extra goodie or two.  The second person to comment will get three Michael Miller fat quarters (pictured below--THANKS Susan!) plus an extra goodie.

Below are some of the "goodies"--EK Success Brands craft kits and products that I received at the Fork and Talk event hosted by  Craft Gossip in Little Rock, Arkansas, last September. (They are having another one in April--I hope I can go!)

The fun starts on Saturday, March 17th and will go on for seven days.  Each day I will post pictures of the days' prizes, but the trick is, I will post at a different, random time each day, so whoever are the first two to see the post and comment on it (and give me their mailing addresses) will win.  Good luck to all of you!

St. Patrick's Day Bags

Yes, I know it isn't even Valentine's Day yet, but St. Patrick's Day will be here before you know it, and everyone needs her own special purse to carry in honor of that occassion, doesn't she?

...Okay, that's a stretch, but my favorite customer Debbie needed shamrock-themed bags for herself and her daughter (a school teacher), so here are the two designs I made for them to choose from.

First choice:

Bright green with shamrocks, checkerboard and stripes!

One pocket inside and one outside.

Second choice:

Dark green with shamrocks and stripes!

I made one large and one small of each fabric combination (Debbie carries the large bag and her daughter prefers the small one.)  I REALLY should make one of these for myself, because my birthday happens to be on St. Patrick's Day!  But it's hard for me do that; I always feel that I should be sewing to fill up my little booth at the local store.

Debbie, I hope you and your daughter LOVE these bags.  (I guess it's time to start looking for Easter fabrics now...)

My First Toy Drop: Mission Accomplished! (UPDATED)

Two weeks ago I told you about The Toy Society and how people all around the world make toys and secretly "drop" them for children to find and take home (you can find that blog post HERE).  I've had this toy bagged and ready, riding around in my car, ever since then!

I had thought I would drop it in one of the parks in town, but the more I thought about it, the more I thought I might look strange and conspicuous, wandering around a park or playground with no kids with me.  So I just kept thinking about it, waiting for inspiration to strike--and it did!  I realized the perfect place was outside the library; it is a small public space, with fountains, benches, and a pergola; and although you don't have to walk through it to get from the parking lot to the library, lots of parents with children make a detour to go through it, because it is a magical spot that children love!

There she is--my Happy Critter!  I was there in the morning before the library opened, and I waited until no one was around to tie the package to a thick vine at child-height.  When I stepped back to take pictures, the woman in the purple hoodie (behind the beam where my toy is tied) wandered in and sat down.  Darn!  She was so close to my package that it was hard to take the pictures without drawing her attention.  Luckily my camera has a zoom lens, so I took the picture without having to get too close to her!

I will go back tomorrow to see it if is still there.  I wish I could be there when it gets picked up, but I might get arrested if I lurk around the library too much!  So I will just send it off with my good wishes for the child who finds it and takes it home.

If you have a spare handmade toy around your house, or you feel the urge to make one to give away, come on!  Be a toy dropper!  The weekend before Christmas is when The Toy Society is making a concerted effort to reach their goal of 300 toys dropped in a single weekend.  I will be part of that--I hope you will be too.  Then please come back and leave a comment--I would LOVE to know about it!

UPDATE:  I went back this morning, 26 hours after dropping off the toy, and it was gone!  I casually wandered around, looking in the fountain and the trash cans to be SURE it was gone, and there was no sign of it--now to wait and hope that it will turn up "found" on The Toy Society's web page.