Pincushion Surprise

Over at Craftster, there's always something fun going on; a few weeks ago a challenge was issued, to do some sort of Random Act of Crafty Kindness, and then post about it on the challenge board.  Here's what I did:

I made a TON of these cute little tie-on pincushions (based on these at the Better Homes and Gardens website).  Here they are, in-progress.

and I mailed one to each person who signed up for our Fabric Basket Swap. The picture below shows some of them, ready for mailing.  I sent them anonymously, but about half of the recipients knew they were from me!  (I didn't know it would be so obvious!)

The picture below shows the three stages of construction:
1.  Cut out 2 heart-shaped pieces from wool felt, and choose two scraps of felt for the leaves and flower.  I cut the leaves and flowers free-hand.
2.  With embroidery floss, sew the leaves and flower in place; add a button to the center of the flower.  Choose ribbon for the tie, and embroidery floss for the stitching around the edges, in a color that will add a little contrast.
3.  Blanket stitch around the edges.  When you come to the top of the heart, tuck in the ribbon and anchor it with a couple of extra stitches.  When there is only a small opening left to sew, stuff the heart with fiberfill, and continue stitching to close it up.
4.  Give it away, or enjoy it yourself!

These were a big hit with all who received them; their happiness and excitement made ME happy and excited!  It is so fun to do something nice and unexpected for other people!

If you didn't receive one of these from me but wish you did, you still have a chance!  Starting on March 17th I will be hosting a 7-day-long celebration of both my birthday (yeah, I was a St. Patrick's Day baby!) AND my 1-year anniversary of blogging (I started last year on March 28th) AND having 100 followers (okay, okay, as of today I only have 90...but that's pretty close to 100!).  For seven days in a row, I will be giving away stuff I have made and brand new fabric fat quarters to people who leave a comment on that days' post!  It's going to be great!  I can't wait!!

Zakka Sewing Book

I may have mentioned my awesome friend Susan before; in her regular awesome manner she sent me a great book for Christmas called Zakka Sewing.  Zakka projects are functional objects to use in the home, meant to add an element of style and individuality to the environment.

Susan sent the book in this super cute bag she made!

We both love the "shabby chic" style, but Susan is more successful at it than I am; it's hard for me to let go of finished edges and 90-degree angles!  She knows I love pink, and hearts; look at how fun and raggedy this heart is!

Okay...getting back to Zakka Sewing...I decided to choose one of the 25 projects in this book to make and show you.  Here's what I made:  the "Flower Corsage Pincushion".  It is a wrist pincushion meant to resemble a wrist corsage.  Mine looks just like the picture in the book--success!

My one complaint with this project is that the flower patterns in the book are not full size; the directions tell you to enlarge them on a copy machine by 200%.  Well, I'm at home in my pajamas, and my scanner doesn't enlarge like a copy machine...so with a lot of scanning, editing and printing, I finally got the flower patterns to approximately the right size (the larger one is about 3" across, and the smaller one is about 2 1/2").  Would it have killed them to include full-size patterns???

After tracing the flower outline onto the fabric, you are supposed to cut it out and then sew around the edges (which are left raw).  Since I'm always thinking, I decided to sew first and then cut out the flower.  It was quick and easy this way.

Here's the flower, it's almost done!

After making the flower, you make the wrist band; that part is very straight-forward.

Sewing it all together (by hand) took a little figuring out; you layer the flower and wrist band with a felt circle and a plastic disc (cut from a milk carton or a random lid) and blanket stitch it all together on the bottom.  The stuffing is actually inserted here, underneith the wrist band (which seemed weird, but it works out okay).

 I have never used a wrist pincushion before, and I am super excited about this one--it is so cute and feels so nice when it's on (it's just like a fabric bracelet) that I hope I will use it a lot!  Once I got past the pattern-enlarging issue, it went together quickly; there is no interfacing or anything tricky, and I had all the materials on hand (you probably do too).  I can see that this will be a perfect little "extra" to add to future craft swap packages on Craftster!

There are several more projects I would like to make out of this book, and I plan to show you at least one more.  Which one will it be--the bunny pencil case, the slippers, or the sashiko pouch?

Pincushion Parade!

I came upon this CUTE idea today at Love Laugh Quilt--Beth is hosting a Pincushion Parade, and anyone who wants to show off their pincushions can participate!  I want to play!  Take a look at my pincushions:

The only one I made is the square watermelon-looking one on the left.  It is actually a Japanese ote-dama (juggling) ball, but it makes an awesome pincushion when filled will plastic pellets! 

The other four pincushions came from talented crafters in swaps I participated in on Craftster.  This cute purple cat is from wendiek in The Netherlands.  She made this for me because I love cats!

This lovely pincushion was made by alwaysinmyroom in Pennsylvania, using Japanese kimono fabrics.  There is a lot of  detailed beading and embroidery around the sides.

Unsuperb made this pincushion.  She hand-painted the design on the cup it sits in!

This little cupcake is from Amifriends in Mexico.  I love how realistic it looks!



I use pincushions every day (I have several others that are too scruffy to show)--I have three in my sewing room and these are all in the family room, near my sewing chair.  I plan to keep adding to my collection!