Flower Pot Pincushion - Day 11 of 100 Days on Pins and Needles

Spring?  Well whether mother nature is telling us it is Spring or if she is still covering you with a blanket of snow where you live, the calendar says Spring has arrived.  With that in mind I spent the weekend shopping for some new herb plants for my garden and at the same time purchased some crafting items at the garden center.  I brought my love of flowers and gardening into my sewing area by creating a fun and useful Flower Pot pincushion.

I used my handy E-6000 glue and attached a small clay flower pot to a clay flower pot saucer, adding the saucer gives you a great place to hold thread, buttons or other sewing notions you may need while sewing or crafting.  You could even add a larger saucer to give you more space for extra stuff.

I showcase two versions of my pincushions, in the first one I used a salad plate as a template and cut out a fabric circle, gathered the edge with a needle and thread then stuffed with fiberfill.  In the second version I inserted the tomato pincushion I made a few weeks ago into the pot to use as my pincushion.  Because of the tight fit in both I did not have to glue the pincushion into the pot, the pins are corsage pins and I added the flower beads to give them a really fun garden look. As always I found a tutorial to share if you would like to create your own flower pot pincushion to give as a gift or just add a touch of Spring to your sewing area.

Flower Pot Pincushion

The tutorial gives you an easy way to make the pincushion that requires no sewing and you use a hot glue gun to attach the pincushion into the pot.  A great tutorial that is fast and easy to put together.

I hope you create your own little garden to display in your sewing space, anywhere in your home or share a little bit of Spring with someone else.  If you drop in and check out my blog please leave a comment and let me know what you think.  I hope you enjoy a walk in the sunshine and don't forget to stop and smell the roses as you take an inspirational walk down "life in the craft lane".  

Friday Fabric Finds

With this weekly feature I hope to use up my stash and only those fabrics in my stash without having to purchase anything other than maybe backing fabrics.  So far it has inspired me to find creative combinations and patterns to use up what I already have.

This weeks selection includes some blue and white prints as well as blue and grey prints along with some blue blender fabrics.  With this collection of fabric I hope to create a bed quilt, but we will have to see how much total yardage I have.  This will be a challenge to find the right pattern design for this quilt but I really love the pop of blue and combining these different prints will be fun.

I wanted to show off what last weeks Spring prints turned into.  I made up 2 tablerunners and a set of mug mats from each of my fabric selections.  The mug mats make great computer mouse pads, I use one myself everyday.

Quilted Spring Table runner  or  Mug Mats/Computer Mouse Pad

 

Spring Tablerunner        or      Mug Mats/Computer Mouse Pads

Check back next week and see what happens to my Friday fabric finds as I take a walk down "life in the craft lane".

Tomato Pincushion - Day 8 of 100 Days on Pins and Needles

I have featured a variety of pincushions but today I thought I would showcase one that is a very traditional design. Some of us may remember our mothers or grandmothers having a similar pincushion in their sewing box full of pins and needles as they hand stitched a hem or even a quilt.  Many of us may have one like it ourselves or have even made one for ourselves.  In my collection this was one of the designs that I did not have so I decided that it was one I had to give a try.

I found a super simple "Martha Stewart"  pattern with a video tutorial using a piece of rectangular fabric cut on the bias.

Martha Stewart's Homegrown Tomato Pincushions

I made mine using scraps of green cotton flannel, but I did not cut on the bias and still got a nicely finished pincushion.  The star shape leaf section is cut out freehand using felted wool and finished off with a rust colored button.  The pattern calls for gluing the star shape leaf section on the top but I decided to use a long doll needle to stitch mine in place using the button to finish it up.  Using fabric cut on the bias would probably give you a smoother finish to the sides since it would have more "give" but I think mine came out nicely.

You could add some crushed walnut shells, decorator sand (found in craft stores in the floral section) or plastic pellets (found in a craft store and used for dolls, pillows or toys) to the base of the pincushion to give it some weight.  Add an emery filled strawberry to sharpen dull needles and you have a complete old fashioned looking set.

This pattern is an easy to do project even for a beginner.  It would make a great Girl Scout project or even a school project, of course since the use of a sewing machine is required it would be best to do with some adult supervision.

I hope that you enjoy this post and will give this pattern a try to create a variety of tomatoes in assorted sizes to fill a basket and display in your sewing room or even in your kitchen.  If you drop in to take a look, have a question, suggestion or if you decide to create your own please leave a comment and let me know what you think.

Doll Pincushion - Day 7 of 100 Days on Pins and Needles

I had to take a break from my quest to find and make a variety of pincushions and needle books due to family illness but now I am back to searching the web for new designs.  I will continue to search out new designs and will post what I find every Monday instead of daily.

I found this pattern in a Family Circle Magazine many years ago and made copies of the pattern for future use.  A few years ago I needed a gift for a Secret Santa exchange and I decided to make  this cute little design for a quilting friend of mine. The picture above is the one I gave to my friend.  The pattern called for the doll to wear a straw hat but I decided to give her a funky hair style and tie it up with a bow.

I spent the last 2 days searching the internet for a similar pattern without success.  The pattern I have is from 1993 so I have not been able to find anything on the web that even comes close to the design I used.  The closest thing I could find was a Half Doll Pincushion made with a porcelain figure.

Half Doll Pincushion

There are various places to purchase the half doll figures such as Ebay, Etsy or Amazon.  Some can be quite pricey but another option that I found on a YouTube video is a Barbie Doll Pincushion using a Barbie doll with the legs removed for the doll portion. I have included the link to the YouTube video, but as it is with many home made how to videos, this one is very slow moving and one needs to be very patient with the maker.

I hope that you join me next week to see what I find and over the next few weeks I will try to work up a pattern for today's featured design.

Using MyThrift Store Finds

I promised last week to continue blogging about how I use all those thrift store finds from last week so here is a preview to how my latest pincushion/jewelry stand came to be. Every new project starts with a mannequin body and then I try out different items to use as a base.  Sometimes they work on the first try and sometimes they don't.

I wanted my next pincushion to look a bit modern with a sparkly glitter fabric design but still keep it looking fun. I made a trip to the Dollar Tree store on Friday and found a feather boa in the toy area and the idea came to me to use it as a skirt embellishment on my latest mannequin.  This mannequin turned into a burlesque style pincushion/jewelry stand with a tulle skirt and feather trim.  The first base did not have the look I was going for so this time it didn't work.  I went to my stash of thrift shop finds and selected a more modern sleek looking stemmed glass for the base.

The base adds to the overall design so each one needs to be selected with that idea in mind and I test the mannequin on several bases to decide on the final look.  This one ended up being a fun, flirty and sparkly design. 

Burlesque Dress Form Mannequin Pincushion/Jewelry Stand

TGIF and Thrift Store Thursday

It's Friday and time to share my Thursday Thrift Store Finds.

Lately I have been creating some one of a kind dress form mannequin pincushions that can also be used to hang necklaces.  I re-purpose or recycle cast away items for the base of each mannequin.  Sometimes it is a glass or brass candle holder and sometimes I use ice cream dishes or stemmed glass ware that I pickup at local thrift stores.

Dress Form Mannequin Pincushion or Jewelry Holder

It is time to gear up for my yearly holiday season craft shows so yesterday I went to a local thrift store and brought home some great finds to incorporate into some new designs

Stemmed glassware is so fun to use as a base but the key is to look for something that has a good weight for stability.  You also have to make sure that you use the right kind of glue because not all glues work on glass. There are many different glues on the market just look for something that is appropriate for the materials that you use.

Each mannequin fabric will be selected to coordinate with the style of the base and then embellished accordingly.  Every design will be a one of a kind item and I will be blogging about each creation as it becomes a reality, so please come back and see which one of these great finds will be first to become a base for a lovely lady.

If you re-purpose or recycle any items please leave a comment and let me know what kinds of items you try to keep out of the landfills to help our environment.  I love to hear what others are making.

On Pins and Needles

 Recycling materials to create new items can be fun and challenges the imagination.  Here are a couple of little creations that I came up with today.

Red Felted Wool Pincushion

Off White Felted Wool Pincushion

If your craft or hobby of choice has you using pins and needles then a pincushion is a must have accessory.  This little handy item can be your best friend to help keep those pins and needles close at hand.  

I love to recycle different items whenever I can and in this case two glass votive candle holders were perfect for a couple of cute little pincushion creations.  I decided that the empty jars were not heavy enough to be stable so I filled one jar with clear glass stones and the other jar with blue glass marbles used for floral arrangements.  Each one was then paired with a coordinating colored felted wool and decorated with an appropriate design.