SEWING: Pincushion-mania

It’s pincushion-mania around here lately. I joined the #PinnieParade challenge on Instagram, expecting to be completely inspired for the first few days, but for my interest to wane... well, I’ve not only amazed myself with keeping up with the challenge, but I’ve even got a buffer for a couple of days worth of pincushions at the ready.

I posted about the pinnie challenge the other week and have a few more pincushions to share here today. You can never have too many pincushions, right? Well, perhaps you can... but I won't let that thought stop me.

Made by Ali of Arabesque Scissors

Some of the pincushions were made by me, but others (like this one above and below) were made for me, by online friends. How wonderful is the online crafty community?

Strawberry Embroidery Pincushion designed by Anorina Morris

This strawberry pincushion (above) was made with some left over fabrics from the pinwheel table runner. The strawberry design is a free one I offer over on Craftsy.

Made by @BiblioSewandSo

Lavender Pincushion, designed by Anorina Morris

I decided on this lavender pincushion the other night. I drew the basic outline for the stems and then made the blooms with 3 shades of purple/lilac and little lazy-daisy stitches. I honestly love how this turned out.

Lavender embroidery designed by Anorina Morris

At the end of the month, I hope to make a great big collage with 31 pincushions. Let’s see if I can keep it up and reach that goal ;-)

CROCHET: Rainbow Corner to Corner Blanket

My scrappy rainbow crochet blanket is finished. Hip hip hooray!!

The blanket was a gift and has gone to its new home - I hope it gets lots of couch snuggling before the cool weather is over for the year.

It’s a corner to corner blanket otherwise known as C2C. It’s a very simple blanket to make and grows quite quickly. Each colour is made up of 2 rounds. Or is it rows? I’m still not sure of the “crochet” lingo and as the name suggests, it starts at the corner and is worked diagonally. The corner colours were left over yarn from other projects, but the long rows in the middle section were crocheted with (new) full balls of yarn. I wanted to be sure that I’d have enough.

I must admit that when it came to the colour selection, it was basically what came to hand. I had the balls of yarn in a bag and I pretty much crocheted with the one that came to hand first - well except if it was the same colour. I tried to keep the colours far apart.

I love how it turned out and have started another C2C project. I’ll share more about that one, when I get a little more done and have a decent size to share.

We always need a continuing project for the evening on the couch, right? There’s something lovely and cosy about a basket of crochet and yarn sitting beside the couch - ready to be worked on as time permits, or as the mood strikes. Don’t you think?

QUILTING: Pinwheel Table Runner

Remember the table runner I mentioned in my previous post? It’s a simple pinwheel block provided in the course material within The Quilters Path Craftsy class by Christa Watson.

I made the blocks and turned them into a table runner so that I could practice the loopy flower quilting that Christa taught in the class. Well, it’s now bound and finished and sitting prettily on my coffee table. It feels very spring-like and I’m all ready for the start of spring this year. Admittedly it was a mild winter and we rarely turned on the heating in the house, but I’m a sucker for the prettiness of spring.

Can you see that row of hot pink hand stitching along the binding? I’ve added a picture just below. I couldn’t resist adding that extra hand sewn touch. A needle, a ball of perle 8 cotton and something good to watch on the telly is pretty much my idea of a good night in.

If I’d thought of it earlier, I would probably have added some sort of ribbon or lace, but for now I’m quite content with my little pink stitches.

The Quilters Path

I love watching quilters quilt. There’s something mesmerizing about watching the needle go up and down and the quilt designs appear, almost magically by wonderful quilters.

The Quilters Path is a Craftsy class by Christa Watson and it is the most wonderful resource - especially perfect if you’re a home quilter with a domestic machine. Christa runs through the basics of machine quilting and teaches us how to quilt with a walking foot as well as free motion quilting. Honestly, she makes it look so easy!

If you’re like me, you pretty much have a basic meandering pattern as your free motion quilting go-to. In this class, Christa shares many new designs and breaks them down into simple, manageable processes, so that the thought of quilting a whole quilt (with a new design) isn’t completely overwhelming.

For a limited time, The Quilters Path is 50% off, so click through the link and purchase this class today… and the best thing about Craftsy classes is that you can go back to it at a later time. And then back to it again and again and again.

I’ve used simple the pinwheel block (pattern is available in the course lesson) to create a little table runner which I could practise with. In my opinion, you can never have too many table runners in your stash. I swap mine around every couple of weeks to give the space (dining table, side table, hall table etc) a fresh new look.

Here’s my attempt at the free motion loops and flowers. I started out a little wobbly, but by the end, I had the hang of this effective design. As Christa says, don’t worry too much about the individual stitches as the final texture is all we’ll see and admire.

I’ll share a picture of the table runner when I finish adding the binding… hopefully very soon.

SEWING: Many, many pincushions

Have you seen the #PinnieParade fun which is happening over on Instagram this month?

A pincushion (or pin cushion) is a small, stuffed cushion, typically 3–5 cm (1.2–2.0 in) across, which is used in sewing to store pins or needles with their heads protruding so as to take hold of them easily, collect them, and keep them organized. Source: Wikipedia

Cheri of @TinkerEllen was inspired by all of the gorgeous pincushions which Crazy Mom Quilts creates and set the community challenge of creating and sharing a pincushion for each day in August. I must admit, I am ALL OVER this challenge. The best part of this challenge, is that we can share old pincushions already in our sewing rooms or pincushions that we may have made and gifted to sewing friends.

Here are the first few pincushion pictures which I’ve shared. I think it’ll be fun to make a collage at the end of the month with pictures of all of the pincushions :)

Do you like to make pincushions? 

Whats the biggest one you’ve ever made?

How about the smallest?