Saturday, February 26, 2011

I believe pincushions are.....

the potato chip of the quilting world - you can't have just one! And you can't make just one when you buy a 10 quart bag of crushed walnut shells. Here is a group shot of the pincushions I've made this week. Remember to oooooohhhhh and aaaahhhhh...



I saw one of these online and jumped in to figure it out. I took a highly technical approach (that's a joke since I'm the antithesis of technically savvy) and plopped the bowl that was sitting on my cutting table over and traced around it. Now it was a pretty good sized bowl but I figured that was a good thing since I would lose a bit when I sewed the wedges together. The first ones I stitched up using some charm squares I had of the Meadowsweet collection.



These are about 6" across. I liked the kinda retro modern look of these fabrics and the cheerful colors.



I used a variegated Valdani perle cotton to tie the sections and stitch around the outside edge. It was a lot of fun going through my stash of buttons to make a stack to top these off. And then I wanted to see how they'd turn out if I made the wedges I a little smaller. I trimmed down the wedge and was able to get 2 pieces out of charm square for these pretties. They are about 5" in diameter.



The fabrics are a Moda line, Charisma by Chez Moi. I wish I had gotten more of this line. I made a quilt of if it and I'd love to have another -oh well, lesson learned, buy it when you can.

And then I decided to cut up some of the brights that were sitting in a pile and put this one together - all citrus colors.



I think this stack of buttons came out well. And with that one finished I turned to my batik stash and picked these jewel tones.



Isn't' that a great button? I think I got it at Joanns. And then I made one for me...



all dotty fabrics. I think the black button stack and the black stitching on the side really set it off. Soooooo what will I do with all these beauties? Well I have a couple of friends in mind for some of them or I could always just leave them on the front seats of people's cars like a overabundant crop of zucchini in the summertime. After making these and some more chicken pincushions (darn I forgot to take a picture - check back this week) I still have a lot crushed walnut shells... A LOT. The bag doesn't seem to get much smaller so I guess I'll be making more pincushions. I have a pattern for pincushions that look like little pies and my friend Laurey dropped off some fruit fabrics she had left over from a quilt. that would be perfect. And there is another pattern for a pair of cactus pincushions that is adorable too. So I guess I'll put the rest of those walnut shells to good use.

So which pincushion do you like best?
Happy stitching-
carol fun

8 comments:

  1. How cute are these! It would be hard to choose - in the big picture my eye goes to the one front center and the in the back!

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  2. Your pincushions are all so pretty! I see several that I'd be happy to give a home to! But I think I like the orange and green and yellow one with all the dots the best! I'm into bright these days! :0)

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  3. They are all just fabulous Carol! I think my favorites are the ones with the Meadowsweet fabrics. Pssst, my new BBD book arrived today - after getting Honeysuckle Manor from you I couldn't resist the new one.

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  4. OK, I ooohhhed and ahhhhed because they are adorable. I wish I could pick a favorite but it's a bit difficult. LOL

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  5. Oooooooo and AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA. I love the citrus brights. They are all lovely!

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  6. They are lovely , but I lke the batik one best . X

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  7. I ooohhhed and aaahhhed as I looked at each one...they are all just wonderful!

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  8. OH, the citrus colors are just too yummy!

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