More Pincushion Finishes

Somehow I'm going to have to keep track of which pincushions I've shown you and which ones I have left. I decided to show you in batches since that's how I'm making them. Plus, each batch kind of has a theme or colorway. Maybe it's more a colorway.
I wrote about the first batch here.

I'm sewing ahead of my writing because for some strange reason that's how it's going. Don't read too much in it though, I'm not that far ahead with the sewing. 

In the second batch, (here) I used an off-white background fabric. In that post I wrote about my plan for all the pincushions. For these I found a piece of Kona Black in the scrap bucket. It was big enough to cut down, which I needed to do because the other scraps were more like slivers. 

I decided not to spend much time agonizing over what the pincushions would look like. My plan is to let people choose their own, so if someone doesn't like a color or whatever, she can choose another. Or none at all. 

  
I like the black on these but I really like the tight quilting on the topmost in this picture. I've tried this checkerboard quilting on a few other pincushions since, and it always ends up being one of my favorite motifs. Too bad it's so time-consuming.

Of the pincushions themselves, the orange with the thin sliver of black in the middle is my favorite. I don't even know why. I'm fairly sure the purple and gold LSU colorway is going to go quickly, so I've been trying to include one or two in each batch. 

I do not like the wavy quilting (it looks messy) but there's no way I'm ripping out some quilting on a pincushion. If everyone says it's too messy, I'll toss it away. 

And there you have it....four more pincushions in an afternoon of sewing. 

Pin It Weekly #239

Just pins this week. . .

Happy Easter!

Five Little Finishes ~~ Pincushions

I've been sewing a little, though not much. I had an idea last week that is sort of a secret. My guild has booked a bus to attend the Gulf States Quilting Association quilt show in April. 

The bus holds 35 people and I had 20 or so pincushions already made and sitting in the basket, waiting for a recipient. Making another 15 shouldn't be that time-consuming. I wrote about other pincushions for this project here.

I had to rip out the handwork on this round one.
That flat side was making me crazy!

These were quick and easy. I just sewed strips of fabric together to make the four rectangular ones. The round one is a left-over circle from some other project. I quilted it in a circle from center to edges.

The others all have straight line quilting so they would quilt up quickly. Did you notice the LSU colors? In Louisiana if you want people to love your stuff, toss in a few with LSU colors. That LSU love translates to all kinds of other colors--just don't be obvious about rival colors!

I sort of made a batch of these in an assembly line fashion. First I sewed all the strips for the tops, then quilted all of the pieces by pinning them to the same fairly large scrap of muslin. I used scrap batting, too, so everything used in the making is scrap of some sort. I don't sew my batting pieces together...just kind of butt two pieces against each other and pin in place as I pin the pincushion top on. 

Backs of pincushions in green plaid

After quilting the top, it was short work of adding the backs and filling them. The hand work of sewing them closed was not easy because I use that darn clear nylon filament thread. It's impossible to see, curls around everything, and makes little kinks in itself. I've tried ironing it, which helps a little, but it's still a fight.

Shocker: I remembered to put in my little tags as a subtle reminder to the recipients of me. Well, these five make 25, I think. Only 10 more to go! 

How's this for a little surprise when you go on a trip? Wouldn't it be fun to be able to choose your favorite then pass the basket to the next person?  I'll put a few extra in so everyone gets a choice, but how do you feel about being the last person to "choose"?

Better! Rounder! Neater!

Link Up Love!

Midweek Makers at Quilt Fabrication

Crazy Mom Quilts (Finish It Up Friday)

My Quilt Infatuation (Needle & Thread)

Busy Hands Quilts (Finished or Not Friday)
Confessions of a Fabric Addict (Can I get a Whoop! Whoop!) 
AHIQ at Sew Slowly and Fret Not Yourself

Sunday Quilt Inspiration: Indigo

I'm sorry that this post is a day late. I'm struggling with Sunday evenings. They seem quite busier than those Sunday evenings when I knew I had to settle down and get lesson plans written then get things ready for school. I'm going to have to work on a  better Sunday evening routine.

Indigo plant -- a member of the pea family

This late SQI is supposed to be about indigo, which is a deep blue/navy color that has been around since before the Europeans discovered the New World. The indigo plant has over 750 species and can be found in the subtropic and tropics of the world. The oldest known use of indigo is from Peru, but the Crusaders brought the dye to Europe as one of the spices bought and sold during that time. 

Producing natural indigo is both expensive and time-consuming, so in the 1880's Adolf von Baeyer determined a way to make a synthetic indigo that is faster and cheaper. However, like so many other synthetic products, the byproducts of synthetic indigo are hazardous to the earth. Nevertheless, jeans and other items which use this synthetic dye are popular and used widely. 

Did you know that denim (no matter what color blue it is dyed) produces such waste products as formaldehyde, hydrogen cyanide and other hazardous chemicals? Not only are these chemicals used and produced during the making of the dye, they are also produced when the fabric is dyed and when it is finished (washed and rinsed for human use). 

The majority of information for this article came from here.

I don't know about you, but I'm truly surprised by this information. I honestly thought I'd find that farmers are raising indigo plants and those plants are processed for use in fabric. 

Regardless of how indigo is made or used, there are bound to be some beautiful quilts already made using this rich color. 

Here's hoping that you learned something about this beautiful color and also that you are inspired to create using it as well. It's been a favorite color of mine since I read about it in third or fourth grade in a book that told a story based on history or biography and illustrated both the story and the meaning of uncommon words. I'd love to find that book today. It was my first historical fiction and likely the one that hooked me on reading.

News on the Home Front

Is that our daughter-in-law, Stacey, has a new job. She will become general manager of a restaurant not far from here. There's a caveat, however. Isn't there always? Stacey will have to attend a training which IS far from here, so she'll be gone for days at a time...for a few weeks. 

Since the other adults in their house are working adults, someone has been wrangled politely asked to take over babysitting services. Guess who that someone is? Why did I retire? Did I have big plans? Is it possible that the universe is conspiring? 

Now don't get me wrong. Milly is a doll...sweet and beautiful and good-natured. Perhaps having so many adults in her life means she's also a little spoiled. Regardless, when she makes "pretty eyes" it's impossible to walk away. So I've been enlisted. 

Learning the word no

Expect more baby posts and pictures for a while. If today was any indication of how things will go, I won't have any sewing to share. In ten hours of Milly I've accomplished a nap and a few pitiful little pincushions. 

Remember that I made a bunting for a friend earlier in the week? Well, cutting those triangles left me with lots of unused right triangles. They couldn't go in the bunting and there were so many that I decided to use them right away. 

Bunting and pincushions together

I sewed two pieces together along the angled cut, which gave me a rectangle. Then I cut those rectangles so I could mix up the different fabrics. I really love this soft, romantic collection. 

Actually I pulled the fabric from my stash. I could have pulled more pieces like these but felt that I needed to repeat some of the fabrics so the bunting would have a cohesive look. 

In the end I cut two pieces from most of the fabrics though not all. Regardless, my friend loved the pictures, so I'm calling the bunting a success, and that means the pincushions are also a success, right? 

 Back of pincusions

I also used some of the fabric to piece the backs of the pincushions. In the end I used almost all of the scraps to create these four.