More Pincushions and a Project from Richard

Before I write anything else, I want to apologize to everyone who has sent me an email, left a note here or messaged me in any way. I've had Milly on my hip for days now. Everyone is away at work or school or playing with friends, so that leaves Richard and me to babysit. All. The. Time. 

She's even been sleeping here at night. Don't get me wrong, I'm loving having her, but a baby is work! And since she weighs 20 or so pounds, she's heavy work. She melts my heart, though, and it's possible that I annoy her with all the kisses and love. Ah, I digress, so it's time to move on to the post at hand.

As I mentioned earlier this week and last week, I've been on a whirlwind of sewing to make some pincushions for friends who are all going to a quilt show later this month.


I have finished enough pincushions to have one per person, which was my goal. To get this set done, I pulled out a small pack of 2½" squares of traditional 1890s fabric that I've had for some time. I don't remember how I got them, but I am fairly certain that I was at International Quilt Show in Houston at the time. 

Regardless, I decided to sew four squares together, quilt the patch and then add a backing, leaving a small opening to turn the pincushion and add some filler. This pincushions are oddly filled with sand, walnut granules, or shell granules. It sort of depended on what I had at my disposal. All of the materials work well and give the pincushion some weight. I use my pincushions as pattern weights occasionally, so I always want them to be a little heavy.

This batch of ten are all basically the same in size and shape. The biggest differences are the fabrics and quilting motifs. I tried to use a different motif on each one. The fabrics in this line had mostly four colorways, so I separated them by their designs and used the four colors in each pincushion. 

I felt that I'd cheated when I found this backing fabric in my stash. It was just the right backing and I happened to have just the right amount. Not tempting fate, I used it on all ten of the pincushions from this line. I really like the way it coordinates without looking like it comes from the same family. 

The other thing that I wanted show you is the thread rack that Richard made a couple of days ago. I plan to use it as a door prize for our guild meeting. It works quite well with the smaller spools, but larger spool are too jammed up and the little dowels are too thick for bobbins.  Here's a slideshow of his project:

Oh, he does not like it! Too many design flaws for Mr. Perfect. So he's started working on another one. I've decided to give this one away at the meeting, despite his protest. Someone else may appreciate it as much as I appreciate his work. 

The wood is from his scrap pile, but it's beautiful cypress with soft gray and yellow lines. One would never know that it's scrap wood since he sanded it to a smooth finish. Honestly, my hands get rougher than this wood! (Though recently I've been slathering petroleum jelly on Milly and that's softening my rough skin.)

Link Up Love!

Crazy Mom Quilts (Finish It Up Friday)

Busy Hands Quilts (Finished or Not Friday)