Thursday, April 30, 2009

Pincushions

Quilters need accessories and pincushions are something that I have a lot of. I can't seem to help myself when it comes to pincushions and now I find myself with a collection of them. I even joined the pincushion of the month at Quilt Fabric Delights and have only made two out of the seven so far. I've given away some beautiful ones and not made them for myself but here are some humble ones out of my current collection. I decided to make another one based on the pie blocks I've been making. It's also like the featured pincushion on the pincushion swap on at the moment and I've seen a published pattern similar to this.
For this I made 2 complete pinwheel blocks out of charm squares.

I cut circles out of them measuring 5 1/2" and one strip for the side, 2 1/2" x 16 3/4"

I matched the half way and quarter way points with pins, added more pins in between and sewed it with the strip on top. For items to be stuffed, I reduce my stitch length down.

I did the same with the circle on the bottom leaving a gap to turn it through and stuff it.

Add a nice vintage button through both sides in the middle and that's it.

I made two of these and stuffed this one with crushed walnut shells and it works great with the large flower pins. The other one I stuffed with toy stuffing and I wasn't keen on it for size and it ended up looking not as nice and round. A smaller size would have been better with that one. This is the reverse side of the one above.
This one is huge and has pockets around the sides.


And this is one you've seen before in photos. It's my favourite one and I use it next to the machine. It's just the right size, the pins are easy to grab and it's also reversible. This is easy too, I used diamond paper pieces and English paper pieced two stars and you can see the middle is more diamonds turned on their sides.






I'm looking forward to seeing a lot of pincushions floating around in blog land in the near future as we see the results of the swap.



22 comments:

Unknown said...

All your pincushions are gorgeous! I especially love the round one. Yes, crushed walnut shells are great to use for a pincushion project.

Kim Brackett said...

How adorable! I'm going to give it a try. I love all of them, but the diamond star and the round one are my favorites. Thanks for sharing!

Abby and Stephanie said...

Love them all but the little pie block one is so cute.

Anonymous said...

Wow....simple Wow!

amy said...

Love your pincushions! Such a fun way to play with small bits of fabric and shapes. I haven't made many pincushions--need to remedy that after admiring yours.

Crispy said...

What pretty little pincushions!! Some day I want to make a Biscornu that my quilty friend Myra makes and exchanges with others. Here's a couple of links of pictures, just copy and paste to your address bar if they aren't clickable:

http://gr8damesplace.blogspot.com/2009/03/biscornu.html

http://gr8damesplace.blogspot.com/2009/03/so-glad-its-saturday.html

http://gr8damesplace.blogspot.com/2009/02/its-almost-magic.html

What I really need is a large one that fits over the arm of my chair...the arm is my usual pincushion LOL.

Crispy

Shari said...

I just love all your pincushions! They all have so much personality!
Thanks for sharing!

Carrie P. said...

Love all your pincushions. My favorite is the embroidered one. Thanks for sharing them with us.

Lurline said...

Oh, you little Devil! You don't miss a trick, do you?
Hugs - Lurline♥

Eileen said...

Ooo.. I love all your pincushions. I have a lot of them too. Never heard of stuffing them with crushed walnet shells before.. is that a way to keep the pins sharp? So interesting!

Mary on Lake Pulaski said...

All that cuteness!

antique quilter said...

love the pincushions!
ahhh I guess I need to break down and make a few..
LOVE the pinwheel with the button, too cute
ahhh they are all cute!
do you ever sleep?
Kathie

Vicki W said...

What a great pincushion collection!

ilovebabyquilts said...

Love that hedgehog! Of course it is the one from the Japanese fabric.

Mary Ann said...

Beautiful pincushions!!
I love your stars made from diamonds!
The fabric choices are fantastic!
Cheers! Mary Ann

Kaaren said...

Be still my heart!

I love them all. And remember...

You can NEVER have too many pincushions!

jean said...

Janet
I am convinced you and I are kindred spirits. I also love pincushions or any sewing paraphenalia for that matter.
Thanks for the tutorial it is very generous.

*karendianne. said...

woah! Very cool!!!

mendofleur.com said...

These are all so beautiful and fun and eye-catching. I love them all.

Lissa Jane said...

Janet
I have made a few of the same pincushions as you! I too am in the QFD pincushion of the month (done three months 1 & 2) I also have made the Christine Book MOTHER OF ALL PINCUSHIONS and use it all the time.. I have quite the collection, about 20 I would think now but always happy to add more, so thanks for the tutorials!


Lissa

Jantine said...

This is a lot of inspiration in one blog. Thank you so much!

QuiltedSimple said...

Love the pincushions! You can never have enough.
Kris