Pincushion with tatted edge

I'm in a pincushion swap with the Indiana quilters group. After looking at lots of pincushion instructions that are available with an internet search, I decided not to use any of them. Instead I chose to make an appliqued quilt block, stitch it to a backing making a little pillow and then filling it with fine sand. Having done that it seemed appropriate to add a bit of tatting so a found a little butterfly I had with my tatting threads and stitched it onto the pillow. Actually, I added the butterfly prior to making the pillow and adding the sand. Guess I'd better get this in the right order. I found some vintage thread (size 70 tatting cotton) which was a varigated cream, green and pink. This seemed the perfect color combination to frame my little pincushion so I tatted the narrow edging and stitched it to the pincushion. This stitching of the edging was done last, after everything else was completed. The pincushion is approx. 4.5" square and the sand fills it nicely when it's laying flat, particularly if one pushes a bit on the center to push the sand into the corners. Using a small funnel to put the sand in worked nicely. I was able to do it with little mess and no help. While I stitched closed the opening through which I poured the sand, I sat the pincushion in a bowl to keep it upright. I didn't want it falling over and spilling sand everywhere. The pattern for the applique can be found on the Sentimental Stitches website. It's one of the midget blocks - #87, tempting tulip. Here's the link for the pattern:

http://sentimentalstitches.net/wp-content/uploads/2008/12/midget-blocks-87.pdf

Now that I've completed this little pincushion, I want one for myself! Guess I'll be doing some more applique, something I'm learning to do. This little project was great practice.

For those interested, I don't know how many cups of sand I used as I didn't measure it but my husband and I weighed the finished pincushion and it was approximately 14 ounces. Most of the weight is sand so 1 pound of sand should be plenty. Wait until spring to get the sand and buy playsand. It's much cheaper than buying sand by the pound in a craft store. You'll have lots to share with a child if you buy a bag. A couple years ago, my husband and I were looking for sand to put in pincushions I was making and asked if we could have some from a broken bag that was spilling its contents. We got much more than I needed for little to no cost.

Floral block #3

Magic Cross, one of the many patterns on Quilter's Cache, is my 3rd floral block for the floral swap. This is a 12" block as are the other 2 sets I've done for this swap. All the fabric is cut for the Magic Cross blocks but I have some sewing to do yet. I should, though, have the blocks ready to mail to the swap hostess by mid-week. I hope to get the sewing finished today. It will be lots of fun to see all the different prints and patterns in the blocks I get back in February.

Starlit Pathways finished!

This is a UFO (unfinished object) from a no-mail round robin. The directions were given in 6 installations, the first being a 6" square of fabric. Each succeeding installation gave instructions for the next round or border. This was a lesson in color as we were to select colors that would go with those in our center. I was using fabric from what I had on hand (stash) rather than purchasing the yardage I'd need for the whole quilt so I found that I had to use different yellows, different greens and 2 different florals plus an additional floral for the backing and binding. I think that the color variations add interest to this quilt.




Oh, this is the first quilt that I've made that has lots of yellow in it. That was also a new venture into color for me.



This was a UFO because I put off quilting it. I didn't want to mess it up! I did some straight row quilting but lots of free motion quilting in this quilt. On this page there is a close-up photo to show the quilting. Now that I've finished this quilt (approx. 46 x 58") I hope to complete several more UFO's.

Quilt Guild Project

This little "Frolicking puppies" baby quilt was completed this week. I brought home the "kit" from quilt guild early this month. The "kit" was fabric for the top and back and also batting. The fabric for the top was a printed panel. I sandwiched the pieces and then quilted this using a straight line of stitching above and below the borders between the rows of puppies. On each row, I used meandering lies of quilting. This little quilt will go back to quilt guild to be donated to a local charity as part of our guild's baby quilt project.

This was a fun, quick little quilt to complete and finish. It was a great practice piece for free motion quilting and I got to use up some 2.5" strips for the binding. I just picked out a few that would go with the blues and greens in the quilt.