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.