Dancing on her pincushion

My friend 'Bloom of we bloom here has become quite famous on her own little pincushion; her clever creations are popping up all over the web in a pretty spiderweb of links... she is quite pleased and some time ago announce to me her delight, with the phrase "I'm dancing on my pincushion" ... I had an idea.

If she was to actually dance on her pincushion she would no doubt squash the poor little thing and probably in a serves you right kinda way poke herself in the toe with a pin.

The other thing you need to know about Margaret is that she is rather fond of those little wooden peg dolls, I am willing to bet that at any given moment there are at least 20 scattered or clustered around her living room and more lined up patiently waiting for painting or tweaking.

Being Jewish the Blooms do not celebrate Christmas which was fabulous for me because I could send her this as a kind of Happy New Year gifty.

She pirouettes to the twinkling tune of Tchaikovsky's Waltz of the flowers which quite serendipitously happens to be one of her "favorite melodies of all time, ever"

Sometime I surprise even myself with my silliness; that tutu is quite simply the smallest I have ever made.

Spring Pins

On Monday I read Anna's blog post about bad hair and good mail. Anna has a few theories about  different things and seeing as how I was waiting on a little parcel of my own I mused that I could work a bad hair day in.

Tuesday I didn't bother washing my mop and I didn't brush it either... it didn't actually look bad (which was possibly my undoing) it just looked usual. Maybe my hair always looks bad? Anyway no mail.

BUT Wednesday, the day after my shabby hair day... a cushion just bursting with spring time pin floralness dropped on my doorstep!

How pretty it is, how lucky am I. Look at the detail... I am still trying to work out if those flowers were done by hand or machine; the stitches are so tiny they must have been done by machine but I couldn't make a machine turn on a pin head like that so thus it must have been by hand. And look ~

Even the base is bursting with colour and tiny quilting. Thank you so much Leisa.

Woohooo. Parcels of pincushions for me!

My first* pincushion arrived this week...when I opened his box I let out a squeak of delight!

Meet Porcupine George ~

George was made by the hands of Kristen; I am more than impressed because she apparently doesn't really get on well with her sewing machine... he is everso cool don't you agree? Sewing machine aside her hand sewing skills are exquisite.

Pop over to her blog kstreetjournal and get better aquainted.

My offerening to Kristen arrived in the US the day after George landed on my doorstep here in Oz; I am still giggling at what went flying in her direction and what can hurtling in mine..uncanny, don't you agree?

 Kristen is thinking about naming the wee hedgehog Peter and I am everso glad she likes his fancy (useless) pins because they were a bit fun to make and poke in.

Peter is not from my own imagination tho if it counts I stabbed myself many, many times with the felting needle so he has some of my blood embedded deep within. His instructions come from the book Wool toys and friends by Laurie Sharp. There are quite a few other project in there too that  I might get to one of these days.

*When I set up the pincushion swap I only intended to make one pin poking thing and recieve one in return BUT well Celia put in a late plea and I couldn't resist her beautiful things on display at her blog felted jumper arms and then I was making two...

Celia's pincushion parcel came yesterday (it is so much fun getting fun mail, makes me do a  little dance).

First there was this ~

a gift for the midwifery me; Celia says it is a baby being recieved by a midwife's hands... I like to think of it as the baby catcher. The detail is breathtaking, it really is, my picture does not do her work justice.

And because it didn't feel right to be poking pins into babies (or their catchers) she gifted me this spring tree with wee bluebird pins who can flutter about the branches.

In return I sent Celia a little vegie patch, her blog touches on her garden as the seasons change so I cut up one of my love's jumpers (it had moth holes in it I promise) and did a little planting

and watering

Celia wrote a lovely blog post here

Now, I made a third pincushion too...a late entrant who couldn't be paired as all the pairs were already paired. So in for a penny... Unfortunately past the inital I wanna join in email I can seem to contact her; I posted it anyway and I hope she likes it. I don't know what came over me but I made something quite girly...

Please send me your pictures and pincushion swap blog links so I can set up a gallery to display all the beauty and cleverness.

Last minute pincushion swapping inspiration

Do you think that I am taking the pincushion thing too far?
Well the wee one agrees ~ she pulled them all out!

I wanted to give you a couple more pincushion links before swap sign ups close tomorrow...

Linda, who blogs at Natural Suburbia, has, as always, been generous with her talents and a little while ago posted a tutorial for this knitted apple ~ how handy! it doubles as a pincushion. I am sure she knew I was planning this swap!


PharMa has created and shared this tutorial for a hairbrush pincushion, try as I might (and with her permission even) I can't download the image to show you here; clink on the link and have a peek. PharMa is convinced her brush and the pincushion were separated at birth.

And I just remembered that Margaret from We Bloom Here did a lovely post a wee while back ~ a pincushion of possibilities; oh! all the beautiful, clever cushions she shares images of.

BE quick if you want to join in ~ Sign-ups for this open, international pincushion swap close tomorrow evening (Sunday, September 25^th 2011; Eastern Australian time) What you create is limited only by your skill and imagination but all pincushions need to be complete and ready for postage by the first week of October.

If you would like to join me in this pincushion swapping fun; send an email before tomorrow night to:

Shannon AT mymidwives DOT com DOT au

Please include your:

name

mailing address

email addresand blog URL (if you have one) and any special requests - ie postage within own country, willing to swap more than one etc..

* A few people have left comments that they would like to join in but have not sent an email - please do I would hate you to miss out because I couldn't contact you.

Everyone who is already in the game (and new arrivals); your swap partners will be in your inboxes by Monday.

 Thanks everyone ~ 

Sign ups for this swap are now closed.

Thwarted by ignorance

Can you believe it? They paid actual money to have the sign 'fixed'..I would fix it again but apparently I paid for the gramatically incorrect sign in the first place and then paid again to get it restored. I am shaking my head in disbelief, I live among idiots. It makes me want to stick a pin in someone's eye.

Come and join my pincushion swap - I know you want to :)

Not sure what I am on about? It is a point of grammar, see here
Eyeball pincushion image from here

Join with me in a lucky pincushion swap

According to some wonderful old legend, placing a tomato on the mantelpiece or shelf of a new home guaranteed prosperity and repelled evil spirits; I’m thinking new home ~ old home, we could all do with a little prosperity.

As you well know, tomatoes are a seasonal fruit so people had to improvise their good luck in the off season. A circle of red fabric rounded and stuffed with sand or sawdust sort of looks like a tomato; the improvised good-luck symbol also served a practical purpose—a handy place to stick pins!

Being a very practical person I have several pin cushions. The wet felted ball below has not only been a very handy holder of pins but also a source of decorative flights of the imagination for creative pin placement by my big girl (and general stabbing of pins by the wee one).
 

Flights of imagination lead me to show you this treasured possession; a whimsical nesting bird of perfect pink plumage made for me by Margaret of We Bloom Here.

Pin placement needs to be carefully considered so as not to poke the bird or her pretty blue eggs.

My mother, hearing me prattle on about pretty pincushions, introduced me to a friend of hers who makes beautiful pincushions from old canister lids…I couldn’t resist.
 

This ‘traditional’ tomato I made from the sleeve of an old jumper as a gift for Margaret; I completed it with a needle felted caterpillar pin. (I later made myself one minus the grub)
 

Then came the book Pretty Little Pincushions

Ahh …a whole book dedicated to pincushions! They are not all pretty either; there are instructions for some most fabulous eyeballs – takes the saying “poke a pin in your eye” to a whole new level!

Have a look here.

Anyway it didn’t take long til I started wanting more. This is where you come in…

Wanna Swap?

I know pincushion swaps have been done, but not by me. Nor have I had the fun of participating in one, so here goes: this swap is open to anyone who is keen.

Pincushions are a perfect excuse to use up fabric and other scraps you’ve been saving and I quote “they also lend themselves beautifully to experimentation, variation, and quick and easy multiples for the loveliest mini-presents ever” (page 7 of Pretty little pincushions, S Brill (ed)  2007).

The swap opens today, September 8, 2011. Sign-ups will close Sunday evening September 25^th 2011 (Eastern Australian time) all pincushions need to be complete and ready for postage by the first week of October.

Please join me in my pincushion madness; send an email that details your name, mailing address, email address & blog URL (if you have one.) to:

Shannon AT my midwives DOT com DOT au

If you fancy making and swapping more than one pincushion, only want to post within your own country or have any other request let me know that too and I will try and sort it all out.

Need some more inspiration?

Carina’s simply beautiful Dala Horse pincushion 

 

Sweeter than chocolate buttons Toadstool Cottage and Mushroom House free pattern and tutorial from the little house by the sea.

The lovely Hyena in Petticoats has posted a tutorial for this simple four square patch pincushion on her blog paper.strings.cloth  tho she was almost embarrassed at calling it such, it is so easy.

 

 

Lion Brand has this free Amigurumi crochet Tea Cup Pincushion in their stash of patterns and the skill level is EASY!

 

Bec, who blogs at 'Bec I am' agrees that a girl cannot have too many pincushions; and has thrift shopped her way to make this one. 

While she naps has similar ideas  on a smaller scale.

Barefoot shepherdess exquisitely embroiders her simple cushions.

For autumn 

 

For anytime     

     

And for when you just need a few pins watching over your flock. 

 Sign ups for this swap have now closed

Thank you to each of the crafty bloggers who gave me permission to use their images and share their links.

Wednesday Craft Group - Wet felt pincishions (balls)

Back into the swing with our first project for the year, felted pincushions. Simple yet very practical. We have loads of new families joining in this year, many who have never needed such an object before ~ in a few weeks they will be so glad they own one.

Very quickly, to make your own pincushion (or a ball, why not make three and learn to juggle) find some old scrappy bits of wool ~ fleece, leftover yarn, your children's long forgotten finger knitting practice pieces) and ball it up tightly. With your wool roving start wrapping pretty firmly until it is a decent sized ball. Remember that it will shrink as it felts.

At this stage you may like to add some strands of wool yarn (not acrylic nor superwash wool ~ neither will felt)

Wet down your ball with warm soapy water; you can plunge it in the sink/bucket or spray it on but you don't want it soaking. GENTLY, very gently ~ this bit is very important ~ begin to pat your ball all around, slowly, slowly, turning and patting NOT rolling yet.

If you start too vigorously you will end up with a matted brain rather than a smooth ball.
When it begins to felt you can start to gently roll the ball in your hands, you will feel it start to firm up and as it does you can add more pressure to you roll.

Once the fibres are matted together so they pinch up as a solid surface rather than individual fibres you are well on your way ~ start rubbing and rolling on bubble wrap or your sink draining board. To full (strengthen) the ball, thrown it around a bit and run it under hot and then cold water a few times.

If you got really bored with the whole process you could put it in the washing machine (in a sock/old stocking) or do your fulling in the dryer for 10-15 minutes.

We also made some flat felt pieces which next week will will turn into scissor cases ~ I'll be sure to pdf the pattern for you.

The wee girl fell asleep in the car on the way home, so I didn't get two hours of quilt work done but I did make my first block

 

and then three more. Only 139 of these ones to go, then I go back to the cutting mat.