Here’s a pincushion I made a couple of weeks ago:
I was looking for something to send my sister in New Zealand as a birthday present. The important characteristic of presents sent to NZ is that they should be lightweight (the cost of postage is staggering). Small is a bonus. She’s fond of stitching and I know she’s admired my heron embroidery scissors in the past, so I decided to send her a pair. Then I found some nice pearl-headed pins. Then it occurred to me that she might like a pincushion, and that this would be both small and lightweight. As I was short of time, I thought I’d have a look on Etsy. Well, I used up lots of time looking through apparently endless pages of pincushions, but couldn’t find one that I liked sufficiently. So, in the end, I made one, and that’s it, pictured above. It’s four inches square. The underside, that you can’t see here, is a gorgeous purple cotton that I found as a remnant in an organic cotton shop. The button on the underside is bigger than the cream-coloured button that you see in the picture. I so enjoyed making this little item that I immediately planned some more and have got cracking on them straight away. It’s a great way of using up very small pieces of fabric that I just can’t bear to throw away.
Yesterday I had to go to Newcastle on the train, a round trip of around 6 hours, so I had plenty of time available to stitch. I actually did a few other things – read the paper, had a somewhat lengthy snooze, stared out of the window at the fabulous Northumbrian countryside…. but I also managed to finish the stitching for another pincushion and after I’ve written this blogpost I think I’ll go and assemble it. One of the fun bits is selecting the buttons. I have built up quite a collection of buttons, but never know what to do with them – well, here’s a way of using them, if only two at a time.
I know I’ve been away from the blog for a while, but I have been posting occasional photos on Instagram. I think Instagram is rather a good thing, and hope I can keep to the discipline of posting something there, even if I can’t manage to do it here.