pincushions

These are some pincushions I made recently as presents for friends we were visiting in California.

First one is for our friend Andres. He is just now starting to quilt and I thought he might be in need of a pincushion. I used some of my favorite prints to make tiny 'plus' blocks for the front.

And a scooter print for the back. I didn’t want it to be girly looking in anyway. I am glad he likes it.

While I was browsing on the internet for some fun pincushions, I came across this Ladybug tutorial. It is my first time making pincushions, so it was very helpful! I was thrilled to find this vintage blue ribbon in my stash. It matches well with blue eyes of the pretty girl in the window ( ' u ' )

I took the same Lady bug pattern and drafted a Honeybee to make this Bee pincushion for someone who loves BEES!!

Even the wing pieces have a slightly different shape. I am posting these pattern pieces for the body and wings of the Bee here if you want to make a 'helper-bee' for your sewing room ;)

Please click here for the pdf pattern.

This is how the backside of the cushions look. For the Ladybug cushion I cross-stitched initial of my friend and a ladybug on top of it. For the Bee cushion, I thought it will be funny to have a sneaky bear ready with a big bottle to fill up with honey :) Poor Honey Bee!

I used ground walnut shells as filling. I wanted to use natural materials instead of polyfill or steel-wool. I came across this idea while googling. But it tends to stain fabrics slightly, so I lined the pincushions. It added some more work but was worth it.

There are more advantages too..
-This filling makes the cushions heavy, so they don’t move easily when we are using them.
- It keeps the pins sharp.
- Cleanup is easy if there are any spills because unlike sand it doesn’t stick to the surfaces.
(But please avoid using it if you have any allergies to nuts.)

A funnel would have worked best to fill the cushions, but I didn’t have one, so I used Coffee filter cups and it worked out well. I got a bag of this ground walnut shells at a Pet shop for only $6. They are in the reptile section.

I hope you are enjoying a pleasant day and keeping cool! ( ' u ')