On Pins & Needles

I spent last night getting my studio ready for the 2 quilting classes that will be meeting at my house this weekend.  It feels good to be organized again.  Sometimes stuff piles up and before you know....chaos!!

When I was cleaning out some drawers, I found a few pins and needles and I needed somewhere more organized for them to go instead of just in a container....so I made some pin cushions.  The yellow pillow was pretty much a no-thinker and works okay...it's just a little big for sitting next to the sewing machine.  The heart is an empty box of chocolates that someone gave my grandmother for Valentine's Day.  It had that cushy top and is perfect for keeping all my packages needles in one place (and it looks pretty on the table).  Then I got a little creative.

The coffee cup was from a presentation I was part of and I had been keeping it on my desk as a reminder....great devotional to go along with it that I'll be posting later at HolyCamp.  I covered the inside of the cup with glue then took some pillow stuffing covered with a scrap of material (no sewing required) and stuck it down into the cup (my cup is overflowing!).

The lid pin cushions are an oldie, but a goodie.  My mother always used one that my brother made her when he was a little boy.  It's really easy too and I wish I had thought of this idea I found on Etsy.  Take a canning lid with two pieces.  I took some of that pillow stuffing and rounded it to the size of the inner lid.  Then covered that with material, pulling it tightly, and popping it into the outer lid.  I glued the material down on the back (or inside of the lid) and then took another piece of material cut into a circle and placed over the bottom (purely optional and for looks).

My grandmother made the two red ones and they were made with the same concept, except using two lids glued together and extra trim to cover where they are joined.  She also put a plastic ring on the side of one so that it could stand up.  We put this one on the Christmas tree, since it is made with red velvet.

Oh....see the basket of material?!  Mother was big into re-purposing things.  This was a meat container (one of those red, plastic ones).  She had several of these that were cleaned and sanitized for re-use.  I didn't much care for a meat container sitting on the table, so I covered it with a fat quarter, (gluing it to the bottom and inside sides), then gluing another piece inside.  I added a piece of trim just because.

I also put together one of my 9 Patches.  I'm still going to add some more applique.  I love the Grandmother Dutch Doll.  I'm thinking a butterfly needs to go in one of the blocks.  This is just a sample I did up with way too many mistakes.  I wanted to showcase the different looks using different sizes of the 9 Patch block and different ways that you could turn it or use it.  This will also be what I use when I start practicing with machine quilting.

Now...I'm on pins and needles as I have 2 days before I teach my first class.  I've got a few more of the 9 Patches to put together tonight.  I'm doing this one in oranges and after looking at the pictures, I realized that I had turned one of my solids the wrong way and had it upside down.  Oh well....maybe no one will notice!