Nine more

I managed to finish nine more pin cushions yesterday. I only have eleven to go!

I'm not sure how much I'll be able to get done today. I need to finish doing laundry and pack my clothes for my trip to the Twin Cities Tatters retreat. I'm eager to spend time tatting with my wonderful Minnesota friends, and the bonus is that I'll get to spend time with my two Minnesota daughters and their families!

Buttons

Adding buttons to the pin cushions is the most time consuming part. I keep hoping I'll find an easier way of sewing them on, but everything I read or watch on YouTube is similar to what I do. So, I'll just take it slowly and do as many as I can.

This is Anniversary Motif from Tatting with Visual Patterns by Mary Konior. I'm really enjoying tatting these little motifs. The shuttle is another beauty from Rita Richmond of Shuttle by Design.

Rita has been releasing a few shuttles at a time over the past couple of weeks, and I was lucky enough to be able purchase Wild Sweet Pea. It's all wound and ready for the next motif in Tatting with Visual Patterns, Faith.

I'm busy packing for my trip to Minnesota. It's so hard to decide what to take. I keep changing my mind!

All sewn up

As I thought it might, it took me most of the day to sew my pile of pin cushions closed. Now they're ready for buttons!

I also found time to tat yesterday. This is Flower Patch from Tatting with Visual Patterns by Mary Konior. Have I told you how much I love this book? The last time I tatted Flower Patch, I used the shuttle and ball. This time I used two shuttles so that I could switch shuttles for the rings at the corners. I much prefer switching shuttles to using the shoelace trick. The shuttles are from Rita Richmond of Shuttle by Design.

The rest of the day was busy with phone calls, walking, watching tv, reading, and getting ready for my trip to Minnesota. The Twin Cities Tatters retreat is next week, and I'm really looking forward to it. I will also get to visit my two daughters who live in Minnesota. I love getting together with my family!

Pin cushion day

I wonder if there is such a thing as Pin Cushion Day?

When I was organizing my sewing room a couple of weeks ago, I came across a stack of unfinished pin cushions and the bag of wool roving I had purchased to fill them. So, yesterday I decided it was time to work on those pin cushions. It took me most of the day to stuff them, and the still have to be sewn closed and decorated with buttons. I'm guessing it will take most of the day just to stitch them closed, but I'm determined to finish them!

How many are there, you ask? There are 29. That's such a strange number. Maybe I'll have to make some more!

Sewing day

I only tatted one Ice Drop today, again using thread left on shuttles. I don't know if you can see in the picture, but this ribbon has an edging that picks up the colors in the Green Coral Sea. It's very pretty in person!

The reason I didn't tat much was sewing! Denise called this morning and asked if I wanted to go fabric shopping at our local quilt shop. We don't have much to offer in our little town, but we do have a lovely quilt shop! Rocking Chair Quilts is owned by my friend Carol. Her daughters Katie and Annie were two of my favorite students during my teaching years. Carol made many of her daughters' clothes, and they were adorable. So, when Denise suggested a shopping trip, I said yes!

Carol's husband helps her run the shop, and he helps make the sample quilts that provide inspiration. Luckily, I can visit the shop whenever I like, but they also have an online presence. If you like to quilt, I hope you'll check out Carol's shop!

Yes, I did buy fabric and patterns. However, I decided that I needed to finish up some projects before diving in to something new. I had started these pin cushions months ago. I finished sewing, turning, and pressing 29 pin cushions today. They still need to be stuffed, sewn shut, and finished with buttons. Then I will allow myself to start with some of my new goodies!

Some new shuttles arrived in the mail today! I love Rita Richmond's shuttles, and when I saw these, I selfishly snapped them up. I believe I will start tatting with them tomorrow! 😘

Ahh!

I'm sitting down to post after a very busy and productive weekend. I wasn't in the mood to post last night, so I didn't. I guess that's my prerogative!

My fascination with little woven squares continues. These will get mailed off to Mom this week so that she can turn them in to flowers. I can hardly wait to see what she does with them!

I finished my Raspberry Pink Med Spinning Wheel. Yes, I am still enjoying using size 80 Lizbeth!

I finished another fabric basket this afternoon. This is the project my sewing students are working on. I had purchased some inexpensive hankies a while back, and they seemed like the perfect fabric for the girls to use. I love the little owl buttons!

I also made a fabric basket for Mom using the same fabrics I used to make her pin cushions last week.

I haven't made Origami pouches in a while, but I thought Mom deserved a complete set! I do like the black, red, and white fabric. I may have to go back to Hobby Lobby and buy some more!

Now I'm ready to settle down for the evening with another Spinning Wheel. This one will be in size 80 Lizbeth #712, Kelly Green Med. I love Kelly Green!

Sub day

I subbed today and I will be subbing again tomorrow. It was so much fun. All I had to do was follow someone else's lesson plans, so much easier than developing my own. There are quite a few new kids at school this year, and it has been great meeting them. Of course the hugs I receive from students who know me well, make the day even better!

Our Internet has been spotty for a while, so Dave put in for a service call. It's funny, he gets more irritated by poor Internet service than I do. As a result of our spotty service, I wasn't able to post last night, and I had so much to share!

I wove some 2" squares for Mom. They're so quick and easy to make, and they take so little yarn. Scraps that I've held on to suddenly have a good use.

Our high school volleyball team has a Pink Night every year to raise money to help cancer patients from our community. Bella decided that she wanted make a pillow for the fund raiser. She chose this pink fabric from my stash for the front of the pillow.

She chose chocolate brown for the back. She's doing such a nice job with her pillows. She and her mom are going to make a pink and brown polar fleece blanket to go with the pillow. I'm sure there will be interested bidders!

Bella has also been experimenting with fabric scraps. This is her own design, and she has decided that she would like to teach her pattern to her sewing classmates.

Mom loves red, and I made these two pin cushions with her in mind. If Mom wants two, she gets two! That's just the kind of daughter I am. ;-)

So, the above was supposed to be yesterday's post. I guess this is a twofer day!

I was up at 4:30 this morning, so I had plenty of time for weaving and tatting before school. I've decided to weave a 4" square and then a 2" square... keep it equal, ya know! I now have 21 of each size woven. I have a feeling Mom may tell me to keep some of them. With the two of us weaving, she could wind up with more than she can use. You can have as many as you want, Mom!

I'm making pretty good progress with my Raspberry Pink Med Spinning Wheel. I'm still lovin' the size 80 thread!

No tatting today

No, there was no time for tatting, but there was time for sewing!

I found a tutorial for fabric boxes and decided I needed a couple, one for notions by my sewing machine, and one to keep on my ironing board. Naturally, I needed coordinating pin cushions!

I read that the boxes could be completed in a half hour, and the pin cushion tutorial is five minutes. I must be truly slow, because I started these yesterday, and I didn't finish them until this afternoon. I don't think I'll be whipping the boxes for craft sales!

I've had comments from friends who are interested in how my sewing students are doing. They're doing great! Bella comes to my house after school every day, so she has had plenty of opportunity to work on her sewing skills. The large polka dot pillow was Bella's project for today. She did a wonderful job and has decided she wants to make pillows for her family!

The little pillow is Bella's own design. She was playing with scraps I had on hand and decided to make a doll pillow.

Bella has now made three pin cushions and two thread catchers. I think she's having fun!

Lovin' the Charcoal Med

I really like this shade of gray, or should I say charcoal?

My little girls finished their pin cushions today, and true to form, I forgot to take pictures. :-(

However, I did remember to take pictures of the pin cushions I completed today...

I have 18 completed, and I plan on taking them to a craft show this weekend. It's been years since I've tried selling at a craft show. I've never had much luck. If these pin cushions and my scarves don't sell, I think I may be all set for Christmas!

Pin cushion passion

No, I haven't given up tatting. In fact, I was able to accomplish quite a bit today.

I would have finished, but my Internet was down for about seven hours, and I foolishly kept trying to fix the problem. About 7:30 tonight, it magically came back on. I guess I should have ignored the outage.

It was easier to work on pin cushions than tatting while fiddling with connections.

As a result, I've finished six more pin cushions. My little girls are coming for their sewing lesson tomorrow. I'll try to remember to take a picture of their pin cushions!

Back to life

It's hard to believe that last week I was in Georgia having a wonderful time, and now I'm back in Illinois trying to organize all of my craft stuff without getting distracted. That's proving difficult!

I finished this Spinning Wheel while at Palmetto Tat Days. It's in size 80 Lizbeth #679, Lime Green. I do love working with size 80!

Of course I couldn't leave without starting another Spinning Wheel. This one is in size 20 Lizbeth #710, Bright Blue Light. This seems so big after working with the size 80!

As for the distractions... well, the first distraction is my collection of scrap material. I'm teaching my little girls to make pin cushions, and I got carried away cutting out 3 1/2" squares. So, now I'm making pin cushions! These are filled with crushed walnut shells and lavender, good for sharpening pins and needles and they smell nice.

I had ordered pin cushion fill from Amazon, and that was an expensive way to go. It cost $11 to fill three pin cushions (12 oz.), which I think is ridiculous. So, I did some research and found that I could get 25 quarts of crushed walnut shells at Petsmart for $30... much more economical!

Now I have three pin cushions finished with 15 more to go. What will I do with them all? I have no idea!