Strawberry Pincushion

Time for another pincushion and this time it's Martha Stewart's strawberry pincushion.
Tools and Materials
Fabric and ribbon remnants
Sewing machine

Needle and thread
Scissors
Fine sand or emery
#3 pearl-cotton thread or felt, for berries' tops
6-strand embroidery floss, for seeds
Fabric glue

Strawberry Pincushion How-To

1. Begin by printing out our templates. Trace the cone template onto fabric, then cut out the shape. Fold the fabric into a cone shape, right sides facing, and stitch together along one edge, leaving a narrow seam allowance.

2. Sew a loose, even running stitch along the perimeter of the wide opening, which will become the top of the berry. Before cinching the top, place the cone in a small jar or bottle for balance, and fill it with sand or emery, which will keep pins sharp. Pull the thread taut, and stitch the top closed.

3. For the strawberry's top, trace the cap template onto a piece of felt, cut out the shape, and affix it in place with a drop of glue; then sew along the edges with a slip stitch. Or, create leaves by sewing long stem stitches onto the strawberry using the pearl-cotton thread, leaving a loop of floss at the top for a handle. Embroider seeds onto berry using embroidery floss with a single stitch or a French-knot stitch.

How sweet is that!

New Handbag

My present to myself this year ~ a RED Fossil handbag. I've been wanting this handbag for some time now. Christmas Eve I was at the local mall and there it was again. The very last one in the store and it was calling out my name. Things do that to me. I'm loving it.

Knock Me Over With A Feather!

Yes knock me over with a feather!! Where have I been?? I'm not sure how long I've had my Nikon camera. For some time now. A year at least?? You know like most things these days a disk comes with everything. Well! I just NOW put the disk that came with my camera into my laptop and guess what? It does all kinds of things. My photos started popping up like magic. How silly am I!! I'll play with it later and see what it does.

Here are a couple of photos I took on the Saturday morning after the power outage. This is our backyard. Isn't it pretty.

LOOK CLOSELY ~ On the left side of the first picture. See the power line that has fallen down into the snow. Turned off all the power in the neighborhood.






That's my goldfish pond. The goldfish are sleeping for the winter and when the warm sunshine comes in the spring they will come up to surface. They will move around slowly for weeks and then finally tell me they are hungry and ready to eat again.

Merry Christmas

Look what I got for Christmas. Julie & Julia!! How cool is that.
I loved this movie and now I can watch it over and over again.

Pup got a new outfit from my son.
Snowflake covered thermal.

Christmas Eve

This Christmas Eve I've been visiting my friend, Wren. We graduated from high school together (1975 -telling our age). She's diabetic and has been in the nursing home the past 4 months. We share the same first name, Patricia, but she hates it. Shhh! Don't tell her I told you!

Take A Peek

Merry Christmas friend!

Hit By The Snow Storm

Hello All! How wonderful it is to be back in blogland.

This past Friday we got hit with a whopper of a storm. The snowflakes were huge and they came down so fast. I left work and ten minutes later had to pull off the road to clear my windshield again so I could see.

I took the two photos above just as I got home.
It had only been snowing for about an hour.
The snow was coming down so fast.

Took the other photos a couple hours later. Around 8:30 pm Friday night the power went out and stayed out!! Out three days for us. The snow knocked down tree branches, taking down power lines.

We've had the power to go out many times but it was never out more than an hour or two at the most. We were totally unprepared. No mean of heat and no lanterns. Remember a few post back about my seashells and candles. Well they came in very handy.

By Sunday afternoon I couldn't stand the cold any longer and we went to stay at my mother's house that night. The temperature in our house was 46 degrees.

All heating supplies were sold out everywhere. 29,000 people in this county were without power. On Monday John did manage to find one small propane heater at Tractor Supply. When I got home from work he had the bedroom toasty warm and we plan to stay at the house. What a surprise when at 8:30 pm the lights came on!!

How did I survive three days with no computer?

Happy Blogoversary to Me

DEC 17, 2009
I can't believe I forgot it's my 1st Blogoversary!
I wanted to do something special. Oh well!

Presents From My Sister

I'm in the bedroom trying to stay warm and took this photos while sitting on the bed. All I have to use for the background is this bright pink blanket. I don't know how well that will work. But I don't want to get up from my warm spot and go look for something else to use so this will have to do.

My sister was visiting during the Thanksgiving holidays and gave me some jewelry she made. You can click here to see her website.

Teacup Pincushion

I was visiting Brenda at Cozy Little House, where there's always plenty of color and creativity. I must say her blog is among my top three favorite blogs. Anywho, Brenda showed a photo of an adorable pie pincushion. Well you know how we are ladies. One thing leads to another. Off I went on a pincushion hunt...and I've stolen this one from mmmcrafts. How cute is this.



To make one, here's what you'll need.

a small teacup
poly stuffing
a 6 inch circle of coordinating cotton midweight fabric
needle
thread
hot glue gun
rubber gloves, if you are hot glue challenged


Thread your needle, no knot, and sew a big running stitch all around the wrong side perimeter of the circle of fabric. Leave a long tail so you don't pull your thread through, about a quarter inch from the edge.


Gather your circle of fabric into a little pouch, leaving a small hole to stuff through, and tie off the ends securely.


Stuff, and stuff, and stuff until it's nice and compact and smooth. Using small pieces of stuffing rather than large blobs will make this look nicer. Squash it around to make it look even. (Embellish the pincushion -- add a fabric button on the top, for instance, or some ribbon criss crossing)

Apply liberal amounts of hot glue in the bottom and sides of your cup, taking care not to come too close to the top. Squash your pincushion down firmly into the glue. This is where you might need gloves -- the glue makes the cup HOT.

Done. Put some coordinating pins in it and wrap it up for your sewing friend. Or keep it for yourself!

I think I'd have to keep one for myself!