Needlebooking

We had a gorgeous long weekend here, celebrating Victoria Day. My guerrilla gardening attempt for this year has begun and I hope to finish up today. Not sure why I bother, but I keep hoping my black thumb may turn green someday. Most of what I did last year did survive so maybe my thumb is more charcoal now. :)

We're doing needlebook swaps for the Ottawa Modern Quilt Guild this month. I drew Laura's name. She stipulated that she didn't want pastels or solids. No solids?! I've been teasing her that I'm pulling all the solid pastels from my stash just for her needlebook. And she will looooove it! ;)

A needlebook is one of those things that's been on my to do list for eons, but I just haven't got around to making one yet. For directions, I checked out these great tutorials:

- nanacompany.typepad.com/nanacompany/2011/10/needlebook-tu...
- lotsofpinkhere.blogspot.ca/2011/10/12-gifts-of-christmas-...
- sewshesews.wordpress.com/2011/02/03/quilted-needle-case-t...
- www.instructables.com/id/how-to-sew-a-needle-book/?ALLSTEPS

And then I decided to do my own thing. There's that inability to follow patterns again. Ahem.

I know Laura likes Essex Linen and Charley Harper fabrics so I pulled out those (love that teal fabric!). I decided to make two needlebooks, just in case one didn't turn out well.

I also pulled out my grandmother's button tin to find a good button. She collected all her spare buttons for years so there are some fabulous vintage finds in there. I picked out a light one first and then the dark one. I think I prefer the dark one, but I'll let Laura decide which she prefers.

A little pocket inside with a spot for a stitch ripper and space for embroidery thread since I know Laura likes doing hand stitch embellishments.

Hopefully Laura will like one of these, but if she doesn't, I guess I'll just have to make her a solid pastel extravaganza. ;)

Hope it's beautiful and sunny wherever you are!

Put A Pin In It

I'm finally starting to kick this cold's butt to the curb. Good riddance! Funnily enough, it coincided with finishing the binding on Scrap{Bee} 2.0. ;) I'll share it next week once I've taken some good photos of it.

Our OMQG swap this month is a pincushion, maximum size 6" square. I made this one for my friend Jan from The Pickle Dish.

I was trying to channel some Zakka. I used Essex Linen (natural?), some aqua fabric I had in my stash and Little Matroyshka by Carly Griffith for Riley Blake that I found in Jan's shop. I'm very happy with how the pincushion turned out. So much so that I will just have to make another one for me. :)

Edited to add: The pincushion is filled with crushed walnut shells. I bought them at Pet Smart and they look like this. You can fill a pincushion with all sorts of things, but I like the weight and shape that the walnut shells give it. Walnut shells are allergenic, I'm told, so you need to make sure that the person using it doesn't have allergies.

So here's a question for you. If you are supposed to include some coins in a wallet or purse that you are gifting someone for good luck, should you gift a pincushion with a couple of pins in it for the same reason? Inquiring minds want to know!

Have a great weekend everyone!