Yes Virginia,

we all make plenty of pincushions! Perhaps

I should have named my blog Pincushions, Pincushions, Pincushions.

Because I seem to make lots of em! But they are so easy to make.

And easy to give them away when you need to. I just had

this little candle holder handy. Dont do candles anymore.

Besides it looks better as a pincushion. Inside is chocolate color

flannel. I didnt even glue the pincushion down.

Next is a little blue ceramic jug. They are so cute.

by Hopblogger

Sorry about that

Just cant seem to find the pattern for June's butterfly.

by Hopblogger

June's Purple Butterfly Biscornu

I hope you like them as much as I do. I would like to do a 12

month Butterfly series - but dont know if it will work out.

I guess I can try it. I am not a designer.

Already I have a few designs sitting on my program that look

promising. Dont have the time to

stitch them up to see if they work properly. I dont have

anything in purple so I thought this set would be great!

Instead of a button I placed a small purple butterfly in the

center on the front & the back. All of the butterflies

& the crystals are Swarvoski crystals. The butterflies

on the front have 3 small purple hearts on the tops on each side.

This butterfly would look very nice stitched in

pink with red hearts.

I cant take credit for the needlebk because I saw it on a

French blog (just love those french blogs), but it was only 3 pieces.

So simple it was - just my kind of project.

I decided to add a 4th piece to give it more dimension. The purple

needlebook is made from purple fleece & white felt. When you place the needle in it

& your hand rubs against the fleece - it feels so soft.

The matching scissors fob is just 2 pieces. It also has a small purple

butterfly that I tacked onto one edge.

Feel free to change

the colors. I would love to see yours when you finish. Pattern will

be coming soon.

by Hopblogger

Occasionally, I like to make....

my own fabric. Have you ever tried it. If not, all you do is

take a large square of white or unbleached cotton sheet or muslin. The

size of the square is up to you. For me, I generally use a

17inches X 17inches. This gives me plenty of room to make my

items small or large. Sometimes there is plenty left over for other

projects. After my square is cut - just take strips of fabric skinny or

fat and sew each strip down upon the square until the square is no

longer visible. I use scraps of fabric from many things.

(also be sure to catch all seams so there isnt anything missed).

Then just cut it like its fabric! You cannot mess it up.

My little sewing set is small. The square of fabric was half used up.

Also notice that I didnt hem anything. It is scrappy & fun!

So quick & easy.

All of these scraps are from the 80's. The ties are skinny

pink shoelaces that was in a prior garment of long ago.

The color was too pretty to trash. About time that I used them.

Everything fits neatly inside the bag. Maybe I should have lined

the bag? - nah. This way if I must fix the bag in the future

all I have to do is to sew a patch on top & it would be easy to

sew from the inside.

Try it - you just might like it!

by Hopblogger

Another use for a COUNTERTOP CUP RACK??

Sorry it has taken me so long to post. My new hutch that my

DH put together - is finished and

now sits on top of my sewing table.

The only thing left that it needs is the trim put on. It is taking a while

to organize everything. Still I am not through so bear with me.

I will post pictures of what everything looks like, later on. Most people

like the plastic bobbin boxes. I dont like all of that winding. By the time

that you wind it all you could have already been stitching. The idea of

placing floss on rings is not a new idea but my idea is!

I hope that you like my new IDEA this week about the

COUNTERTOP CUP RACK. Surely you used to have

one or perhaps you still have it. Take yours or someone else's!! And

display it as a FLOSS HOLDER. Yep, thats right. Its perfect.

First: sort your colors by grouping together color families.

Reds & pinks, yellows & oranges, blue, purples etc... That is how

I have seen others doing it.

Second: thread all of your floss onto a shower ring or floss ring. Mine

is threaded on the large metal floss rings by DMC.

Third: once floss is on the rings then place it on the cup hooks.

You can easily find your color that you are looking for in 2 ways. Either

you know what number each color is or you be sure to

download DMC's color chart and place the chart close to this idea.

That way you will always know what color is in what family.

Also, when the floss becomes too small to hang from the ring - then

wind it on a bobbin & put in a plastic floss box if you like. Or you can

put the leftover pieces in a pile & save it for all of those odd jobs where

you need bits and pieces. The 4th photo shows the top where you

can store extra rings. Look at that, everything is together!

The last photo shows the floss cup rack on my new hutch. By the way

my mothers jewelry box that turned into a floss box is still just that.

Only now it stores specialty threads like the linen floss & variegated flosses.

Hope you like this idea.

by Hopblogger