Just squeaked one in…

I stitched up this little freebie by Midsummer Night Designs in the week and decided to finish it as a mattress pincushion:

(pics are clickable)

I totally copied Helen’s idea of threading ribbon around the edge rather than using pins - thanks for the inspiration Helen!

mischief managed

Today I managed to finish two projects that have been sitting in my drawer for over a year. Yikes! Where does the time go, anyway? (All images are clickable for greater detail.)

First up is a design by The Sampler Girl. This is part of her former Saturday series and I stitched it for Niek for Valentine’s Day (2006!). I’ve finished it as a bag. Not that I can actually picture Niek using it - LOL! - but because the design lent itself so well to it. (Note that the rather bizarre color scheme is my choice, not what the design calls for.)

Then there is this sweet little freebie from The Prairie Schooler that I made for one of my aunts over two years ago. How embarassing is that? She’s a serious seamstress, so in addition to this being a pincushion it is also magnetic on the underside to quickly clear up any pin spills. I know whenever I pull my sewing machine out, I have to spill my pins at least once.

Thanks Karen and Anne for setting these FAL weekends up - I still have another half dozen small designs that need to be finish-finished, and maybe now there’s hope!

My first biscornu

For the April FAL, I did my first biscornu! What a cute project - this will be what I’m sure are my first of many. I did Spring Feaver from Cat’s Whiskers on 32 count white linen using the recommended silk.

FAL weekend - KarenV

I decided to finish up a piece that I stitched a couple of weeks ago, Quaker Four Corners Sampler by The Goode Huswife. I made it into a mattress-style pincushion, the first time I’d finished anything in quite this manner. I used Vero M’s instructions, which are on the tutorial links page and they were very clear:

Thanks Anne for organising the FAL sessions They’re a great motivator!

Biscornu freebies

I was just doing a search in response to a request for biscornu freebies on a BB I visit and I found these two great sites, with loads of free biscornu patterns:

Aurelle - 14 designs
MissT - scroll down a bit - there are 3 pages of designs, including several biscornus

I thought these might be useful for anyone wishing to have a go at making their first biscornu, as the designs are quite small.  If you need instructions on how to make one, there are links on the Tutorial Links page