Finger Pin Cushion Tute

Towards the end of September, I got together with Susie, my friends, Ivete and Andrea, owners of the brand new online fabric store Gotham Quilts - (if you haven't visited their website, I highly recommend you head over there, as soon as you've finished reading this of course!) and Nancy to celebrate Nancy's birthday. Anyone who frequents The City Quilter knows Nancy - she's the store's resident fabric guru, doll maker and felting genius; in fact, there's not much that's crafty she's not a guru on!

Here's a pic of me with Nancy at Rhinebeck New York State Sheep and Wool Festival enjoying apple pie!

We decided we'd all make handmade gifts for Nancy, and I came up with the idea of making 3 small items using some of the French General Petite Odile fabric I had left from making my Daddy's Little Girl sampler quilt.

So, I made a tiny fabric pot using my own Stacking Basket tute;

I trimmed a hand towel with this fussy cut section of Petite Odile fabric - don't you just love the vintage costumes and toys? and

I made this finger-pin cushion.

Nancy loved her gifts, especially the finger pin cushion - in fact, everyone loved the finger pin cushion, so I wanted to share how to make one; they're sooooo easy - like 15 mins max!

Finger Pin Cushion Tute

• 1 x 4.5" fabric square

• Right sides together fold in half diagonally.

• Using a 1/4" seam stitch along two raw edges leaving a small gap for turning and stuffing.

• Turn and stuff and hand stitch gap closed.

• Pull the two longest points round to meet each other and overlap slightly - good to try on your finger at this point to see how far to overlap these two points. You can custom make a perfect fit though it's not essential, it can be a kind of 'one size fits most' project.

• Hand stitch overlapped points into place.

Go on, make a whole bunch, and see if you get the 'I have to have one' reaction I did!

Happy Birthday, Nancy :D

I also made another one - small prints are so cute on these finger pincushions. You can see more pics here.

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Is It Possible To Crochet With No Hook On Your Hook?

It's been a good week, lots achieved and a particular highlight has been testing the paper pieced butterfly for Juliet of Tartankiwi and judging by the fantastic response I've had, I think you all love it too!

I've had a big finish as well - My Dad's Memory Quilt is now complete and will very shortly be winging its way across the Atlantic to my Mum.  For now I still can't share photos with you here - I promise I'll do that right after Christmas but you can take a look at it on my Facebook page

There was a wonderful moment this morning when I was going through posts on all the blogs that I follow and started reading a post on The Lazy Quilter that talked about Miss Chrissie and Miss Sarah.  It took me a moment to realise the post was about me and my good friend, Sarah of Quilt Candy as we have become the first followers on Erin's great blog.  Erin lives in Brisbane, Australia, and has been blogging since August but has only just discovered how to add the 'followers' button to the side of her blog, which I'm very glad to know as I couldn't understand for the life of me why no-one else was following her.  Anyway, Erin has a really great voice, funny and quirky, and deserves a few more followers if you'd like to pop over and visit her.

Another great new blog that I've come across in the last week or so is I Taught Myself Patchwork which is brilliantly and humorously written by F (Fleur Bleue), an English quilter now living in rural France and sharing her experiences with us.  I've laughed out loud many times reading her posts and that, for me, is as good a reason as any to keep going back for more. 

I've started crocheting a throw this week using the acrylic/mohair wool I brought back from Rhinebeck in October.  Initially it was going to be a keeper but I've had an idea of someone to give it to and I think they'll appreciate it more than me so we'll see if I think it's worthy of being given away once I finish it.  Another reason to give it away is that Tatty is totally obsessed with it - or so I thought, but turns out it's my bamboo crochet hook that's the real object of her desire.  Tatty had her friend Abi around for a doggie playdate on Thursday afternoon and while I was busy chatting with Abi's mum the inevitable finally happened - has anyone out there had any success crocheting with a hookless crochet hook?  I switched to one of my metal hooks, which was of no interest to Tatty whatsoever but I had to go back to using another bamboo hook (I have a whole mountain of crochet hooks!) as it's so much nicer once it warms to your fingers and takes on the oils from your skin - after a few uses it just glides through the wool.

This morning Tatty and I went for our daily constitutional down to the Colgate Clock looking out to the Statue of Liberty.  It was such a beautiful morning, once you've layered up and you're wearing your ear muffs, hat, scarf, gloves and full length, down filled North Face coat, so I snapped a few photos.

Top left - the Colgate Clock - they're busy replacing all the land that was washed away during Sandy, you can see Ellis Island and Liberty in the background.   Top right - that's my husband Simon's office on the river front and then I've taken the bottom photo from outside his building - that's the Jersey City to Manhattan ferry with 1WTC (previously known as the Freedom Tower) in the background and you can just about see the Empire State Building behind the ferry.

 Top right - I love this building, the Jersey City Powerhouse.  Left - Newport Town Square 9-11 Memorial looking through to where the Twin Towers stood.  Bottom right - I snapped this photo of the ground floor walls of my apartment building being dried out and repaired  after Sandy.  Oh yes, and that's Tatty sitting waiting patiently in her pram!

Well that rounds up my week and it's been such a good one.  I hope you've had a good week too :)

Rhinebeck And All Things Woolly

What  to do on a perfect Autumn Sunday?  

Go to Rhinebeck, of course. 

Each year on the 3rd weekend in October Rhinebeck hosts the New York State Sheep and Wool Festival. 

So last Sunday I headed off bright and early with my friends Ivete from Chiagu/Rose Smoke and Nancy from The City Quilter.

Here're a few photos from a fab day

Rhinebeck Livestock

When we lived in the English Wiltshire countryside my daughter, Flicky, was very keen to add an Alpaca to our pet menagerie but I always said 'No'.  Note to Flicky, much as I love you and want you to be happy, now we live in an apartment in the States the answer's still 'No'!!!

The Colours of Rhinebeck

 Check out all that yummy wool; an early 1900's HST quilt; Autumn leaves; apple pie; and brownies.  

 Oh and there I am (centre top) tucking into a bit of that apple pie and wearing my Kim Hargreaves 'Down' jumper made in Rowan Kid Silk Haze 'Ghost'.  I made it for Flicky a couple of years ago and she's never worn it so I decided to give it an outing - well, it's mine now and I'm not giving it back ;)

Rhinebeck Goodies

Got myself a souvenir 'Warhol' style bag; lots of roving from Loop; 10 balls of a variegated Merino for $30 - feel another throw for the sofa coming on (like my sofa needs another throw/quilt!); brown leather bag handles to replace the handles on my felted bag that my dog, Tatty thought were so delicious she just had to eat them, a couple of leather wrist strap handles and The Sweater Chop Shop book by Chrispina ffrench.

Oh almost forgot - I also got myself a great little badge for my bag 'Will trade husband for wool' :)

How about coming along next year?  Hope to see you all there :O)

For details of other fabric, yarn, trim and notion stores that I've visited around the world along with the NYC stores I love, exhibitions and events I've attended and wonderful people I've been lucky to meet click the links below or in my sidebar :D

Disclaimer: This post is for informational purposes only, no payment or commission is received on click-throughs and opinions are my own.