Christmas Wrap Up

So, organization is not one of my strong skills. Getting really excited about doing stuff, doing it right away and making a royal mess while at it is pretty much the way I operate. So perhaps it would have been better to share what I was working on for under the Christmas tree before I wrapped up 2010, but at the time, I was more excited about reflecting on the past year. Now that Christmas is all packed away in the attic, I can think about it a bit more fondly now.

I wasn't sure I was going to have much in the handmade area to give for Christmas this year, but after Thanksgiving I lit a fire and got going. Both the girls got to open pajamas on Christmas Eve. Last year I cut both of theirs too long, so this year I cut Rachel's too short. I tacked this red plaid onto the bottom and really like what it added to the pants. Finally a mistake that turned out for the best!

Inspired by so many cute bunting items that I've come across lately, I whipped up several sets of note cards with buntings across them. I tacked the tiny triangles down with a dab of glue stick, which held them perfectly while I stitched across them. When I got to the other side, I turned the card around and stitched back, going down both sides of the triangles to fully attach them. I was really pleased with how these turned out and intend to make more, and I'm also thinking maybe some tote bags with buntings across them.

The muff was in response to a good friend seeing the one I'd made for another friend back in May. When she saw it, she excitedly declared "Oh, I want one in animal print!". Imagine my happiness when that little bit of filed away information was still available for retrieval from my brain come December! I waffled on what kind of animal print to use, but think this leopard with the brown velvet does the trick. The instructions come from the Fall 2009 issue of Stitch magazine. I did not however, give her my hat and gloves....I'm not that nice.

And while I shared the first of these bags that I made, I am happy to tell you that I was able to make ten in all, including one of my very own. Once I got going, I was a factory with these (which led to a really messy work area, but hey, I got results!). I'm so happy when I stumble upon something nice that I can make several of to give as gifts to friends and family. This year my mom, sister, aunt and sisters-in-law all got one, as well as Brownie troop leaders, friends and a few others! If you didn't get one from me for Christmas, expect one for your birthday ; )

And speaking of handmade, a friend posted this post on facebook today.....

A Handmade 2011: I promise to send something handmade to the first 5 people who leave a comment. They must in turn post this and send something they made to the first 5 people who comment on their status. The rules are that it must be handmade by you and it must be sent to your 5 people sometime in 2011. Let's all work towards a more handmade life!

What fun! I signed up under her and have five people signed up under me. Why don't you start a post too and see how much handmade goodness and appreciation we can spread this year?

In Full Swing

Remember this scene from just a few short weeks ago? It is no more. The above it what I'm seeing now. My Christmas crafting is in full swing. Unfortunately, I can't share some of the things I'm working on right now, but I can share my mess. That's part of my wool sweaters waiting to be fulled (felted) in front. There are three more boxes out of view. The remnants of the tote bags (I've made four so far) are in the window sill and at the end of the ironing board, as I hope to get a few more made and there's just a general mess going on right now. I'd be fine with it too...if I could just find that disappearing marking pen I bought just last week. I even attempted to pick up a bit in the hopes of finding it. So far no luck.

This is something I started last night and hope to finish up tonight. I'm calling her Christmas Carol and she's part of a covert operation the girls and I are working on. At least that's how we like to think about it. We're planning to participate in The Toy Society's World Wide Christmas Drop on the weekend before Christmas. Hopefully we'll have several toys to leave around town and the weather will cooperate so that we can leave them outside in some of the fun parts of town. Stay tuned for photos.

Getting Down to Business

So, the word on the street is that Christmas is coming. It's not like Easter, which can fall at any time between March and April, and yet still I seem to be caught off guard. It's not because I've been sooo busy with Thanksgiving festivities or anything - I don't know what it is....I should be prepared, ready and maybe even done preparing ahead of time so that I can sit back and enjoy this time of waiting and anticipation. But I am not ready in advance. again. this year. I have made some positive strides though! (Phew!!)

This is the first of four bags I've made over the past few days, fulfilling my need to give certain people homemade gifts. I won't name names though : ) This pattern for this bag came from the Fall 2009 issue of Stitch magazine. I really love this magazine and try and pick it up with a coupon each time it comes out (otherwise it's $14.99... bit to rich for my budget). The first bag took some time, as I worked through the directions, which were very clear and easy to follow and subsequent bags have come together much more quickly. One key is cutting out all the pieces at once, before you start - that really seems to move things along. Also, there was a lot of switching threads for design purposes (and practical purposes). I found that once the first one was made, I could do all the steps that used a specific thread at once and save a good bit of switching and re-threading. My other shortcut had me skipping the use of basting spray (because I have it but can't find it...a-hem) and "basting" my batting to my bag fronts with a few dabs of clear, washable glue stick. This worked for me - please don't cuss me if it doesn't work for you though.

I bought enough of the green fabric for two bags, but now I'm using what I've got at home, so these are very cost effective bags. Even the batting I've saved from quilts that were slightly smaller than the batting I bought was just the right size for these bags, which measure about 11 1/2" wide by 14" high (with my sewing skills). And speaking of saving scraps, the bottom of this bag is the leftovers from this skirt redo. Reduce and reuse!

On the agenda for tomorrow....come up with a new banner head - one that no longer feels of fall. After all, Christmas is coming!

Christmas is Coming

I'm sure this isn't really news to anyone, but Christmas is coming and it's coming fast and soon. Especially if you're the type that's inclined to try and make as many gifts as possible. I am inclined....and worried, because I have a loooong way to go! Take this quilt for example. The top is done, I have the batting and backing already - all I need is a few hours to quilt it, a good movie to bind it by and wham bam, I'm done. And that's excellent, because it isn't a gift I'm giving - I'm making it for a friend to give to her daughter. Yes, when this quilt is finished (hopefully next week) my gifty pile will still be empty.

About this quilt though. She wanted it throw size, which I found varies greatly. It will end up somewhere in the neighborhood of 4' x 6.5'. The monograms dictated the size of the squares to an extent, which then dictated the size of the quilt. Aside from the white sashing (which will also be the back), the quilt is comprised entirely of baby clothes from the little girl who will be receiving it. Each center square features her monogram and is surrounded by fabric from her dresses and bubbles. I think my favorite squares are the ones cut from diaper covers because you get a bit of the shape of the cover in the square - a reminder of those tiny little baby bottoms.

Quilting this will be a bit of a challenge, as some fabrics are thicker than others, the center square actually has a waterproof backing and a few pieces have a bit of stretch to them. Hopefully all will go smoothly and I'll have some better pictures to share when it's done. I had a hard time finding some nice warm light to take these photos in - another reminder that winter is coming!

You Know You're Loved When.....

Your mailbox contains a nice squishy, unexpected package from a friend.....and you find these in it. Two doll "robes" in fabric that has a Flea Market Fancy kind of feel to it (at least to me).

As well as a good bit of yardage of the two prints on the left, an awesome "Cowboys and Indians" print (totally not PC, but look at the colors!) and an apron in the prettiest little pink print. I was lucky enough to be home alone when the mail came and was able to open my package all by myself and then pour over the fabrics, take pictures of them and admire them some more without being interrupted or having them taken away from me. What a way to start the weekend! Wishing you an unexpected (and good!) surprise this weekend as well!

And the Blue Ribbon Goes To.....

Well, the pink and blue ribbon, that is. Our neighbor's had agreed to watch the girls tonight while the Mr. and I went to a meeting at school. This afternoon, out of the blue, Sarah declared that she wanted to make a ribbon for our neighbor (age 7) to cheer her up. I am a bit unclear as to the reason why she was sad, or why that subject had come up the last time they played, but I obliged. This is what we came up with. While Sarah wanted to cut into some nicely folded yards of uncut fabric, I suggested a dig through my scrap bins (a.k.a. kitty litter buckets). Since I wasn't quite sure what her vision was, or how to execute said vision, I'm pretty happy with the results. I attached some iron-on stabilizer to the back and then sewed a pin onto it so that it can be worn. Part of Sarah's vision was to leave the blue mark-be-gone pen on it, but I had to insist it be removed - just didn't get to it before the (very) brief photo shoot. Now I've got more ideas for these and am also wondering why I haven't made more yo-yos - they're so fun!

And yes, those are flannel winter pajama bottoms on Sarah. We were out in the rain this morning and returned home damp. Apparently, now that it's in the low 90's some of us are feeling a chill.

A Bit of This and That

I'm starting to get the crafty urge back. Something about this summer has made it hard for me to work. With the girls home, there is just no time (or peace) during the day, and at night I guess I'm just a bit too spent to start on something once they go to bed. I did manage two small projects this week though, that have me itching to keep moving forward.

I needed a gift for my girl's night out bingo game last night. Money was tight this week and I would have felt guilty spending money on a bingo gift, so I worked with what I had. I figured a jar of fresh, homemade blackberry jam would be a good place to start, but wanted to add something to it. I have been inspired by pieces of work like this one by metro-station and wanted to give something like that a go myself. I know there are others I have seen and would like to share them with you as well, but I can't seem to find them right now. So this is what I came up with, a dish towel to go with the jar of jam. I had a stash of these plain white towels that I'd picked up in Target's Dollar Zone quite a while ago (maybe around Easter ...2009 possibly) and I knew that one day they'd serve their purpose, which I think they've done quite swimmingly. I did throw in a nice bar of dark chocolate as well, so that hopefully the gift was not disappointing (can you really be disappointed if you get chocolate?).


I've also been distracted by this website, which I'd read a bit about in the Spring issue of Stitch. There is also a great Flickr pool which I would recommend checking out. Conveniently enough, I have a lot of clothes that I don't particularly love and as a bonus, I am not inclined to get rid of things very easily, which comes in very handy if you'd like to start chopping up your clothes and refashioning them. Case in point, the long linen skirt above. I love the color of the linen and the fact that it is linen, but the length was not doing it for me anymore.

I believe it was this picture of Fiona Goble's first upcycled skirt that reminded me of my own blue-gray skirt that needed a new life. I happened to have this leafy print from Ikea in my stash, which matched the color of the skirt pretty well (in certain dim light) and decided to go for it.

I chopped the skirt off a few inches above the side slits and added the decorative print band to the bottom. Then I cut one leaf out of a bit of scrap, attached it with Heat-n-Bond Lite and free motion stitched around it to ensure that it stayed put. I'm really happy with the results, but you will have to settle for the hanger modeling it, because I'm less than happy with the shape of my pudgy knees right now.

While I work on the issue of my knees (and other unsightly bits), rest assured that nothing in my closet is safe from my scissors right now.

She Can Come Now

I gave her Momma my blessing and told her that her sweet baby girl is welcome to come any day now, as her quilt is finished. Yay! Actually, I have not heard from her Momma in a few days....she may already be here and thinking "Hey, Where's my quilt?!?". Or not.

I went binding shopping for this quilt on Monday. I didn't want to use one of the fabrics that was already in the quilt and didn't have anything else I liked. Plus, you really can't ignore the opportunity to go buy some fabric. I was certain that I would want to bind it in a pink - my hope was for pink polka dots. At my first stop I left with pink paisleys, which would have done just fine, but at my second stop I came across this turquoise polka dot from Amy Butler's new Love line and I did just that, I loved it for this quilt. I also fell for this new print, which surprised me, as I have never been big on navy blue, but lately is keeps popping into my thoughts. Hmm..

And I can't get over how much I love the feeling of a freshly washed quilt, when it starts to get all bumpy, lumpy and quilty. I have a really radical idea and that is, for my next project, I'm going to make something to keep here, for me, that I get to cuddle up with. I told you - radical. I've already started piecing some strips from this project which I started a while ago and I'm quite excited about it. It's going to be light and cool and perfect for summer, if I can finish it before summer is over.

So that's that and now I need to find out if there's a new baby out there waiting for me to home love on her!

P.S. Thank you for not mentioning that I hung this quilt sideways to photograph after taking great care to make sure that all the little trees in the pink fabric were vertical in the quilt. If it weren't dusk out now I'd take more, but it is and I'm not. You know, that's how the cookies crumble and all that good stuff.

It's a Girl

The top to the baby girl quilt I started is done. This one didn't take care of itself in a week like the last baby quilt did, but I've had fun working on it. While I intended it to be a pink quilt, it really turned out to be a green and pink quilt with blue thrown in for extra measure. Sometimes these things have a life of their own....or your stash dictates what's going to happen.

In the future, if I decide to make another quilt of this style, I will go about it in a more orderly way. On the past two quilts, I have sewn the rows willy nilly with no set pattern or size. That is all nice and fine, but really, if I set about making 12" blocks and just fiddled within the parameter of the block, I think it would go faster, stay more square and probably look just as cute. Perhaps I should try one and find out.

Last night I had some "help" while I worked. I get a lot of help from this little guy. He is either asleep in the pile of fabrics I'm working with (and too cute to disturb), attacking my thread as it runs through my machine (grrrr) or as was the case the night before last, puking all over my chair and the small square of floor space I have to stand in and cut. The latter being my very least favorite form of help. The above I think is pretty darn cute, especially since he tunneled his way in on his own.

With or without help, preferably without, I hope to get this all pinned together tonight and start quilting tomorrow. It's small enough that I could get it done in a day, I think. I'll let you know.

Peace Out

If you want to know what seven year old little girls are into right now, at least at our school, it's peace, love and happiness. Especially when illustrated with a peace sign, heart and smiley face. They are drawn on everything. I have yet to find them drawn on my car door, the walls, or other places where drawings have previously made their way, but I'm sure it will happen. There are worse things to be digging though, I'd say. If only we could spread some of the peace, love and happiness around and share it with our younger sister when school lets out. That is neither here nor there though, but this t-shirt is here. I picked up a cute t-shirt for Rachel at the Goodwill by my parent's house at Easter that had peace, love and ice cream on it (also good). It was a hit at school and one mother lamented that she could not find any shirts with peace signs for her daughter that weren't crafted out of skulls or age appropriate. I told her to bring me a t-shirt and I'd hook her up. The above shirt is the result.

I attached the peace sign with Heat 'n Bond Lite and then stitched around the symbol to ensure that it was secured. This way, if the Heat 'n Bond starts to give, the worst that will happen is that the edges will take on a slightly frayed look, which I thought would also be cute. When I stitch on t-shirts, I always back them with freezer paper for stability - it works great. My critic told me this morning that it needed more stuff (the same critic who once told me that her "style" was "fancy"). I found this tutorial on making fabric flowers and decided to add some embellishment. I made the flower into a pin, so that if the friend doesn't share the same fancy style, she can remove it. Probably removing it for washing would be smart as well.

And while I was initially searching my shelf of fabric for just the right one, I remembered my recent thrift store scores. The fairies have kept me in mind, as I scored the above just recently. The bottom two are sheets and the top piece, which I ended up using on the shirt, is several yards of a vintage print. I love all three. I'm thinking that the bottom soft yellow floral will be the back for my sheet quilt, but that is on hold while I wrap up baby gifts. So here's wishing you a peaceful weekend full of love and happiness. We'll be busy celebrating just about every occasion worth celebrating except for a wedding - two birthday parties, a baby shower and a graduation. Busy weekend!

One Week

I was able to get this quilt done in just one week, start to finish. It's not that big (30" x 39"), and probably not a monumental accomplishment, but I am happy with the results and the time frame. The baby shower is this Saturday and I also need to get right to work on another one, as there is another baby to say welcome to coming in June. I think I will use a similar sort of random pattern for that one, but it will definitely be calling for pink.

I'm glad I added the elephants. They were fun to do, and go with the baby's nursery theme, so win-win. This was fun to make but not fun to quilt. That bummed me, as I hadn't quilted anything since the girl's Christmas quilts and was looking forward to the machine quilting part of it. The lack of fun was my fault though - I didn't pre-wash the backing fabric and it had a finish on it that prevented it from sliding over my sewing machine. Rather, it sort of stuck, which was not convenient at all. Also on the not convenient list would be running out of white thread, completely and utterly out, with about three more inches to quilt. Argh!! But it's done, will be on time and now I can get into a very girly pink mood. Until then......

And Baby Makes Four

Four for a friend's family, that is - no more babies for this family. There is a baby shower in less than two weeks for this baby. On Monday or Tuesday I said to myself, "Maybe I ought to make this baby a quilt.". I am not exactly a speedy quilter, nor do I have a lot of free time on my hands, but I decided to go for it anyway. The above picture is where I am as of today. I think I will keep it that width and add maybe two more rows to the length. It's measuring 33" x 30" as of now. The mother said that, what she really needed were boy blankets, as she already has a little girl and is set on clothes, so I think keeping this on the small side would help fit the bill for blankets as well as enable me to get it done in time. The nursery theme is sage green and brown with elephants. I have plans, if there is time, to embroider silhouettes of elephants in some of the larger blocks. The inspiration for this quilt came from Lottakind on Flickr. I loved the simplicity of it and the way it incorporated several fabrics. Of course, nothing is as simple as it seems and I think I typically end up cutting too many small pieces and doing more piecing than is necessary. Hopefully I'll be able to wrap up the piecing in the next couple of days and quilt it this weekend. Stay tuned for status updates.

Seasonally Inappropriate

So what do you sew when the temperature reaches into the 90's? Me? Apparently I bust out the flannel and wool and get to work making a winter muff. What the heck, you say? I know, it seems odd, but there's a reason to my madness. This winter a friend's little girl was given an outfit by her grandparents that included a muff. The friend mentioned that she wish she had a muff. I was reminded of the muff pattern in the Fall 2009 issue of Stitch magazine that Erin Harris of House on Hill Road had contributed and thought I might just be able to make her wish come true. This friend's birthday was last month and I shall be seeing her for a girl's dinner out this week and wanted to be able to give it to her as a birthday gift. You know, so she can get lots of use out of it now. Or not.

Plaid had been mentioned in said fantasy muff, which I happened to have a large piece of. I was going to mimic the one in the magazine, but swap out the plaid flannel for the wool on the ends and have black velvet in the middle to echo the bands of black velvet ribbon. That was the plan until I could find no black velvet in town and even when I thought I had, I came home, cut it, sewed all the basting stitches down both sides and then decided I had dark brown on my hands. Enter plan B, which used the plaid flannel, but wool down the middle. The wool lending itself from an old suit of Jim's that had been cast away. It worked perfectly! The instructions didn't make full sense to me as I read over them, but I am much more of a learn as you go kind of gal, so I just did what they said and figured it out. And in the end, I'd say it worked out. Now I just hope I haven't spoiled the surprise and that she loves it when she receives it. I think I'll go back to the summery sheet quilt now and put the woolens away for a while.

A Bunting Kind of Weekend

I'm back at the buntings again. Or should I say, I'm back at making birthday presents, although we shall call these belated birthday presents. These are pretty straightforward to put together, but I have found myself a little short cut and a big time saver. This week I picked up a pinking rotary blade cutter and have left the edges of these buntings pinked. Previously, I was sewing the triangles wrong sides together, turning them right side out and top stitching them. With the pinked edges, it eliminates a couple steps, one of them being my least favorite (turning all the triangles right side out).

These buntings are going to good brother and sister friends who have birthdays just a week apart (....and in April. Ahem). I was struggling with which fabrics to use for the girly one when I looked down on the floor and saw my pile of floral sheets that I've cut into for my summery quilt and realized that those would be perfect. I've opted for colors to match the boy's room and am hoping that something with your name on it will be cool enough for a now seven year old boy. I suspect my days of making him birthday gifts are just about over and done with.

My next challenge is getting these packed up and mailed off. Oh how I do not enjoy that part. In the meantime, have a lovely rest of your weekend. I think we're going to be a bit soggy here tomorrow. A good reason to spend the afternoon inside with the family.

Happy Barthday

Today is my birthday. If you want to know how old I am, just ask one of my kids - they will gladly and readily answer that question. What I am most excited about today is that my kids (with the help of their sweet Daddy) chose to make me a gift this year. I can't believe they didn't want to get me a horse or a razor scooter or a 20" girl's bike or the latest kid's movie released to DVD. Hopefully, with perseverance, they will continue to grow in their appreciation of handmade gifts. What I am not so excited about is that Rachel made me the above card, drew a cake, started adding candles....and had to extend the cake TWICE to get all the candles on. Sigh. I guess it's a small price to pay for such a sweet card though. Happy rest of the weekend to you - I'm going to hang with my family as soon as they return from a secret mystery mission, which I suspect will involve bringing a cake home. Oh happy day.

Quilting Right Along

Another Ticker Tape Quilt is done. Sorry for the dark photo - I really need to go back outside and take some more now that the sun is out and shining. This quilt seemed to take longer than the last one - not sure why unless spring break had something to do with it. That could be it. I love that these quilts make use of the tiny pieces that I was otherwise sticking in the kid's drawer or just tossing out. Kudos to Amanda Jean for such a great idea and tutorial!

While this was fun, I'm looking forward to getting back to the sheet quilt that I've started cutting and piecing squares for. I thought it might be a good picnic quilt, but I imagine that once it's done, I won't want to put it on the ground... or let kids eat over it.... or let anyone else touch it or use it. We shall see. First it has to get finished though.

The Weekend

It may not look like it, but we've got a busy weekend ahead of us. Lots of friends and getting together, so it will be fun, but busy. Taking some quiet time tonight to sew the binding on another Ticker Tape Quilt this evening. This one is a gift for Sarah's preschool teacher who will be having her first baby this summer. I'll share the final results once it's done.
Happy weekend!

It's Been a While

I'm still here. Just scrambling to stay afloat at the moment. The upside of having two bad head aches back to back was that I got to listen to a lot of the Olympics that I would have otherwise missed. The downside was losing over two days to the head aches. Bah. They are gone now and I have been caffeine free for four whole days in an attempt to eliminate one possible contributing factor (since the family can't be eliminated). I have to say I continue to feel just a pillow away from a nap at any given time, but I'm making it. Yay.

The above are my parent's birthday presents. I can say that because odds are they will not come across this in the next few days. I am always and continually at a loss as to what to give them and have been trying to make things that I feel they would appreciate - not like the square mug I made them once....or the mug that said "B'S" because our last name started with B. Apparently my Mom took that one another way. Oops. Their birthdays have come and gone but we will be seeing them this weekend and I like to save on postage, simple enough.

I started with layering paper and tissues on top of a piece of muslin covered in diluted white glue. I just spread more glue over everything as I added layers. I have seen this done on Quilting Arts TV more than once, but here is the link to the tutorial from the most recent encounter I had with the idea. You may have to register to be able to see it, so for reference it's project 409-2 that I used as my starting point. I didn't turn mine into vegetable shaped pillows though. Once I had my paper base I did some stamping on top and then added silhouettes of both of my girls that I cut out of black card stock. Getting their silhouettes was really easy. I took a picture of them standing against a wall in profile then uploaded it to picnik where I scaled it to the actual size I wanted it and then traced it right off the monitor onto a piece of white paper which I used as my template for the final cut out. Adjusting the exposure also helped to be able to see the silhouette a bit better. And let me say that the pictures were in no way fussy. I believe neither had had their hair brushed, they were in their pajamas and it was just point and click. I would show you how un-fussy they were, but really, they are not even shareable.

So now it's time to clean the house, as my parent's haven't been to visit in a year now and we have a whole new kitchen to show off. Last time they were here we didn't have a kitchen, so we've greatly improved what we have to offer guests! We'll also be celebrating both their birthdays as well as the girl's, as Sarah's will be here in a week. There'll be a whole lot of aging going on this weekend....just glad it won't be me doing it ; )

Happy Valentine's Day

We had more snow on Friday - about an inch and a half. Even flurries are a big deal here, so anything that sticks on the ground is pretty life altering. And the abundance of snow here this winter has definitely been life altering for us. We have spent so much time outside playing in the cold, which we would normally not be so game for and I have spent what seems like a life altering amount of time washing and drying wet clothes! Lots of good fun.

This is the Valentine I made for the girls (I made two - I'm no fool). I sewed several strips of 1" wide and pink fabric together to get a new fabric to cut the hearts out of, then sewed it to the pink polka-dot fabric. I embroidered "love" on that and then glued it to a piece of paper that says "I love you" and glued that down to a larger piece of pink card stock. What was probably the most fun was the tiny little heart stamp I created by carving it out of a pencil eraser. It worked! Always a good feeling. They were well received, but there was also a request for something more. I think my kids have become too accustomed to always getting "things". They don't even really care about the "thing" - just that they got it. My head is going topsy turvy trying to think of how to stop this now, at almost 5 and 7 and not let it get any further out of hand. Any suggestions? We're already thinking that the Easter Bunny is going to appear very scroogish this year. But for now, Happy Valentine's Day.

Birthday Girl

I'm headed to a birthday celebration this evening. I believe the birthday girl is turning 29. Again. We seem to have established a pattern - she gives me books off my Amazon wish list for celebrations and I make her something. I LOVE getting books off my wish list. A lot. So I truly appreciate that she does that for me. This year I am mixing it up a bit for her though. I actually bought her something off of her wish list - a book. This book. I need more partners in crime.

That lent itself to a handmade gift to go along. I made this pin cushion from Last Minute Patchwork + Quilted Gifts by Joelle Hoverson. I whipped it up in a jiffy, so if you were looking for a last minute gift, this could fit the bill. Another great way to use up some scraps. Now I'm jealous though, the birthday girl's got prettier notions than I do.