New Things from Old: A Special Pincushion

This fall, September 10-12, to be exact, I will be teaching a class at the Arkansas Quilters Guild 2009 retreat/workshop. It will be held at the C A Vines 4H Center, west of Little Rock. This is the same place I told you about a few posts back where we held AWOL (Arkansas Women on the Loose). It's a great place and the retreat/workshop has always been a wonderful experience. If you want to see more...just go visit www.quiltingarkansas.com and you can read all about it. For those of you in the area, I hope you will consider it.

My class is entitled "A Special Pincushion." (Remember, I told you this year was my "year of the pincushion!") I knew I wanted to do a class on pincushions, so in rummaging around in my old linens stash, I came upon a little pink piece that was done in applique and chain stitch. I've no idea how old this is, and it's in pretty bad shape, however, I was fascinated by the chain stitch and thought it would be fun to reproduce it by reconfiguring the design and using new fabrics. Which is precisely what I set out to do.

The whole pincushion was pretty simple to do. Not only is the design simple, but doing the stitching is too...it actually looks more complicated than it is. And, yes, it IS done by hand! I've been asked that by many who have seen this little blue gem. Some people seem to think it is machine made, which I find amusing. No machine, just one heart, two hands, two eyes, one needle, one strand of floss! A lot of fun! And, then, the seam is beaded in a soft, iridescent white bead...so much fun to do!

I haven't finished yet, but will have by class, two more blue samples using the same technique. Here you see them. The large pincushion is 5 inches square. The small square is 3 inches and the rectangular pincushion is 2" x 4." I've also already stitched the same pincushions in pink, but haven't gotten those stuffed and beaded yet either. I'll be using a different bead on some of these.

I'm looking forward to the class and will also have some of my other pincushions there to see and some for sale. If you are interested in this kind of work and aren't in this area for the class, go to your local flea market, as I did, search out an old piece of needlework, sit down with some paper and a pencil and try to find ways to reconfigure and reproduce the design using new "ingredients." You will enjoy it!!! And, boy, will you have something different to "show." I plan on doing this type of thing again.

A vintage piece of needlework inspired a NEW piece of needlework...what fun it is! Take care, pat