Look What I Can Do!

Have you ever made anything of which you are so proud you could sit and stare at it for hours? Or walk door to door to show all of your neighbors? Well, I don't have hours to sit and stare and I don't need to give my neighbors any more reason to think I'm strange, so instead I'll show you my latest creations:




Meet Favorite Thing 1 and Favorite Thing 2. My new pincushions (just in case you were wondering what they were). I love them so much that Aidan asked me if I wanted to marry them. I declined, however, because Mr. Bailey freaks the kids out. I made these one evening in less than one hour. Which is amazing, because they have been in the works for months.

Last summer I realized my need for a new pincushion. I had something muffin shaped in mind, so I searched Flickr and Etsy for inspiration. Boy oh boy was I inspired when I saw Betz White's cupcakes. I watched her tutorial from the Martha Stewart show twice, printed out the directions, and set about acquiring a Hefty bag full of wool sweaters from thrift stores and rummage sales. Yes, I got some strange looks buying wool in July. I cut and felted the sweaters, and then put them in the top of my closet because it really was too warm to play with wool.

Then it got cold, and I once again remembered how much I needed a pincushion when I saw how many pins were protruding from the end of my ironing board. I also remembered the cute Mr. Bailey cup, which was stashed in a box in the top of another closet, and was thrilled to find his friend Nestle in the same box. It was kismet. I made these two pincushions in less than one hour. My ironing board is no longer on pins and needles. Betz is a genius and a girl after my own heart - repurposing and wool are two of my other favorite things. Her book, Warm Fuzzies, is definitely on my wish list. After all, these pincushions made only a small dent in my stash of felted wool. I have a few projects up my sleeve, but more on that later.


Oh, and just in case you don't like whipping cream,

You may also notice that I now have three columns on my blog, thanks to this tutorial. I still have some tweaking to do, but an extra column gives me some extra options. I must say, however, that I would much rather make coffee cup pincushions than edit HTML. Any day.

Update: I just realized I made all those changes to my blog within the WRONG template. Argh. Back to the drawing board. Fortunately, the second time is always easier. I might need another Irish Coffee to complete the job *wink, wink* Jerry and Marjorie.

Another Update: Down to two columns until further notice. And for George, the title of this post was inspired by Stuart, who is always good for a laugh.