3 Pincushions and a parliament of owls

Here are 3 pincushions I made for friends and myself prior to Christmas.

The hedgehog I found online at Make it Modern blog found at http://modernquiltlove.wordpress.com/2009/07/16/the-tale-of-two-hedgehog-pincushions-and-a-free-pattern-to-make-your-own/ This one I gave to my friend Tricia as a Christmas present. 

This next snowman pincushion was found at Connecting Threads at http://www.connectingthreads.com/Patterns/Free_Quilting_Patterns__L601021.html  My friend Ethel got this one for Christmas.  They made theirs out of cotton fabric, but I chose to make mine out of wool.

The owl pincushion was also found online at Jenny the Artist's blog at http://jennytheartist.blogspot.com/2008/08/traditional-japanese-owl-tutorial.html  The tutorial show it being made by machine out of cotton fabric and sewing down the "ears".  I chose to use wool and leave the ears free.

The parliament of owls I made were for an online group with Mary Lou Weidman.  We've had 2 exchanges this year, the first one was bees and then this owl one.  We are now about to start one of socks.

I used the same Kaffe Fassett rose fabric for all the owl's heads and bodies.  I used a chrysanthemum print for the top of the chest and wings.

I used a yellow batik for the beak and feet and then I fussy cut the Kaffe Fasset star flower to make the eyes.  I'm waiting for my new mixed parliament to arrive home.  I'll post another picture when they arrive.

Wool Crazy piece is finished!

I finally finished my wool crazy piece.  It started because of another piece I was working on and decided to combine the two together.  This is an overall picture of the full piece.

 Here is the top third of the piece.  My initials are in the top right corner and the date is found under the tree.

 I managed to put a little something in for all the seasons.  A lot of the designs are my own, some are adapted from JoAnn Mulaly's Wool Crazy book.

 We had an early snowfall in November that inspired this row of houses.

 Fall is one of my favourite times of year, I love the oranges, reds and purples you can find.

 I often photograph flowers and bees always seem to enter the pictures.

 Sunflowers are another flower I enjoy photographing.

 Whenever I make something my signature logo is a moon and star with shh along with the year the piece was made. 

 We have gorgeous cherry blossoms all over the city and I enjoy driving around and checking them out.

 You may have noticed the snowflake button in the middle of the tree...that is because this piece all folds up and is fact a Huswif Sewing case.

 The interior was designed by Kaaren Johnston at The Painted Quilt.  You can find the pattern for this at  http://thepaintedquilt.blogspot.com/2010/08/first-friday-freebie-12.html

I made mine a bit wider than Kaaren's and did not curve the top as she did.  I added the second tulip shape to hold a needle threader.  There are two pockets to hold other goodies that you may need for your projects.