Pincushion Swap

A few posts ago I shared about the pincushion I had made for my Quilt Guild Pincushion swap and was sending off to my swap partner, you can read that post here.  Now that my partner has received it and is already putting it to good use, I'm able to share some pictures of the finished project.

Filled with Crushed Walnut Shells
The shells add weight to the pincushion as well as clean and sharpens the pins.

Came together much easier than I expected it

A "Sweet" package ready to drop in the mail.

LOVED discovering how really easy the cathedral window can be!!

{{{HUGS}}}

A Long Time Dream

Many of you know that I've been dreaming about and working toward opening a local quilt shop. But, I've recently found that due to a lack of funds I'm unable to open a physical store right now. With my sweet hubby's wisdom we have a plan to come up with the needed funds to make this dream a reality.

The plan is to open an online quilt shop (fabric store) in the next couple of months or so and use the earnings to both grow the online store and save for the investment needed to open a physical store....of course it will all be in the Lord's perfect timing.

Among the many, many steps to opening this online store is figuring out what fabrics I will offer and whether or not I should specialize in something specific. I've found that the amount of fabric to choose from is almost overwhelming and figuring out what I should offer is a daunting task.

I absolutely LOVE fabric, but starring at all the possibilities kind of makes my eyes glaze over and my brain is simply overloaded.

I pray that the Lord gives me the wisdom I so desperately need each step of the way, especially the wisdom of where to start with fabric purchases for the store.

We spent this past weekend in Williamsburg and between our conversation concerning the online shop and the discovery of some fabric display shelves, that my sweet hubby will be making for the shop, I came home excited and ready to throw open the doors (figuratively speaking) to a new business, a new adventure and a new chapter of life. But, patience is a virtue, time to dive into the serious steps needed to open a successful business.

I would LOVE to hear your thoughts, please share any advice, words of wisdom or encouragement that you might have. I look forward to hearing form you!!


Blessings & Hugs,

No More Slippage

How often have you been in the midst of cutting into that precious piece of fabric that you finally talked yourself into cutting and your ruler slips causing the rotary cutter to go awry and ruin the cut. You're left mumbling under your breath, about how you knew you should never have cut into that fabric!

I have discovered the solution that eliminates all that slippage and worry and I am thrilled to be able to share it with you!! I may be late to the party, but I just discovered this at a quilt show last week.

InvisiGRIP is a clear vinyl made by the Omnigrid company. It's made to be trimmed just a bit smaller than the ruler and then pressed to the back of it by hand. The ruler in the picture above has already had the InvisiGRIP applied to it and as you can see it is completely invisible.

After applying use the ruler as usual and when you press on the ruler it magically grips the fabric and stays right where you've got it until you let go, no slippage, no ruined & wasted fabric! I absolutely LOVE it!!!

One roll of OmniGRIP covered all these rulers! WOW! 

The roll is 1 yard of 12.5" wide vinyl ready to be rotary cut and applied to your ruler, templates, or even the back of your cutting mats. There's enough to do several rulers and it wasn't too expensive. Well worth the investment.


By the Way...Omnigrid has not paid me to promote this product {though they probably should}, I just love it and want to share the love with you!

{{{HUGS}}}

Embroidery Work

I enjoy embroidery work almost as much as I enjoy quilting. It's especially handy to take along for those trips to doctors waiting rooms, hospital visits, long car rides and kids piano lessons (which is where most of my hand work is done).  Every week my youngest (almost 19-not so young any more) has 45 minutes of piano lessons, giving me plenty of time to focus on some handwork. For the last month I've been working on a set of Patriotic Tea Towels and put the finishing touches on the last one this afternoon.

 

The pattern is Americana Celebration Tea Towels, from Bird Brain Designs. I like how they turned out....hoping they're as useful as they are pretty!


{{{HUGS}}}

Cathedral Window Pincushion

The NOVA Modern Quilt Guild that I recently joined is in the midst of a Cathedral Window Pincushion Swap. Since the patten didn't look too difficult or time consuming a signed up to a part of this swap. I was not disappointed! The pattern really was easy (more origami than sewing) and turned out so cute! So cute in fact after finishing my swap cushion, I had to make one for myself! Both pincushions are filled with crushed walnut shells, making for a nice weighted pin cushion as well as being truly useful, since the crushed shells will keep the pins sharp.

My Cathedral Window Pincushion

Here's a sneak peek of the pincushion I put together for the guild swap. Can't show the completed cushion until I send it off to my swap partner.

Pincushion for swap

If you'd like to create your own Cathedral Window pincushion the step-by-step tutorial can be found here at "My Go-Go Life" Blog. The pincushion was so easy, it makes me want to try doing a Cathedral Window Quilt. May have to add this to my growing list of quilts I want to make! I guess you'd call that my Quilting Bucket List. Do you have a Bucket List?

Many Blessings!
Marcia - the Little Pink Rose