Bits and Pieces Pincushion

First of all I want to thank the lovely people who left me such kind comments on my last post.  They really did make a difference to me when I was feeling rather sad.  Its only 4 days but the house is feeling so empty I'm already browsing local animal rescue websites and feeling there is another furry friend (or two) out there who would like to live here.  But not just yet.

 But on to happier things and crafty pursuits really do make us happy don't they.

If like me you are a thrifty stitcher you'll find it impossible to throw away even the tiniest scraps of fabric and those who don't understand the addiction have said "what on earth are you going to do with those?"  Well here's something I made this week with some very small fabric bits and the fabulous hexagon die from Die-namics. I saw Pinks & Needles beautifully stitched pincushion here and came up with my own not so perfect version.

Adding iron-on interfacing to the back of the fabric made cutting out and machine stitching the hexagons on to the linen background much easier and gave a neater result.  I stuffed my pincushion with polyester toy filling and a handful of my favourite dried lavender to make it smell nice.

I made a gift card to go with it but I might just have to keep this one for myself and make another for a stitchy friend - you can never have enough pincushions can you!

Card supplies: Jam Packed from WMS; Happy Hexagons & Background Basics Gingham from PTI

1st February - and January in photos

I've been inspired by Godelieve's excellent digital page here but there is no way I would be able to fill a page with my blog posts in just a month!  However I'd really like to use the templates to record 2012 in photos so I'm going to jump in.  January has been a lean month but I've managed to find enough images for my page and of course it will get easier as the year goes by.  I've used the same digital kit from Jessica Sprague, and as has Godelieve, I've changed the page background and elements to suit. 

And as another month has begun, here is Miss February from my vintage book "Children Month by Month".  I hope we won't be sliding and gliding about too much!


Digital kits: Design 365 A Year of Layouts 2012 by Jessica Sprague;  Snow Yesterday by Kate Teague for Two Peas in a Bucket

Thought you might like.......

I really loved Tiffany Pastor's post this morning featuring a vintage image from the fabulous Digital Two for Tuesday website. It got me thinking about all the vintage images I have collected in various forms over the years and in particular the collection of old labels for soft drinks I bought recently. They were produced by a company named Duckworth's of Manchester and from the look of them hail from the 1940s/50s.

They are so graphic and colourful I really wanted to use them on projects but of course don't want to use the originals. So I scanned them and thought some of my crafty readers might like to use some of them too. Right click to open the image and then right click again to save the full size image to your computer. You can then either print them full size and cut out, manipulate them to the size you like, or cut and paste into a digital project. I have printed them out myself and they reproduce really nicely.

And while I'm at it you might also like these pretty images from a cut-out book I bought some years ago. Its called The Jolly Miller and as well as these sweet characters there is a windmill to cut out and assemble - which of course I won't ever do. It would be such a shame to cut up such a lovely publication. Here are two of my favourite characters for your delight.


I'd love to see someone create with these images so be sure to let me know if you do. However while I'm able to share these files here on my blog, as with all file sharing they are for personal use only. Please do not post or sell the original image on the web, individually or in a group or collection.




As promised I will be posting my little give-away a bit later today so please call back.