a summery pincushion to swap

I'm finally back to show and tell you about the pincushion I made for my guild swap. (I took a little vacation hiatus with DH to celebrate our 25th wedding anniversary. And because we're the best parents ever, we let our girls come along too.)

So here is the super-cute pincushion I made for my swap partner whose favorite color and season are yellow and summer :)

I used the same tutorial that I referenced in my previous post, but did a few things differently that seemed to make it easier this time around.

Before folding the white edges over to be stitched down, I applied a touch of Roxanne's Glue Baste so I wouldn't have to secure them with pins for sewing. Much better results and much easier! The center still could be better, but since this is only my second attempt (and I knew it would be covered by a button!) I let it slide.

I made the backing more like an envelope pillow backing to better hide my hand closure stitches - the edge of one backing section is folded under slightly and overlaps the other backing section.

I sewed the back together after stuffing it just like I sew on bindings. Pretty good results, I think...

I took a slightly larger seam allowance - a hearty 1/4" this time - to make sure all the corners were well within the seam allowance and no raw edges were peeking out...

A small muslin case finishing about 1/4" smaller than the pincushion holds the crushed walnut shell stuffing. It's a full case, but not overstuffed since I had a bit of difficulty getting the last muslin case into the pincushion form. But by making the stuffing case a bit smaller and not filling it quite so full, I had no problems with this one.

Since I had never made a pincushion before, I had no idea that crushed walnut shells make a fabulous stuffing material. They give a hefty weight to the pincushion and help maintain the sharpness of the pins used in it. You can buy them in bulk at pet stores since they are primarily sold for use as reptile bedding. My LQS carries one cup zip-bags of them for $1 - so much better than buying a 10 lb bag. But if you do use them, you'll definitely want a muslin bag to hold them in your pincushion because they are tiny - like grains of sand!

Finished size - approximately 4" square.

Since I missed our last guild meeting while I was away on vacation, I haven't yet received the pincushion made for me by my secret swap partner. I can't wait to see it!