Liberty and Linen = Love

Have you noticed my new header?

  I love this Pinched Pincushion that I designed for my own little Valentine's Day Celebration....

I love pincushions!  They are quick to make and so appreciated when gifted to a stitchy friend!

Today I put together a little tutorial so you can make your own Pinched Pincushion or make one for a friend!

First you need a heart.  My heart template is about 3.5 inches wide and 3.5 inches tall.  I traced my heart onto Freezer Paper.

gather the supplies

1. Freezer paper or card stock for heart template

2. Linen or fabric for the base...a FQ or a quarter yard is plenty

3. little piece of Liberty for the heart

4. Perle cotton or embroidery floss for the decorative stitching {I love Valdani}

5. Cotton stuffing or Fiberfill for stuffing the pincushion and a small piece of batting

6. Needle for hand stitching with Perle Cotton...my favorite is Fons and Porter Utility Needles

6. General sewing supplies

Make heart template and cut out....press the waxy side of the Freezer Paper to the right side of the Liberty fabric.

carefully cut out around the template and peel the template from the Liberty...now you have a Liberty heart.

Cut out the parts for the pincushion {Linen}.  You will need {2} 5 inch squares....and {4} 3" X 5" rectangles
I also cut a 5 inch square of low loft cotton batting

    
Use a dab of basting glue or just a pin to secure the heart to the center of one 5 inch square and a few more dabs to secure your 5" square batting to the wrong side of your heart square.

Stitch around the inside of the heart with perle cotton to keep your heart in place...

 
and stitch around the outside if you like!

Once the top is stitched you are ready to work on the sides...
take the 4 sides pieces {3" X 5"}.  Begin with two sides, right sides together, and stitch the short ends leaving a 1/4 inch open at the top and the bottom of the short end.  This process will be familiar if you have made a fabric cube.

  

 Remember to leave a 1/4 inch open at the top and the bottom of the short side...and backstitch to reinforce the stitching at both ends.
Add all four sides together in the same manner and, finally, stitch the first side to the fourth side to link all the sides together.

   
Press each seam open.

With right sides together match up the top of the pincushion {with the heart} with one of the sides.  Do not begin stitching at the corner....rather begin 1/4" in from the corner and end 1/4" from the other corner...back stitch both the beginning and the end of this line of stitching

    
Keep stitching along each side of the top square, matching the sides to the top and leaving a 1/4 inch open at both corners.  You do need to stitch each side separately...you can't just travel around the square and pivot at the corner.  The stitching needs to begin a 1/4 inch from each corner and end a 1/4 inch short of the next corner.  You will not have a hole at the corners because your stitching will meet as long as you keep accurate seam allowances.
Once you have finished the top, place the bottom 5 inch square on the bottom of the sides and continue in the same manner...the only difference being that you must leave a 2 inch opening in the middle of one side!                  

This is very important for stuffing the pincushion!
You should now have something that looks like a deflated linen cube!

  

Stuff the cube full of stuffing. Hand sew the opening closed. 
Now the fun part!
Pinch the top edges of the cube {a little less than a 1/2 inch} and using a running stitch...stitch up a little pinched edge!  I didn't even bother to bury the knot...just leave it on the outside and trim the tail close.

     
Go all the way around the top - pinching and stitching.  Then do the sides and lastly the bottom....pinch and stitch, pinch and stitch!

   
How cute is this?  I love it!
If you make one, I would love to see your pincushion!

happy pinching!
mary :)

A Gaggle of Geese....

I recently finished a Flying Geese Quilt, which I named Flight....

 

I love the Flying Geese block.  It is very versatile.

It works great in a pillow....

As a border....

or even in minature....

What a great block!  There are many methods for making this block. Today I want to share with you a few of them...

First up we will use the Fons and Porter Flying Geese Ruler....

For my quilt, I used a 3 X 6 block.  In fact, I foundation paper pieced my block which consisted of two geese.  So my block finished as a 6 X 6 inch block.  

For each method described here I will be making a 3 X 6 inch block.

To use the Fons and Porter ruler, I cut a strip for the big triangle 3.5 inches by the width of fabric....and a strip for the small side units, also, 3.5 inches by the width of fabric.

  

   

To make the side units I line up my ruler with the blunted off point even with the top of my strip and the 3.5 inch mark at the bottom edge of my strip.  The first cut is just to get the angle of my unit.

After I make this first cut, I can flip the ruler and use the previous cut edge so there is no waste!

Now we need to cut the center triangles....

I line the middle of the ruler up with the edge of my fabric strip...again just to get the angle so I can cut, flip and cut.

Make sure the bottom edge of the shaded point is against the top edge of your fabric strip.  these blunted tips help with lining up the pieces when you go to sew them together....

 

now with right sides together line up the blunted tip of the side unit with the blunted tip of the center triangle...

 

stitch both side units, one at a time, using a 1/4 inch seam allowance and press the block open.

When you are attaching Geese blocks into a row....be careful to stitch just shy of the point where the two units cross to preserve your point....you want those geese nice and pointy!

The next method is the one I most often use, foundation paper piecing.

I have a foundation paper pattern measuring a finished 6 X 6.  Each individual block is 3 X 6.

Begin by cutting two large rectangles 4" X 7" and four smaller rectangles 4" X 4.5 "

  

Take a large rectangle and place it with the wrong side against the wrong side of paper pattern...you can use a dab of glue to hold it in place if it helps.

Now trim the right edge, leaving a 1/4 inch seam allowance...

 

Place a smaller rectangle so the raw edges are even....and stitch on the drawn line....

Note: it is a good idea to reduce the stitch length to about 1.5 so the stitches don't come loose when tearing away the paper.

 

Fold back the paper on the stitched line and cut away the excess fabric from the smaller rectangle - leaving a 1/4 inch seam allowance.  

Note: to make it easier to fold back the paper on the line, you can either pre-fold the paper before you begin or lightly score the paper with the back of your seam ripper.

Repeat this process on the other side of the large center triangle.

Now you are ready to add the other rectangle to the top of this first Flying Geese unit...

Before you begin stitching the next large rectangle to the previous unit...fold the paper pattern back on the line dividing the two Flying Geese and trim leaving a 1/4 inch seam allowance.

  

Repeat the steps described above.  After you have the second Flying Geese block added, flip the block over and trim around the block leaving a 1/4 inch seam allowance on each side.  Then carefully tear away the paper.

The next method is fabulous and a very close second to my favorite foundation paper piecing method...

I have seen several tutorials on this method, but I really like the one posted by Shannon of Pieceful Kwilter....you can find it here 

I will just briefly describe this method, but I would really encourage you to check it out on her blog.  It is a great method and the best thing is, you get 4 units....I like anything that makes the piecing even faster!

For my Flying Geese, I would cut one large square 7.25 inches X 7.25 inches....

and cut 4 smaller squares 3 7/8 inches X 3 7/8 inches.

Draw a diagonal line from one corner to the opposite corner on each of the smaller squares.

Place one smaller square on the upper left hand corner of the larger square and another smaller square on the bottom left hand corner of the larger square.  Pin in place.

Stitch a 1/4 inch from each side of the drawn line....corner to corner...

then cut apart on the drawn line...

you will end up with something that looks like a heart shape!

  

Take the other two smaller squares and place one on each of the remaining points on the larger "heart" shape....

again, stitch 1/4 inch from the drawn line (both sides) and then cut on the drawn line...

    

I have to say, this is a great method and Shannon explains it very well...so be sure to visit her at the Pieceful Kwilter!

Are you still with me?

The last method is also a paper foundation method from Triangles on a Roll....you can find this product at www.trianglesonaroll.com

With this method you cut a large square 7.25 inches and sub cut the square on the diagonal twice.....

 

then cut a smaller square 3 7/8 inches and sub cut once on the diagonal...you will need 4 of these squares to add to each of the larger triangles above....

From the roll, cut as many triangles as you wish to make...I will cut two.

Place the large triangle in the blue shaded area on the paper.  The difference between this and more traditional paper piecing is that the paper will always be on the bottom...

   

Place the smaller triangle on the left side....and stitch...

Repeat on the other side of the larger triangle...

  

Now add another larger triangle to the top and repeat the previous steps...

Once you have finished all the triangles you want to add, carefully tear away the paper!

Sorry for the long post!  I thought it would be nice to have all of these methods in one spot...

if you have a Flying Geese method you like, please share! I would love to hear if you use one I have shared here or if there is another that you prefer!

   

happy wednesday!

mary