Teacup Pincushions

A couple of years ago I grabbed some great vintage teacups and my sewing needle and whipped up this idea for pincushions. I was collecting teacups with no real purpose in mind. Here and there I would pot a plant in this one and use that one as a catch-all on my desk. Then I thought: pincushions. Sturdy, classy, and those little saucers would hold all of your odds and ends!

This yellow vintage one was the first of them all (already sold!) : 

And a fun collection of colorful teacups and even more colorful fabrics and I suddenly had a collection of these things. You can find many of these and more still available in my etsy shop:

1) This rad yellow milk pitcher is fitted with a bright purple floral fabric 2) This pastoral scene is complimented with the red floral fabric, no saucer 3) That dahlia fabric is just stunning 4) Gold rimmed with pansy fabric 5) vintage Japanese pottery with floral cushion 6) bright red cushion with black and white checkered saucer.

A gorgeous frosted Pfaltzgraff cup and saucer with the dahlia fabric cushion: 

So fun to create and super colorful to dress up your sewing room!

Visit the pincushion section of my Etsy Shop for more details and other styles.

You can find my entire shop here. 

New things from old things

So it all began about a year or so ago when I started an album on facebook asking my friends to "Mail Me A Letter or Something" -- and did they ever! One of my my intriguing things that I received, other than the coconut with my address taped to it (see below) was this old earring and necklace set sent from my dear old friend Sarah. Sarah and I have known each other since she was skipping around the playground pretending to be a horse and I was selling little handcrafted trinkets below the jungle gym (some things never change). This little collection she mailed me had the most wonderful story:

The original pieces along with Sarah's letter.

So I waited. And waited. Stared at this set. I didn't want to take it apart for fear of cursing the mojo attached to each little iridescent dangle.  Would a pack of flapper ghosts suddenly find me in my faraway Maine farmhouse and force me to do the Charleston? Would I really mind that kind of punishment? Probably not. I'd even film it and show everyone I encountered.

The time finally came. People kept asking me, "What did you make from that flapper set?" or "What the hell are you waiting for?" So one day I stopped waiting and just started taking it apart. I created three pairs of earrings the first night (with another night of crafting yet to come) and created these beauties that I'm quite proud of:

This is the pair that Sarah and her mother selected to love up.

These chalcedony earrings already sold on Etsy!

This floral set is still for sale on Etsy.

And this is the coconut that I found in my mailbox: