Teeny-tiny Cottage Pincushion

Over the weekend I had a bit of a 'blog-tidy'.  My interest had been piqued by seeing the appearance of lots of handy-looking tabs at the top of other blogs (Hey look! I've got them now!) but the pages there made me realise that I don't very often put a 'How to' on here any more.  So, today I will begin rectifying this situation by sharing with you how I made a little pincushion that was very much admired at the weekend.

   

You will need:

a small bottletop 

scraps of felt in your chosen colours (walls/base/roof)

embroidery thread in a range of colours

a small amount of stuffing material

basic sewing tools, including a fabric marker (water soluble pen/tailors' chalk)

First measure the height of your lid - mine was about 2 3/4 cm tall

From a piece of wall colour felt long enough to encircle your lid, cut a strip a little taller than your measurement (I went for 3cm).  

Wrap the strip round your lid and cut to length, overlapping by about 3mm. Pin in place.

Use blanket stitch to secure the seam. (You can take the lid out as this makes it easier.)

Place the lid on to a scrap of base colour felt and draw round it.

Cut about 2mm outside the line you have drawn.

Place the base felt on top of the felt-wrapped lid...

...then use blanket stitch to secure it in place.

You will now have a felt covered lid.  Time to embellish!

First some grass most of the way round...

All embroidered with just one strand from the six in normal embroidery floss

...leaving space for a door. (Oh - you need to stitch that on!  I do back stitch to create the impression of wooden planks.  A door knocker or knob, a letterbox and a number are all possible additions!)

Add any windows you feel the residents will need...

Then fill their garden with flowers...

Teeny crosses and French knots...

...and lazy daisies in pairs, plus a few bullion knots.

Once you're done with the embroidery, place the upturned lid on a piece of felt the colour you wish your roof to be and draw round it.  Cut about 4mm larger.

Run a tiny running stitch all round the roof felt to act as a gathering stitch...

Then draw up to make a little dome that sits neatly on top of the felt walls.  Fasten off the gathering thread and distribute the gathers evenly...

Stuff a little filling inside the lid and then use more blanket stitch to attach the roof to the cottage.

Just before you finish the blanket stitching, you can add a little more stuffing to raise the roof a little and give a  nice firm finish.

To make a chimney, roll up a tiny scrap of felt, secure with lots of tiny running stitches, then stitch in place...

Oh look!  A stem stitch and French knot rose bush has grown around the door already!

Add some special pins. 

It is finished!

Fairy Houses Go Large

At first, the fairy houses were tiny - about three inches tall (fairies don't do metric...)

But then they doubled in size to six inches...

And then grew a little larger to become a ten inch  doorstop (request of Miss U-t-B, who is luckily not too old for a bit of nonsense!)...

Fairies share my love of Liberty fabric.  They insist on  Liberty or vintage fabric (ideally feedsack) for their curtains.

Then one of the fairies requested a home for her elf-friend.  I made the mistake of calling this a 'Gnome Home' but fairy and elf were most upset!  Elves and gnomes are quite different, they argued, though they did agree that elves and gnomes do share a love of flowers and gardens...

After a busy week of shoeboxes packing and wrapping, sewing, CS sorting and half-term shenanigans, I am now mostly to be found buried under a mound of curtain fabric, lining and heading tape.  It's getting a bit chilly to admire the view out of our uncurtained-since-redecorating window, even if the autumn colours are so lovely!

Welcome to new followers and thank you all for reading, and for all the lovely comments!

Odds and ends

Thank you for all the lovely comments on the fairy houses - good to know I am not alone in my liking for such fripperies!  Just in case you are thinking of making one yourself, I will just share a tip or two.

In fact, before I made the fairy houses, I had made a couple of elf houses, using the pattern that I printed off from Lauren Brandy's tutorial.  Here they are...

Elves (as I'm sure you know) like greens and reds (perfect for 'the forthcoming season').

Like their fairy friends, they like wonkiness and flowers.  (There's actually a lot of wonk in the walls but you can't see it here - elves clearly like sloping ceilings and floors.)

 As they cannot fly, they do not require a calling bell atop their roof, opting for a simple knocker on the  door.

Anyway, the very observant amongst you will realise that elf cottages are short and squat compared to their fairy equivalents.

I don't know if it is my printer, but the pattern I printed out didn't actually give me the tall, skinny cottage I had originally seen...

To make the fairy cottages I made a new pattern, deciding on a height, drawing a circle with a radius of that height and then using quarter of the circle as the main pattern to which I added a small seam allowance.  I then had to estimate the size for the base - as fairies like 'wonk' it didn't matter too much if it was a wee bit wrong.

I then cut a matching quarter circle  and lopped the bottom half off for the roof pattern.  Hope this helps!

Aside from such stitching nonsense, we had the delight of little Sophia yesterday (she spends the day with us 

each Wednesday - neither Mr U-t-B nor I work that day so we spend the morning going for a walk and playing, then when I go to do my charity shop sorting, Mr U-t-B has the pleasure of his grand-daughter's company all to himself).

 At sixteen months she is into everything!  

Computers...

(just like her Daddy!)

...handbags...

(just like her Mummy?)

...and my glasses!

She's a wise one who has a grasp on the important things in life beyond her years.  Taking her back home at the end of the day, her Dad arrived outside the house just after us, clutching a paperback in his hands.

'Ooh - what's that you're reading?' asks Mr U-t-B of his son.

'The Keys to Success and Long-Term Fulfillment,' replies son.

Sophia beams and says, 'Cheeeese!'

If only!

My hearing is not what it used to be.   Sometimes this is just a bit of a nuisance (mostly to others) whilst at other times it can result in giggles.

(See this post for example.)

Did you hear about this?

Coming to the day before yesterday, I awoke to either John Humphrys or James Naughtie talking about the genetically modified mice who are being trained to sniff out TNT.

Only I didn't quite hear it right.

I heard that mice were being trained to sniff out PMT.

It didn't even seem like a strange idea.

I think there are those who'd be keen to have one of these mice themselves...

Lastly, if you were following the Primark Shrunken Jumper Challenge, you may be interested to know I managed to squeeze two more things out of it.

One more elf boot...

And another (smaller) owl...

Daddy and daughter...

Right, better get organised for work now!

I'm down to just afternoons for the next two weeks and two days (with half-term in the middle) which is great, except when I get carried away sewing, blogging or doing the chores, and have to rush off without having eaten a proper lunch!

Whimsical Wednesday - Another 'Pin' becomes reality

Oh what fun I've been having!

Inspired by this...

Find the tutorial (and then waste lots of time looking at other pages) by heading here

...I have been making a fairy village!

First came the pink one...

Then came a lilac one...

And next a blue one...

Fairies, as I'm sure you know, have a penchant for pastel shades.  They like a bit of 'wonk' to their roofs, and of course, a calling bell is essential for fairies flying in to visit.

Not possessing set squares or spirit levels, there is a bit more 'wonk' in their windows and shutters.

And the flashiest fairies like to add sparkle to their walls with precious (to them) beads.

Fairy homes must be wreathed in flowers...

(And they are always nestled into a bit of Liberty Tana Lawn.)

Sometimes they even grow their favourite purple apples against their back walls...

Fairies, being the generous souls they are, are happy to let humans rest their pins in their houses, especially if they are flower-shaped or glass-headed (anything for a bit of bling!)

What's been making you grin today?