I sorted through my stash of beautiful fabrics for the cover of my book and came up with a couple of pieces that I love. I used two pieces of matching fabric for the front and inside back cover and two others for the back and inside front. This was more work that just using one piece for outside and one for inside, but I do like making work for myself and I think the result is attractive. Between the cover fabric I put some felt to give the cover substance so that I could incorporate some little pockets for scissors etc. For the inside “pages” I used some matching felt sheets.
I’m not a great embroiderer, but I had fun using some decorative stitches to sew small panels to the pages for the various pins/needles to be stored on. I also added some trim/lace and buttons for decoration. I’m pleased with my needle book. It is so much nicer than the ugly containers I had before and now my needles are easy to find.
Next I made one for a friend, and to go with her needle book I decided to make a hedgehog pin cushion from wool.The hedgehog shape is pretty easy to make, it just takes time to get felted to the right level of firmness such that the pins stick in and don’t fall out, or sink completely. It takes about 1 1/2 hours from beginning to end.
I begin by making a thick sausage of core wool which gets pretty well felted into a firm shape. I add more wool to one end to make the hedgehog body shape.
Here’s the shape when it’s firmly felted.
Next I add another loosely felted sausage for the nose. It looks kinda weird to begin with, but with a lot of poking, shaping, and compressing, the nose takes shape.
Looks a bit more nose-like!
Next I blended some brown and grey wool to make the color for the hedgehog body. This also gets well felted down and I test the pins in it every so often to see how much more felting it needs.
Finally, I add the details. Eyes, a dark tip to the nose, then little ears from some small dabs of wool felted into a semicircle.
The Pine Needlers declared my first hedgehog super cute, and I had two requests for more. So I made another couple and handed them out — that opened the floodgates for cries of “What do I have to do to get a hedgehog?!” And so the bartering began. I made several more and received various goodies in exchange, including microwave bowls and wool. The hedgehogs proved as popular as my bunnies. What a great system for sharing crafts and supplies. Happy sewing everyone!